The Five Forces shaping HR in 2020

Today work is not always a force for good. Disruptive forces are pushing organisations to be agile and create exponential value for the enterprise. Today organisations ask for wellness and at the same time ask to meet tough targets, so excellence and failure can be closely related.

Michael Porter said “what you are good at has very short shelf life”.

HR as a profession is facing the tough task of balancing the status quo of the traditional organisations with the needs of planning for the future. Many would agree that HR and Marketing have a common purpose.

So what are the five forces causing disruption in the HR world?

HR re-branding

Enterprise disruption: According to the S&P 500 the lifespan of organisations is down to 15 years. Shorten life spans of organisations and rapidly changing business models means that HR will play a key role in moving beyond work and framing the new ecosystem of HR as an enabler of business competitiveness.

Half-life for skills: According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs report , reskilling is the top priority for organisations looking at their future workforce strategy. And with working lives getting longer, reskilling is important for all workers, not just the young. Importantly the half-life of skills is at an average of 2 years lowered from an average 5.5 years.

Digitisation: It's been estimated that 57% of all jobs are at risk of being automated within the next 5 years. This means that HR will need to disrupt how the operating model works and seeks ways of collaboration and be more outcome based.

Moving towards measurement

Effective use of Big Data: Simply put the effective use of Big Data refers to the use of multiple sources of data to deliver value across the business and stimulate best practice. This may include recruitment, upskilling , engagement, rewards, and overall business performance. But we also have to ask the question does HR actually have big data?

People analytics: In marketing we call it one source of truth and how we work with data sets and build impactful strategies. For example a good starting point will be to analyse how hiring criteria can have an impact on performance. We could also look at key influences on productivity and motivation which will include analytics for resignations, promotions, performance, engagement and pay increases.

Clinical focus on employee experience

Happy employees' natural promoters of the brand: HR management understands that skepticism among employees can create a low eNPS. Employees are natural candidates for brand ambassadors and will have a positive impact on employer branding and reputation.

Employee persona: The employee centric/customer centric organisations do not focus on one size fits all mindset. For example from upskilling, rewards to career development, each employee will have unique expectations. Although it is challenging to focus individually we can map the different employee personas and create unique blueprints to build simple better organisations. Competitive compensation is a key factor across many generations and remains the most important across GenX and GenY employees. One key area that stands out for HR creating an ecosystem for greater engagement is fluid communications and transparency.

The ghost of performance appraisal haunts us

Continuous performance management: Performance reviews used to be a once-a-year occurrence which determined an employee's annual raise. In most companies , this uncomfortable experience is carried out in biased and highly formal manner. In a disruptive organisation decisions get made from the bottom up, companies are realising that coffee catch-ups and one-on-one meetings between manager and employee help move projects along faster. Management should be the enabler and should facilitate weekly or bi-weekly one-on-one meetings in order to prevent bottlenecks from happening. Importantly these chats should focus on the coaching and developmental elements.

Wellbeing takes a deeper dive

Corporate wellness: A multi-generational workforce means, the Millennials and Generation Z's expect employers to invest in their health and wellbeing. Simply better employers are responsible to contribute to their health and wellbeing. This includes wellness benefits to employees. According to a study published by Aetna , 82% of workers across the globe are concerned that mental health issues can impact their ability to work. But only 25% of employees feel their organisations provide enough support for mental health conditions.

Flexibility: In a MetLife's 2019 Employee Benefit Trends Study , 55% of those surveyed said they would be more interested in working for a company offering holistic benefits. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they would be more loyal to a company providing those benefits, while 52% stated they believed they would be more successful in both work and life with access to holistic benefits.

Emotional and financial wellbeing: Simple better companies go the distance by offering tuition reimbursement and student loan pay-down assistance, to credit counselors and financial concierge services. Many companies are already offering on-site, face-to-face wellness coaching, mindfulness courses, and individual therapy.

I recollect the lyrics of the single by NF The search: The sales can rise doesn't get much though when your health declines.

So, don't focus too much on the semantics to build your narrative, focus more on creating a simply better enterprise that is agile and importantly focus on actionable strategic guidance.