TechDogs-"Top 5 HR Technology Trends Your HR Needs To Know In 2021"

Human Resource Technology

Top 5 HR Technology Trends Your HR Needs To Know In 2021

By TechDogs Editorial Team

TechDogs
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Overview

Human Resources–the name in itself is enough to call out that it's a business vertical all about people. In that case, it should completely be devoid of technology. Who needs technology to manage people, right? We need people to manage people. Quite the opposite. HR Tech is one of the most rapidly advancing verticals of any business and we are not exaggerating (we got a thumb of approval from TechDogs’ HR too)..

Today, we already have Artificial Intelligence bots scanning your resumes and crediting your paychecks and much more. In fact, bots and automation are two of the many latest HR Technologies lending our HR ninjas a helping hand. Don't even get us started on payroll management, performance management, wellbeing support, training and all the other cool tech that's out there making the life of HR folks smoother. While we go on and on about the millions of technologies and tools that are popular and driving HR in to the future, for this article, we've narrowed it down to the top 5 HR tech trends that are going to rule in 2021.

Spare 6 minutes to explore what technology HRs of 2021 would care about to make sure your company is not left behind!
TechDogs-HR-The Deft Jugglers Of The Corporate World-"Top 5 HR Technology Trends Your HR Needs To Know In 2021"
Picture this; it's the first day of the month, which means Pay Day! However, something unusual happens at your office today; you receive an email saying that HR has decided to take the day off!

Does that mean all hell will break loose?

Does that mean employees of the company will not receive their paycheques?

Does that also mean the new joiners will be lost in the wild?

Most importantly, who does one complain to about the coffee mugs disappearing?

That sounds like a dream sequence from Mean Girls and DOES NOT happen in real life just because the HR needs a break!  What we just described is the modern office without HR Technology. Like many other processes and functions in your business. Your HR need technology to manage all employees effectively. After all, even Thor needs a hammer!

Getting to the real question here–what tools would your HR team need in 2021? Before we answer that, if you have a burning urge to skip this article, assuming that your HR team already has many tools to work with and they're all set to take on 2021, think again.

The new normal that the world has been pushed into has brought new challenges and new priorities for all teams, including HR. Needless to say, while your old tech may assist them, staying informed about the latest HR trends would help you keep up with the changing times.

Without any further ado (and coaxing on why you need to know these trends!), let's dive into the top 5 HR tech trends for 2021.
 

Trend 1: HR Will Get A Lot More AI-driven

 
It's no news that businesses use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for resume parsing and performance management. We know the thought that a robot is deciding the future of your career is daunting but don’t worry, our bots know what they are doing and there is real human oversight as well , as a matter of fact, over 17% of teams already use AI-solutions in HR– a number that is predicted to rise to 30% by 2022, according to Gartner 2019 Artificial Intelligence Survey.

AI brings in a lot of cost savings, more accurate decision making and better employee experience to HR. Needless to say, more and more organizations today would want to tap these benefits. However, Artificial Intelligence in HR will expand not just in terms of the number of companies using it but also in terms of functions it covers.

TechDogs' Opinion: Moving beyond automation of day-to-day functions and operation management, AI would assist HR in managing and improving employee engagement. As teams work remotely, understanding employee temperament and motivation has become crucial for HR. Hence, AI would help provide data-driven insights into how connected each employee is with the organization.
 

Trend 2: Remote Tech For Remote Teams

 
It's a no-brainer that remote work is here to stay. More importantly, it's here to stay by choice and not as compulsion due to the pandemic. All studies, including the one by the International Working Group (IWG), reveal that remote work is no longer an exception and would soon become the norm across countries and industries.

Invariably, biometric punching machines outside offices would become redundant and time tracking tools like Clockify would become more critical than ever. HR would focus on making remote work as smooth and productive for their teams and that's where all HR tech would become remote-first.

TechDogs' Opinion: HR tech would not only evolve to support remote infrastructure but also to build and sustain a remote culture. Teams would move beyond investing in Zoom, Trello and Slack and focus on technology that allows distributed teams to connect and collaborate well. For instance, one of the up-and-coming HR technology is virtual coworking spaces, where members work together,  in a virtual environment, enabling them to focus and collaborate effectively.
 

Trend 3: Wellness And Employee Performance Will Two Sides Of The Same Coin


TechDogs-Trend 3: "Wellness And Employee Performance Will Two Sides Of The Same Coin"-3D Image OF A Man Character Exercising In The Living Room - HR Software To Represent Employee's Productivity As Well As Physical And Mental Wellbeing
There is excellent news for all the extroverts out there. Annual evaluations are becoming obsolete and businesses are switching to more frequent (weekly/ quarterly/monthly) assessments with even more personalized check-ins (weekly). What does that mean? More time to connect with your superiors and teammates. Furthermore, employee happiness is increasingly seen as a crucial component of a company's morale and success. As a result, according to Gartner, 8 out of every 10 HR leaders  are altering their organization's existing performance management systems. As any mentally burnt-out veteran employee would tell you, that's a step in the right direction— #CarlJungWouldBeProud.

Most HR IT tools that focus on employees' physical and emotional wellbeing increasingly incorporate gamification and wearable health gadgets like Fitbit. As a result, the most successful companies seek solutions that balance their employee's physical, behavioral, and emotional health.

TechDogs Opinion: In a remote-first world, performance evaluations will be real-time, pervasive and integrated. Most contemporary businesses will increasingly rely on HR technology to establish a continuous cycle of expectation-setting and assessments, allowing for much more in-depth examination and improvement of employee performance. Furthermore, mental fitness and health gadgets will be gradually integrated into HR software to represent employee's productivity as well as physical and mental wellbeing.
 

Trend 4: Businesses Will Focus On Learning, Training and Development Of Employees

 
The Covid-19 pandemic is hard, anybody denying it, please who are you fooling? No seriously, let’s be real for a minute and accept that this global lockdown has forced us to see the realities of life, we could have gone our life without knowing #Blessed. In terms of HR management, that meant acknowledging the need to support employee wellbeing. However, that's not all. HR leaders also became aware of employee skill and learning gap. Veteran employees who were the masters of the trade were struggling to set up Zoom meetings and use Trello. How much time did you spend every Zoom call telling Jerry from accounts that his mic is on mute?

In addition to that, a major soft skills gap was witnessed in supervisors and managers in terms of empathetic communication and emotional intelligence.As a result, 42% of companies stepped up their upskilling/reskilling efforts and the demand for digital learning tools grew exponentially in 2020.

TechDogs' OpinionWhile learning management tools have an internal part of several companies now, 2021 will witness the demand for platforms that could make upskilling extremely easy and automated for professionals. With tools for sharing resources and automation of learning processes, employees would learn whenever convenient for them.
 

Trend 5: HR Will Have To Protect Their Data

 
Distributed teams working virtually became easy targets for people with malicious intent. Organizations like the College of DuPage were even compromised where the personal and tax data of 1,755 employees, including W-2 tax forms, was exposed.

This put most companies in overdrive and forced them to see the urgent need for tools to secure business information and keep employees’ personal information safe. As organizations move to the cloud and HR self-service platforms, building robust data security systems is a growing challenge and an opportunity for vendors to provide systems where data is managed and processed securely.

TechDogs' Opinion: Brands, are you listening? If you are not already, it's about time you start taking data security, especially employee data, seriously. As a result, HR software will have to catch up when securing sensitive identifying information. Documents should be consolidated and arranged using HR technology. Meanwhile, features like digital signatures can help keep contracts and pay stubs safe.

In addition, adopting blockchain to manage and secure the personal data, work history, or financial details of employees is where we believe HR tech is headed. Since blockchain can be applied to any business system and be integrated with other technologies, it can become the new Thor's hammer for HR folks regarding data privacy.


Wrapping It Up


Human Resources is one of those business functions that impacts every other function, influences every team and affects every employee. The more robust and holistic your HR tech becomes, the better your business operations and employee productivity are. Therefore, keeping pace with the latest HR trends is imperative for your business to grow by leaps and bounds. Whether it's automation, data security, or performance management, you've got to be on top of all the latest tech that the industry has to offer to be ahead in the game.

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