2014 will be E! 2014 is coming soon. And, as we are now entering the final phase of the certification process with our participants, I’ve had the chance to talk to some of the best HR Directors worldwide to see what their future challenges are. Here are some of the results. So get ready for 2014, because the HR departments are not standing still!
E-volution of HR
HR, originally a paper-based function, is becoming more and more dematerialised. This is partly because dematerialisation is a general trend but also because of the increasing complexity of the tools that are used in the HR field. Most obviously, a big reason for this trend is that it saves on costs. Here are some examples of the recent trends in HR:
1 E-distribution of data / paperwork
- Payslips are no longer mailed, but are sent electronically. The benefits of this trend in terms of time and money are obvious; for example, how much money do you save in stamps?
2 E-recruitment
- First, there were the job boards. Then came the recruitment websites. Later, LinkedIn became the rule. So are you ready to upgrade your sourcing experts into professional social network data miners?
- Social recommendations are everywhere, but are they justified? Personally, people I’ve never even heard of recommend me for my skills. Thanks, but no thanks. I know this is a social media trick to get ME to provide a recommendation for you, and you won’t get it unless I know you.
3 E-nternal communication
- Every two years you do an employee survey. That’s nice, but do you share the results with your employees? Do you ask them for input on how to better your organization? Involve them, share, and make them part of the company culture development.
- Use mobile tools to share information with your employees. A new contract is in? Have an afternoon party and invite everyone through a text message. Is the boss announcing the financial results? Have a video conference that’s readable on mobiles.
- If you use mobile tools to push information, why not pull in information this way as well? Make surveys, ask employees for their input, have prizes for them to win...anything you can think of to get your employees involved.
4 E-nformal communication
- Make the best use of your technologies to increase informal communication. Skype, chats, and text messages are all tools that can help your employees increase their information sharing, thus creating informal knowledge management teams.
- Use those tools to create a direct link between your brand ambassadors and your potential employees. Deloitte is already doing so, with a chat that allows future candidates to get to know more about their company. See previous post
5 E-ngagement
- Demonstrate to employees that they work for something bigger: that the company is not only a profit making machine, but also a social environment. When companies focus on CSR their HR efforts will benefit.
- Personalisation of rewards and benefits: Create cafeteria plans to align your EVP to your employees’ needs and expectations.
- Recognize your best employees by awarding them with special perks. Anything from a lunch with the CEO, to an “Employee of the Month” award, to a restaurant voucher.
6 Last but not least, E-ntegrate your new employees. Show them around, help them to network, and optimize onboarding with mentoring. And, once again, get support from technologies like e-learning and mobile gathering.
The RMS Conference, about new e-trends in HR, was held in Paris last week. As I followed it I was amazed by all the things that it is possible to do, and yet how little HR directors are willing to do. So be creative; ask yourself how you can use new technologies to improve your communications skills. Then implement, try, fail, and retry, and you will find that as long as you’re transparent, the outcome will be positive. Another article on recruiters transform your company culture.
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