HR and the Digital Paradigm

 

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Introduction

In the dynamic realm of organizational change and transformation, the role of HR professionals emerges as a cornerstone of success. As organizations embark on digital transformation journeys, HR plays a critical role in ensuring that the human element is effectively considered, aligned, and empowered to embrace and navigate this transformative era.

Digital transformation, encompassing the pervasive integration of digital technologies into all aspects of business, has revolutionized the way organizations operate, interact with customers, and achieve their strategic objectives. However, at the heart of any successful transformation lies the human factor. It is the workforce, with their diverse skills, experiences, and perspectives, that ultimately drives innovation, adaptability, and sustainable growth.

HR professionals, as the custodians of human capital, are uniquely positioned to champion the human dimension of digital transformation. They possess a deep understanding of employee needs, motivations, and the intricacies of organizational culture. By leveraging their expertise, HR can effectively:

Digitization

Few decades ago, the digitization word became popular, the traditional analog cassette tapes became audio CDs, video tapes became VCD or DVD, handwritten documents became word processed computerized documents etc. Converting any manual or an analog file into an electronic (digital) is known as Digitization.

 

As an example, a bookshop where people have to physically visit the store or call them to find out available books, can be made convenient by introducing a website where you list your available books through the world wide web.  In your HR Department if you convert CVs received in to electronic files you have successfully digitized your CVs.

 

Digitalization

Although, the word Digitization and Digitalization sounds same, Digitalization has no process involved. When you connect some processing with your digitization then Digitalization takes place. According to Gartner’s glossary. “It is the process of moving to a digital business”. Just because you have something Digital it does not mean that you do any processing with it. Let’s look at our last example of having a website for a bookshop. 

If you can allow your customers to place their orders via your web site and you process the order, now that is digitalization. If you can use your scanned CV with an OCR and capture all information in the CVs to facilitate you to short list your candidates, may be you develop a system where the computer will automatically do the initial screening based on the qualifications and the experience, then this is digitalization

 

Advantages

• Save space and cost in the long run.
• Easy access.
• Improve communication.
• Opens new opportunities.
• Improves Efficiency

 

Disadvantages

• High investment cost.
• May lead to legal issues.
• Risk associated when information is centralized.

 

Digital Workspace Strategy

Digital workplace strategy is not only about hardware and software. There are many other important aspects especially with regards to employee experience. Digital workspace strategy boosts employee engagement and agility through consumerization of the work environment. As HR professionals it is important not to ignore employees in this journey of digitalization. Digital workplace strategy is how technology can be used to achieve further goals of the Organization.

 

• Creating a Vision
• Develop a Strategy
• Use of Technology
• Inculcating Change
• Employee Experience
• Processes
• Organizational Change
• Training

 

HR and the Digital Paradigm

Digital Culture

A proper digital transformation needs proper culture cultivated in Organization. In such competitive market, the need to create and cultivate a digital culture is an integral part of the transformation process. This change requires a work environment that not only embeds digital from the top-down but also ensures that employees are informed, engaged and most importantly empowered to help cultivate a digital mindset in-house.

 

• Embrace Transparency
• Encourage Collaboration
• Offer Digital Training
• Be Comfortable with Risk
• Aspire to Inspire

 

https://www.aihr.com/blog/guide-hr-digital-transformation-hr-transformation/

Digital transformation of HR

To automate processes and reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks.

To maximize the employee experience.

To use free time to strategize and ultimately benefit the business bottom line

 

Use Data & Analytics

Slowly but surely, HR is starting to understand the value that data analytics can add to the business. Preselection, Learning & Development (L&D), employee engagement, you name it; there’s HR technology out there to measure every single part of the employee lifecycle. The question, however, is whether there are enough HR professionals out there yet, who can make sense out of this data.

 

Future-Proof Recruitment

A smooth mobile (application) experience, a data-driven preselection process and a personalized, AI based onboarding Program. These are just a few of the many examples of how recruitment is digitalizing.

 

Improve the Employee Experience

For 21st century employees, the line between their professional and personal lives has become blurred. Yes, they will check their social media account during office hours, but they will equally check their work emails during the weekend.

 

Offer Self-Service tools to Employees

This one is in line with an improved employee experience but focuses on the HR side of it. Just as employees like to be able to choose how and when they manage their professional emails and workload, they want to manage their HR data.

 

Be Competitive in the War for Talent

Millennials and generation Z – in other words, the (future) workforce – are constantly connected to social media and glued to their phones. Companies that use these digital technologies for various HR purposes – think sourcing, preselection and learning & development for instance – have a significant competitive advantage when it comes to seducing this demanding generation of workers.

• Starting with HR digital transformation
• Establish a clear goal Get everyone on board.
• Don’t overcomplicate things.
• Prioritize ideas.
• Assess performance.
• Culture is important.

 

Artificial Intelligence in Human Resource Management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration into human resources (HR) practices will make Organizations better because these applications can analyze, predict and diagnose to help HR teams make better decision. AI can be embedded in functions such as recruitment, training, onboarding, performance analysis, retention etc. However, a majority of Organizations are still lagging in integrating AI to its HR practices because of cost.

 

Use of AI in Recruitment and Onboarding

Once hiring Managers have found the best fit for their open positions, the onboarding process begins. With the help of AI, this process doesn’t have to be restricted to standard business hours a huge improvement over onboarding processes of the past.

 

AI in Mobility and Employee Retention

In addition to improvements to the recruitment process, HR professionals can also utilize artificial intelligence to boost internal mobility and employee retention. Through personalized feedback surveys and employee recognition systems, Human Resources departments can gauge employee engagement and job satisfaction more accurately today than ever before.

 

AI in Automation of Administrative Tasks

Smart technologies can automate processes such as the administration of benefits, pre-screening candidates, scheduling interviews, and more. Although each of these functions are important to the overall success of an organization, carrying out the tasks involved in such processes is generally time[1]consuming, and the burden of these duties often means that HR professionals have less time to contribute to serving their employees in a more impactful way.

 

Digitization in T&D

Traditional Instructor led physical classes are not outdated. With the advancement of the technology and the internet speed, online classes and virtual classes are becoming popular day by day. Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Learning Management Systems (LMS), Mobile Learning are few new concepts that came with the digitalization.

Use of artificial intelligence and machine learning

According to the IEEE Global Study, critical technological changes in 2023 will be artificial intelligence and machine learning (21%), cloud computing (20%), and 5G (17%).

With the desire to develop the business, 66% of world business leaders and analysts agree AI will drive most innovation in almost every industry over the next 1-5 years. For example, Mark Hornung, a senior employer brand strategist at exaqueo, believes that AI and ML will help HR managers reduce their workload while improving the overall productivity of their businesses further in 2023.

Reference List:

Ulrich, Dave. HR from the Outside In: Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013.

This book by Dave Ulrich, a renowned HR expert, outlines six key competencies that HR professionals need to develop in order to succeed in the digital age. These competencies include: strategic HR leadership, HR delivery excellence, HR change leadership, employee advocacy, technology and analytics, and measurement and reporting.

Bersin, Josh. The HR Technology Handbook: A Guide for Business Leaders, HR Professionals, and Vendors. McGraw-Hill Education, 2016.

This comprehensive book by Josh Bersin provides a practical guide to HR technology for business leaders, HR professionals, and vendors. It covers everything from selecting and implementing HR technology to measuring its impact on the organization.

Rothwell, William J., and Kevin R. Werbach. Hyperconnected HR: Leveraging Social Technologies for Strategic Talent Management. SHRM, 2013.

This book by William Rothwell and Kevin Werbach explores how organizations can use social technologies to improve their HR processes. It covers topics such as social recruiting, employee engagement, and performance management.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-hr-transforming-human-resources-digital-age-trisdarisa

Web: https://www.peoplematters.in/blog/hr-technology/paradigm-shift-in-hr-technology-a-key-to-drive-the-future-of-work-27748

Web: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/culture/the-recipe-of-getting-the-right-kind-of-digital-transformation-focus-on-culture-not-technology-30570

Web:https://www.aihr.com/blog/guide-hr-digital-transformation-hr-transformation/

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