Pramod Kumar is an HR professional with rich and varied experience of handling core HR functions in Insurance, Service and Manufacturing Sectors. During his tenure, he has had a vast exposure in Talent Acquisition & Talent Management, HR Operations, Employee Engagement, Employee Relations, Performance Management and Training & Development.
Organizations are undergoing rapid technological advancements, which have provided unprecedented changes in the workplace. These changes were the results of the pandemic, changing organizational needs and a shortage of skilled talent. HR managers had to handle the entire operations remotely with processes like staff training along with recruitment that also went online. But thanks to digitalization, which proved to be a saviour in the times of need. The employees also search for the job on online portals instead of following the traditional word-of-mouth approach. Also, new tools have been implemented for predicting work outcomes and replicating experiences among employees. However, there were a few challenges HR managers faced, despite working in a digitally transformed environment.
Digitalization transformed HR processes but with the aftermath of challenges
Digitalization in HR has led to changes in the corporate structure, such as work conditions, employee expectations, new L&D methods, a diverse workforce and improved business agility. However, grappling with the transformations after the pandemic was a complicated task for the HR managers. They had the biggest challenge to establish a digital corporate culture. This was done by spreading awareness, taking online meetings, and creating immersive training sessions for making the organization digital friendly. With the advancement of digitalization came a need to change the management methods of the managers who were governing through the traditional methods. The tools to facilitate workforce planning to anticipate business needs were also in the queue to undergo a rapid change. This created a new challenge to make HR more agile to align the business strategy with market needs.
However, digitalization came as a combined solution, and it simplified the HR processes. Overall, it also changed the employee experience as they had to be ready for hybrid and remote working. These challenges had HR experts dive deep into the core concepts of digitalization and deliver new solutions that can ease the process of HR management.
A new perspective: Exploring more digital solutions for modern problems
To stay vertical in the markets, HR processes need to be more digital. The methods like SEO in recruitment, marketing automation, and agile-ready processes are contributing to the growth of organizations. Latest tools like applicant management systems must be readily used to automatically collect data and select deserving individuals with advanced filters. Usage of AI and ML can be used to minimize the effort and time of HR managers in repetitive tasks such as job description format, creating employee records, calendar formation, automated payroll accounting system, and internal communication. Another solution that can be used in data analytics is to make data-driven decisions and help in L&D processes by providing personalized learning content based on the progress of each employee.
Remote working can be facilitated by cloud technology which runs on the internet and comes with perks such as minimum hardware, reduced cost and flexible training. Digital processes can help in e-recruitments with the help of a vast array of channels online, including digital job platforms, career pages, social media sites and online recruitment groups to get better leads of the desired talent.
Final Thoughts
HR managers are loaded with tons of responsibilities such as recognizing potential, risk management, understanding new technologies and training recruits, while guiding old employees in upskilling and reskilling. Digitalization has not only helped the HR managers in better resource management but also in processes like record management, reviewing KPIs, monitoring operational abilities of employees and self-training with the latest tools. Technological advancements are part of today’s changing era, and HR managers have adopted new methods to deal with the traditional issues in an efficient manner. However, new challenges will arrive in terms of diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) in digital working environments. Therefore, they must dig deeper into the concepts of digitalization and make jobs more rewarding, corporates more workable and enable transparent communication between stakeholders in order to retain workforce loyalty.