The start of a new year is a time to look back on 2018, but also to look ahead to 2019. What would you have done differently and where do you see room for improvement? What should HR pay attention to this year? What will be the biggest HR-trends and are there any opportunities? In the current world of competitive talents, it is important to follow the latest HR trends. Looking at 2019, what can HR professionals expect?

For the third year in a row, HR professionals were raided last year by developments on the labor market. The HR Trend research of Performa Publishing, among more than 900 HR professionals, carried out by Berenschot consultancy, showed that 71% of the respondents had problems with the rapid developments in 2018. This was considerably higher than in 2017 (56%).

Berenschot expects that the strengthening of Labor Market Communication & Employer Branding will become the most important HR theme in 2019. In 2018 this was Privacy & Data Security. It seems that this has only been given the top priority because of the GDPR. It is expected to fall back to a lower priority in 2019.

Labor Market Communication & Employer Branding

This HR theme was in second place in 2018 and is expected to be in first place in 2019. 60% of the respondents who participated in the Berenschot study indicated that Labor Market Communication was one of the areas of focus within their own work.

According to the Academie voor Arbeidsmarktcommunicatie, this means: “Structurally communicating to the internal and external labor market target groups and their influencers with the aim of recruiting new employees, positively influencing the employer brand and maintaining contact with current, potential and former employees.” Certainly with the current tight labor market, it is generally more difficult to recruit and select effectively. That is precisely why it is important to invest in this.

“Employer Branding is the process of promoting a company, or an organization, as the employer of choice to a desired target group, one which a company needs and wants to recruit and retain.” This is what  Universum Global tells us.

Employee Experience

A next important HR trend in 2019 is Employee Experience. Many organizations have drastically reformed their HR department and this will happen more next year. The focus will be more on strategic HR, so that there will be more attention for the employee and internal talent, resulting in more job satisfaction and higher productivity.

It is about solving bottlenecks, thinking in experiences and design thinking. Processes in HR become less important because they simply are not flexible. Moreover, they focus on HR itself, rather than on the employee. Organizations therefore pay more attention to the total experience of an employee, from the first contact to a possible departure.

The priorities in 2019 are flexibility to employees and onboarding or support. HR professionals believe that onboarding deserves more attention. This involves helping the employee on the way and expressing mutual expectations.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence will make its entry into the HR field this year. Self-learning systems such as searching for candidates and candidate selection will have an impact. According to the British CIPD, an organization for HR and human development, Artificial Intelligence technologies, such as predictive analyzes, change the way companies adopt and maintain their talents and predict trends.

With Artificial Intelligence systems you can perform all kinds of checks and make estimates. For example, the tax authorities can check on social media if people fraud. Other larger companies use Artificial Intelligence to determine if someone is suitable as a partner. The turning point of this trend is that it seeks out the limits of privacy. A trend to discuss a lot this year.

Autonomy to employees

Employees function differently than before. Organizations, activities and roles change. The classic conversation cycle is no longer sufficient. The focus is on improving the performance. Because the employee has autonomy, this does not lead to undesirable situations.

Giving more autonomy or self-direction to employees has been going on for years, but now also increasingly engages large corporates. To let self-managing teams work effectively, more attention will have to be paid to communicating a clear direction and vision. This requires a lot of HR. Not only should there actually be more autonomy for the employees, training executives on a new role is also an agenda item.

In order to promote self-direction it is important that HR is easily accessible, has a strong connection with the teams and is on location where the employees are. In addition, tools and information systems are needed to be able to work without managers.

Investing in talent

To allow talent to grow, to discover it and then to use it, an organization must have a favorable culture in which learning and development is possible. Learning and development programs must be designed in such a way that both an employee and the organization grow. Online training and tools have a high success rate in this.

To promote talent development, more and more organizations are investing in the happiness of the employee. Studies have shown that happy employees are more attuned to the goals of the company and therefore add more value to the growth of the organization. In addition, they would have a higher retention rate and a strong sense of ownership.

But not just tools or work happiness will ensure an investment in talent, also the welfare of the employee will be given a new dimension in the coming year. Time after time, research shows that when employees are healthy, they perform better, more efficiently and more productively. Sport tournaments, yoga and mindfulness sessions are the most popular.

Remote staff

Thanks to technology, it is easier than ever for employees to work from home, a café, a flex desk or another country. A study from 2018 showed that 70% of global professionals work remotely at least once a week. And, it is not just full-time employees who work remotely. It is expected that half of at least the American workforce will work freelance by 2020.

Instead of hiring full-time employees, organizations can use a global network of talented freelancers, building short-term relationships or project for project.

Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement is the level of the emotional bond and involvement of an employee in an organization. When employees feel valued, their dedication and enthusiasm grows for their jobs, colleagues and organization. This in turn increases the retention, performance and productivity of employees.

G2 Crowd Learning Hub predicts that companies will increase their employee engagement expenditures by 45% in 2019. The challenge will be to decide which solutions will be the best for the employee, the company and the culture.

HR staff can use a tool like TruQu to request and follow feedback from their employees, to recognize employee performance and to promote positive activities. This yields useful insights from employee feedback and subsequently improves involvement.

Through continuous 360 degree feedback, setting goals and making performance reports, you work with the help of the software on your personal development and at the same time on the success of your organization. Curious? You can now try TruQu’s feedback technology for free for two weeks. Start your trial today!