Navigating through the HR landscape involves overcoming plenty of challenges even at the best of times, but especially so during these last couple of years. Now there is help in the form of three HR experts from insight specialists Gartner who have provided some strategies to meet the current and future challenges facing HR teams.
These challenges include the rising popularity of remote or hybrid working among valuable candidates, as well as the evolution of employee expectations. There is also the threat of recession while inflation rates go through the roof and the cost of living crisis continues unabated.
Sprinkled on top of all these issues is the ongoing conversation about the role of AI in HR.
There’s a lot to consider when plotting a course through all these challenges, and the analysts at Gartner have done a great job narrowing down the approach into a three-pronged strategy. Here are the three ways to meet the modern challenges of HR.
Be Intentional and Explore the Future
First up is Gartner’s Senior Director Analyst, Emily Rose McRae, who notes that many HR departments of her firm’s clients have been too reactionary in recent years. There has been a focus on ‘putting out fires’ and making decisions based on fear and anxiety. McRae says this is an issue because such decisions will ultimately shape the future direction of organisations.
McRae believes that HR teams should ‘get intentional’ about the future and try to ‘set a precedent’ by being explorers instead of restorers. Be excited for the future and embrace experimentation with technology such as AI, as well as work practices such as a four-day working week.
Explore Technology Beyond Generative AI
Following on from the above advice to experiment with AI technology, comes the advice to look beyond AI. McRae herself even warns about the dangers of overreliance on generative AI tools by HR workers.
The Vice President Analyst at Gartner, John Kostoulas, proposed a focus on technology with skills management tools along with learning experience platforms.
While Kostoulas acknowledged that AI has huge potential and should certainly be explored, he also voiced his surprise that VR, the metaverse and blockchain had not become higher priorities for HR teams.
Reconnect with Employees to Avoid ‘Change fatigue’
Gartner HR’s Director of Employee Experience Research, Caitlin Duffy, noted that HR employees were more concerned with privacy and secruity issues with AI rather than the adoption of the technology itself. Duffy added that the effects of the looming recession and the potential for lay-offs is also a greater concern.
Obviously lay-offs are terrible for the workers laid off, but it also increases the strain on those left behind to pick up the slack. Duffy suggests part of the issue is employees suffering from ‘change fatigue’, which is serious issue for organisations as it can affect productivity in the short term, as well as trust and ‘intent to stay’ in the longer term.
The best way to manage this issue is to create a great employee experience, says Duffy. Build and rebuild connections between employees and managers and other higher-ups within the organisation.
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