Three Trends HR Professionals Should Have On Their Radars In 2021

One of the most chaotic and unpredictable years in living memory has drawn to a close, and companies are trying to consolidate what they’ve learned and direct their attention toward what’s coming in 2021. While 2020 was unprecedented for everyone, HR departments experienced particularly radical changes — from the overnight transition to remote work to the implications of the most far-reaching national conversation we’ve had on racial equality and social justice in decades.

Now that the Covid-19 vaccination campaign is underway, companies are wrestling with what the future of work will look like. Meanwhile, HR departments are preparing for a significant reconsideration of diversity and inclusion initiatives, a renewed focus on employee engagement and mental health and discussions about how technology can be used to make personnel decisions fairer and more predictive. These changes will require employees, managers and company leaders to be more adaptable, resilient and innovative than ever.

Although 2020 was painful, it also fundamentally altered the way we think about where and how we work. For hiring managers and companies willing to rethink the status quo, the lessons learned over the past year will help to build the workforce of the future.

Navigating A New Era Of Remote Work

While many employees will likely return to the office in 2021, the workplace will never be the same as it was before the pandemic. According to a September PwC report, while “the majority of companies are anticipating their remote workers will have access to an office,” 45% say employees won’t be required to go into the office and 21% expect to use a “hybrid approach between remote working and office workdays.

A recent Slack survey found that 72% of employees would prefer a hybrid approach. But this doesn’t mean the transition to such an approach will be easy. The problems associated with remote work (such as the fact that some employees’ sense of belonging appears to suffer when they’re not in the office) may persist, while new problems with workflow, communication, etc. could arise as companies attempt to balance physical and remote work.

For example, a recent IBM survey found that there are significant gaps between employers and employees on perceptions of how much companies are doing to help employees learn new skills, support their physical and emotional well-being and provide clear guidelines and expectations about how the organization operates. These are all reminders that companies need to be prepared for a difficult transition in the coming year, and this process begins with figuring out what employees need to be as productive and healthy as possible.

Employee Engagement Is More Important Than Ever

One of the most essential determinants of success for any company is employee engagement. When employees feel like they’re putting their skills to good use and getting the recognition they deserve in the workplace, productivity and morale increase significantly. However, Gallup reports that just over one-third of employees are engaged at work.

There are two major reasons why employee engagement should be top of mind for companies as we enter 2021: First, companies need to make diversity and inclusion a top priority, and engagement is a key part of that process. And second, the post-pandemic era of remote work will present new engagement challenges that companies have to address head-on.

While engagement is crucial for all employees, it’s particularly important for companies to focus on employees who are often marginalized on the basis of their skin color, gender, sexuality, etc. This will have a positive effect on the entire company — as Deloitte reports, there’s a “statistically significant relationship between diversity practices and employee engagement at work, for all employees.” These practices can include actively soliciting feedback from marginalized groups, facilitating communication between employees with different backgrounds and establishing clear, robust policies on issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination.

As companies develop their post-pandemic plans, they’ll need to keep employee engagement at the center of this process. This means focusing on mental health, providing the training and resources employees need to do their jobs and helping employees communicate and collaborate whether they’re in the office or not.

The Future Of HR Is Data-Driven

One of the clearest trends in HR is the development of data-driven tools for everything from hiring to employee engagement. For example, I founded my company on the knowledge that pre-employment assessments and other measures can cut down on biases and irrelevant variables in the hiring process, which is vital when hiring discrimination is still commonplace (registration required).

It’s becoming increasingly important for companies to identify and cultivatesoft skills and capabilities such as problem-solving and critical thinking. This is another area where technology and data will be indispensable in the coming years — instead of assessing employees on the basis of their resumes and the subjective impressions of interviewers, companies need to implement more rigorous methods of identifying (and improving) skills.

No matter which tools companies deploy to support, engage and train their workforces, it’s clear that the entire field of HR is in the process of a sweeping transformation. This will require flexibility and a willingness to learn, as well as consistent engagement between HR departments, company leaders and employees. Although the post-pandemic era will present many challenges for HR professionals, it will also give them a chance to rethink some of their most basic assumptions and develop new ways to keep employees engaged and productive.

Original Article: (https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2021/01/13/three-trends-hr-professionals-should-have-on-their-radars-in-2021/?sh=15a05e5852ad)