The Future of HR

• "We predict with conviction that in the near future, half of what HR does in terms of transactions will be automated and that 80% of what HR people do today, they will no longer be doing in the near future. This near future is the next two to five years."
• "There are two ways to look at this new reality: with a negative lens where one sees a fateful dystopia with an unemployed society, an unbridgeable gap between the haves and the have nots, between well paying and miserable jobs, and HR limited to transactional activities. With a positive lens, the focus is on opportunities: if 80% of the administrative and routine HR tasks are automated and taken over by algorithms, it frees up time for HR to focus on people activities where HR is better than computers. If 80% of HR's daily tactical tasks are no longer relevant, it frees up time to support tasks that have greater strategic value. Because of technology, we are able to make better data-driven (read: evidence-based) decisions. We can personalize HR and bring the H back in HR."
• "[T]his is a new era and the time is now to reinvent HR."
• "Live in the future, then build what's missing." -Paul Graham
• "Considering that many jobs will disappear or will fundamentally change in content at a faster tempo, it is clear that only agile organizations will survive this disruption."
• "What today is considered a revolutionary trend or weird practices in HR is perhaps next year's leading practice."
• "Imagine...A future worker applies for a job without a resume or curriculum vitae and is hired without being interviewed by a person. Smart algorithms predict who is likely to leave your company and when; chatbots answer HR generalist questions; employees have total flexibility as to when and where they work and have unlimited paid time off!"

ZigZagging to Adapt to the Changing HR Landscape

• "To replace the current (read: obsolete) paradigm with a fundamentally new talent management vision, HR must borrow from other management disciplines."
• "We are not proposing an all-or-nothing approach to either traditional or innovate model, but a #ZigZagHR-Model where HR #ZigZags between traditional (generally accepted) and more progressive (innovative) practices based on the situational context of the firm."
• "HR professionals must complement their base HR competencies with skills and tools from other management disciplines and adopt an augmented #ZigZagHR-Stack that includes design thinking (strategy), behavioral economics (where psychology and economics meet), agile management (flexible project management), and analytics (data analysis and management science)."
• "In today's progressive workplaces, HR is not forced into the role of policing. The pendulum is definitely swinging toward trusting that people will do the right thing rather than controlling for the few 'bad apples' that may force the policing of work practices."
• "Rather than attempting to control and regulate behaviors, employees should have 'freedom within a framework.' This framework must be supported with substantive resources (including onboarding, training, development, managerial support, etc.) so that employees can understand the limits of their freedom and exercise freedom with responsibilities. This allows for a hands-off approach where employees are trusted rather than controlled and can do their best work."