cover feature
the same, they discovered their star employees shared some soft
skills, as well. “For example, the successful sales people had more
than four strong connections within the organization, whether
it was engineering or support or what have you, and people with
lower performance levels had fewer connections within the orga-nization,”
said Poduri.
“Now HR can make specific recommendations, not about the
number of connections, but more generally about encouraging
more collaboration between sales and other departments since this
is correlated with higher success in sales performance.”
SPOTTING PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY HAPPEN
Up until now, organizations have mainly used analytics to diag-nose
existing problems, but Poduri anticipates the industry is on
the cusp of greater maturity. “What comes next is more predictive,”
said Poduri. When you can use data to understand what’s in store,
it helps plot more effective next steps. Consider the challenge of
attrition, for example, a system could monitor employee activity
and compare it to previously gathered data and then forecast with
some accuracy which employees might be at risk of leaving. “Not
only can you use AI to predict which employees are most likely to
churn, you can also use the technology to understand what activ-ities
you can take on that might mitigate that risk,” said Poduri.
The technology can also help sniff out potential problems before
they become major threats. “Data can help an organization look at
indicators of discontent and fraud and predict if somebody is at
risk of going rogue and becoming an insider threat,” said Roemer.
“Analytics is going to be used to isolate and identify both positive
and negative behaviour.”
MADE TO MEASURE
As companies embrace AI, HR will need to quell any Big Brother
fears and encourage employees to see the potential for person-alized
growth. “We want to be able to get to a place where the
employees will voluntarily adopt these programs and they can see
the benefits,” said Poduri. “For example, if HR can use AI to track
a person’s behaviour, but in return this benefits the user because
he’ll receive the materials and training he might want and need,
then he will voluntarily subscribe to the program.”
Chatbots, in particular, offer an easy way to deliver individual-ized
assistance to employees. “There are chatbots that are not just
one dimensional, but that learn over time and get to understand
people and can direct them to services around their health, around
finances, even coaching,” said Allen. “All of these things are in their
infancy, not only in the power that each one brings, but also in the
adoption rate. I expect that that’s going to accelerate pretty quickly
in the next short while.”
RECRUITING AND RETENTION
Another top of mind concern for 2019 will come as no surprise
to most HR professionals. “The biggest trend is one people really
don’t want to hear: the skills shortage is still alive and well,” said
Rowan O’Grady, president, Hays Canada. “It’s more pronounced
now than it was a year ago and I predict it’ll be even more pro-nounced
a year from now.”
That pressure has given rise to some other trends, including a
focus on passive job candidates. “Gone are the days when you put
an ad online and expect to get a shortlist of candidates applying
for your role,” said Lee-Martin Seymour, co-founder and CEO of
Xref. Seymour suggests that the focus will continue to be on those
candidates, “who aren’t looking for roles, who maybe haven’t got a
resume ready, who may be awful in an interview, but who are abso-lutely
fantastic in their current role,” said Seymour. “This is the
uphill struggle of talent acquisition right now. Very seldom are we
finding the right candidate through job ads and traditional means.”
That means spotting diamonds in the rough. “I don’t meet a lot
of people who can scratch under the surface when they interview,”
said Seymour. However, learning to do it – and do it well – could
mean all the difference when it comes to finding those passive can-didates
who don’t present like obvious hires.
The 2019 HR trends share a common thread: harnessing technology
AS COMPANIES
EMBRACE AI, HR WILL
NEED TO QUELL ANY BIG
BROTHER FEARS AND
ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEES
TO SEE THE POTENTIAL
FOR PERSONALIZED
GROWTH.
Weerapat Kiatdumrong/123rf.com
18 ❚ DECEMBER 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
/123rf.com
