Once known as the personnel department, the modern human resources department has undergone dramatic changes to keep up with the times over the past few decades. Those changes may pale in comparison to what’s on the horizon according to several analysts in the human resources industry. Below are several predictions for how human resources might look and operate as we enter the 2020s.
Recruiting and Hiring People with More Diverse Skills
One of the biggest predictions in human resources is that the skills companies hire for will change dramatically in the next several years. It’s no longer enough for a candidate to have the technical skills needed to complete the job. Businesses will also expect them to show creative thinking and the ability to execute their ideas. With many professional teams working remotely these days, collaboration is also a highly valuable skill. It will fall on hiring managers to identify candidates with these attributes.
Advanced Technology Combined with Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been disrupting many industries over the past several years, and human resources is no exception. Hiring managers are already using this technology with recruitment and saving themselves several hours of work in the process. Using artificial intelligence for candidate sourcing allows for greater efficiency when vetting candidates, allowing recruiters to offer roles to the most qualified candidates from the start.
Employers also hope to use AI equipped with machine learning to eliminate bias in the interviewing and hiring process. This will allow for greater diversity by focusing on a candidate’s technical and soft skills while eliminating hiring decisions based heavily on appearance. AI with machine learning also enables employers to remove potentially biased words and phrases in job postings to attract a diverse range of qualified applicants.
It Will Become Increasingly Common to Manage a Workforce in Multiple Locations
As more companies explore and implement the concept of a remote workforce, human resource professionals will need a different set of skills than they did when most people worked in the same office. They must understand how to obtain the greatest efficiency from employees, even when they work in a different time zone or another country. Industry analysts predict the increased use of automation to monitor the work performance of remote workers. Companies will also need to invest in cloud-based technology that allows employees working in multiple locations to communicate with one another.
Increased Outsourcing of Human Resource Functions
Human resource departments are already becoming smaller due to improved technology that enables increased self-service participation by employees. The change had caused some companies to outsource tasks considered repetitive or entry-level to allow those who work in the human resources department more time to spend on recruiting, interviewing, and creating job offers.
It isn’t just the more mundane tasks that companies will outsource, however. As benefits administration becomes more complex thanks to a global workforce and increased state and federal regulations, companies will look to outsource benefits administration to a company that specializes in such services.
Is Your Company Looking to Outsource?
Whether you want to outsource your payroll functions or require full-service assistance with human resources, Palmetto Payroll is here to help. We invite you to review our available services and then contact us to request an initial consultation.
