It’s fair to say that at the start of 2020, few would have predicted the turmoil to come. A global pandemic was simply not on anyone’s radar, and those who did anticipate such a disruptive, game-changing event were probably not taken seriously. Such is the nature of forecasting in such a rapidly changing world – the risk of getting it wrong has never been higher.

Read on for our five emerging trends that will shape the HR profession in 2021.

Trend #1 – HR will consolidate – and build upon – the strides made in 2020

Few issues have tested one profession’s mettle quite like COVID-19 has tested HR. Tasked with handling everything from troublesome technology and team-building to sickness, furloughs, poor mental health, low morale and new ways of undertaking and assessing work tasks, HR proved itself the go-to, unifying function in a crisis.

So, what does this ultimately mean for the profession? In years to come, will 2020 be noted as a significant break-through year for the profession? Evidence suggests the answer is “yes”.

Trend #2 – Adoption of a ‘dynamic skills approach’ will escalate

Instead of predicting the future, a dynamic skills approach anticipates skill shifts as they are occurring in real time, and adapts to those shifts in an iterative, course-corrective way.

A dynamic skills approach calls for two-way skills transparency between the organisation (e.g. what skills it needs, what skills it no longer needs, or where its needs are unknown) and the employee (e.g. current skills and interests). HR is then able to create channels for employees and the organisation to exchange skills information, which facilitates a better match between employees and their organisation to pursue mutually beneficial and flexible skills development.

Ultimately, a dynamic skills approach helps HR sense shifting skills requirements in real time, develop skills at the time of need, and empowers employees to make informed skills decisions. According to Gartner, this dynamic approach leads to employees applying 75% of the new skills they learn and can result in a 24% improvement in overall employee performance.

The shortcomings of traditional performance management processes have been acknowledged for some time, to the extent that appraisals have become maligned by both managers and employees.

Trend #3 – ‘Hyper-automation’ will fast-track digital process adoption

Hyper-automation allows organisations to augment humans and automate as many business and IT processes as possible using advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA). Hyper-automation extends across a range of tools that can be automated, but also refers to the sophistication of the automation. That is, the tasks to be automated.

A good example is the recruitment function. Automation has already helped with job ad placement and resume screening. More sophisticated uses of technology in recruitment include chatbots that engage with candidates and AI-driven face screening that analyses candidate reactions during interviews. The next step is to integrate the technology used at each step of the hiring process and automate processes even more. Integrated HR platforms are already helping organisations to do this – by linking, for example, the recruitment and onboarding functions, and extending through to the learning & development functions of business.

When basic HR tasks are automated, the HR function can shift from being a supportive and mainly transactional department to a business-driven, strategic department.

Tasked with handling everything from troublesome technology and team-building to sickness, furloughs, poor mental health, low morale and new ways of undertaking and assessing work tasks, HR proved itself the go-to, unifying function in a crisis.

Trend #4 – Performance management will finally catch up to agile business operations

It makes logical sense that as workplaces reinvent themselves, so too must the processes that enable employees to excel in this brave new world. However, there’s one stubborn process stuck in time, and that is performance management – specifically, performance appraisals. Born in the 1970s, traditional end-of-year appraisals are clearly not up to the task. The shortcomings of traditional performance management processes have been acknowledged for some time, to the extent that appraisals have become maligned by both managers and employees.

IBM identified the reinvention of performance management as a key component of the profession’s shift to “HR 3.0”.

Key characteristics of this approach are:

• Shorter-term goals
• Continuous feedback
• Multi-dimensional assessment or no assessment
• Managers accountable for ratings and conversations
• Results being used to coach employees to higher performance, continual skill building and internal opportunities
• Mobile applications and tools allowing for continuous feedback and updates

Trend #5 – Workplace cultures will reform and reset post-pandemic

Since the pandemic, some leaders have been forced to ask tough questions. For example, did the choices and actions taken during the height of the crisis reflect our culture and the values that define us? If not, where was the disconnect?

Other leaders may be asking how many of their organisational values are contingent on everyone sitting in the same room. How can one demonstrate a value like “continuous innovation”, for example, if the ideation process is dependent on everyone being in the office?

COVID-19 confirmed that many entities and individuals can work effectively in a crisis. However, a popular meme circulating post-pandemic highlighted the need to take a fresh look at all aspects of life: “In the rush to return to normal, use the time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.”

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Navigate the year ahead with our highly anticipated 2021 HR Trends eBook, packed with the latest insights. Download the full copy here.

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Vincent Van Gogh once famously said that “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” That is, it’s the small steps, carried out over time, that collectively build up to achieve greatness.

The same can be said when it comes to innovation. Long-term innovation success is not determined by random sparks of creative genius. Rather, it comes from the collective behaviours exhibited by the people in the organisation, day in, day out. Ultimately, innovation success, starts with having the right people, embodying the right behaviours consistently over time.

So, what are these behaviours and how can you foster them in your team? Below are four behaviours that you should look for, support and build in your people to ensure that innovation thrives in your organisation.

Those with a learning orientation see failure as an opportunity to build their knowledge and understanding. Therefore, they are likely to explore more disruptive solutions and tend to be more resilient in the face of failure.

Curiosity
Contrary to popular belief, innovation doesn’t start with an idea, it starts with a problem. A customer problem to be exact. And finding the right customer problems for innovation requires two things: firstly, customer closeness and secondly, curiosity.

The best innovators stay close to their customers and have a very good understanding of what’s most important to them. They observe their customers, work hard to build empathy and have frequent customer conversations. They are inquisitive and remain curious about why customers behave in certain ways and think about how they can better serve them.

To foster these behaviours in your team, the best place to start is by getting close to your customers. Customer closeness naturally breeds curiosity, as it encourages the team to think about what’s most important to them and importantly, why. So, make it a habit for you and the team to regularly get out and speak with your customers.

Collaborators
Science has repeatedly shown that diversity promotes creativity. Diversity of people, backgrounds, experiences and skills all contribute to more creative solutions. Therefore, great innovators are also great collaborators. They are well networked; constantly seeking input, thoughts and ideas from others, both inside and outside of the organisation.

Most importantly, managers need to role model these behaviours, in order to encourage them in the team. Make sure that you are connecting and collaborating with people from other areas of the business as well as externally. Try to create forums and meetings which encourage cross-functional collaboration and help to build your team’s network. And importantly, don’t attempt to solve important business and innovation challenges from behind your desk.

Flexibility
Innovation outcomes are unpredictable, and the process of innovation comes with a healthy dose of ambiguity. For this reason, the best innovators are flexible. They are willing to change paths, course correct and explore different solutions.

To foster flexibility in your team, make sure that you are rewarding the right outcomes. In particular, make sure that your goals and performance metrics are not attached to particular solutions. Instead, they should encourage exploration and experimentation of lots of different solutions.

Contrary to popular belief, innovation doesn’t start with an idea, it starts with a problem. A customer problem to be exact. And finding the right customer problems for innovation requires two things: firstly, customer closeness and secondly, curiosity.

Learning oriented
Given the unpredictability of innovation, those with a learning orientation are typically better innovators. This is because the path to innovation success can be bumpy and will likely include some failures along the way. Those with a learning orientation see failure as an opportunity to build their knowledge and understanding. Therefore, they are likely to explore more disruptive solutions and tend to be more resilient in the face of failure.

One way to encourage a learning mindset in your team, is to send them clear signals that it’s OK to fail. It’s important to re-frame failure as a learning opportunity, rather than as a reflection of poor performance.

Ultimately, innovation success requires deliberate efforts to nurture the right behaviours in your team. Only when your team master these behaviours and they become habitual will innovation start to have a meaningful impact on the business.

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There’s no doubt of the importance of innovation in helping businesses navigate their way out of the COVID-19 storm. Whether experienced innovators or not, most businesses have had to adapt; course correct and quickly seize new opportunities in order to survive. And this is exactly what innovation is all about. Innovation can be defined as ‘change that adds value’. And it will play a significant role well into the future, in getting businesses back to growth.

For innovation to be truly transformative, it requires cultural change. Innovation has to be supported by the right values, behaviours and processes for it to have a meaningful impact. Having a well-defined innovation process is an important first step in building a culture of innovation.

Facilitating a top-down approach to innovation also helps ensure that the bottom-up ideas submitted by employees are strategically aligned. And this has many benefits. Importantly, the innovation process is much more efficient, as employee efforts are only focused on the most important areas.

There are two pathways for an innovation process; bottom-up and top-down.
Bottom-up innovation is where ideas originate from employees and they identify opportunities through their day-to-day operations. Inspiring bottom up innovation is essential because often, it is the people on the ‘front line’ who identify the biggest opportunities.

Top-down innovation, on the other hand, is driven from senior management and provides focus for innovation efforts. It ensures that resources are dedicated to the areas of most importance to the business.

Both top-down and bottom-up innovation are equally important. Particularly right now, when any resources need to have maximum impact.

Bottom-up innovation is often seen as the easier approach.
It’s critical that a business’s innovation process supports both bottom-up and top-down innovation. Unfortunately, what often happens, is businesses initially take a bottom-up approach to innovation as it’s seen as the easier pathway to facilitate. They might roll out a new innovation platform and encourage employees to submit their ideas. Or perhaps they put out an ‘ideas box’ in the hope that it will help identify the next big, transformational opportunity for their business.

However, what tends to happen with this approach, if done in isolation, is that the ideas submitted end up ranging from having ‘three ply toilet paper’ in the bathrooms to ‘casual Fridays’. The breadth of the ideas submitted is often huge, in terms of both quality as well as their potential business impact. You end up getting lots of ideas that the business has zero inclination or resources to implement. And this is where taking a purely bottom-up approach to innovation often falls down.

Bottom-up innovation alone, risks disengaging employees.
Unless very clear guidelines are communicated to employees about the types of ideas the business is looking for, a bottom-up approach can end up doing more harm than good. Many of the ideas submitted are unviable, unfeasible or misaligned to the business strategy, and therefore don’t ever see the light of day. Employees who submitted the ideas end up feeling disheartened and then disengaged in the innovation process entirely.

The breadth of the ideas submitted is often huge, in terms of both quality as well as their potential business impact. You end up getting lots of ideas that the business has zero inclination or resources to implement. And this is where taking a purely bottom-up approach to innovation often falls down.

Therefore, for an innovation process to drive cultural change, it must also support a top-down approach to innovation. Leaders play a crucial role in determining and communicating the innovation focus areas. And this ensures that the business’s innovation resources are dedicated to the strategic imperatives.

Top-down innovation improves the likelihood of your ideas being implemented.
Facilitating a top-down approach to innovation also helps ensure that the bottom-up ideas submitted by employees are strategically aligned. And this has many benefits. Importantly, the innovation process is much more efficient, as employee efforts are only focused on the most important areas. Secondly, it improves the likelihood of implementation of the ideas submitted. Which in turn, re-engages your employees in the innovation process. And as we all know, any cultural change, requires your employees to come along on the journey with you.

Whatever you do, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that innovation is optional. While it might be tempting to throw open the ideas box and seek ideas and inspiration from your employees, make sure that this is balanced with clear communication around your innovation focus areas. Because three ply toilet paper just isn’t going to cut it right now.

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The devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged many businesses and put technologies and systems to the test. Those businesses that had invested in modern HR systems were well-positioned to adapt to the ever-changing environment and keep employees engaged and informed and were able to make changes to human resourcing plans quickly. Those that were using out of date clunky systems struggled.

At a time when speed and agility have never been more critical, CHROs need to ask critical questions about business agility and if they are able to respond quickly to change. They need to ask; do we have the right systems in place to take a lead and adapt and respond to the new normal?

These challenges were captured in a recent study involving almost 200 organisations in Australia and New Zealand. Titled the Workday Digital Agility Index, and conducted in partnership with IDC, it showed that nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of organisations admitted they struggled to realign organisation structures, or to track people skill sets for special taskforces during COVID-19. The same proportion said it was difficult to make changes to their HR plans, budgets, and forecasts during COVID-19.

It is undeniable that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus the importance for businesses to be digitally agile. Businesses in all sectors have been significantly impacted and have had to make changes, rapidly, to their business structure and in how they manage their people.

Ask the critical questions
At a time when speed and agility have never been more critical, CHROs need to ask critical questions about business agility and if they are able to respond quickly to change. They need to ask; do we have the right systems in place to take a lead and adapt and respond to the new normal? Is my current system allowing me to properly support the business? Do I have access to the right data? Am I able to plan? Can I track employee health status?

COVID-19 has shown us that with the right technology backbone and insights, organisations can be agile, they can make strategic and informed decisions to mitigate business risk, take advantage of opportunities, and they can plan for the future.

Navigating change with agility
Flinders University is one organisation that understands the importance of agility. The higher education sector has faced enormous challenges over the past few years with enrolments falling, planned faculty consolidations and students and employees demanding self-service and better experiences, they have had to adapt to changing demands to survive.

Over the past three years, Flinders University invested significant time and resources into creating an agile culture at the university, not just focusing on the technology, and this ensured business continuity and allowed them to adapt quickly to change when they had to close their campus due to COVID-19.

According to Kerrie Campbell, CIO, Flinders University, “this was crucial when we were confronted with this unprecedented disruption to our operations, as it meant that we possessed the agile mindset and had empowered our staff to be able to cope with the state of flux the pandemic created.”

The devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged many businesses and put technologies and systems to the test. Those businesses that had invested in modern HR systems were well-positioned to adapt to the ever-changing environment and keep employees engaged and informed and were able to make changes to human resourcing plans quickly.

Streamlining WFH for entire workforce
Flinders University already supported flexible work arrangements and had policies in place that enabled remote work, but when COVID-19 hit, they had to make sure the entire workforce was ready to work from home. This included running people through policies and processes, some of whom had never worked from home before, to ensure they understood what was needed.

Flinders University implemented Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) to make life easier for its people and remove time consuming administrative processes. They did not know COVID-19 was around the corner when they started their transformation, but because they had implemented new technology and adopted a digitally agile mindset, Flinders University was able to navigate the COVID-19 environment and properly support its people.

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Like with any big change initiative, when it comes to embedding an innovation culture you must first start with your people. Making sure that your team is on board with the innovation journey, is absolutely critical to the success of any innovation efforts.

Middle managers, in particular, are in a unique position when it comes to innovation; they’re close enough to day-to-day operations to know where the critical problems are but removed enough from frontline work to see the bigger picture. They also play an essential role in maintaining employee motivation and focus around innovation.

Try demonstrating how innovation can support them in their current role. Outline the specific objectives that could benefit from creative and innovative thinking.

Yet too often, middle managers are forgotten or circumvented when it comes to embedding innovation within an organisation. Instead, the focus is on engaging senior leaders and training up employees. Yet without the support of middle managers, employee’s innovation efforts are often stifled, and they end up reverting to more immediate priorities.

Below are 5 ways to ensure that your middle managers are engaged and on board with your innovation journey.

1. Incentivise innovation
   Middle managers are often incentivised (and therefore focussed) on shorter-term goals and business challenges. Because of this, many don’t have the time, resources, or patience to focus on innovation. Therefore, incentivising your middle managers around innovation is critical. Whether that be by including ‘innovation’ in their performance metrics or rewarding them in some other way. The main thing is to make sure that you are encouraging your middle managers to focus on both short-term business needs, as well as longer-term growth opportunities.

2. Demonstrate how innovation relates to their priorities
   Often one of the biggest barriers to middle managers prioritising innovation, is that they can’t see how it directly relates to their role and objectives. Many see it as extra work that takes valuable resource away from business-critical activities. Therefore, try demonstrating how innovation can support them in their current role. Outline the specific objectives that could benefit from creative and innovative thinking. And help demonstrate that innovation is a tool that can be applied to all sorts of day-to-day business challenges.

3. Make innovation easy and practical
   Disruptive innovation gets a lot of airtime in the space of innovation. The term ‘disruptive’ has almost become the symbol of innovation success. Because of this, it often biases people’s perception of what innovation is. This perception that innovation is only about large, disruptive-type initiatives often deters middle managers from getting involved. Therefore, the key is to make innovation practical and easy. Demonstrate how innovation can be used to make tweaks to existing products and services. And how the principles and tools of innovation can be applied in smaller, more practical ways.

4. Keep innovation top of mind
   It’s highly probable that innovation isn’t top-of-mind for most middle managers, unless it directly relates to their role. They have their heads down, focused on more immediate priorities. Therefore, keeping innovation top of mind is critical. The leadership team plays an important role in making sure that messaging around the importance of innovation is consistently communicated, and that middle managers are actively engaged. You can also assign responsibility to your middle managers to communicate the innovation priorities to the broader business.

Middle managers, in particular, are in a unique position when it comes to innovation; they’re close enough to day-to-day operations to know where the critical problems are but removed enough from frontline work to see the bigger picture.

5. Build confidence around innovation
   Often middle managers don’t get involved in innovation because they simply don’t have the confidence or skills to do so. While they might not need the same hands-on training that their team members do, building their understanding around the ‘what’, ‘why, and ‘how’ of innovation will help get them on board and more engaged. Spend time helping them understand the fundamentals of innovation and how and when the innovation process can be applied in their role.

Employing these five strategies will help ensure that your middle managers become backers rather than blockers of your innovation efforts.

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While there has been a lot of talk about when things will go back to normal or when we’ll adapt to the new normal, those conversations are fundamentally missing the point. Right now, we have the opportunity to come back better, stronger, and more inclusive than ever.

This view is supported by the World Economic Forum, which stated in April 2020 “building the necessary infrastructure to support a digitised world and stay current in the latest technology will be essential for any business to remain competitive post COVID-19.”

Listening and taking action creates a culture of growth and positive transformation. It means you will not be caught off-guard by issues that have been brewing for some time and can prioritise addressing issues that matter.

And it’s a view echoed by the workforce in Australia, with more than half of workers (55 per cent) in the Qualtrics Work Different study expecting their industry will change for the better due to the changes being implemented in response to the pandemic.

There are early signs businesses in Australia and across the globe are moving in the right direction. The Qualtrics study found the majority of people in Australia say their employer’s response to the pandemic has been above average.

One of the key drivers that this can be attributed to is that during the pandemic leaders instinctively provided visibility and transparency within their organisations. They listened and communicated more frequently, and showed they cared about their people by taking actions that reflected their concerns and feedback.

Despite the strong start, businesses cannot afford to take their foot off the gas. There is more change ahead as people start to trickle back to the workplace. While restrictions will eventually lift, expectations have changed forever as a result of the pandemic.

To ensure businesses continue to move forward, it’s now a critical time for HR leaders to formalise the human-centred approach adopted with employees in the initial response to COVID-19.

The journey to a new better
The first – and most important – step to making the new normal the new better is listening to employees and taking action. It’s essential that leaders listen to their employees to understand what’s working and what’s not.

This point is echoed by Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Leader, who said “listening is incredibly important. Especially in a world of virtual and remote work. If you do not have the ability to listen, you cannot be a leader.”

Listening is also incredibly important to your workforce – especially during times of change. More than three quarters (78 per cent) of workers in the Qualtrics study think it’s very important their employers listen to their feedback during a crisis. However, only half of workers in Australia say their employer has listened and acted on feedback more so during the pandemic.

With situations changing at a rapid rate, organisations need to regularly listen and engage with their workforce – in some cases weekly or even daily – to determine what actions to take. For example, at Qualtrics we discovered early on in the pandemic our global workforce wanted more frequent communications at a time when we thought we were already over-communicating.

The four stages to the new better
Changing the way leaders listen to a workforce and act on their feedback in this new reality presents an opportunity for leaders to build a new better.

In our study, Qualtrics found just under half of employers (49 per cent) have not taken steps to act on feedback more than before the pandemic.

By using modern employee listening platforms, HR leaders can get access to real-time insights outlining employee needs and concerns which can help them determine what actions to take.

As businesses start to plan for the return to the office, four key stages that must be kept in mind are:

• Stage 1: React – This is your immediate response to major change, when you’re listening more and taking action to address evolving situations
• Stage 2: Explore – Many businesses are currently in this stage. At this time you are planning to reopen workplaces, meaning listening is critical to understanding what actions people want to see for them to feel safe
• Stage 3: Reorient – Changes in behaviours begins to settle at this point. As things stabilise you need to understand what changes have remained and how to reposition offerings and messaging
• Stage 4: Normalise – This is your new better, where you will need to realign operations to meet new expectations

Atlassian is one example of a business reaping the rewards for listening regularly to their employees. The company recently gave insight at Qualtrics’ Work Different Event on how it is working differently during the pandemic, discovering its familiarity with working remotely wasn’t an immediate advantage.

“We learnt quickly that our habits were baked in being part of an office. A lot of habits didn’t work in a remote fashion. [Now] we practice stuff, if it works, we do more of it. If it doesn’t, we roll it back,” said Dom Price, Work Futurist.

“If we design this on purpose, we can build environments that are more inclusive than ever before. You get access to a whole new talent base that has amazing ideas, amazing backgrounds, and amazing innovation – we’ve just not tapped into them yet.”

There is more change ahead as people start to trickle back to the workplace. While restrictions will eventually lift, expectations have changed forever as a result of the pandemic.

The new better
It’s one thing to listen, but to really drive positive change leaders need to take action. Think about it like a gym membership or subscription service – you might have it but you get the real rewards when you put it to use.

Listening and taking action creates a culture of growth and positive transformation. It means you will not be caught off-guard by issues that have been brewing for some time and can prioritise addressing issues that matter.

Employees value this behaviour and as we move to an increasingly permanent model of working across locations, it’s clear employees won’t want to see it disappear. Listening and acting is key to ensuring the new normal is the new better.

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A key theme that has emerged from the way organisations are responding to COVID-19 is “putting people first.” That’s exactly where talent analytics should focus, enabling business leaders to make informed decisions that will sustain the business in the long-term while retaining talent that will position it for a fast recovery.

To do this, talent analytics needs to leverage diverse internal and external data sources to identify critical decisions the business needs to make and ensure that they are made correctly, both for the business and employees.

Most talent analytics functions rely on business leaders to identify critical questions that talent analytics can answer. However, in a time when business leaders are themselves surrounded by uncertainties, talent analytics can help them make future talent and business decisions more confidently.

There are five ways it can help.

1. To inform critical staffing and workforce planning decisions. 

Many organisations have had to make tough decisions in recent months to lay off, stand down or reduce the hours of employees. Others have had to ramp up hiring rapidly to handle exponential spikes in demand. Organisations are making these contingency decisions without knowing for sure whether or when the situation will return to normal or even what “normal” will look like.

Talent analytics can use internal data on skills needs and external perspectives to inform workforce planning decisions, considering not only labour costs and immediate needs, but also the critical skills the organisation needs to retain to continue operating in the mid-to-long term.

2. To enable employee performance and productivity in a remote environment. 

It is nearly impossible for managers to directly see what their remote employees are doing and what challenges they’re facing. This is a perfect opportunity for talent analytics to support stronger employee-manager relations.

Most organisations have invested in virtual communication platforms like Slack, Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and of course, everyone uses email. These technologies generate a wealth of data on how employees communicate and collaborate with each other. Talent analytics can analyse digital communication patterns and utilisation data to understand how employees collaborate and with whom, as well as the barriers they encounter along the way.

For example, managers might find out that their direct reports are not completing assigned tasks on time because they are collaborating too much. Gartner research shows that employees who receive more than seven informal requests for help per week are more likely to report friction in their work environments that keeps them from getting their work done.

3. Manage employee engagement and well-being. 

Analysis of employee communication and connections not only helps organisations manage employee performance but can also help support employees’ mental well-being by identifying those experiencing collaboration fatigue or isolation. This is not about analysing what employees are saying, which can easily cross the line from reasonable employee monitoring to an invasion of privacy, but rather monitoring the tone employees use in their communications.

Analytics can also help detect when remote employees are overworking. In late March, for example, early data showed that U.S. employees had been spending an average of three additional hours per day on business VPNs since the pandemic began. Internal data, including information as simple as how many work emails are being sent after 6PM, can alert managers to burnout risks.

These techniques have traditionally focused on supporting managers, but the data can also help employees to manage their own productivity in real-time. For example, Microsoft Outlook now provides its users with weekly reports about their collaboration patterns and networks based on their calendar data.

4. To determine how to bring employees back into the workplace

Business leaders are now asking when employees should return to work — or in the case of remote workers, to their physical workplaces. Most organisations are relying on government directives. However, analytics can use other external data sources to determine whether infrastructure like public transport, schools and childcare facilities are operating at adequate levels. Organisations can also survey employees to gauge their confidence in returning to work and understand any concerns or misgivings they may have.

5. To maintain ethics and integrity in extraordinary circumstances. 

Yes, the shift to remote work makes a lot of new data available. But collecting employee data just for the sake of having it is always ethically risky and often counterproductive, especially right now, when employees are already stressed about their health, family and job security. It will also harm the organisation’s reputation when those practices inevitably become public knowledge.

Think about what specific business decision you need this data for. Be transparent with employees about what you are measuring and why, and how you intend to use it. Gartner research shows that many employees are comfortable with their organisations using this data if HR has clearly communicated how the organisation is using it and employees have confidence that it will help improve their experience and performance on the job.

None of these five strategies are new to talent analytics, but their application has been limited, as most organisations never had the resources or impetus to invest in them. The pandemic has forced massive numbers of employees to shift to remote work, and many of them will continue to work remotely after it has passed. This opens doors for talent analytics to expand its reach and impact throughout the organisation, building foundations for many years to come.

“5 ways talent analytics help organisations make better business decisions” was co-written by Jasleen Kaur & Aaron McEwan of Gartner

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In the name of employment security, many workers are facing the unsettling prospect of taking on new unfamiliar roles or new facets to their old role. It has left HR with an important role to play smoothing the transition to protect the wellbeing of their people and the future of their organisation.

Re-skilling for resilience
Even before the pandemic, changing technologies and skills gaps made re-skilling an emerging priority for companies. The 2019 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report, Leading the social enterprise: Reinvent with a human focus advised, “Organisations can no longer expect to source and hire enough people with all the capabilities they need; they must move and develop people internally to be able to thrive.”

Then came 2020’s extraordinary circumstances added urgency with new requirements to meet safety compliance, working from home arrangements, e-commerce based demands and to compensate for the shutting down of entire operations.

In a few short months, the ante has been well and truly upped on realigning employees with new responsibilities and activities.

“Companies need to invest in their people. That’s how many companies will survive this crisis and become stronger.” – Carol Stubbings, Joint Global Leader for People and Organisation, Partner, PwC UK PwC Talent Trends 2020 report, Upskilling: Building confidence in an uncertain world.

Overcoming fear and reluctance
For some, positional pivots are a welcome turn of events. Many employees feel fortunate to escape redundancy and they relish additional challenges. New roles and career changes often result in increased productivity, performance, and motivation.

However, others have undoubtedly been left feeling disappointed, fearful, and compromised. Change may be a fact of life but being coerced out of one’s comfort zone is bound to cause anxiety and discomfort.

Of course, the HR professional has not been excluded from this upheaval. Many industry experts are heralding a new age of Chief Well-being Officers and other functions that focus on remote working facilitation and resilience coaching to name a few.

(Roles that are already currently well underway widely across industries – either in an official capacity or within a broader HR title.)

4 motivators for role re-imagination
From a psychological standpoint – whether imparted to others or for the purpose of our own internal pep talks – we can draw on reassuring data and self-motivational tools to reframe fear of career reinvention. For example:

Look inwards: Make the mental shift by doing a self-inventory of personal strengths and talents, skills, and accomplishments. Use them as anecdotal proof of capability and potential to leverage them in new ways.

“What you attend to in this moment becomes your reality.” – William James

Remember, career re-invention is now an expectation not a failure: Human behaviour research in recent years has indicated that school leavers are expected to have 17 different employers in their lifetime. Based on three jobs before upskilling or career changing, they will also have five different careers.

Take inspiration from mature age career trends: A study from the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) found that 82 per cent of adults aged 47 plus made successful career transformations.

Think about your company’s history of achievement: Use your employer’s past success stories as indication of a positive future. Reflect on how the company has overcome challenges and embraced innovative new practices in the past and apply that to ongoing identity and purpose.

My favourite example of reinvention is …
Of course, reinventions can be more than positional pivots, they can be inspirational and interesting.

Ahead of the HR and L&D Virtual Innovation & Tech Fest, 5 industry experts set to deliver their incredible insights into the reinvention of the workplace shared the examples of reinvention that they love.

Heather McGowan – Future of Work Strategist and Co-Author of The Adaptation Advantage (USA): Victorinox has made swiss army knives since 1880. After 9/11 they lost 40 per cent of their business because people could no longer fly with knives. They did not lay anyone off and instead they took the same philosophy of the utility of the pocketknife and applied it to watches, bags, and travel gear. Knives now only represent 55 per cent.

Taryn Marie Stejskal – – Chief Resilience Officer (CRO), Resilience Leadership (USA):  For me, reinvention isn’t a once and for all metamorphosis, but a continual process over time of listening to the voice within and becoming the people we are meant to become. At age 40 Stan Lee had just published his first comic book, Vera Wang had just started in fashion, Samuel L. Jackson hadn’t starred in a movie yet, and Julia Child was still working in advertising. It’s never too late to start or start again.

Jaymie Ling – Acting Director of Customer Experience and Payroll, HealthShare NSW: My favourite reinvented person right now is Jocko Willink – he is a reinvented Navy Seal commander who now teaches leadership and general awesomeness.

James Dellow, Founder and Director, Chief Technology Solutions: Bill Gates – from founder of the world’s largest software business to philanthropist focused on tackling health and poverty.

Bruce Mackenzie – Founder & Managing Director, Humanforce: Haier sent out employees to see how customers used and responded to their recently released washing machine. They found that many rural farmers used the washing machine to wash potatoes and other vegetables. Haier’s CEO Ruimin finessed the washing machine to make sure that the vegetables could be safely washed.

REGISTER by COB 8 July for FREE access to the HR and L&D Virtual Innovation & Tech Fest taking place 7-8 July – you can watch and interact live or watch the recordings for a limited time at a later date.

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After several months of working from home, it’s starting to become much more clear what our “new normal” might look like – and it is indeed very new for the vast majority of organisations previously accustomed to having all of their employees working from a central office-based location. After all, many employees are now likely to never again work from the office full time while others will be returning to a much-changed office environment.

A shift in routine of this magnitude creates a whole host of new considerations for workers and the businesses they work for – and therefore for human resources professionals. From bolstering culture and engagement amongst increasingly hybrid teams, to ensuring compliance with new workplace health and safety rules and supporting those who may be experiencing mental health challenges or anxiety. In Civica’s most recent employee survey, more than a quarter (26 per cent) of employees said they have concerns about working from an office post-lockdown.

Rather than getting caught up in the latest shiny new HR program, we must focus our attention on going to the heart of what our stakeholders need and solving their challenges in innovative ways.

Hybrid approach
Communication will be a huge priority. In a “future normal”, one of the greatest tests we’ll face as HR professionals relates to preserving culture and keeping staff connected to our vision, strategy and values. More of our leaders’ time will be spent on employee engagement and doing it effectively will require more deliberate planning.

Leaders will need to place more importance on this and take ownership of regularly managing and communicating with their team, with support from HR. They will need to talk from the heart and be clear on their purpose and goals as an organisation when they speak to employees. Investing in leadership development including practical “how-to skills” will be an important focus area, to ensure leaders feel confident and prepared to lead their teams. For example, at Civica, we recently launched our Leadership in Action Training, which focuses on maximising performance in teams, coaching, giving feedback and inclusive leadership – skills that will become even more important for leaders operating in a virtual world.

For HR teams, effectively on-boarding new colleagues, keeping them engaged and ensuring they build and maintain strong relationships with their colleagues from the outset will also take on new significance.

Bringing balance
Helping people balance home and work life must also become even more of a focus. In Civica’s April and May employee surveys, managing stress stood out as an area of concern, with challenges in this area increasing from April to May from 9 per cent of respondents to 16 per cent. Switching off from work was deemed one of the greatest challenges for our people, decreasing slightly as an area of concern, from 18 per cent of respondents to 15 per cent in May.

Leaders will need to place more importance on this and take ownership of regularly managing and communicating with their team, with support from HR. They will need to talk from the heart and be clear on their purpose and goals as an organisation when they speak to employees.

Such results demonstrate that while for many an increase in remote working brings newfound flexibility, there is also a need to ensure that a sustainable model of remote working is developed and that people have the skills to make it work. Those of our staff who already had the occasional experience of working from home continue to be the most positive about the current situation in our surveys, while those who have rarely worked from home before are finding the adjustment most difficult. To support our employees, we have rolled out additional support across a number of programmes including mental health awareness webinars, mindfulness sessions and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) focused on effective integration of work and life. We’re also reinforcing via our leaders the importance of regular check-ins, not just with direct reports but with a wider audience to ensure people are connected and to keep the ideas and feedback flowing.

Civica’s surveys also highlighted how much people are really missing those informal catch-ups that help them bond with their team members and relax. Preserving social connections requires that we find new ways to enable these. Since lockdown started, we’ve implemented online drinks, virtual book clubs, nationalised the office social committees so everyone in the business can connect, share ideas and collaborate, as well as encouraged staff to reach out to five new colleagues each week to improve social connections.

Not one-size-fits-all
A one-size-fits-all approach to HR is not going to work in the new normal. Understanding individuals’ needs and preferences when it comes to their desire to return to the office versus work from home – and what that office experience should look like – will be critical to success. Flexibility around work hours would be one of the places to focus. Interest in this increased from our first to our second survey, rising from 13 per cent to 15 per cent.

The ongoing involvement of people to shape the approach we take to helping them manage will be important. Managing this will require a very refined approach to communications, based on an understanding of employees’ preferences and feedback on our people practices, via continued regular staff surveys.

Many employees are now likely to never again work from the office full time while others will be returning to a much-changed office environment.

A strategic ally
While all of this may seem daunting, I see a future in which HR will become more strategic, leading change and guiding and supporting those across the business. Rather than getting caught up in the latest shiny new HR program, we must focus our attention on going to the heart of what our stakeholders need and solving their challenges in innovative ways.

In this expanded role and fast-evolving reality, HR will need to innovate and make decisions rapidly – something that this period of change and disruption has already demonstrated we’re better at than we may have previously thought.

The new normal presents huge challenges – and huge opportunities. Now’s the time for HR to play a defining role in creating a better future for organisations and our people.

The post The new normal demands a new strategic approach to HR appeared first on Inside HR.

To find out more about how HR must evolve quickly to meet new challenges in uncertain times, download the research report sponsored by Oracle ‘The Future of HR Function in 2020’.

A challenging business environment can have a strong impact on workers’ wellbeing; weakening performance and negatively impacting the business as a whole. This in turn puts a spotlight on business continuity planning and places pressure on leaders to seek strategies to guide their organisation through uncharted waters.

How well HR leaders respond to the current crisis will come down to two factors – their own capabilities as leaders, and the quality of the digital tools available to them.

This is especially true for HR leaders. In normal times, HR plays a key role in helping an organisation react quickly and make intelligent decisions that help it adapt to change. But during the current situation, they might also now be coordinating communication, facilitating remote working, helping workers stay productive, and assisting with mental wellbeing needs.

So how can technology help? Now more than ever HR leaders are stepping up and helping their people find their way forward. But they must also be thinking actively about strategies and investments that will ensure business continuity.

In these unprecedented times, HR plays a vital role both in supporting business continuity and ensuring the workforce comes along on the journey.

The remote work challenge
The current crisis has placed a specific challenge on HR professionals in terms of managing a workforce that may have suddenly become remote. Meeting the workforce where they are and making them feel supported is a great start to delivering on employee expectations.

HR leaders must also ensure lines of communication remain open. There has rarely been a more critical need to keep staff updated on how their organisation is performing and what is expected of them, and for the sake of all workers, it is vital that HR ensures this takes place.

HR leaders might also consider leveraging HCM technology to adapt and create operational efficiencies through the use of tools such as digital assistants. These can enable HR helpdesks to track and manage cases at scale with high consistency and address the need for services to be easily accessible to a remote workforce.

Electronic communication tools, from updates on the company intranet to group or one-on-one video calls, should now be an essential part of an HR leader’s toolset. Having a unified HCM platform that brings together all communication into a single place can be vital both in facilitating clear communication with staff, and giving HR leaders a unified means for engagement.

Technology that lets people be people
How well HR leaders respond to the current crisis will come down to two factors – their own capabilities as business leaders, and the quality of the digital tools available to them. Certainly, their ability to be effective will be greatly enhanced should many of their routine tasks be automated, allowing them to focus on the human aspects of their roles.

Now more than ever HR leaders are stepping up and helping their people find their way forward. But they must also be thinking actively about strategies and investments that will ensure business continuity.

The pressure that all workers face during a crisis is enormous, and as we’ve discussed, HR leaders are often at the focal point of those pressures, so it is vital that they also find avenues to share their experiences with their peers.

At Oracle, we have assembled a community of more than 37,000 HCM professionals who are all keen to share ideas and experiences, and we’ve created dedicated forums featuring webcasts with our HCM transformation experts.

In these unprecedented times, HR plays a vital role both in supporting business continuity and ensuring the workforce comes along on the journey. Having the systems and the processes in one place to manage employee engagement, understand the sentiment, and find operational efficiencies is a key requirement for supporting change leaders, and for fostering a culture of continuous innovation.

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