Reskilling is learning various new skills suitable for a different job position. In fact, reskilling has become a survival strategy, given our rapidly changing economy and shifts caused by the pandemic. It is no longer simply a trend that fuels the company's growth.
To ensure success in this digital era, HR professionals are transforming their working and learning experiences. Internal skill gaps are being identified, and investments are being made to programs to reskill employees.
HR departments are held accountable by senior executives to develop new and creative ways to acquire talent, engage employees across all levels, build employees' skills, take part in leadership development, and keep key workers.
This is happening because rapid advances in technology, an increase in globalization, and shifting demographics are forcing businesses to re-engineer the people strategies they have in place. Many companies have said that they are looking into refocusing HR to play a business-contribution function. This role requires skills in the depth of data and analytics and the capabilities of MBA professionals.
Scaling Up HR Skills
What is the ultimate reason behind the perceived lack of adequate skills in HR?
Some widely agreed upon reasons include:
- More than half of all the HR professionals get into the field with no specific certification of business or even human resources.
- Most organizations do not make investments aimed at developing their HR and their business skills.
- According to a recent study from Oracle, only 14% of HR professionals thought themselves knowledgeable in AI (Artificial Intelligence).
- The lack of adequate skills has led to the limitation of the HR's capability to impact the business strategy as well as advance business goals.
Companies need to challenge themselves to develop programs as well as professional expectations that will transform HR employees into not only skilled but also efficient business consultants.
What skills are needed by HR to efficiently meet the demands of businesses today?
Professional Development Opportunities & Career Growth
- Learning and development of technical HR skills
The specialists ought to have excellent skills in labor relations, recruiting, sourcing, employee relations, compensation strategies, and many others. Such technical skills must be refreshed yearly to keep at par with emerging techniques and technology. These can be refreshed through internal or external training courses, seminars or certifications.
- Understanding the labor workforce
HR teams need to be familiar with the kind of demographic, cultural, and even local labor market trends affecting their company's ability to carry out activities such as hiring and retaining people. As the current workforce is comprised of five different generations, the HR professionals will have to help gap generational differences and divide.
- Drive Digitization
Artificial intelligence is just one new technology that can impact HR departments and businesses worldwide. An efficient HR department ought to have a deep understanding of various technologies – be it social sharing tools to payroll systems.
As big data is reshaping the workforce, HR professionals should also have skills concerning data, analytics, and statistics. An even more critical aspect of HR is endorsing company values by understanding the ethics in AI-enabled decisions, such as using fair algorithms, valid data sets, and removing any bias.
From Small Scale to Large Scale Insight
HR departments need to understand the industry and business trends concerning their company, like new products in production and monetization models. Moreover, HR is supposed to aid the business in value creation through their talent understanding.
Finding talent in global geographies and local markets requires innovation and in-depth knowledge. A modern HR professional must understand acquisition strategies and marry them to deep understanding of an ATS and other recruiting tools.
Leadership, Management & Implementation
As many of the HR department's tasks become automated, HR professionals will be repositioned as strategic business partners. Research shows that HR in the future will be made up of expert, well-trained business partners that will operate through a deep specialist network, with service centers that support the transactional work.
HR professionals must understand how to lead their teams, instruct leaders, and interact with leaders in meaningful ways. They should also focus on how to implement change effectively.
A Starting Point for Companies
Company's starting points:
- Investing in a professional HR development program
- Merging MBA professionals into the HR department
- Establishing professional development teams
- Regularly running self-assessments
- Understanding technology and AI ethics
Wrapping It Up
The global economy is rapidly changing towards a period of growth and expansion. The lack of talent and building an engaged and knowledgeable workforce are the main limiting factors. This will further amplify the need for and importance of a robust HR team to lead the company's growth. Companies need to invest in HR development if they want to stay competitive and reap the rewards.
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