By the end of the year, we have a habit of making resolutions and trying to guess what the next year will be like. With trends related to work, it is not different. It has been discussed for some time that the third industrial revolution is coming, Industry 4.0 has become a buzzword that is used by so often that I dare to say that a third of them do not even know what it means, what its principles are. Not to judge too harshly, most of us associate Industry 4.0 with automation and digitization. Sure, first fit!
Digitization is also associated with one of the trends that Forbes among other things forecasted at the end of 2017 within the HR industry trends for 2018 – these are the mentioned predictions and outlooks. Digital HR is likely to bring new possibilities that will free hands of overburdened HR generalists, specialists, BP, so that they can focus more intensively on more important and strategic tasks that are very often postponed due to administrative matters. Which is a shame. Table 38A does not fill itself, but acting as an HR just as a tactitc, ie in the short term horizon, is very detrimental to the development. Development not only of HR itself, but also of employees and hence of the whole company.
It is great that digital HR already has its inquisitive audience within conferences (my last one was just last week from SAP) and various workshops, seminars (you will surely know those from Michael Hardyn). Many Czech companies, especially those expanding rapidly (for example AVAST, Linet), are already switching to digital HR. But nothing is that simple, so even just mentioned SAP, the leader in enterprise applications, doesn’t have its HR 100 % digital. When we realize how complex HR is (education and development, payroll, reward and benefit system, labor relations, recruitment, employee and culture care, evaluation,…), we will understand why we cannot jump on the digital wave right away.
Proč jsem ale začínala text odvoláním se na konec roku a predikce. Máme za sebou už téměř 9 měsíců, a pokud bylo vaším předsevzetím udělat zásadní kroky do digitálna, je čas na zhodnocení a případný update kroků. Kromě toho, že bude co reportovat na dalším meetingu (ano, to je smutná realita), tak se i vaše role HR ve firmě posílí. Posílí proto, že už nebudete mít plné ruce administrativních úkolů, ale budete moci být nápomocni celé společnosti:
But why I started the text by referring to the end of the year and the predictions? We have almost 9 months behind us, and if it was your intention to make major steps into digital era, it is time to evaluate and eventually update the steps. Except for having something to report at the next meeting (yes, this is a sad reality), your HR role in the company will also strengthen. Strengthen, because you will have no longer your hands full administrative tasks, but you will be able to assist to the entire company:
- to ensure that senior workers are satisfied and not leaving because your people are the main competitive advantage,
- to engage new colleaguesin in the normal working regime ASAP, for them to start more than just cover their super-gross wage,
- to get to know the managers’ business in detail and to be able to identify what are the real priorities, which require solution and focus,
- to get to know everyone in the company (not in vain means HR equals to Human Resources) and thus to set up not only a great evaluation and reward system,…
As a result it will be very simple to calculate:
- how many (hundreds) thousands you lose when you hire the wrong person and you train them for half a year for them to eventually leave,
- kolik stojí odchod vedoucího, který byl na dané funkci x let, má veškeré know-how, zná postupy i procesy i zákazníky i slabá místa vašeho byznysu i všechny projekty za posledních x let,…
- how much does cost the loss of a manager who has been in a given position for x years, has all the know-how, knows the procedures, processes, customers, weaknesses of your business and all projects in the last x years,…
I believe that there will be the time when companies stop asking what their HR actually does and HR workers stop brooding over whether they are just bureaucrats or board strategic partners, that their role is underestimated, etc. Consider how many discussions are held on this topic – “The Role of HR” in 120 ways. Who can imagine that we would have discussions on the topic: “The role of the financial/business department or does it make sense to have it?”? Have you ever heard anyone question the role of CFO or CTO?
I hope that digitization will help the whole HR to move to where traditional parts of companies have had their (unwavering) place for a long time. It will be perceived as a business, that understands the corporate strategy. And as other parts it shall implement it and not afraid to do the right things.
