The Evolution of HR
HR has evolved. HR has went from primarily administrative to being a strategic partner to the business. But is now time for HR to evolve again. HR must evolve to keep up with the demands and needs of the worker of today. The environment that HR professionals work within today is not the same. The issues and challenges are more complex. The impact and value that can be added have grown exponentially. The visibility and demand of the function have also increased.
The Future of Human Resources
The future of HR is dynamic and HR is a function that is needed more than ever. Today, HR is synonymous with being a strategic, talent management, and people operations, different names for the same thing.
But in order for HR to truly be strategic and to truly to make an impact, it will have to evolve. It must break away from tradition and be an innovator. To be the cornerstone of a company and an organization this is the next step in the evolution of HR. Instead of keeping the status quo, HR must initiate and drive change.
Why HR is so important?
The ability of HR to drive change and make an impact is largely untapped in most organizations and companies. This is because some are stuck in outdated ways of and methods, are risk adverse, or just do not know what to do.
Society is evolving. The ways of working and the demands and wants are evolving. HR must keep pace. The mass firings that occurred at Uber and the reported grueling work culture of Amazon are testaments of what happens when HR does not evolve and is unresponsive to change. Employee engagement, efficiency, and outcomes also suffer.
HR is the most important function in any company or organization. Why? Today, an organization’s people are the most important and source of its most potent competitive advantage.
HR can evolve cultures, ways of working, interactions, and enhance employee engagement. It can increase and accelerate leadership development, employee learning, and transform and redesign organizations to align with strategic directions and strategies. Efficient change and speed have become increasingly important today and HR’s ability to do this and the impact it can have make it increasingly important.
The Challenges to get there
But how does HR continue to evolve? How does it increase its organizational impact? What does it need to do? These questions are the fundamental questions that HR professionals are asking themselves. They are seeking to understand what opportunities exist and how they can capitalize on them. Some of the key challenges they face are the following:
– Finding, recruiting, retaining, and developing the best talent:
“Companies are in a war for top talent. Even if your company wins employees initially, you continually risk losing those top performers and high potentials to the competition if you’re not deliberately focused on creating strategies to develop and retain them.” Forbes
– Shaping workplace culture and driving engagement:
“An organization’s culture can become a key competitive advantage—or its Achilles’ heel.” Deloitte
Culture and engagement can enhance a company’s recruiting efforts, retention, and profitability. But it can also be toxic and lead to scandals or high levels of attrition.
– Promoting diversity, inclusion, and removing unconscious bias:
“When people are comfortable and can express themselves in an authentic way, they are more likely to perform better, which increases engagement and contributes to the organization as a whole.” Businessnewdaily
– Accelerating the Development of Leaders:
“Education with the objective of individual growth is worthy in its own right, of course, and people are eager to acquire knowledge and skills that will help them advance in their careers. However, the primary reason senior executives and HR invest in management training is to make their leaders and organizations more effective, and results on that front have been disappointing.” Harvard Business Review
HR must evolve to fill this gap. Baby Boomers are retiring and leaving the workplace. This is creating a leadership void. Organizations must find ways to accelerate the development of their leaders to fill this void.
– Creating and delivering learning programs and initiatives:
The modern learner learns differently. They access information differently. To reach and educate the learner of today HR has to take a different approach and learn new skills. HR must focus on the efficiency of their programs, their effectiveness, and their alignment with the overall business.
Final Notes
HR must evolve. It must continue to innovate and experiment with its core services and the value that it adds. It cannot limit itself to how things were done before and it must go above and beyond because the people that it supports deserve it.
To help HR professionals and organizations with their evolution DAS Capital Consulting has designed a HR capability framework. This framework identifies the targeted areas of concerns for HR to help guide and focus their efforts.

Comments