9 HR Trends for 2018
What are the HR Trends of 2018 you ask? Last year has been a great year of change, in which we have witnessed numerous ups and downs in the HR and recruitment industry. It is not easy to understand whether the next wave will be a period of consolidation or innovation.
To understand the scenario of the recruitment industry, you need to broaden your view and analyze the most significant trends that are shaping the HR sector. According to leading experts, these are the top 2018 HR trends.
HR Trends 2018:
1. “Consumerisation” of HR
The business and consumer worlds began to merge some time ago, so much so that we can now talk about “consumerization”. Many employees already believe that the experience they have with technology in their workplace should be closer to the experience they have in the homes. “Bring your own device” is a mantra that is often repeated, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Human Resource is progressively adapting new technologies where user-experience is a key element, next generation recruitment software, such as applicant tracking systems, is the most significant example.
2. HR Analytics
Traditionally the HR function has not been a lover of numbers. But in the future, it will be more and more important to collect data and manage it in order to make timely analyses and more informed decisions based on data. We keep hearing more and more about lean analytics: simple, agile, and immediately applicable (actionable) indicators to make quick effective decisions.
3. Man-machine collaboration
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning developments are getting faster and faster. Some prominent experts argue that in many areas machines will replace humans. But in many others, close collaboration will be needed between the two, with the man who will program the machines to handle the most burdensome and repetitive tasks. And the same will happen in HR, for example in the search and selection of candidates where the spread of innovative recruitment software and HR suites will increase exponentially.
4. Candidates and Employee Experience
Experience is everything. Starting from this assumption many companies (such as Airbnb, GE and IBM) have realised how important it is to map and manage the entire candidate journey from the first application to onboarding within the company. But there is also an awareness of the importance of the Employee Experience: the company should proactively build a positive employee experience throughout the employee’s lifecycle, and today too few companies do so.
5. Employer Branding and Corporate Storytelling
If a company wants to attract the best talent it is important that it is able to create a credible narrative and explain clearly the reasons why candidates should work in their company rather than with competitors. An Employer Branding strategy can bring incredible results, both in recruitment and retention of talent.
6. Adversity to algorithms
Man-machine interaction also provokes strong negative emotions and a tendency towards an aversion from AI and algorithms. Even when the judgment of the algorithm proves to be better than the human one, it has been shown that people tend to prefer human judgment (especially their own judgment).
Aversion to algorithms is one of the most significant obstacles to using analytics in the HR field but can be reduced by giving people control over algorithm forecasts (and this will be the real future challenge of man-machine collaboration in the HR area).
7. Privacy Policy
Organisations have started collecting and aggregating more and more data (big data). This leads to new questions about how employee and candidate data management needs to be set up. New transnational rules, such as the EU privacy policy (which will come into force on 25 May 2018), are emerging to answer these questions. HR departments and everyone involved in recruiting will have to restructure the way they handle data. Finding a balance between regulatory requirements and business goals.
8. Integration of Different Technology Solutions
It is now clear that the use of technology solutions in HR and recruitment can simplify many everyday tasks. In the past, the large HR Omni-comprehensive suites proved to be inadequate, expensive and slow to implement. The 2018 trend will be to integrate a solid central HR system with vertical and innovative solutions for managing HR tasks (recruitment, payroll, performance, etc.).
9. Choose your 2018 HR TREND!
Each forecast is by its nature exposed to error. That’s why we ask you to tell us what the most important HR Trend will be for you in 2018 (send us an email: [email protected]).