Trends are everywhere, from what we wear, who we read, how we speak, even what we eat! Our lives are dominated by trends, and to be fair, trends are extremely important if relevance is something you seek. Just like staying up to date with the latest “kale cleanse” companies stay up to date with business trends. Trends in business are crucial to a companies’ success or failure. If a company ignores huge trends, that could deter clients, applicants for positions, and positive reputations. Trying to remain relevant and stray away from ever becoming stale is something that is at the forefront of companies’ minds every year, because, just as the years end and begin, so too do the trends. Check out what we found to be the Top 10 HR Trends this year!

Working With AI, Not against AI

This may be difficult for a lot of companies to grapple with as artificial intelligence is often seen as a threat to the workforce. We explored many articles to compile our list, and at the forefront of multiple different sources was something related to artificial intelligence. HRDive lists this trend as number two on their list with a great quote from Larry Nash, Director of Recruiting at EY. He believes, “as recruiters and HR professionals we have to really embrace this change, go with it, try things, fail at times, figure it out, but be comfortable with it”. What better advice? If we shift our attitude towards AI being something that can help us, not hurt us, we can open up a whole new world of possibility. Often times, companies are scared to fail. That fear is a good thing, and it’s healthy. Keep in mind that fear doesn't equal failure, so embrace change, embrace the "new" and explore unknown possibilities!

Culture

Office Culture is another HUGE trend we’ve seen so far on many websites. Today, office culture is a huge factor and benefit for a lot of people searching for jobs. That same HRDrive article lists this as number 5 on their list of 10 saying that today, “consumers are value-driven”, meaning job seekers and those looking for business opportunities are aware of who or what the company is associated with. It matters to them, and it should matter to you too! On an incredibly basic level, HRDrive says “people want to align with companies that share their values.” Employees are spending more time with their co-workers than they are with their families, it makes sense to want to find an office culture that fits and feels right for them. If an employee can work in a trusting environment, they can flourish and work to the best of their ability.

Empowered Managers

Continuing with that HRDrive article, number 9 on their list is “Empowering Managers to Help Employees”. Managers are vital to a companies’ success. Their demeanor, business technique, skills, and rapport among employees can make or break turnover rates and, in the long run, business as a whole. Basically, if a manager is not empowered, is disliked by their inferiors, and has a lousy work ethic, the company will suffer from employee loss, negative mindsets, under-performance, and a negative reputation. This domino affect oftentimes, can’t be stopped once it starts, even if the poor manager is terminated. Reputations stick! HRDrive believes that “HR execs can't afford to overlook one of their biggest tools in building an engaging culture: front-line managers. Employers will be looking for ways to put insights in managers' hands so they can lead to their teams to greatness.” To build on that point, office managers are typically the sounding board between those they manage and those that manage the managers—make sense? Only good things can come from an empowered, insightful, positive, and receptive manager.

HRIT Roles

Human Resource Information Technology or HRIT roles are rapidly growing and are a big trend to keep an eye on, especially those in the recruiting/staffing field. SHRM refers to a study done by Sierra-Cedar which found that “the role of the human resource information technology (HRIT) specialist is growing in strategic importance and is expected to continue. In cloud environments these roles are 1.5 times more likely to be responsible for data security and technology configuration decisions than IT or functional roles.” Basically, keep an eye out for upcoming HRIT roles, or consider adding an HRIT specialist to your team!

A Diverse Workforce

A Diverse Workforce should be a given, but believe it or not, they can be hard to come by! Forbes talks a bit on the subject of what makes a diverse subject. Basically, the terms “diverse” and “inclusion” have been revamped to be more inclusive. Forbes discusses the typical factors that make up a diverse workplace such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and religion, but go on to mention Geographic Location, Generational Affiliation, and Education Levels. Right now you may be thinking “what?” That’s fine, we’ll explain. Basically what Forbes is trying to say is that by including Geographic Location, remote positions and workers are included that may be far from urban areas, Generational Affiliation will then “embrace five generations and their respective cultural norms and communication styles”, and Education Levels will open up great jobs to those who may not have a 4-year degree.

Labor Market Communication

Labor Market Communication/Employer Branding is such an important trend, that TruQu has it listed as their number one trend to watch! TruQu quotes Academie voor Arbeidsmarktcommunicatie, a Netherlands based communications and recruiting company, who defined Labor Market Communication/Employer Branding as “structurally communicating to the internal and external labor market target groups and their influencers with the aim of recruiting new employees, positively influencing the employer brand and maintaining contact with current, potential and former employees.” This is incredibly important and is potentially overlooked. However, by keeping positive communication with past, present, and potential employees as well as influencers, the tight labor market may not be so tight if your connections think highly of you!

HR and Marketing Define “The Brand”

A company’s Brand is everything. Without it, they have no identity, no product, no marketability…nothing. Think we’re wrong? Check out what Forbes has to say on the matter: “HR is in the business of attracting, selecting, developing and retaining talent, and whether you know it or not, your candidates have already formed a brand image of your company. In the same way that branding influences customers through all levels of the funnel — from awareness to trial to long-term loyalty — perceptions of an organization’s brand influence how people interact with you. This means their impressions can impact whether they apply for a job, accept a position and, ultimately, stay with the company.” Whether you try to control it or not, employees and clients receive a pretty clear picture of your company from things like your company website, reviews on Google or Glassdoor, and browsing your employee’s social media channels. To bring the aforementioned “Culture”, Forbes says “It shouldn’t be a surprise that one-third of candidates surveyed said they would decline even a perfect job over a poor cultural fit.”

Hiring Remote Employees

No matter how you feel about hiring remote employees, you may want to consider a few remote workers. With the rise of an insane amount of technological advancement, remote work has become more and more feasible and, for some, just makes sense! Plus, looking at remote employees, expands your candidate pool to a whole new group of candidates that could be an awesome fit! Remote work has become a huge trend on many of the lists we reviewed, especially TruQu who lists it at number 6 on their list of 7 emerging trends. TruQu found “a study from 2018 showed that 70% of global professionals work remotely at least once a week. And, it is not just full-time employees who work remotely. It is expected that half of at least the American workforce will work freelance by 2020.” If you haven’t considered remote work, you may want to by 2020!

Placing an Emphasis on “Soft Skills”

“Soft Skills” may not be something many employers are familiar with but proves to be a considerable trend this year, moving forward into next. Human Resources Today writes about “Soft Skills” in their article about definitive HR trends. Check out their reasoning for adding “Soft Skills” to their trend list:

“Consider that 70% of executives surveyed believe that employees will spend more time on collaboration platforms in 2019 and beyond, and nearly half of organizations consider the “productivity of the hyperconnected workforce” to be a very important issue. While younger employees tend to be more tech-savvy than their seasoned colleagues, they’re also more likely to lack important soft skills. So, these types of interpersonal skills should be a priority in recruiting and training/development efforts for many organizations in the year ahead.”

Biometric Time Tracking and Security

Biometric Time Tracking and Security is a newer trend to hit the HR scene but is something that is revolutionary and could very well be the future! SelectHub dives into this topic on their HR Trends list and mentions something called “buddy punching”. Chuck Leddy of ADP classifies ‘buddy punching’ for the common issue of one employee clocking in for another employee. In fact, SelectHub lists buddy punching as a statistic with “16% of hourly employees admitting” to doing this. What biometric time tracking can do to stop this is by using “biological markers to identify employees, minimizing attendance fraud risk. Popular methods of biometric time tracking include fingerprint scanning and facial or iris recognition. With a biometric time and attendance system, the identification of these unique physical characteristics ensures hours are accurately attributed to the correct employee.” Thus, with this security feature, no more ‘buddy punching’!

Be sure to track the latest trends as time goes on, they’re always shifting and changing to fit the market so you should be too!