Maybe you know them: HR Trend institute. Every year, at the end of the year, they publish an overview of the HR trends for the coming year. So it should come as no surprise: this year they have also compiled a nice list, obviously based on practice and research. The purpose of these trends is to increase the impact of HR by making smart use of a number of trends. And that's why we'd like to take you through the 5 most important HR trends for 2021. Take advantage of them!
1. Ethical leadership
In recent years, HR played little to no role in organizations' decisions. HR was invisible and 2021 is the ultimate moment to change this. The expectations of customers and (potential) employees are changing. It is increasingly important for them to find an organization that contributes positively to society. Tolerating 'toxic workplaces' is a deal breaker in this respect. It is up to HR to show its worth. Instead of standing by, the trick now is to intervene when things are unacceptable.
2. Bye HR Business Partner, hello analytics!
Since the early 1990s, the number of HR Business Partners has increased dramatically. In large organizations, even just about every department had its own HR Business Partner. This number decreased last year and will continue to do so in 2021. The tasks these HR Business Partners mainly performed were often highly operational. The reason for that was the lack of good systems from which they could get the right data and the lack of good managers which made the business partners to solve their problems. Conclusion from all that: HR needs more focus on operations, people and customers. The right technology is extremely important in this regard. And by using this technology, depending on the size of the organization, one or a few HR advisors / Business Partners, is enough. The key here is: not too many! Ultimately, HR must be a partner of the company, the workforce, customers and other stakeholders of the organization.
3. Increased risk of attrition
A very important one from the list of HR trends is this one: increased risk of turnover. The whole situation surrounding Corona has caused work and office to become increasingly disconnected. We are working from home more and more, and we even expect this to be a permanent change. Keeping employees engaged is a crucial issue here. Because you see each other less, work is becoming increasingly disconnected. And video calling doesn't solve this problem either. In addition, it becomes much easier for companies to attract international talent. Because people can work from home, it doesn't matter what the distance between home and office is. The conclusion of this: working more from home increases the chances of lower deployment and even turnover. So it is extremely important to invest in your employees, and do it now. Make sure people are part of a team and that they have a manager they can trust. When employees are engaged and able to develop they stay. Make sure you understand employees' needs and challenge them to discover new things.
4. Personalization of HR
It was also on HR Trend Institute's list of HR trends last year, but it remains an important one. As HR, we are rather quick to be somewhat superficial. But why really? Because every employee is different and every employee needs a different approach. There is no one size fits all. Be it different levels, positions, age, culture or work location. It is important to match the growth cycle to what someone can and wants to develop so that it leads to personal growth. Forget about one size fits all. Embrace diversity!
5. The best managers are coaches
Should managers (want to) become coaches? No. First: you don't have to do anything. Second: in our opinion, there are different types of people. You have a manager who has an eye for the process and knows how to organize things and you have a coach who is on the people side and has an eye for the individual. A coach is always working with you to take the next step. And although some managers are more people-oriented than others, the ultimate goal of the manager is almost always to get results. And he/she obviously prefers to do that in a team full of enthusiastic, productive, high-performing employees. In practice, therefore, you often see that things start to falter when, as a manager, you also have to coach your employees. So you can try to make a manager a good coach, but that is not where that person's quality lies, and so you probably hit the mark completely wrong. So who are these good coaches? In Streams, you can easily find the right people with the right skills. So even employees can find and approach potential mentors and coaches with the click of a button.
Curious about the other HR trends for 2021 from HR Trend institute? Check out this blog.