When it comes to helping other employees develop their workplace capabilities, get ahead in their careers and upskill their currently career toolkit, HR are the organisational function that help this process.
However, what about when HR themselves want to upgrade and get ahead in the workplace? Who helps then?
At a time when the workplace is drastically changing – proxy of large-scale, ever-faster digitalisation, a new generation of increasingly diverse workers, and organisational demand for different skillsets – HR have more and more to be aware in terms of the themes that are defining modern work.
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No longer can HR be, fairly or unfairly, characterised as an administrative function. This means, for those looking to get to the top of the HR career curve, they have to be aware of what modern work and forward-thinking people management means.
Luckily, HR Grapevine has collated some examples of the biggest things and newest skillsets that HR practitioners should have.
Read more below.
Storytelling
Last year, HR Grapevine ran a roundtable on the importance of storytelling in HR. However, this isn’t storytelling in a traditional sense: its storytelling meant to give employees a better sense of the organisation they work in; stories underwritten by data and analytics. If HR can wield this skill, they’ll be in a better place to show worth to the Board but also, on an individual level, themselves.
In an age where employees want their work to mean more and more, this is crucial for retaining and attracting talent.
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As Nick Matthews, General Manager EMEA, CultureAmp said: “In a time of macro-sized changes – digital transformation, changing talent demands, economic uncertainty and exploration of business avenues new, storytelling is a really important capability. All HR and people professional should have it.
“It’s a really important part of the why: why are you doing something; how can you explain to frontline managers why things are changing; how can you explain, communicate and persuade your board into a new people strategy; or, how can you explain to the whole organization that you’re moving in the right direction.”
D&I
According to Glassdoor research, more than half of employees demand that diversity is a top priority for their employer, with almost seven in ten employees wanting to be recruited into a diverse team.
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Furthermore, companies that are ‘truly diverse’ are said to enjoy cash flows almost two and a half times higher than those are aren’t diverse.
For HR, it’s crucial they lead this to show their worth. They have to show the benefits to both executives and employees, too.
When HR can show ROI for D&I, it really comes into its own. As Sarah Kaiser, Employee Experience and Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Fujitsu EMEA told HR Grapevine, this will allow HR to show its business value to the firm it functions in.
“We [Fujitsu HR] aren’t doing these [D&I] initiatives just to be nice people. We are a business and we value business. But we believe in winning in the right way.”
Be technology-minded
2018 research from Deloitte revealed that over half of companies are currently redesigning their businesses for digital transformation models. In additions, over nine in ten HR leaders are experiencing significant changes to their management and employment structures because of digital tools.
Independent research by HR Grapevine also showed that over eight in ten HR and business leaders were involved in some form of discussions about digital transformation. Some think that HR should be leading the process. Heide Abelli, Senior Vice President Content Production, Skillsoft, explained:
“HR should be seen within the organization as the poster child for effective digital transformation.”
The takeaway for career-minded HR staff is clear – start to understand technology, and its impact, and you can wield this knowledge for the betterment of your own career.
Creativity
For HR, as the workplace changes, their management tack will also have to change. To meet the fact that Millennials are now the largest cohort in the working world, the people function will have to think outside the box to retain their services.
Natasha Hill, Managing Director at Bottle decided to take her staff to a festival and noticed a massive boost as a result. “What we can see already from the four-day trip is a renewed sense of team, a shared bank of memories to laugh about and really high morale in the office.
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“We’ve all battled through sleep deprivation, which is uniting to say the least. Everyone is stronger together and much closer too – something that camping is very good at fostering pretty quickly,” she told HR Grapevine.
For those in HR able to pitch perks and benefits that will improve engagement, productivity and staff retention, they’ll be able to prove their own worth to the business.
Coaching
With Millennials dominating the workplace and Generation Z entering, these are two cohorts of workers that demand more feedback. They want feedback on a monthly basis 50% more than other employees.
For HR, if they can collaborate with department managers to facilitate good coaching, they will boost engagement and productivity whilst also showing their own worth.
