With our lives having experienced a seismic shift over the last two years, it’s no surprise that organizations are continuing to find their feet when it comes to transforming the workplace.
Many of the changes that were initiated at the start of lockdown have now become the norm – working from home, reducing non-essential travel, privacy procedures, and even virtual employee trainings.
At the heart of all of this are people. And within an organization, that means Human Resource Management is more important than it’s ever been.
Who are Human Resource Managers?
HRMs develop and implement policies, programs, and procedures related to human resource planning, recruitment, collective bargaining, training and development, occupation classification, and pay and benefits administration.
But more than that, they’re the thread that connects employees to the management. It’s their duty to relay employee grievances to upper-level management and communicate the management’s expectations to the employees. They stay informed of new workplace practices that could improve productivity while also benefitting the workers. It’s an essential role goes beyond the hiring process. It keeps the organization running smoothly and efficiently, while ensuring everyone’s satisfaction and mental well-being.
If you’re thinking of starting a career in Human Resource Management, here are 4 important trends that HRMs (aspiring or otherwise) should know about.
Use the problem-solving benefits of People Analytics
In this previous blog, we talked about how people analytics is completely changing the workplace, especially in relation to HR issues. There’s a focus now on insight-mining and data driven decisions that are tied to duties like locating, hiring, educating, training and developing employees.
It basically involves the use of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) to reduce repetitive HR tasks which leaves room for humans to use their experience and intuition during the rest of the hiring process. If you’re interested in learning more about people analytics, you can take a look at the School for Continuing Education’s Certificate in People Analytics.
Employee e-learning is the future
At any job or position, employees want to continue to feel challenged and to expand the scope of the work they do so that they can feel they’re progressing in their career. Learning and development opportunities at the workplace help employees grow their skill set and further their career aspirations. To make these opportunities convenient and comprehensive, corporate learning is seeing a shift towards e-learning and virtual training modules. These are not only a more immersive learning experience but also more effective in engaging employees, when compared to traditional learning practices. You can help your organization develop employee learning modules by taking our new Certificate in Learning Experience Design.
A hybrid working environment
The physical office isn’t going to go away completely. Employees will still need a place to socialize with their colleagues, whether that’s in the break room or during an in-person meeting. However, there will be an increase in the use of remote or satellite workspaces to reduce non-essential travel and stress. A good way to look at it would be seeing what kind of workspace is needed for which task, i.e., silo work, meetings, presentations, collaborative work etc.
If you’re looking to learn more and enter this exciting field, take a look at our Human Resource Management certificate programs. You can choose between our full time and online, depending on your work schedule.
