As the new year begins, businesses should take a close look at the trends in human resources anticipated for 2015. As with all industries, human resources evolves based on social, economic and technological changes. Effective HR professionals must align their work with overall corporate strategies in workforce management to help their organizations stay competitive and relevant in the future.
Social
The Society for Human Resource Management outlined five crucial areas for HR operations through the year 2015. These include talent management; leadership development; recruiting and staffing; demographics management and cultural transformation. Of these five, talent acquisition and retention topped the list. Defined as the ability to attract, engage, hire, retain and develop the highest quality employees, talent management ranked as the top priority for 52 percent of HR professionals surveyed by the society. This year, rather than trying to improve the performances of low-ranking workers, businesses will look to better engage and retain their top performing employees. Unfortunately, more than four out of 10 survey participants did not have confidence in their company's talent management practices.
Time Magazine also noted that due to recent findings that healthy employees are more productive, many corporations will be implementing wellness programs into their workplaces. Whether this feature is offered formally through benefit packages or informally through inter-office support teams is unclear, though wellness in general will become a larger part of office culture.
Economic
Due to increased costs for businesses, the hiring process will become more rigorous in 2015. Time reported that in addition to the Affordable Care Act, rising prices for Worker's Compensation, Americans with Disabilities Act, Medicare, Social Security and more are contributing to a lengthier hiring process. In addition to a strong resume, cover letter and interview skills, applicants will likely have to begin producing samples to turn in with their applications or participating in more rounds of interviews over time. Background checks will become more in-depth. This process will likely take longer to complete and require more work on the part of HR professionals.
The staggering cost of a college education today will also influence the number of students completing liberal arts degrees. Rather than investing in a costly education they will have to pay off for years after graduation, students are looking into alternative options like career preparation programs through community colleges, online courses or on-the-job training. This shift may alter the ways in which employers view applicants, sort through resumes and choose the best recruits for open positions.
Technological
In an effort to increase employee engagement and transparency, HR technology will step up as a key element to successful workplaces in 2015. As the Society for Human Resource Management mentioned in their survey results, managing cultural transformations and applying the right tools to effectively deal with this change was one of the top five areas HR professionals anticipated being most important through the end of this year. Due to advances in technology over the past several years, this category will likely remain prominent beyond 2015. New technology and software will enable human resources departments to better communicate with employees and listen to their needs. Whether its during the recruiting process, selecting benefits, making changes to benefits or discussing paychecks, technology will streamline these tasks.
Analytics will become more readily available to HR professionals in 2015 as well. HR Trend Institute noted that being able to effectively interpret accumulated data will give human resources personnel more control over their services and help them discover the most effective solutions for their businesses.