The Top 3 HR Trends, Are You on Top of These? As Well as AI and Gigs?

The world of work and the way in which we employ our Human Resource Department are going through a period of significant change. New ways of working including the use of artificial intelligence and the new rise of the gig economy alone demand an imperative need to reskill not only as a whole company but also as an HR department.

Let’s look below at some top new trends you need to watch out for competing with other businesses and make sure you’re functioning fully with new ideas and methods in HR.

Investment in Manager betterment 

Many employees are actively taking charge of their own developments and putting in place training opportunities for themselves. However, managers still need to make sure they’re upskilling and staying relevant in their roles. 

The training of your managers with robust investment strategies will not only help create a stable workforce infrastructure but also make sure you’re creating solid leaders within your organization.

‘Managers still need to make sure they’re upskilling and staying relevant’

Let’s look below at ways in which you can make sure you’re investing fully in your managers.

  • Ensure your managers are making the best use of one-to-one updates and enlist the use of suitable training to make sure they know how to conduct and deliver them 
  • Evaluating managers ability to actively inspire and motivate teams and other individuals in your organization 
  • Support your managers with adequate training to make sure they’re able to create a firm focus and clarity within their departments
  • Educate managers on how to give good, constructive feedback within their teams and departments 
  • Make sure your managers have the skills to develop strong leadership skills in their teams 
  • Operating training programs to create the required skill sets that make sure your managers are good coaches

The focus here is to remember that developing your managers’ leadership skills is unique to each of your staff. Operating a blanket standard training process is not the best method for such an important type of development.

Employee Enablement

We’re looking at so many new changes in the way we work, including operating teams who may work remotely, maybe teams in different locations, the growing millennial and Gen Z workforce, alongside the new gig economy.  This has a huge effect on how employees are now thinking about their careers.

Your role in HR was traditional to help encourage and develop performance within the workplace. However, many employees are just not sitting around waiting for their HR team to do this for them, and are becoming more active in their acquisition of new skills and betterment.

By adopting a people-first approach, you can ensure your HR team is at the cutting edge of the new ways of working. Making sure that moments to celebrate success, whilst also constantly searching for new innovative ways in which to develop the workforce is paramount to ensuring employees can be empowered, valued and motivated. 

Encouraging a feedback culture will ensure you’re actively engaged n giving the workforce an opportunity to continually improve, whilst providing a platform for growth and development. 

Actively seek feedback

According to statistics by sagepeople.com, almost half (47%) of respondents have never been asked by their employer how they can improve their working experiences, with only 12% being asked on a regular basis.

Mental health awareness

Finally, a topic gaining attention is mental health awareness. Many of the traditional workforces are breaking away to find a true purpose and abandoning traditional career paths in search of a more sustainable and holistic lifestyle. There are distinct parallels between people looking for a greater value out of their working day and perhaps those who also suffer from mental health issues. 

There are now steps in place to counteract this. Examples exist all over the modern world. Such as the Mental Health at Work website, which was launched by Prince William in 2018, which strives to address some of these issues and begins to address the need for more human and financial resources to support mental health. 

Employers are urged to look at increasing wellbeing and wellness programs to at least scratch the surface of this growing situation. Adding focus into the working days of employees which include exercise, diet and other benefits. 

The workforce is becoming ever more open to the idea of discussing such difficulties and how mental health issues affect their daily working life. A few questions you need to ask yourselves as a responsible, ethical and forward-thinking HR departments are:

  • How are we educating our workforce in terms of mental health awareness?
  • What exactly are the issues employees are coming forward to discuss?
  • How can we ensure we implement an environment where people can feel comfortable sharing such issues they are experiencing?
  • How can we support each other?  

Conclusion 

We hope you’ve enjoyed this foray into the ways in which a modern thinking HR department can make sure they’re at the cutting edge of new trends and ways in which you can make a difference right now in developing your strategies, and keeping up to date with trending topics in the world of Human Resources.