3 tech trends set to disrupt HR this year

Many industries are being disrupted by technology at an unprecedented rate, and HR is no exception. In order to win over the best talent in the industry, today’s businesses must keep up-to-date with the latest technology trends and understand which ones they need to adopt in order to stay competitive.

A variety of HR operations such as performance appraisals, payroll management, and workload management can now be digitized using new platforms. By streamlining once complex tasks using technology, businesses can reap many benefits such as saving time and money and attracting and training top talent.

Let’s take a look at three tech trends set to disrupt the HR space in 2018.

Blockchain

While more commonly known as the backbone technology behind Bitcoin, blockchain technology is set to have a profound and pervasive impact on HR.

In essence, blockchain provides a decentralized and secure ledger which allows participating parties a way of validating the information related to a transaction. By doing so, it speeds up the process and cuts out any middlemen.

The technology has many applications in the HR industry, including:

Blockchain in payroll

A blockchain payroll solution can be a cheaper and more efficient way for businesses to send money overseas. Common pain points of sending payroll payments electronically overseas include lengthy processes due to intermediary third-party involvement, as well as frequent changes to exchange rates which can be costly and inconvenient.

Blockchain could mitigate the costs of cross-border payroll by reducing the fees for employers and the wait time for employees. Through the secure structure of the blockchain, payments can be made to employees in real time.

Blockchain in certification

Resume fraud is a big problem in the HR space. In fact, a survey by one of the largest online job search websites, CareerBuilder, shows that a whopping 58 percent of employers have caught a lie on a resume.

How can employers be sure that an ideal candidate is being honest about their qualifications and experience?

There are now a number of startups who are exploring the capability of blockchain technology to solve certification issues, increase transparency, and address the problem of resume fraud.

Aworker is a company that enables job hunters to store their resume in the blockchain, proving their qualifications in an instant.

As a result of a decentralized assessment and verification, a candidates resume details are updated in real-time. As data on the blockchain is transparent and no one can manipulate the data to their own advantage, there is no falsifying or fakery involved.

This allows HR professionals to be more efficient and productive, finding only the most suitably-skilled candidates.

Continuous performance management tools

In order to improve employee-manager relationships, we are set to witness the increased adoption of continuous performance management tools as opposed to the more traditional performance management processes.

According to Deloitte’s 2017 global human capital trends research, over 70 percent of companies said they are well on their way to reinventing the performance management process of their organizations.

Such tools aim to mitigate staff fluctuations and retain top talent by facilitating top managers and employees in planning, monitoring, and reviewing the employees work objectives.

They allow for constant feedback, conversations, and performance linked with goals and recognition in real-time.

Continuous performance management software allows managers and employees to work together in mapping out career trajectories and makes it easier to provide coaching and mentoring for individuals to become their best selves.

At a time where the modern-day workforce desires authentic employee-manager relationships and opportunities for employee development and advancement, this trend is sure to grow.

Gamification

A trend that is set to soar this year is the gamification of HR operations including recruitment, employee engagement, employee wellness, and training and development.

An increasing number of businesses are applying game dynamics to typically non-gaming contexts to encourage greater engagement.

For example, gamification is being used to make training more appealing to employees. Some businesses have introduced programs where employees have to work through different tasks in order to gain points and badges to level up.

A Gallup poll revealed that employee lack of interest and unwillingness to engage in their jobs result in almost US$370 billion in annual losses in the US alone.

The same study revealed that of the employees, millennials were least engaged. This is where gamification could really help if deployed efficiently. By 2025, millennials will represent 75 percent of the workforce, Thus, in order to attract and retain the best talent, HR should start thinking about the advantages of gamification.