This year, our view of employees – whether that’s direct reports, colleagues or our leaders – has changed. We see each other more holistically – not just as workers, but as parents, carers and support systems. The organisations who reacted to the pandemic with empathy, patience and support were favoured most highly because they appreciate that each person has a unique set of personal challenges that have to be respected.

This moment provides the organisation with an opportunity to shift away from viewing human capital in terms of black and white headcount and cost and instead take a more holistic, more human approach to understanding the workforce.  

“Just as energy sustainability requires shifting from resources that are extracted, used and exhausted to renewable ones, an enterprise cultivates a sustainable workforce by shifting its view of employees from a resource to be tapped as needed to one that is cared for, protected and nourished.”

Amy Wright, co-author of ‘Accelerating the Journey to HR 3.0’, IBM, 2020 

To achieve this new, more human, understanding of the workforce requires excellence in people analytics and employee experience – two key areas that will help organisations understand people more deeply, and at scale, and translate that understanding into better, more personalised experiences for the employee.

In their latest report, ‘Accelerating the Journey to HR 3.0,’ IBM describe this new era of people management as ‘HR 3.0’. According to their research, only 10% of HR executives are operating in HR 3.0 today. We spoke with Amy Wright, co-author of the paper, to understand more about how to upskill HR for the future of work.

One of the main barriers to entering HR 3.0 is the skillset within HR itself. In fact, the need to upskill HR is so pressing that talent executives plan to double their efforts in the next two years to skill their HR teams in new capabilities, according to the IBM research. Organisations classed as ‘outperformers’ – those who are outpacing all others in profitability, revenue growth and innovation – are actively investing to upskill HR teams at a significantly higher rate than all other organisations.

We’re going to explore the main capabilities that HR needs to cultivate in order to reach HR 3.0:

1. Business acumen: HR must learn to be change champions, managing relationships and driving adoption across the business. 

2. Agile and design-thinking: these skills are critical for HR to deliver user-centric end-to-end employee experiences at scale.

3. AI and analytics: when HR becomes data-driven, the function drives greater business value. 

Business Acumen

HR is shifting away from being perceived as an operationally minded function to a strategic partner with a seat at the table next to the CEO, helping them to solve critical business challenges through the workforce.

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In order to drive real business value, it is imperative that HR can talk the talk. Being able to understand key business challenges and translate them into strategic work for the HR department is key. In our research on the HR Skills of the Future at myHRfuture, we found that consulting and influencing and stakeholder management were two of the top six skills needed to transform HR, for this very reason. According to IBM’s research, however, only 19% reported HR exhibits business acumen.

Developing consultant roles within the HR team, either by rethinking the HRBP role or establishing a new strategic role altogether, will be crucial. Building a bridge between HR and the rest of the business with constant communication back and forth to stay on top of present business challenges requires skills such as consulting, agile, organisational knowledge and industry experience.

Agile and Design Thinking

According to Amy, these skills are at the core of HR 3.0. She expects these skills to be deployed in HR more and more, right up to the CHRO level.

In order to develop employee experiences that rival consumer experiences, to which your workforce has become accustomed, skills such as agile and design thinking will be vital. According to IBM research, outperforming organisations are four times more likely to create consumer-grade digital employee experiences. And yet, less than half of HR teams (47%) have expertise in agile practices today.

There’s no two ways around it, organisations must invest in upskilling their HR teams with these skills if they want to reap the benefits of increased employee engagement, satisfaction and ultimately productivity through improved employee experiences.

AI and Analytics

When Diane Gherson, former CHRO at IBM, was a guest on the Digital HR Leaders podcast, she talked in detail about how she transformed HR at IBM by focusing on AI and people analytics. She talks through how they created a talent marketplace within IBM that allowed them to understand the up-to-date skills of the workforce as well as the skills demand in the wider marketplace and use this information to inform future learning and job roles in the company. This kind of awareness and understanding will be critical for organisations to maintain an agile, adaptable workforce that can pivot in line with emerging business imperatives.

Outperforming organisations are leveraging predictive analytics significantly more than other organisations to understand the skills they have in their workforce currently and are also using AI to identify the skills they’ll need for the future significantly more than others, according to IBM’s research. But only 30% of companies say they have the skills and abilities in AI in HR. There is a clear requirement for investment in data analysis skills within your organisation, not just for talent marketplace initiatives, and this investment is something that 57% of outperformers are doing, compared to just 17% of other organisations.

Key Takeaway

Upskilling HR is absolutely critical to move the function into the future and ensure it is a data-driven, experience-led, highly strategic function. This requires investment and focus on learning initiatives. Whilst 74% of executives believe they have been helping their employees learn the skills needed to work in a new way, just 38% of employees agree, according to IBM. Don’t underestimate the importance of supporting employees to learn new skills. After all, it’s not just a question of performance, it’s a question of satisfaction, engagement and ultimately employee wellbeing too.

Are you building the HR skills you need for the future?

If the answer to that question is ‘no’ – then you’re not alone.

One of the biggest challenges HR professionals face is knowing what skills build to stay relevant today and tomorrow and how to build them.

Are you ready to get certified in the HR skills of the future?

The myHRfuture academy empowers HR professionals, like you, to become more digital and data-driven and get certified in the skills you need for the future, to stay relevant, get hired and get ahead all for only £25 per month. Sign up today and gain access to over 600+ pieces of expertly curated content, 30+ online HR Certifications and 200+ hours of learning.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caroline Styr is the Research Director at Insight222. She is a thought-leader, researcher and writer on people analytics and the future of HR. Prior to joining Insight222, she worked at the Center for the Future of Work where she was an advisor and in-demand speaker on topics related to the future of work. She has also held roles in digital services and transformation consulting at Cognizant. Contact Caroline at caroline.styr@insight222.com