The HR profession has always been around and is constantly evolving. With the arrival of Artificial Intelligence automation is the next logical step. Having said that, it’s only obvious for one to wonder whether the future of HR looks promising?

We @SourcingAdda as usual strive to bring you the latest updates in the industry we’re passionate about. And we’re able to do that thanks to the participation of our WhatsApp. Group members and this time one of our Mumbai Group member’s Amit. Who suggested conducting a discussion on, “What will be the future of HR?” With automation being introduced for the tasks that can be automated and we’re sure you’d like to know what was discussed for future reference. Hence we’ll be disclosing the discussion and thereafter we’ll also be sharing the key take away pointers for you to review. So let’s begin…

Here is where the discussion ends and after reviewing the chat we can safely say that we’ve received interesting insights about the possible future. Having the information helps us to prepare for the future well in advance. So let’s find out about the key take away pointers about the future of HR, so here goes…

The Bleak or Bright Future of HR

To find out which one applies you’ll have to decide after going through what has been mentioned.

The Bright Future of HR

• Automation makes us efficient hence Companies will implement automation wherever applicable
• Machines won’t replace humans, especially since its human resources.
• HRs need to adapt to automation really fast as it’s the survival of the fittest
• The future of HR can be thought of in 2 dimensions namely,

1. Operations
   1. A lot of automation of tasks
2. Analytics
   1. Requires the use of a humans brain
   2. Once algorithms have been formulated then they can be created to the understanding of a machines
   3. With machine learning, even analytics will be automated

• The future of HR can…
  1. Be to build current and future competence
  2. Be Business focussed
  3. Contribute to the bottom line by ensuring…

1. Quality and Skilled Workforce
2. Succession Planning

• Innovative Programs for Retention
• The Future of HR will have 3 big changes, namely

1. HR processes will be automated and be cloud-based
2. Recruitment will remain personalized and candidate-centric
3. HR will continue to evolve into human capital management

• The Industry will be a more competitive one with the help of AI and Chatbots
• Introduction of systems have added to new job vacancies that require new implementations hence companies are hiring…
  • System specialists
  • Cross-training recruiters
• Automation will help recruiters spend time in…
  • Strategic plans to close requirements
  • Connect with cross-functional teams, business heads for effective conversations
• We’ve already seen a lot of atomized tools replacing traditional ways of working within HR but it will take time.
• AI in no case will be in a position which diminishes the role and impact of HR personnel, for the reasons mentioned below:
  • No machine can replace man when it comes to emotional quotient
  • The emotional quotient is the differentiating factor between other Management people and the HR.
  • Companies without an HR advisor or HRBP will fail to accommodate their employee grievances, engagement, retention, trainings.
  • Automation will just be a small portion of the HRM function
  • Without the human touch or human factor entire manpower talent system will helpless!

The Bleak Future of HR

• With more automation and self- service employees will hardly require precision support
• HR Transactions including C & B can easily be outsourced
• HR will ultimately be conducting more strategic work with the help of analytics
• Most people believe digitalization automation in the HR field will replace humans.

Task Automation

Tasks that can be automated

• Chatbots, ATS, AI will help HR save time behind screening and sourcing
• Initially Training and Development was required to train Employees
• Automation will make –
  • The evaluation process easy without it done manually
  • It easy to understand the analysis and data where earlier employees needed to be trained on it.
  • Bots will answer first-level queries for –
    • Employees
    • Jobseekers
    • Prospects
    • Leads
  • Take care of redundant tasks such as –
    • Resume Parsing
    • Suggesting Similar Candidates while sourcing
    • Streamlining and suggesting Performance Management
    • Automated emails to the relevant candidates
    • Calculate the stability trend of a resource using AI
    • Repetitive tasks like maintaining attendance records, etc.

Tasks that cannot be automated

• Human touch is required in HR so automation will not affect the core aspects of HR i.e. relationship building.
• The role of a ‘business partner’ cannot be automated, as employees need to be actively engaged in the company hence human touch is essential.
• Even if most tasks are automated there is a high chance that the HR will be the ones managing the automated tasks.
• Skill sets will play a major role in jobs.
• As all of us i.e. Clients, HR, Employees, Vendors are human beings a machine or an algorithm can never have Empathy.

The evolving HR functions

• Automation/Digitization of HR has shifted HR functions right from HR Head to CHRO to CEO.
• An Administrative function of multi-tasking & wearing differences, Hats of Marketer, Brand Ambassadors, Analyst, Change Agents, etc…
• HR has taken a front seat today in core Business Decisions, fetching the actual meaning of HR Business Partners & splitting the role HR Employee Partners from HRBP’s.
• Shifts in Recruitment function such as Manual Hiring to Job Portals to Social Media to Internet Mining etc. & from Newspaper Marketing to Digital Marketing.
• This all has been possible due to Automation as HR has been able to retrieve a lot of Statistics, Insights, bringing Transparencies in the overall system.
• Companies have realized the fact & have shifted their focus from just being Customer Centric to Employee Centric as well.
• As long as there are jobs there will be a need for HR
• People with other domain knowledge can’t handle HR tasks
• With automation, manual interference is required to check on proper administration
• A probable challenge can be in selecting a candidate who has multi-skills in HR
• In HR handling the accountabilities with less expectation on CTC, so there is a high possibility that women might dominate in the future.

Pillars of HR now

• The definition of Business Partner might change further but the roles will still be to bring more “Return on Investments”.
• In Recruitment one of the trends followed is BULK hiring for fresher and the fallout is that
• Some candidates may be unskilled
• The meager skilled candidates get a job and survive with on the job learning.
• The Industry will move into hand-picking mode
• With the use of handpicking mode making it extremely difficult for candidates to get a job with mere 4 years of engineering attendance.
• In Employee Engagement
  • Employee engagement means engaging employees to the core, not just particular celebration days and outings.
  • To successfully engage employees; requires a different set of skill sets
  • In an Organisation it is all about building team relationships and business collaborations
  • The concept of fun and related activities might disappear as the average age of the work-force might be in the mid-thirties.
  • Recognition may be extremely narrowed down due to supreme performers
  • The Job market seems saturated in the last 5-7 years
  • The attrition might be reduced as a result the organizations’ focus might drastically shift away from Engagement to Competence Improvement i.e. to be future-ready.
• In Learning & Development
  • The Storm of next GEN will be coming where individuals will be more equipped with the latest skill sets and will be advanced technologically.
  • The Current workforce who realize that will also notice the sheen of the industry gone.
  • The HR workforce will not wait for the organizations to invest on their learning curves as they would lose out on the opportunities available.
  • Individuals will start spending to increase their skill levels to be competitive in the job market.
• As a Performance Manager
  • There is a high possibility that the transfer of ownership will be completely shift from HR to Business.
  • The concept of moving away from the Bell Curve will engulf the industry
  • The organizations will make way for a broader and transparent appraisal system.

Benefits of HR Technology

• When it comes to HR technology, the good thing is that…
  • All the new technologies will be highly integrated in letting the HR professional see the trends and insights.
  • These trends are really crucial for HR to be able to make decisions and manage human capital.
• Technology plays a major role…
  • Identifying talent to handle the employee lifecycle management
  • Maintaining workforce data
  • Analyzing the talent trends
  • Facilitating online training
• Organizations with the right type of talent and that know how to make the most of HR technologies are bound to succeed.
• Automation of HR tasks is a relief for most Recruiters as they get to focus more on the strategic aspects of HR thus delivering their best for the organizational success.

General perspectives to keep in mind

• The focus should be more on strategic HR than transactional.
• An organization’s in India are not yet matured to a level that it will replace human beings
• But in the next 10 – 15 years it will be more of
  • Analytics
  • Data-driven approaches
• Such changes will replace the traditional ways of working
• The need of the hour is to do more with less and be cost-effective
• HR as a whole has always been cost-centers that need to move into profit centers and adapt to these changes quickly.

We leave you with some insights that can make all the difference to your approach in a career choice. It is a known fact that technology cannot replace the human element in the HR profession. According to Jack Ma “Machine intelligence is by the brain […] and you can always make a machine learn the knowledge but it is difficult for machines to have a human heart.” Therefore HRs can be rest assured that they need not worry about automation when it comes to maintaining human relations as these slots will always remain open if unoccupied.

Moreover, if Recruiters follow these simple Mantras…

• ‘Specialization’ which is the key to one’s survival
• Learn – Try – Adapt

Chances are they’ll stand a better competitive advantage to getting hired provided they have the knowledge that their competitors lack.

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