Human resource professionals have always been resistant to changes and the dichotomy is, we spearhead the change management process within the organization.
In the 90s we saw, how difficult it was for HR professionals to understand financials. The result was, that we’d lose a seat in the board room. We had lot of debates and discussions around “Why human resource professionals are not becoming CEOs?” Reason was clear, Operations spoke the language of numbers which HR professionals were uncomfortable with. This was evident when lot of CFOs became CEOs.
HR may get into similar situation again as we are hesitant in accepting technology - which provides faster turnaround, quicker solution and above all, fantastic analytics. The sooner we adapt, the better it is. Not all HR professionals are averse towards using technology but the percentage is low. We need to ensure that young breed of HR professionals who are inclined to use technology are given all support.
Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and block chain are some of those technologies that are going to change the total concept of how Human Capital Management will function.
We are seeing a lot of start-ups in the space of human resource technology. HRLogica Talent Solutions uses AI and ML to map the entire life-cycle of an employee. Getting candidate feedback for the interview process, ensuring paperless and quick onboarding, learning curve feedback, daily employee sentiments or even carrying out a full-fledged employee engagement survey are some of the features that have been provided on AI & ML based platforms. The AI based exit process provides the employees an opportunity to provide feedback to the employer. At the backend, data is churned out by ML-based analytics, which helps organizations to prepare the action plan based on accurate and real time information.
We are also seeing the use of blockchain in HR and company like, Quinfy Technology uses block chain to provide background verification solutions and KYC solutions to its clients. Quinfy is also providing a verified or ‘Quinfied’ resume for the organization which is pre-verified. Imagine how this faster on-boarding will benefit the organisation and impact their revenue by cost reduction.
This is the time when we lead, or be forgotten. If we don’t jump onto the tech bandwagon now, it might get difficult for HR Professionals like us to survive in the long run. We have already seen a lot of discussions on whether the HR department will be required in the future. Many pundits have written off the entire HR department, but we all know for sure that till the time we have humans in the workforce the human resource department will be required. Concepts will change, disruptive technology will invade HR domain, but those who will ride this technology wave, will survive.