HR Management: Cloud, Remote & AI

With people analytics to more employee satisfaction

The digital transformation has now also reached the HR departments. Because remote work has not only changed the way people work but also the needs of employees. So the question remains: are remote working and digital solutions in the cloud making it easier for employees to work? Numerous companies have now recognized that employees can also do their work correctly in the home office. At the same time, however, their needs are being realigned. They are looking for something that they enjoy and provides personal added value. For companies today, retaining talent in their own company in the long term is a question.

COVID-19 As A Promoter Of Remote Work

The corona pandemic brought about a turning point in the work culture towards more remote work: numerous companies suddenly had to send their employees to work from home. And that, although remote work was often wholly new territory for many. Alight’s latest GPCI report confirms that the number of companies offering remote work has increased from 36 percent in 2019 to 59 percent in 2021.

In a highly competitive job market with an increasing shortage of skilled workers, remote work significantly expands the talent pool. In addition, remote work provides a better work-life balance for many employees. The consequences: A company’s physical location is no longer relevant when looking for new employees. At the same time, the competition for applicants is intensifying since employers can generally look for talent regardless of location. Those who do not want to adapt to the new circumstances quickly lose out in the battle for skilled workers. Because according to current projections, the population of working age (20 to 65 years) will fall from 3.9 million to just under 46 million in 2030. By 2060 there will be around 10 million fewer people of working age. As early as 2021, two-thirds of large German companies confirmed to the Bertelsmann Foundation that they had specific bottlenecks when filling skilled workers.

Automation Is Changing The Way People Work And The Skills They Need

As a result of this change, the labor market is subject to severe changes. This affects the increasing shortage of skilled workers and the computer-aided, digital qualifications that applicants are now required to have. By 2025, 40 percent of today’s professions alone will have a changed task and capability profile or will even be completely outdated. At least a third of all activities at 60 percent of the jobs are to be automated in the future. This will primarily affect traditional routine tasks – also in the HR department. This makes it all the more important to prepare employees for the newly required digital skills, and this also applies to young talent. According to the study “HR2025: How will we work?’ one in four European respondents believes that the current education system is poorly preparing potential young workers for the digital era.

People Analytics, HCM, And CPM

It is also becoming increasingly important to expand digital skills when it comes to the strategic tasks of human resources. With the help of data analyses, missing and, above all, upcoming staff gaps can be identified early, and the recruiting or further training of employees can be promoted in a targeted manner. Cloud-based HCM systems ( human capital management) are used for this. In the direction of human resources and beyond, you have the advantage that personnel managers can plan and accelerate the administration of qualifications and professional development opportunities individually and with foresight. HCM platforms can independently propose further training measures if specific skills are required for new positions. This ensures that the talents of the employees are used in a targeted manner.

Continuous Performance Management (CPM) will also play an increasingly important role in the future, as these tools, which are often offered as part of a cloud-based HCM platform, make it very easy to implement remote employee management. For employees and managers, for example, it is easier to get an overview of the performance targets, and they can also be optimized more easily. This is of immense value for all employers whose employees work from home. In addition, companies can use the information from their CPM systems to promptly identify training needs.

With an additional analysis of the employees ( people analytics ), it is also possible to find out how the workforce ticks: What motivates them? And what does she value? The personal data from recruiting, talent management, and payroll results in an overall picture of each employee. People analytics enable companies to find out which perks, offers, and benefits each employee values. From this, it can be deduced whether the company canteen still meets current requirements or whether a meal value voucher is more valuable, which can also be redeemed in the home office.

With the help of this data-based HR approach, HR managers can also identify employees willing to leave and convince them of the opposite early. The right insights help with the forecast: For example, it can be seen in advance if a long-standing employee has not received a salary increase or other benefits for a long time – despite good performance. Such situations often cause resentment among employees and make them think about changing employers for the foreseeable future if HR managers do not take countermeasures in good time. These causal relationships can be identified quickly and easily through data analysis.

The Digital Future Of HR

It is certain that by 2030 the traditional, hierarchical relationship between employer and employee will give way to greater individual autonomy. COVID-19 may subsequently prove to be a catalyst for these changes. And employees who have experience in remote working and can manage their work digitally have great opportunities to climb the career ladder in the future.

The digital transformation of HR systems is playing an increasingly important role. This makes supporting teams and managers in managing a hybrid workforce easier. At the same time, however, it is essential to analyze the individual employees’ development and their needs. In this way, companies can offer targeted added value for the professional development of their staff as well as a benefits program – suitable for the family situation, the desired work-life balance, and the private and professional ideas of the employees. Anyone who threatens to miss out on this development will soon have to deal with renewing their own IT systems and software tools and adopting new technologies.