Human Resources professionals have the opportunity to make a significant impact on an organization and play a significant role in shaping the experiences of the employees within it. From being a trusted advisor and leader to helping future-proof the company and keeping up with advances in technology to creating meaning and purpose for your staff, there is no shortage of things on your to-do list.
But above else, we often ask ourselves what does the future of work look like? What is coming down the pipeline that HR pros and senior leadership need to know? Here are four of our top takeaways from SHRM’s 2024 national conference that we found insightful and hope you do, too.
- Organizations are Having Challenges Addressing Their Top Priorities
SHRM’s research found that the top four priorities in 2024 are maintaining employee morale and engagement; retaining top talent; finding and recruiting talent with the necessary skills; and reducing costs and increasing efficiencies. Seven months into the year, organizations are still having difficulty recruiting and retaining employees, and only 1 in 4 HR pros believe that their organization has been effective in addressing those priorities.
- Human Resources Professionals are Continuing to Move from More “Traditional” HR Roles to More Transformational Roles
In the past few years, HR pros have had to wear many hats to accommodate the pandemic and post-pandemic changes. You likely worked closer with your C-suite leaders than ever before on work schedules, roles, and budgets. While things are still unpredictable in some ways, many of you may still be trying to figure out where you fit in and how you can have the biggest impact on your organization.
In one of the SHRM sessions, Jennifer McClure asked some very thought-provoking questions that might help you think about your role differently:
- It’s not enough to just maintain and grow existing systems anymore — how are you taking your organization to the next level?
- Are you a business prevention unit or are you accelerating growth?
- How are you aligning HR strategy with business strategy?
- Are you fostering silos or cultivating a connected workplace?
- Are you simply filling positions or building a strategic talent pipeline?
- How are you using data to back up your decisions?
- Upskilling Your Existing Workforce Is More Important Than Ever
Upskilling was a hot topic during the entire conference, and for good reason. Employees are practically begging for opportunities to use their skills and abilities while employers desperately need to fill hard-to-fill roles. An increase in salary is often the first thing that people think of when trying to recruit or retain employees, but there are two other factors that have a huge impact on early talent retention: highly effective managers and opportunities for professional development. In many cases, investing in your managers and employees is a cost-effective strategy that has a higher return than increasing someone’s salary.
- The Speed of Change and Innovation Is the Slowest It’s Going to Be
At this point, if you’re not incorporating data and AI into your HR operations, you’re going to get left behind. Data-driven processes can help you optimize hiring strategies, streamline employee performance management, and more so that you can make evidence-based decisions that support the organization’s strategic objectives. And whether you know it or not, many of these functions are driven at least in part by AI. Examples of using AI in Human Resources include things like:
- Writing job descriptions
- Customizing job postings
- Streamlining employee onboarding
- Creating personalized learning tracks
- Tracking employees’ L&D progress
- Facilitating employee goal setting
- Tracking progress and manager feedback to employees
- Forecasting staffing needs
- Tracking metrics across different demographics to ensure recruitment and promotion processes are fair
- Automating payroll, benefits administration, and compliance reporting
In short, the major theme of the conference was that nothing is constant but change, and HR professionals will have to continuously adapt and align with broader business goals to play a role in driving organizational success.
If employee engagement and leadership development are at the top of your list this year, see how Velocity’s proven frameworks can help take your organization to the next level.
