Tag: #HRoftheFuture

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Embed digital transformation to invest in human relations

These days it is not that fancy anymore to call oneself HR or Human Resources. But in the end, we are still about the humans, about the employees, and I believe that this is something that should not be out of fashion at any time. Regardless what the discussion is about AI, about Automation, or about Outsourcing – people will be people and need to have a human connection – especially to HR. As you have read in one of my last posts “Do we need to rethink HR“, employees have spoken and the statistics say that the HR Experience Score has a big influence on the overall engagement and retention. This is something we should not deny. But at the same time, we must continue to bring the HR function into the 21st century and digitize the hell out of it. Is this a paradox? – No, I don’t think so and will tell you why.

Digital Mindset First

In today’s world, Digital is not only a hype or something that your IT department needs but what the whole company needs (I know, I am not the first one to call this out): a Digital Mindset first. And of course, who is better positioned to lead that change on something that is important for the whole company and each and every employee than HR?! – well, indeed, no one. But before you can actually do that, can actually be there, you have to yourself not only understand what Digital Mindset means, but also how to operationalize it daily in your day-to-day activities. Live it to share and teach it. Today, I don’t want to go into the company-wide enablement, but more into the HR focus of it.

Let’s start with a definition – what is Digital Mindset? – “A digital mindset is a set of attitudes and behaviors that enable people and organizations to see how data, algorithms, and AI open up new possibilities and to chart a path for success in a business landscape increasingly dominated by data-intensive and intelligent technologies.” (HBR article “Developing a Digital Mindset“). 

Why is it important to be Digital Mindset First?

It is for sure not easy to transform into such mindset, but it is important – in fact, I believe there is no way any HR role can be successful in the coming decade without a digital mindset first. We must be more agile and more data-savvy, must utilize more of all the information we have to provide a superior experience in all aspects of HR. In this, it doesn’t matter if you are in Operations, CoE or Business Partnering. The direction and focus might differ, but the foundational digital mindset is required in each and every aspect:

  • Business Partners need to be digital first to lead their functions into the digital first mindset and century. They need to showcase how this works in practice to “win-over” the function and make it happen. But they also need it in the ever changing and more complex HR world – without data-savviness, business partnering won’t be able to solve for the talent shortages, retention and hiring issues we slowly face (that’s right – I don’t think that what we feel and see now is in any way shape or form transitory. It will get worse with every year now.)
  • CoEs need to be digital first to move the talent practices of today into the digital age. With so much data and possibilities at hand, they need to analyze, understand and act quickly to adapt any practice to make it work better for the overall performance of the company. May that be in rewards, performance or engagement or any other talent practice
  • And last but not least, Operations – here I see even more need to be digital mindset first. Operations requires today still the biggest number of HR employees and so this area will itself feel the talent shortage heavily. To mitigate that, automation and smart datagraphs are required to reduce the manual work and requirements for “more” employees. At the same time, Operations sits at the heart of process and technology reengineering – and this by itself requires heavy digital mindset first utilization. And last, but not least, to stay true to the human relation and to “do” Employee Relationship Management, you need time and resources. Resources you will only get once you have automated the core HR Operations activities.

It will continue to stay true that HR won’t be allowed to “play” anywhere else on the enterprise agenda until the basics work flawless. You can throw resources at these foundational activities or you can be digital mindset first and find smart ways to automate, digitize and utilize artificial intelligence and like that create space for your HR Operations employees to invest in human relations and be Employee Relationship Managers. 

So what often is seen as the death of human interactions and the dehuminization of the organization in fact can and should lead to the opposite. A richer and more impactful relationship management which leads to increased engagement and performance. Digital mindset first and human relations are not opposites, but they need each other to be fully impactful in the HR function of the next decade. 

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Do we need to rethink HR?

I had the pleasure of visiting ADPReThink last week and enjoyed a fantastic presentation by Marcus Buckingham from the ADP Research Institute. You can find his research here. He has shared his latest research about employee sentiment, engagement,  performance and retention. The new twist that I haven‘t seen before is that he also assessed an HR Experience Score which was really interesting to see and understand. I will leave it to you to read more details about it here.

The interesting outcome is that this HR Experience Score is ver strongly related to Engagement and retention – in fact, 51% of the variance of HR Experience can be explained by Engagement. This means that we are much more important as a function than we probably give us credit for. I find this an amazing finding while at the same time it makes me pause and look back to what we did with our function in the recent years.

The problem

We basically reduced ourselves into an operational arm that focuses on efficiency and effectiveness in delivering HR services and a business partnering arm that partners with senior leaders to review and define (people) strategy as well as help managers bringing this strategy into practice. – ok, we also have the CoE arm, but this one plays anyway behind the scenes and a regular employee only sees the results of this through the HR services and the business partnering.

But…what Marcus found is that in fact, employees want more than just services delivered. They look for much more in HR – and if they don‘t get this, the HR Experience is low and with it Engagement and retention. Employees want support from HR, want to have a trusted partner in HR, someone that cares about their career, well-being, performance and progress – outside the direct work environment that is manager controlled. Wow, employees want an HR person that knows and cares about them. Now that I write it, it is not so absurd. But still – did anyone consider this in recent years?

Reconsider what HR is about

This epiphany let me reconsider how we should think about HR and how we should reconsider the actual tasks we want HR delivering – and HOW we deliver these tasks. Don‘t get me wrong, I don‘t want to turn time back to the heavily staffed HR department of generalists. I still believe that these times are over. But I believe we need to reconsider a new role in our set-up. We should one more time look at other functions how they treat and care for their stakeholders, their consumers, their customers. The one that comes to my mind particularly here is sales and how they care about their customers and prospects.

ERM – Employee Relationship Management

We should install a new process of Employee Relationship Management. A process where we are not reactively delivering a service that an employee wants or has a need for, like requiring a verification letter or an update to their personal data, but a process that is part pro-active and mainly future focused. A process where we as HR create a relationship with our employees built on trust and common goals. Different from what we built in the past, we need to be again a function with a face, a function with a clear go to person for each employee. And this person should be a familiar name to the employee – and not the „next agent that is available“.
We need to change our approach and approachability. But not through installing local, F2F HR generalists that are again available for each and everything an employee wants – but something new, something different in line with our current aspiration as I believe this is a twist and not a reinvention of what we have been doing. I will talk about it more in my next post. – but what are your thoughts?

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Too much Analytics?

What is the biggest hype in HR today? – ok, truth is, there are a few, but HR & Workforce analytics are at the top of almost every HR Pro these days. And not only there – look at the leading HR software providers of Oracle, Workday and SAP SuccessFactors. What are they telling us as top of the line innovation and differentiation? – Analytics.
I am an HR Pro for some time already and I have to say that a few years back I would have been grateful fur such armadas of analytics, was actually craving for them. Today I am in a different place – why? I am worried that Analytics alienate us from our function and that it alienates people manager from their workforces even more than before. What are the issues?
Analytics everywhere – where is the human?
We are driving into a direction where it is easy to lose the individual employee in the ocean of analytics. Loose what a single employee cares about, feels, needs, etc. – We will know more about our workforce, but less about our colleague “next door” because we rely on the numbers we have at our fingertips rather than just “ask” our colleagues.

Do you speak Analytics?
Analytics is not just a report or a few numbers. It requires a lot of understanding, of education to really be able to interpret them. The issue with analytics is that on first sight they seem to be easy to understand and you can act – it is mathematical right? A simple equation. – actually, no. It is not. Who in your organization speaks “Analytics”? Truly everyone who has or will have access to them? Most likely not – in fact, it is a new skill to learn, a new language to speak.

Are you taking your own decisions? Or do you let the numbers decide?
The danger is high that managers and HR hide behind numbers and analytics to decide and defend decisions – even if the outcome is wrong. The tendency to go down this route is easy. Analytics and numbers bring you a black on white picture of the world, what was successful in the past and what wasn’t – why shouldn’t we blindly follow? Because any number, any analytic is based only on the facts of yesterday – and on predictions from someone for the future. This someone can be wrong – or right. But in any case it needs judgement to follow or not follow what the numbers are telling.
Tell me for yourself? Are Analytics a threat or an opportunity? – I believe its both, but it needs to be learned and implemented with care. It is a new concept, a new language to learn. Check your thinking here at HBR.

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What's on for HR in 2019

A new year has started – it is still fresh, and so let’s look at it from the perspective of HR. I know, I am not the first one to do so, but have my fair opinion to share.

2018 as a year in not only HR but our global economy was a difficult one – but all in all successful. It was though already impacted by recession signs and negative policies (e.g. tariffs, beginning trade wars, etc.). 2019 will see, I am certain, unfortunately much more of this. The US will move on further with their “America first” policy, and important countries like Brazil and Italy with their new right-wing governments will have another hit at our economy. Also, the current economic upswing is already lasting for almost 10 years. This is a crazy long time, so let’s get ready for a correction.

During economic corrections, the work of HR is a not so nice one. It is about lay-offs and cost-cutting. And as much as these topics are not sexy, it is important “how” we handle them as HR professionals. – it is our imperative to make these typical recession steps not about the recession, but about the next upswing. We are setting the stage for the next growth (or not).

(1) Be smart about cost-cutting

Very often, we are asked to cut down on all HR costs – regardless what they are. We need to be smart here and ensure that cost cutting does not hurt the long-term strategy and success of the company. Don’t cut to harsh into development of your people as they are the key to future success. Recession is the time of investment to be ready for the next upswing. This is counterintuitive, especially when you talk to your CFO – but if we in HR are not taking care about future readiness, no one will.
Recruiting is the next typical cost cutter: Hiring freeze. Don’t go there. This will hurt your employer brand and people won’t apply at your company anymore. In a recession, smart talent is more available and easier to recruit than in any other time. Keep your doors open and get the right talent in to make the next upswing (don’t wait for it to come to you, M A K E it).

(2) Utilize the opportunity to refresh (the right way)

I am sure that you had already analysed what is going well and what is not going well in your organization. But it is hard to persuade colleagues when things go well. But now the time has come to make bold moves, to change structures and re-organize, if required to transform. Let’s set this up for new success.

(3) Ensure that the tone is set in the right way

Be sure to set a positive tone throughout any action. Make sure it is not about “surviving the recession” but about “setting up for success”. It is important to keep morale and trust high in these times – especially to keep your key-talent on board. They will be the first ones to leave, keep them and place them in charge of success. The messaging is at least as important as the actual actions you take.

I strongly believe that these are our HR imperatives most likely needed for 2019. We need to understand the situation and of course support what is needed and right to do – but if we as HR are not taking care about setting up for the future, not sure who will. Recessions are huge opportunities to be even more successful. This is what needs to be understood. They are not a threat. – regardless of what others say. Let’s be the architect of the future – once again – and see 2019 as a huge opportunity.