HR Trends for 2018: Technology
So, it’s 2018 and we’ve been gathering some of the latest thinking on what to expect for this year.
Here are 5 key HR trends for 2018, summarised below and it looks like Technology is once again a big theme for the year.
Passive candidates – Technology and the world of social media allows us to track down potential candidates more easily than before. This will only continue to grow.
Remote working
Over the past two decades, the volume of employees in the US who have worked at least partially by telecommuting has quadrupled and now stands at 37%. (1)
Technology enables video conferencing, Skype gives us video calling, Google apps gives us a sharing network for documents – what else do you need? Remote working will impact the workforce in so many ways, here are some stats on how remote working can benefit your business.
Blind hiring
Now I haven’t come across this yet, but to avoid any discrimination issues ‘Blind Hiring’ is an emerging trend. It removes any initial screening interviews that could invite bias based on gender, age, race etc. or just compatibility with the interviewer. Using a new system of blind screening removes any personal data that could distract from a candidate’s core skills – ensuring everyone is considered on exactly the same criteria with no room for discrimination.
Gamification
Yes – using gaming in business, and even as part of the recruitment process! This is more akin to certain sectors at the moment- such as IT, but looking ahead this is a way of testing potential candidates in a more relaxed manner.
“ ..,.[whether] it’s marketing or teaching or hiring. In business, gamification can be used as a candidate screener, turning tests of critical skill sets and cognitive abilities into fun engagement.”(2)
It is currently used for some services such as insurance or finance, e.g. financial assessments – making the mundane task of budgeting more fun.
Automation of the workforce
We recently wrote about the looming threat of Automation and the impact it will have on the workforce. It’s not just manufacturing or low skilled jobs that will be affected – roles such as,
“travel agents, flight attendants and more are all vulnerable. Where decision making is a key part of a job –a computer can do this easily with a set of rules. Where does this leave the human workforce? “(3)
According to the World Economic Forum: “Less than 5% of occupations are 100% automatable, according to estimates. However, 30% of the work involved in most jobs could be carried out by machines.”(4)
As with most changes, there are likely to be positives and negatives – whilst it may free up workload, allowing more focus on strategic & business development work; this reduction in workload could also potentially lead to boredom!
It’s a cliché but so many of us are familiar with the phrase – I love to be busy, doesn’t time go so much faster, it makes my day go quicker etc etc..there are important factors behind what might be seen as frivolous comments, and things we take for granted.
The World Economic Forum explores the impact of automation and considers the psychological impact this could have.
Check back for our next trend analysis for 2018.
Related Dovetail blogs:
The State of the Labour Market
The War for Talent continues
The Rise of the Machines
Sources:
Forbes.com : 1,2,3,
World Economic Forum: 4
Image – thanks to http://informedmag.com for the image
