
What is
Bringing for HR?
FROM AI TO RECRUITING TO ATYPICAL WORK, THE NEW YEAR
PROMISES A MIXED BAG OF CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
By Melissa Campeau
If there’s one word that sums what 2019 will bring for HR, it
might be “more.” As in: HR is taking on more than ever, there’s
more pressure to find great candidates in what feels like a
shrinking pool, there’s more data and technology than ever at
HR’s fingertips – but that also leads to more choices and decisions
than ever before.
It can seem overwhelming. To help filter the noise and zero in
on what really matters, industry experts and insiders share their
thoughts on the biggest trends for HR in 2019, plus the the
opportunities and challenges those changes might bring.
ANALYTICS AND AI
While pairing HR with analytics and AI isn’t a new idea, there’s
not an industry-wide adoption of the technologies, just yet.
However, 2019 may be the year things change.
“I think there’s a lot of curiosity right now,” said Paula Allen,
vice-president, Research and Integrative Solutions at Morneau
Shepell. “But have we fully embraced it? I think we’re just at the
tip of the iceberg.” She said, “When it comes to the future of work,
though, technology, big data and AI are without a doubt the fac-tors
that will have the biggest impact.”
IT’S A MATTER OF TIME
“HR is very strapped for time,” said Allen. “Virtually every indus-try
is tending to the threat of disruption or trying to disrupt, to
do things better, meet customer needs more directly, be more
efficient and really think of different business models.” She said,
“Organizations are looking to change and HR needs to sup-port
the business in this new reality, but nothing is taken off
their plates.”
That’s where AI and other technologies can help. “The need
for data – and the insights from data – has never been greater,
with this focus on very heavy-duty strategic planning,” said Allen.
There’s also a need to streamline tasks and services so HR can have
the capacity to meet those strategic demands, and analytics and AI
can help on both those counts.
“Some people feel alarmed and overwhelmed at the prospect of
AI,” said Allen. “People aren’t going away. People have creativity,
they can strategize and build relationships, but they do need this
type of support to do their jobs efficiently.”
PERFORMANCE ENHANCER
“Data can offer much deeper insight into the performance of orga-nizations,
teams or individuals, and can even predict success or
failure in certain scenarios,” said Kurt Roemer, chief security strat-egist
at Citrix.
Kedarnath Poduri, VP product management, Delivery
Networks at Citrix Systems, shared an example of how one client
used analytics and AI to improve performance.
“This organization analyzed what success looks like for their
sales team’s top performers,” said Poduri. In addition to determin-ing
which tools they used the most, and encouraging others to do
16 ❚ DECEMBER 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL