Flexible work arrangements, creating a desirable work culture, and guiding organizations through economic slowdowns and inflation surges – HR departments have been in the spotlight since early 2020.
HR professionals have faced numerous challenges in recent years, and 2023 is shaping up to be a continuation of these issues, along with a few new ones.
Over the past year, we have experienced several waves of talent movement.
From the phenomenon of quiet quitting to the great resignation, workers reassessed the impact and value of work. New societal forces exacerbated the war on talent and put pressure on employers and HR teams to stay competitive.
On top of that, the accelerated digital transformation and hyper-automation augmented every job in the world, and the HR department is no different.
Digital transformation in HR operations, including increased investments in HCM technology innovation, is necessary to align skills and talent better, improve the employee experience, and design a more human-centric workplace.
However, while AI has gained widespread adoption in HCM, technologies such as cloud computing, blockchain, and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) have yet to be embraced to the same extent by organizations.
Despite the growing reliance on data-driven decision-making in HR, many organizations still struggle to effectively collect, analyze, and utilize employee data to inform business and workforce strategies.
The main barrier to hyper-automation is the lack of expertise in combined integration, business process monitoring (BPM), and robotic process automation (RPA) among HR teams.
Going into 2023, more organizations will invest in upskilling their HR teams and expanding their capabilities.
Another area where HR plays a more prominent role is diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). As organizations seek to create a more inclusive and welcoming culture, HR professionals are being called upon to develop and implement diversity training programs and to work with leadership to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
“Because of their commonalities, I see a significant overlap in the roles diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) leaders and HR leaders play within a company,” shares Ivori Johnson, Director of DEIB at ChartHop.
Johnson adds, “DEIB is evolving into what HR was originally built to provide: a safe space for employees. Soon, more companies will merge DEIB and HR as partners to lead their people — from the C-suite to entry-level employees — to think with an inclusive mindset.”
Gone are the days when HR was viewed as a purely administrative function, responsible for payroll and benefits management tasks.
HR’s role will be solidified as an irreplicable part of the board and a strategic key advisor in the upcoming year.