rayjunk/Shutterstock.com
cover feature
DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES – DESPITE
THE OMINOUS SOUNDING LABEL –
AREN’T INHERENTLY GOOD OR BAD;
THEY’RE SIMPLY INEVITABLE.
buildings and other items – embedded
with electronics, software, sensors and net-work
connectivity that enables these objects
to collect and exchange data. Think smart
watches that capture biofeedback, for ex-ample,
although that’s really just skimming
the surface of the tech’s potential.
Collecting information – whether
through feedback tools, IoT, talent metrics
or any other means – is only meaningful if
you can do something with numbers: spot
trends, flag problems, make forecasts. This
is where cognitive computing, technology
with the capacity to learn, is making a pro-found
difference within organizations.
In the Bersin By Deloitte report HR
Technology for 2016: 10 Big Disruptions on
the Horizon, Bersin wrote: “While most
companies have been slow to adopt people
analytics, vendors have quickly seen the
opportunities. Major HRMS, talent man-agement,
learning and recruiting vendors
now offer ‘intelligent recommendations’
and predictive analytics modules – and
they’ve built out their development teams.
While it’s difficult to tell how accurate var-ious
predictive models are, vendors are
moving fast; most already have solid data
science teams working on their software.”
He says that new software can do much
more than simply measure internal data. It
can predict attrition, for example, by fac-toring
external data (job openings, social
media activity) into the mix, it can predict
which job moves will result in the highest-performing
career employees and it can
even review data from employees wearing
sensors to determine whether a new office
layout is working or not.
Having access to real time, in-depth data
about myriad aspects of the workforce can
help HR make strategic and cost-effective
decisions with respect to training, team
functionality, performance, strategic work-force
Continued on page 23
planning and more.
THE SHIFTING SOCIAL CONTRACT
Software advances have made it increas-ingly
easy – and common – for employees
to directly access and manage such things
as vacation requests, specialized training
and performance management notes.
At Corus, for example, employees use
online tools to request vacation time,
access compensation information and ap-prove
hire requests or offer letters. In a
growing number of organizations, this
Hire a Canadian Registered Safety Professional
(CRSP)®
to protect your most important resources
Increasing health and safety hazards in the workplace, mounting
occupational incidents means that your organization cannot
afford anything less than a Canadian Registered Safety
Professional (CRSP) ®.
A CRSP ® offers in-depth knowledge of OHS principles and
practices and applies this knowledge to develop systems in order
to achieve optimum control over hazards
in your workplace.
Visit www.bcrsp.ca
to learn more or
to advertise to hire a CRSP ®.
Board of
Canadian
Registered
Safety
Professionals
MORE FEEDBACK, PLEASE
Dozens of high-profile organizations ditched
their traditional performance management
systems in the past few years in favour of
more agile formats. In most cases, the new
models are enabled by new technologies.
“In just the past 24 months, there have
been at least 20 software companies who’ve
created applications for performance man-agement
that relies on frequent feedback,”
said Bersin. “Many include options for
HR to collect anonymous feedback about
manager performance, as well.”
“The newer performance management
systems are less about the yearly review
and more about the quick-pitch elevator
story,” said Cheryl Fullerton, executive vice
president, People at Corus Entertainment
Inc. “A good technology solution can
enable managers and their people to crys-talize
their thoughts.”
Tech-enabled feedback is playing a
growing role in other areas of business,
too. HR is increasingly making the most
of tools that ask for employee input on any
number of issues, collecting real-time data
and helping guide the decision-making
process. Encouraging employee input in
decisions can drive engagement, and the
data collected can also help HR spot an
emerging trend or issue before it becomes
a big problem.
BIG DATA, BIG RESULTS
Data can be collected from a long list of oth-er
sources, as well. The Internet of Things
(IoT), for example, is defined as the net-work
of physical objects – devices, vehicles,
20 ❚ JULY/AUGUST 2016 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL