There are plenty of articles circulating about 2018 human resources trends. But I don’t view these trends as prognostications. They’re already here. What we will see in the coming years is more of an upswell.
For all of these trends, HR professionals need to be the ones to say, “How can I make this work in my organization? How do I sell it to top management? How do I break down the walls of 'We’ve always done it this way?’”
The concepts below are all cutting-edge thoughts and ideas happening in the workplace. But they don’t have to be found just in companies like Apple, Amazon or Google. You can implement these concepts in any type of business because they’re about people management, not a specific industry.
Here are three areas HR can embrace to make their companies better.
1. The gig economy and remote work.
Smart companies are already embracing the positive side of the gig economy. HR needs to get past the idea that acquiring the right talent means hiring employees.
Who cares if that person sits at a desk under your roof or if they’re three time zones away? Who cares if that person doesn’t work 9 to 5? The right person is the right person. Who brings the right skillset for the job you need done?
HR struggles with this concept because they worry about the control factor of it. They worry about what happens if a person doesn’t deliver on time and how they will hold that person accountable.
But a contractor-company relationship is actually simpler than a standard employee-employer relationship. There is no 30- or 60-day improvement plan, no focus on training to make them better. If a contractor doesn’t deliver, find another one who will.
We already know that the younger generations are tech-savvy and much more independent. If HR can harness those two things and allow them to use technology to work remotely while doing great work for the company, that’s a game changer.
Smart companies are already doing this. The only thing keeping remote work from catching fire is HR’s unwillingness to embrace it.
Remember, you pay someone to do a job for you, and that means getting results — not punching the clock or sitting in a seat.
With very few exceptions, I think this work comes down to HR’s willingness to look at other types of business models. Remote work and flex work are already here, so let’s embrace them to make our companies better.