Trends in HR Management Analysis

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HRM/300

March 13, 2017

Ralph Apuan

Trends in HR Management Analysis

The trends in Human Resources (HR) over the past decade can vary from industry to industry and individual experiences. The categories focused on are employee experience engagement, data, performance, increased need for analytic tools and generations in the workplace. The list of trends will provide an insight to not only the current HR environment, but provide an outlook for the future of HR departments.

Employee Experience Engagement

The culture and work-life experience for employees can be quite confusing with dynamic companies. The main idea ids for businesses to provide services and goods when they are needed and not just during “regular work hours.” The trend appears to be more companies are having individuals work or provide services outside normal business hours (Khanna, 2016). The availability of technology and the Internet has basically created potential for employees to be at work when they are even at home. The trend went from not just bringing work home and telecommuting but to employees actually work from home remote for their primary office. Employees are also linked to their responsibilities if there is a need for them to be called on or called in. The lines between and work have become so blurred over the past decade some employees are not able to unplug from the responsibilities of their job and remain engrossed in their job via emails and online monitoring systems. The most concerning part of this trend is most employees are unable to go on vacation without having an internet device or even separate themselves from the office during their rest time (Khanna, 2016). This not only affects the employee’s behaviors, as it also becomes a liability when employers need to compensate employees for their service after hours. For this reason most employers are forbidding their employees from working when off work. Even with employees in the workplace some employees have become occupied with playing games or shopping online at work, which is made available through company provided devices or personal devices. These types of distractions and more are some of the experiences employees are engaging in as technology and the workforce expands.

Data

The growing need in HR to track turnover, performance and attendance is no easy feat. With the advancements in technology HR is capable of not only tracking employee data but making forecasts which could benefit the company HR serves. The trends over the past 10 years in collecting and utilizing data to make HR accurate decisions within a company are becoming more of a requirement vice a need. As the tracking continues paperless systems become very much more depended upon. This type of record keeping requires HR departments to have systems capable of storing and retrieving information as well as safeguarding personal information (Biro, 2014). Not all the information recorded is for any employee purview and systems and policies have become more and more prevalent with safeguarding data HR departments use on a daily basis. Companies are also trending to utilize data on employees externally from the company servers and work on-line with collogues separated by distances simultaneously in order to hold meetings and share information all over the world. The trends on capturing employee data and analyzing the data are ever increasing in HR.

Performance

Evaluations of employee performances are a common practice among companies. The trend has more companies focusing on different aspects of an employees performance than redundant performance ratings, annual appraisals and social performance critiquing. Industries are beginning to focus more on goal setting strategies and employment development programs instead (Writer, 2010). HR specifically handles this portion of an organizations function to alleviate issues where managers and supervisors become overwhelmed with other responsibilities. The benefit of HR handling the performance of employees is so the process can be tracked an evaluated without bias. As mentioned the trend replaces the previous type of annual performance appraisal, which is usually administered by a supervisor or manager.The difference in the performance of employees with goals and development programs provides more investment and growth for employees in a company. Strictly providing only ratings and critiques for employees alone does not foster the advancement of their personal and professional development in an organization. The recent trends provide evidence HR departments are able to curtail the goal setting strategies and employment development programs on initial on boarding all the through when and if the employee leaves the company.

Analytic Tools

As mentioned the increased need for data on employees is critical to HR, but the need for data entry and electronic record keeping is essential to utilize analytic tools in HR. The need for employers to better provide accurate forecasting reports for specific professions is extremely beneficial to the success of the HR department and the professional growth of employees. The most beneficial trend noticed over the past decade is the use of talent analytics (Biro, 2014). Talent analytics applies business analytics techniques and data mining to HR collected data. The overall goal of talent analytics is to provide businesses the insights on how to effectively manage employees so that organizational goals can be ascertained the most fast and efficient way possible. The main concern with this process is for HR to identify the exact data needed in order to create models and accurate predictions so businesses can receive an optimal return on their investment most precious asset, their employees. With the growing trends in analytic tools utilized by HR businesses can expect to gain more from their employees and future human capital investments.

Generations In The Workplace

As the workforce continues to grow so must the employees and with age comes retirement. In order to continue the growth of the workforce individuals must replace the current workforce and be capable of not only replacing current employees in each type of industry but also in larger numbers. The United States divides generations into three basic genres (Shah, 2015). Traditionalists are individuals born before 1946, Baby Boomers are born 1946 to 1976 and Millennials are born after 1976. The only workforce currently available to add to the growing workforce is Millennials. The Millennial generation is further broken down into three different genres; Generation X born 1965 to 1976, Generation Y born 1977 to 1995 and Generation Z born 1996 and after. Typically HR is having difficulty placing Millennials into the skilled labor workforce. The trend is Millennials are more prone to assume professions which supervise Baby Boomers who were not able to retire and unable to train enough Millennials to relive them of their professions. Still Millennials are gradually asserting themselves into many professions with some very auspicious differences from earlier generations. The primary differences and trends with Millennials is their desire to maintain a work-life balance and to have a HR department who will accommodate their lifestyle while developing their abilities and strengths or employers are finding the Millennials will find an employer who will (Shah, 2015).

Conclusion

The past 10 years of trends in Human Resources has exposed the benefits of understanding how the categories discussed affect a business directly. Understanding the impacts employee experience engagement, data, performance, analytic tools and generations in the workplace can have on a business allows for the potential use of these different metrics for businesses. Having an HR department capable of handling these different aspects of a business and other responsibilities could lead to the increased efficiency and success of a company.

References

Biro, M. (2014). Talent Analytics: A Crystal Ball For Your Workforce? Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2014/06/29/talent-analytics-a-crystal-ball-for-your-workforce/#66bb70d71934

Khanna, S. (2016). Total Employee Experience – The new synonym for Employees Engagement. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/india/hr-buzz/blogs/subject-matter-expert/Pages/Total-Employee-Experience.aspx

Shah, R. (2015). Working Beyond Five Generations In The Workplace. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/rawnshah/2015/02/23/working-beyond-five-generations-in-the-workplace/

Writer, L. G. (2010).Employee Development Success Factors. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/employee-development-success-factors-2032.html