The longevity of HR roles is lucid to discuss nowadays. The Great Resignation has caused massive employment experience issues and unpredictable shifts in top tech companies.
The next generation of the workforce is sinking into an attention deficit which makes it too complex to handle. HRs can shape a new work ecology with genZ ethics for the next decade to address these challenges.
Here are the top 7 innovative HR practices to manage the next generation and prepare for the future. Go through each of the measures, but remember it will all succeed in action with adequate implementation.
HR Best Practices
Top 7 Innovative HR Practices Needed for Managing the Next Generation
1. Climbing the Mental Health Ladder
We’re dwelling in junctures between anxiety and depression that are together spinning the tangle, HRs have the most responsibility here to function well throughout the day. Training themselves to aid employees’ emotional well-being is one such criterion. One can conduct certain mental coaching programs, educate the surrounding, and make one-to-one communication with each employee.
To be a leader in this, HRs also need to be well-acquainted with the term ‘mental health’ without leaving any taboo behind to ultimately discourse issues from the workplace such as all kinds of abuse, mental harassment, and other internal reasons. Besides, it is now or never time to include and nurture mind disorders tagged along with various activities for revamping the work culture.
Paid time off, holistic health benefits, counseling, offering rehab sessions or travel packages are some of the ways you can help, but yes again according to the company’s funding structure and every other important factor that comes first.
2. Ability to Challenge ‘Quiet Quitting’
Or in other terms, how to follow up is what HRs need to keep track of rather than on the daily sheets. Due to the endless rising in gig trends, the communication gap and lack of management are in a common dilemma right now. And perhaps here comes the HR role, which is to ensure a smooth flow of communication to avoid quiet quitting or ghosting by the employee in the middle of the workweek. This has indeed turned into a challenge that needs to formulate a representation with key strategies in order to move on.
What HR can do while challenging this kind of practice other than daily communication is to be more open and inclusive in terms of employees’ interests. Extra curriculum activities can be one of the best methods to encourage this.
3. Time to Become Chief “People” Officer
According to a recent study from BambooHR, “start-ups are rebranding human resources with 39% of the Inc. 100 referring to HR with titles that include “People,” such as Chief People Officer, compared to just 21% of Fortune 100 companies.” This means as the days will go on, the rate of change in responsibilities of HR will pose no conclusion, only a collective solution that is meant for everyone in the workplace. “I think we all understand the need to focus on the human part of human resources—the humanity,” said Anita Grantham, Head of HR at BambooHR. “Because when the people who work for you feel that humanity is prioritized in your business, they won’t just treat others in your organization with more care—they’ll also do the same for your customers.”
4. Adaptation to Skill-Based Hiring Method
Gone are the days when one HR recruit someone based on their degrees and experience. This is because of the growing demand for equipping technology and industrialization that leads to a project-oriented mindset with skills as a prerequisite. The Burning Glass Institute found that millions of online job listings requiring a college degree dropped from 51% in 2017 to 44% in 2021. As the companies start working in a hybrid mode, the on-skills demand apart from the major ones is also a matter of concern. In fact, there are several studies being projected under the same roof, just like the one I read where it was quoted that “In the competency model era, we selected competencies from a book (or wrote them down) and matched them each to a job. Today these formal matches are changing all the time. For example, the skills needed in software engineering seem to change every few months. Thus, we need to remember that we are now dealing with tens to hundreds of thousands of skills, each of which might trend up or down based on technology and the workforce, as Josh Bersin writes in his HR Predictions for 2023 report.
5. HR’s Role in ESG
That is, Environmental, social, and government (ESG) is an umbrella term for inputting a clear picture of businesses and organizations in front of investors and stakeholders. HR, as I said before, comes up with a new face of the organization every year. Basically, the responsibilities of HRs are not constant.
A recent report from Marsh & McLennan Advantage lay the first stone on how ESG performance will be considered as one of the vital roles of HR. They claimed, “It will become increasingly important when attracting and retaining employees, a serious consideration during a time when finding and keeping top talent is tough. Top employers’ ESG scores are 14% higher than the global average, making a positive connection between employee satisfaction and employer ES.”
HR dictates the “S” part as it is the core strength of any company you work for. To make it look good, any HR needs to produce its own format of social rules that promotes productivity and diversity hand in hand.
How HRs can make a big deal out of it?
Here the game plays a part. First to understand that HR needs to infer the methodology and policy of the company to act on the ESG challenges more efficiently. What HRs can do under the social category, is to be transparent as much as possible with employees on daily basis. A blog post on Forbes gave a real-time example where the new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, mandating that companies regularly disclose information on their ESG impact and are subject to independent auditing and certification. Some companies are even creating a new C-suite title, Chief ESG Officer.
HRs can trace through databases and suggest their decisions to auditors and the founders of the company in exchange for an impact they’re going to provide by their strategy. The key areas HR needs to address strongly are employees, customers, stockholders, suppliers, and communities. These HRs can also publish reports based on demographic data and observation for better projection of the future situation of the corporation.
6. Creativity Zest
An article by Harvard Business Review (HBR), reflects on the topic of how HRs on the world’s no. 1 OTT platform called Netflix has driven the best talent pool out of their creative strategies. Netflix is known for its unique and innovative approach to human resources. The company has a culture of freedom and responsibility, which allows employees to take ownership of their work and make decisions that align with the company’s goals and values. This approach has led to a highly engaged workforce and a reputation for attracting top talent. Additionally, Netflix has implemented flexible work arrangements, unlimited vacation time, and a focus on employee development, which further supports its creative and innovative culture.
The company’s expense policy is to “Act in Netflix’s best interests”, which means to spend company money frugally as if it were their own. This approach eliminates the need for a formal policy and expense account policy, shifts the responsibility to the frontline managers, and reduces costs. This approach is based on the assumption that by creating a clear expectation of responsible behavior, most employees will comply.
Reed Hastings, the co-founder, and CEO of Netflix, a streaming media company. He has been known to promote the company’s unique HR culture, which emphasizes freedom and responsibility among employees. This culture, which is encapsulated in a presentation called the “Netflix Culture Deck,” values high-performing individuals who are self-motivated and able to work well in teams. The presentation, which was first shared publicly in 2009, has been widely praised for its insights into building a successful company culture. The approach boiled down to a simple idea: Hire the very best people and get out of their way.
Like this, there should be many creative approaches crafted by HRs to bring the best out of their company. Remember, your creativity must instill light on employees’ interests and customers’ tastes.
7. Finally, Enabling Metaverse Culture
Within a few years, the metaverse will occupy the hybrid work culture which is continuously expanding on its own. A virtual platform can provide employees with access to various resources and support, but it is important for HR to actively gather and incorporate employee feedback to ensure that the virtual environment is meeting the needs of the employees and fostering a positive work culture. Continuous communication and engagement with employees are crucial in maintaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company culture in a remote or virtual setting.
To Conclude…
The innovative setting depends on HR-to-HR but one thing is clear the structure of HR is not the same as it was ten years back. Minute formalities are now just a cup of tea that holds no legitimate authority anymore. As the attention span of human beings is evaporating, it’s the very responsibility of HRs to set the path amidst any barriers or obstructions. That’s the substantial practice that any HR can inculcate.
That is it for today.
Take care and have great days ahead!