Category Archives: Disruptive Technology

2017 HR Trends

Posted in Disruptive Technology, Employee Relations, HR Competencies, HR Policy, Human Resources, Lists, Public Policy, Radical HR, Workplace by

‘Tis the time of year when you read all of the lists, the Top 10 of this, the Worst of that, the Best of whatever. You have probably also seen more than your fair share of trends for 2017; tech trends, political trends, etc… Following suit, here are my thoughts on the 2017 trends for the HR profession.

  1. HR Practitioners particularly of the Business Partner or Generalist variety must strive to demonstrate both their business acumen and also their HR and employment law knowledge. In 2017, HR Practitioners should stop asking whether certification is required to practice HR (it is not, but) and start getting certified. The profession as a whole needs to own our sphere of knowledge. If any professional thinks they also can be HR-savvy and we in no way differentiate ourselves, the farther our occupation fall towards obsolescence. Further, certified HR practitioners needs to broaden their business acumen by pursuing an MBA or pursuing industry-designations.
  2. HR Professionals should begin to learn the basics of programming, data analytics and become social media experts. These skills are no longer the future of the job, they are are the present and current needs of HR practitioners. As more and more of our profession can be automated combined with the rise of artificial intelligence and augmented reality, bots will be able to do  the tactical stuff we do now as well as interface with employees directly. Additionally, HR should stay abreast of all technology trends and how they may apply to disrupt the HR profession.
  3. Heightened emphasis on the Employee Experience. For several year now, we have been in an employee-driven marketplace. As I do not see this changing in 2017, companies will be challenged to compete for talent based on the employee experience and HR has to take the lead on this. From the time a candidate enters our company vortex to the time they terminate and even beyond, HR needs to review all of its processes, policies, physical space and operations and ask themselves how it positively contributes to the employee experience at their company.
  4. HR will have to take the lead or involve themselves closely as we continue to see the rise of and evolution of the Digital Workplace. HR has to step up and consider how the Digital Workplace challenges traditional notions of management, organizational structure, communication and how we understand the basic concept of work. These ideas should be generating out of HR, we have to become the innovators of the workplace.
  5. Federal deregulation is likely under the Trump Administration so HR will see a lot of change (as usual), and will have to respond accordingly to the repeal and possible replacement of the ACA and how that impacts benefits offerings and health insurance plans. While the Federal government is deregulating business, be prepared to see a lot of activity impacting the business world and workplace at the State-level particularly with respect to the minimum wage, requirements around eligibility for overtime, parental leave laws, deregulation and/or legalization of recreational marijuana, sick leave laws, and more activity around protected classes specifically sexual identity, national original, criminal history and compensation history.
  6. Strategic talent acquisition. Each new role within a company deserves a very specific and strategic recruiting plan, not a one-size-fits-all post and wait for them to come strategy. Employee referral programs and social media recruiting should be maximized to find the right candidates.
  7. Personal Time as a right and not a privilege. The right of the employee to disconnect without adverse employment actions. Recently France passed a Right to Disconnect law, giving employees the legal right to ignore work email when they are off the clock. As wellbeing research shifts to understanding the negative impact to employees of being “on” all of the time, there will be more and more social pressure on companies to enact policies setting boundaries around work time and non-work time.

 

How Is This Not a Thing?

Posted in Benefits, Compensation, Disruptive Technology, Employee Relations, HR Competencies, Radical HR, Workplace by

The future of HR is the bot. In fact, I’m not sure if it’s the future or we, as a profession, are just catastrophically behind in the way we leverage technology to further our tactical and strategic purposes. Yeah, pretty sure the latter is the culprit.

In basic terms a bot is a software application that can run tasks that are both simple and repetitive. Just like every other technology, bots have evolved. Add artificial intelligence to bots and you get virtual personal assistants, like Siri.

Next sprinkle in some emotional intelligence to that bot, and you have a new virtual HR Representative that can interact with human employees.

This new virtual HR bot, let’s call him Toby, will revolutionize HR.

Instead of staffing HR help desks and employing an army of employee relations representatives to answer the same mundane questions day-to-day, employees can instead access on-demand a bot from an internal portal or on their mobile device and ask questions that are most relevant to them at that moment. Routine questions that clog our HR inboxes and take up our precious time can be virtually eliminated. Toby can answer questions on where to access employee pay stubs, how much your individual deductible is, and when your self-evaluation is due.

Further, Toby can pinch hit as your on-demand Manager resource. When your managers have pressing questions and concerns such as initiating a status change, or an FLSA question, or a training need, he or she can simply access Toby for exactly the information they require at that moment rather than waiting on their HR Specialist to be available or wasting time sifting through training materials or public drives or FAQ’s to access the information.

Consider the possibilities of using bot technology, Toby in this instance, as your orientation and onboarding specialist. Toby is programmed to communicate with your new hire prior to their arrival, preparing he or she for their first day, assisting them with new hire paperwork and benefits enrollment and being a touch point in that first crucial 90-days of any new hire’s experience with the company.

Toby, our friendly bot, is also available at any time to take first reports of injury, employee suggestions and initial complaints. Toby can also conduct stay and exit interviews. Rather than waiting for a manager or an HR representative to be available, employees can access Toby 24/7 while the human HR team collects all of the data retained by Toby iand allows us to focus more on the overall alignment of HR with the business.

There are probably hundreds of more HR responsibilities that bots can take on to create a successful life cycle for the employee. This idea radically changes the playing field for the skills and competencies that are required of human resource professionals. I’m game, are you HR?

Is the Gig Economy the Start of a New Industrial Revolution?

Posted in Disruptive Technology, Gig Economy, Radical HR, Workplace by

Maybe. Yes. Some would argue that the gig economy is a natural outcome to the work world of today. But perhaps the gig economy is the beginning of a new industrial revolution that will completely change the dynamic of work for the future, empowering America’s workforce.

What is the gig economy? Really this is a fancy phrase for independent contractors. Think individuals with specialized knowledge, skills and abilities, or “artisans” that engage with companies on a contractual basis for a short-term arrangement. In return, the company pays a pre-negotiated rate for a specific outcome. What makes the concept new-ish, is that companies connect with gig workers via the digital marketplace (i.e. websites or mobile apps). Indeed, a study by Intuit predicts that by 2020, upwards of 40% of the workforce will be independent contractors.

Th origins of the first Industrial Revolution were a combination of innovation (steam power), social change (end of feudalism, population shift from rural to urban centers), market (demand for mass production) changes and good ol’ fashion work ethic. These same forces are also contributing to the latest version of the industrial revolution.

Advances and innovation in tech and about every other industry there is have changed the talent needs of companies. Employers no longer seek brawn, they need brain. Knowledge workers are in demand. Employers do not have the time nor the tools and resources to train for these needs, thus they have to seek it out in an already pre-packaged human being who brings with them the knowledge and tools to complete the job. Companies also need bench strength, not full-time workers. They need to be able to call up their specialist when and how they need him or her. Gig workers fill just this need.

 

Social change, millennial and Gen Z grew up with information on demand, they did not have to seek it out, they look no further than their closest tech device. These generations of workers see no reason why work needs to be done in a certain location, at a certain time or in any particular way. Combine this total 180 view of the traditional American worker with deafening calls for benefits and rights that equalize the employer-employee relationship, such as paid family leave, paid sick leave, fair pay, etc… and you have a more empowered worker, a gig worker.

Empowered workers that hustle their asses off don’t need your company’s 9-5, they can leverage their specialized knowledge to negotiate their own terms and conditions under a contract. To some extent, these gig workers aren’t necessarily holding some specialized nuclear fission knowledge that only like .5% of the population has, gig workers are your drivers (Uber/Lyft) and your babysitters or dog walkers (Care.com).

Disruptive technology and the rise of the gig economy are already in play, viva la revolución.

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