What all the cool HR kids are doing in 2017

You know that group of girls at school who could make just about anything ‘cool’? The ones where if they bought a new fluffy purple back pack, one week later everyone else in class would also be donning a fluffy purple back pack? The trend setters. The sophisticated. The ones everyone wanted to copy.

These people still exist in the HR world. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of all the new HR trends for 2017, the things that all the ‘successful’ HR departments are doing, but remember what your mum told you - “Don’t just follow the crowd”.

You know your company, the people, who they are, what they respond to. Take the time to understand their desires and motivations before you launch a new HR process not simply because ‘everyone else is doing it’.

In saying that, it is good to keep an eye on what aspects are working for other companies and consider whether they’d benefit your own company.

Browse through these top HR trends that all the ‘cool HR departments’ are using and see if you can inject some improvements back into your own processes in a more original, true-to-your-company’s-values kind of way.

Performance Management’s face lift
Employees want to feel like their skills are benefiting the company. Their desire for improvement and growth has driven HR departments to focus on using performance tools that will encourage staff development with more regular feedback.

Automated HR
HR professionals have gone from using manual HR processes  to designing and implementing specialised HR tools. With technology, HR can create employee journey maps and experiences to quickly visualise employee performance, impact,  career and job transitions.

Combining HR tools and team management
Traditional HR tools focused on helping HR, but companies are now moving towards HR tools that help employees know what they need to do to succeed.

Predictive people modelling
HR professionals are getting more savvy with the way they use their people data. Predictive modelling is being used to map out future trends based on past data.

Dynamic learning for dynamic jobs
The majority of corporate jobs require constant learning as technology and processes evolve. Learning is now considered more self-driven and self-motivated rather than structured by a higher management level.

Detailed staff feedback and insights
Instant interaction options are being used to provide regular feedback to management\ rather than using a survey tool once a year to get 360 feedback. Companies have found that more frequent ‘impersonal’ way of communicating gives staff the opportunity to be more honest and report issues as they occur rather. This gives employers more detailed information than they’d usually receive in a one-to-one meeting.

Work-life balance more valued
Companies recognise that work-life balance is key to fostering sustainable workforces. Apps for wellness and fitness are incorporated to help improve employee engagement.

Although these trends may seem like they’re getting more complicated with the ever-increasing use of technology tools, automating HR processes actually makes things more simple and easy to use.   As Albert Einstein once said, “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Can any of these trends be used to simplify your own HR systems? Not just to follow the crowd, but actually genuinely bring value to your HR processes?

These fancy ideas are being talked about a lot across the HR sector, but it is always important to first ensure your system is working on a solid foundation before adding any new, more complex additions. Our whitepaper ‘Back to Basics’ will help you to align individual performance with organisation objectives and boost productivity. Click here to download it.