equipping HR for a digital world: four ways to ride the technology wave.

According to the 2017 Deloitte Human Capital Trends survey, the number one issue plaguing businesses is ‘building organisations of the future’. In fact, 90% of HR executives feel that this is an urgent need. There are two reasons for this. First - by 2020, tech savvy millennials will make up 75% of the workforce, making it imperative for HR to attract and engage them. Second - business leaders are under relentless pressure to turn their organisations into more innovative, digital and customer focused entities. To meet these new business demands, HR will need to adopt new technologies and models of work.

Little wonder companies are acquiring next generation talent and project management software to enable a more seamless approach to employee recruitment, engagement and growth. Innovation-based HR platforms and learning programs driven by cognitive technologies will become the new normal and companies that do not embrace this change will risk failure. Here are four ways you can leverage technology to put your workforce front and centre in the digital age:

Up skill your HR team:

In order to transform their core functions through technology, HR teams need to be skilled enough to know how to leverage technology to collaborate and manage people. Learning to apply technology to primary HR functions such as integrating employee records with intranet collaboration services or developing talent based on real-time expertise will help enhance organisational performance.

Become a cognitive recruiter:

For a majority of employers, hiring and retaining top talent remains the biggest challenge. Leveraging data-driven cognitive technologies can equip HR to recognise applicant’s traits and characteristics, and match them with the organisational need. For example, using natural language processing, a cognitive tool can help a recruiter with resume scoring to automatically rank the best candidates for a certain role. This expedites the recruitment process and helps HR evaluate a much wider base of candidates - an otherwise arduous task to achieve through manual processes.

App up:

64% of employees credit mobile devices for their increased productivity, but according to Deloitte University Press, less than 20% of companies give employees access to HR apps. Building an HR app brings all human resource functions and communications onto a single platform. This empowers employees to access any information related to organisations’ new policies and provides insights into organisational priorities. You can take the app experience to next level by sending push notifications aimed at engaging employees in real time. For instance, using push notifications to disseminate information about job openings or other company news empowers employees to share them across their social networks – increasing reach.

Engage teams with data driven tools:

Employee productivity directly correlates to team engagement. Data driven tools can equip HR managers with a wealth of data and predictive analytics to predict employee performance, satisfaction and possible attrition rates. This, in turn, helps build better engagement strategies and create efficient and high performance teams. These tools also help analyse employees’ emotional commitment to the company by analysing data from engagement surveys. The end result: a more engaged workforce and lower turnover. As performance management becomes a top priority for organisations, HR must overcome out-dated practices and conventional structures to deliver successful outcomes. This means engaging various new age gears - such as technology tools for continuous performance management, feedback, and smart learning - that change the way people work, resulting in unprecedented value to the organisation.