The HR Trends That Will Dominate In 2021

 

The HR Trends That Will Dominate In 2021

Little by little, the yearend holidays are approaching and forecasts are emerging on the trends that will characterize the HR sector in 2021.

Top 18 HR Trends for 2021

1.    AI and automation: The year 2021, at least in the United States, will surely be the year of the consecration of artificial intelligence applied to human resource management. Until now it has been applied mainly in the recruitment sector, but AI will also be well present in other HR processes, automating activities with little added value and speeding up decision-making processes.

2.    The role of HR is changing, increasingly strategic and specialized: The HR department of the future, by not having to deal with many repetitive tasks, will be able to focus more and more on strategy and become a partner for management. Specialization will increase and competencies will be renewed (we are thinking of HR Analytics), which will lead to the progressive disappearance of the HR Generalist figure.

3.    Flexibility and organization:  Flexibility is a paradigm that will be applied to any company, not only in the way of working - with an increasing use of teleworking and smart working - but also at the level of the organization chart, less vertical and more horizontal and fluid. An indispensable change to face a VUCA world (characterized, according to the acronym, by Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity). The leadership style and technology will also change, which will become more flexible and ubiquitous.

4.    HR Analytics: One of the 2021 trends that appear most in the articles analyzed is the consecration of HR Analytics as a tool to improve the quality of work. The statistics obtained that are tracked will become increasingly sophisticated and will be managed by an internal team rather than outsourcing them. And it is no coincidence that, according to a study conducted by LinkedIn, more and more human resources professionals include People Analytics among their competencies.

5.    Between experience and engagement: Whether they call it Employee Experience or if they refer to the concept as Engagement, in 2021 the best companies will guarantee the detailed care of all the points of contact between the employee and the company.  

They will do so through career path plans, wellness programs, diversity recognition and reward systems, as well as interactive, easy-to-use, and transparent HRMS Software . This attention to employees will be rewarded with greater retention and improved employer branding.

6.    Professional recycling: To cope with the rapid changes in the world of work caused by digitization, it will be necessary to update or sometimes completely modify the skills of workers so that they do not become obsolete. New technologies and the possibility of offering digital training content on mobile devices will be of great help.

7.    Global work teams: Globalization and modern digital collaboration tools will allow companies to recruit talent from anywhere in the world. That means the HR department has to attract and manage a deeply heterogeneous workforce, developing new strategies and processes. And it is that not only the workplace will change, but also the schedules, the type of contract or the nature of the collaborative relationship, where issues such as commitment, compensation, leadership, etc. come into play.

8.    Augmented reality and virtual reality : Virtual reality and augmented reality will have even more space in 2021 and not only in training matters. On boarding and internal communication will also be some of the possible new uses.

9.    Employee welfare: The wellness programs offered by companies to their employees will be increasingly rich and articulated and may also include psychological assistance.

10.  Employer Branding: Although it is true that worldwide in 2021 we tend to take employer branding for granted, in southern Europe it is still a fairly marked trend in the field of human resources. The HR department must collaborate with the marketing department in designing campaigns that promote the brand also from the employer's point of view.

11.  Dialogue between generations: In 2021, in many offices 5 generations of workers will coexist, with millennial representing the highest percentage and with a generation Z whose presence will increase rapidly. One of the most difficult tasks for the HR department will be bringing together people with very different mindsets, customs — and contracts — and expectations.

12.  New immediate and transparent internal communication tools: E-mail chains and other traditional communication tools will be replaced by more agile, direct and real-time tools. Some companies will decide to use social networks and famous applications such as WhatsApp internally, while others will use special software such as Slack.

13.  Outsourcing of human resources: The internal HR team will be smaller and more specialized, while many activities will be outsourced to external companies.

14.  Chatbots for HR: After the experimentation linked mainly to recruitment, Chatbots will also be tested for employee management, starting with on boarding.

15.  Corporate environmental responsibility: Companies will focus more and more on environmental issues and it will be the task of the HR department to stimulate staff awareness of these issues, for example by encouraging recycling or eliminating disposable plastics from the office. Companies will not only think about the benefits, but also about their role in society, the environment and the local context.

16.  Gamification: After having been applied mainly in recruitment, although without becoming a generalized phenomenon, in 2021 the logic of Gamification will also be adopted in training, internal communication and competency mapping.

17.  Gig economy: The growth of this phenomenon will continue in 2021. Companies will have fewer and fewer employees and will increasingly need to integrate external figures into their processes.

18.  Team development: Management and HR managers will focus more on developing teams capable of working efficiently and in a coordinated manner than on individual individuals.