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There has not been a better time to work in HR.

What we do quite literally makes or breaks a company. If we can’t attract, train, and retain the best talent, then the company will lose ground rapidly.

HR is undergoing change. Not just small-scale change, but a fundamental seismic shift. A change that will see traditional HR falling behind and be replaced by new, skilled HR, ready to change the future of HR. In particular, everything from technology to social media and distributed workspaces has a major impact in the way we hire, train, and retain the millennial workforce.

According to Deloitte, 91% of Millennials expect to stay in their current job for 3 years or less, with 45% of companies reporting higher turnover rates among this group vs. other generations. When looking at the future of HR, it is critical to understand that Millennials behave differently and need different types of solutions to stay engaged at work.

What are the top 3 trends that you see shaping the HR landscape?

Nisha: I’m seeing a shift where HR is getting transitioned into a true business partner who not only understands HR implications but also the core business operations as well. HR is now more connected to how the whole business is functioning, how the business is making revenue, and why the organization works the way it does. Knowing this, HR can more effectively manage the human capital needs of the organization. In fact,  human capital is one of the top three challenges for CEOs globally. So HR professionals who have a phenomenal knowledge of what’s happening at the bottom level can manage human capital needs based on business needs.

The other trend that I wanted to highlight is that HR is becoming more data-driven. Using data and analytics, HR is able to make accurate projections and take front decisions to lead the change that helps the organization achieves success. In fact, while we’re talking about HR transformation, one of the key competencies for transforming HR is the ability to analyze data effectively, find answers to those key business questions, and then manage people to achieve success.

When Google initially launched People Analytics as a tool to make their human capital decisions, it was an alien strategy for most of the companies out there. Now, more and more companies are using workforce analytics to predict the future needs and make decisions accordingly. For example, you can find out if there are any talent shortages that are going to happen in the future and if so, what type of talent or what type of skills would the organization require in the future. Can that talent be trained in the organization? If not, where we can we find them? All these questions can be answered by using data and analytics, and HR is becoming more data-driven.

The third trend is that I’m now noticing is that HR is becoming more specialized. Because, as we’ve seen, more and more new roles are emerging in the HR industry like recruitment marketing, employer branding, and HR analytics or data analytics. I want to highlight one of the recent studies conducted by Bersin Associate, which is a Deloitte company. They say that ‘ 7% of HR’s real value comes from its role as an internal people operations team: more than 5 times its value comes from its role in supporting, developing, and identifying leaders’.

So in the future, business leaders want HR professionals to be specialists who have in-depth knowledge in data analysis, who know how to assess talent and how to build compelling employer brand, and who can handle the HR technology as well.

What is the role of technology in HR of the future?

Nisha: That’s a great question. As we all know, technology is an enabler, right? Being in the HR industry, I know it’s impossible to run an HR function without multiple technologies. When it comes to HR technology, the good thing is that all the new technologies are highly integrated into letting the HR professional see the trends and insights. This is really crucial going forward for HR to be able to make decisions and manage human capital.

From identifying talent to handling the employee lifecycle management, maintaining workforce data to analyzing the talent trends and facilitating online training, technology is playing a great role. An organization with the right type of talent who knows how to make the most of HR technologies are bound to succeed. That being said, as an HR person I should definitely say this, technology cannot replace the human element.

There are some particular areas where HR interaction is a must have. For example, the one-on-one interaction between the employee and the manager. It is also needed during retention issues or if there’s any conflict resolution needed.

But as a whole, HR is evolving and technology has and will continue to impact the way HR drives business outcomes from employee onboarding to continuing skill development and beyond.

How has social media, social conversation, and digital in general influenced HR leadership and how will this continue to evolve?

Nisha: Social media, in general, has influenced the way HR attracts, hires, and engages talent. It is a competitive advantage to build a compelling, authentic, and genuine employer brand and attract talent. The greatest impact that I see right now is organizations can have some control over how their organization is perceived as a workplace, by providing content on social media.

For example, from a tweet that talks about how excited to work at the organization, to an employee sharing a photograph of their work desk, or an employee letting their audience know how they have fun working at your organization.

For instance the employer branding approach of Zappos. They have actually created a separate Twitter handle for employer branding. If you haven’t checked it out, you should check it out – it’s @InsideZappos. Their ultimate goal is to let everyone know what life is really like at Zappos. How cool is that!

They do a fun weekly tweet-chat where Zappos employees and HR team are available to talk to everyone and let their audience know how it’s like to work at their organization as well as what are the current possibilities that they’re exploring at their organization. This gives an opportunity for potential talent to interact with Zappos HR professionals and even employees.

Let me make it clear. Social media is not just a tool to broadcast. Use it as a way to engage your audience – it’s a two-way communication.

The use of social and digital will continue to evolve. As HR professionals, we’ll have to collaborate with marketing and learn some marketing skills to come up with compelling recruitment marketing techniques. We need to know how to make employer branding message reach our target audience in general.

Companies are using social media as a tool to identify cultural fit as well. Going through candidates social profiles now recruiters know what the candidates are like. For example, going through a Facebook feeds of a candidate, you can get to know a little more about candidate’s interests and passions. All the data is exposed on social media and that’s what recruiters are really looking for. What type of person is this candidate? Is he going to be a right fit for the organization? Is he going to mash up with the culture of the organization? That’s going to be an initial key in choosing a candidate. After that, once he comes for an interview, the recruiter or HR will be able to ask him behavioral and technical questions to identify the cultural fit and competence.

How can HR leaders prepare for the future?

Nisha: One of the top talent issues that is keeping business leaders up at night is the widening skills gap among HR professionals. One of the things organizations should do is to have a professional development or career advancement program for all employees across business functions. When it comes to HR, it’s not that prevalent out there. I really wanted to shout out to all the HR leaders out there to have a professional development program for your HR team in order to prepare them for the competencies that are going to be required in the future.HR is about the intersection of people with business, strategy, and technology. Keep your fingers on the pulse of these three factors and Understand what is important for your company in terms of HR are be open to all the changes that are happening in your industry, you’ll succeed for sure.

Thank you for your insight Nisha!

Nisha Raghavan, Founder & host of India HR LIVE, is a Global HR professional with extensive experience in handling Talent Management, Employee Engagement, and Cultural diversity in the workplace. After having worked in Corporate India for a while, she moved to The United States and talks about her Global HR experiences on her blog Your HR Buddy!! She is the Co-host of DriveThruHR, HR’s #1 Daily Radio Show at 12 noon CT and was recently listed as one of the Top 100 most social HR experts on Twitter by Huffington Post. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, & on Twitter @TheHrbuddy.

Read More about 5 Tips for a Successful Pre-Join Program

So you selected your new employees; excellent, this means you’ve gotten through the hard part. Now they are about to go through the orientation program you have planned for them, but what about training?
Laura Vanderkam’s blog post on Fortune.cnn.com references a survey from Accenture that found how 77% of college students who were going to graduate in 2013 expected to receive formal on the job training. However, only 48% of the students in the class of 2011 and 2012 said they received training. Katherine LaVelle of Accenture is quoted saying, “There’s a disconnect between employers’ expectations of grads entering with relevant skills and the reality….” One of the benefits, according to LaVelle, of training new hires properly is that they will be less likely to quit quickly. This ties back to creating a feeling of commitment and trust with the new employee.
Laura references multiple new employee training examples, but the one I found most interesting was about Le Pain Quotidien. People hired as servers at the restaurant receive five days of training with a certified instructor; during these five days they are taught about “every aspect of the restaurant,” including a taste test of each meal. However, the training doesn’t stop after those first few days. Le Pain Quotidien offers training courses, such as baking and catering, to help them learn new skills while keeping the old ones fresh. This allows the employees to create a career path that is meaningful instead of being stuck as a dishwasher.

Getting started with new hire training

While it may seem beneficial to cut costs by eliminating new employee training, you are actually saving money in the future by training them now. We discussed in previous posts how new hires need to feel accepted as part of the team. The question should really be: “how are you going to train your newbies?” In his article, Ilya Pozin describes four crucial elements of new hire training, three of which I will discuss in this post.

Train for the specific types of people you hire

This tip may sound easy enough, but it can actually be quite complex. To do this, you must analyze the personality and culture of each current employee who fills specific positions or are a part of a certain department; you will then take this knowledge and apply it to the training program. For example, if a specific position tends to attract brilliant people who unfortunately have poor social skills, create a training program that builds their self-confidence and doesn’t make them feel uncomfortable. If this happens to be a position that requires a lot of social interaction, help them build proper and confident social skills.

Cross-train

People who work at start-up companies often gain a competitive edge when applying for a new job. Why is that you might ask? Well, it is not uncommon that employees of a start-up business will be required to learn varied skills and perform the functions of what would be considered a separate position in most businesses. The same benefit applies to new employees. Training them for other positions, either all at once or slowly over time, would be beneficial to everyone. This would provide better interaction and communication between the sectors of a business, while also allowing people to step up and help out when there is an overwhelming amount of work.

Remove the fear of failure

New employees often come into a situation nervous or afraid to try new things since they are not sure what will happen if their idea fails. The best way to learn is by doing, so let the new employees do something without the fear of repercussions if they get it wrong. Help them learn the ropes and point out their mistakes so they can avoid them in the future.

One of the most effective ways to learn is to engage in intelligent conversation with an expert on a subject. Mentoring and shadowing are an excellent supplement to research and independent learning. In particular, online relationships, facilitated through the Internet, have evolved how professional mentoring and shadowing happens. Technology makes online mentoring and shadowing cost-effective for organizations with offices anywhere in the world.

Value of shadowing in new hire training

Whether you are taking an online or offline approach to this, Susan Heathfield provides great insight into why job shadowing is so important. Here’s how shadowing can help your new hires:

1. It “helps employees absorb the values, norms, and standards of an organization…” Think of this as if you were trying to learn a language; the only way you can truly learn is by immersing yourself in a culture and being surrounded by native speakers. The same principle applies since job shadowing allows the new employees to see how the culture and values of the business are applied in normal everyday settings.

2. The new hire can demonstrate what they learned. After the new hire is taught a skill or job function, they can demonstrate what they have learned to their mentor. This allows them to solidify the knowledge and gives their mentor the opportunity to clarify any misconceptions or fix any issues the new employee may be having.

3. What better way to create friendships than to interact with people, right? Assigning a mentor will give the new employee someone they can get to know at a personal level. On top of that, the mentor can introduce the new hire to other current employees he or she may not know yet.

4. If the mentorship is temporary, it can provide a way for the new hire to gain a “deeper knowledge about a variety of jobs and functions in the company.” Here is a scenario. You could allow the new employee(s) to mentor with one person from each section (or as many as you choose) of the company. Over the course of 2-3 weeks, the new hire(s) would learn about which position would suit them best, or the mentors could decide who would fit what position best. This would also allow the new employees to have a better understanding of the relationship between each sector of the business. Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to create a successful training environment for new employees.

What steps are you taking to create a successful training environment for your new employees? Leave us a comment and let us know!

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