The business world as we know it has dramatically changed over the past decade. With it, everything about Human Resources has also gone through a major transformation. From the hiring process, analytics, and employee feedback to social media and the rise of technology, nothing is the same anymore. Trends come and go, and businesses must stay on top if they want to remain relevant and attract the best talent in their niche.

Just think about it for a second: not too long ago, the idea that companies would use social media in the recruiting process seemed laughable at best. Nowadays, social media works as your online business card and a Facebook photo or a Tweet can jeopardize your chances of getting the job of your dreams.

So, how are HR trends changing? Well, in 2015 most businesses focused on analytics. 2016 was the year of agile HR while in 2017 companies put a great interest in employee experience, family benefits, and engagement.

What does 2018 have in store for the Human Resources department?

Let’s find out!

Power to the people

Many organizations are still used to work in a top-down way. In those organizations, also HR finds it difficult to approach issues in a different way. Performance management is a good example. Changing the performance management process is often tackled as an organization wide issue, and HR needs to find the new uniform solution. In line with the trend called “the consumerisation of HR” employees are expected to take more initiative, being tired of waiting for the organization and HR, and wanting to be more independent of organizational initiatives. If you want feedback, you can easily organize it yourself, for example with the TruQu Feedback app.

Many employees are already tracking their own fitness with trackers like Fitbit and the Apple Watch. Many teams primarily use communication tools as WhatsApp and Slack, avoiding the officially approved communication channels. HR might go with the flow, and tap on to the channels used, instead of trying to promote standardized and approved channels.

Employee Intimacy

Over the years the focus has shifted in HR from the management to the employees. Getting to know your employee, pleasing them, understanding their needs and point of views are excellent ways of building a sense of belonging. Studies have shown that employees that are engaged are more productive and stay with the company for longer than those that feel disconnected.

Companies nowadays must ensure that they give employees more than just satisfactory incomes. They also need to create valuable and positive programs that engage employees and help them achieve a sense of satisfaction.

Emotional intimacy at work is also vital in creating a strong bond, not only between the manager and the employees but between peers as well. Just think about it: your employees spend most of their time together. A good relationship between them creates mutual respect that forms a welcoming vibe. Ultimately, happy employees are the backbone of a balanced and thriving
organization.

Performance Feedback

Regardless of how you feel about feedback, it is one of the most important and effective communication tools, especially between the manager and the employee. Performance feedback is a form of evaluation where the leader of a company expresses his or her opinion on an employees’ performance throughout a certain amount of time, usually a year. With this type of feedback, the employee should expect both praises and criticism that can help them evolve and grow.

Feedback motivates employees to perform better. The sense of appreciation and validation that comes from constructive feedback can improve overall performance and engagement levels.

Recent studies show that Millennials are craving for performance feedback the most, but they want it to be accurate and up to date. With our world relying heavily on technology, it would only seem natural for them to want to receive feedback in a remote and mobile way. Thus, they are more comfortable receiving feedback through digital devices rather than face to face.

Blind Recruitment

What’s one of the primary things HRs do when they are trying to fill an empty position? They are acquiring as much data as possible on candidates and analyze it, trying to find the right fit for the job.

During a normal recruiting process, the employer should base his or her decision on the skills, knowledge, and experience of the candidates, and not on their ethnic background, gender, age or personal interests. Unfortunately, unconscious bias comes into action and influences the outcome of the recruitment process. The problem is that, more often than not, HR managers don’t even realize that their biases have hijacked their choices.

That’s where blind recruitment can make a significant difference.

Blind recruitment is a revolutionary technique that “blinds” any demographic-related information about potential employees. With the help of this rather new tool, leaders and employers can increase workplace diversity, eliminating any instances of bias and discrimination.

Improving Productivity

Increasing and improving productivity are among the crucial goals any business pursues. But, how do you achieve them?

One excellent way would be to focus on your employees’ needs and how fulfilling them can help you grow your company. Stop counting heads and start creating incentive programs or better functional workplaces that inspire and make your employees want to work and be productive. Focus more on the employees you already have, work on their strengths, and maximize their potential. Sooner rather than later, you will start to see results.

From a Traditional Workforce to a Remote Culture

Advances in technology have made it possible for people to work from almost anywhere. With a laptop and good internet connection, they don’t have to commute to an office anymore and be there between 9AM and 5PM. They can work from home, from their local coffee shop or even from a beach while sipping on a fruity cocktail.

Transitioning from a traditional workforce to a remote one is one of the latest trends in HR. It increases efficiency and productivity by creating the opportunity to recruit without having any geographical boundaries. That way, not only that the recruitment process becomes easier than ever before, but companies also have access to a larger talent pool.

Improving Overall Health

With the recent changes that organizational systems have brought, companies have begun to understand the importance of employee health and retirement plans. In fact, according to one study, 55 % of organizations have offered plans with health savings account in 2017. Moreover, companies are becoming more and more concerned about their employees’ plans for retirement and are trying to help them make the best decisions. With the arrival of defined contribution plans, companies want to offer as many retirement options and methods as possible to their employees.

Gamification Becomes Popular

Gamification is the process of applying elements of game playing in different areas such as marketing, HR, PR, and so on. In other words, gamification is a modern way to increase consumer engagement, by turning everything into a game. Businesses can use this tool for learning and onboarding purposes, evaluation purposes and helping employees reach their full potential by having fun at work.

For example, gamification can be extremely useful in educating employees about a new project. HR managers can give quizzes to employees to test their different skills and abilities under pressure.

Going with the Flow

Companies are expecting from employees to become more independent and come up with new ideas for developing the organization by themselves, without having to push them around. This new approach reduces the stress of planning, controlling, and anticipating every possible change that may affect a project.

Human Resources departments are beginning to embrace this trend as well. HR is now “going with the flow” and accepting the fact that raw talent will come up by itself in the company by showing initiative and courage.

Conclusion

2018 is here, and it’s promising to be an exciting year. The latest HR trends are technology-driven and promise to focus more on new and modern tools for productivity and engagement growth, such as gamification and remote workforce. Employees represent the number one priority and companies are learning how to consider their needs, improve their overall health, and use performance feedback to help them better themselves. But, most importantly, both companies and employees are now working together to create harassment and discrimination-free environments.

Time’s up! How are you going to make 2018 count?