The world only has a few months away before it sees the end of 2018. This year, companies have learned and seen the significance of keeping up with technological trends and advancement to further improve their key processes, especially for HR. With 2019 on the horizon, it’s time to look at some of the new things your organization can take advantage of.
Natural Language Processing
Artificial intelligence (AI) dominated every industry possible in 2017, and for HR, that means including solutions based on AI tech. According to research by Bersin by Deloitte, almost half—at 40%—of companies they surveyed are already using one or more AI tech for HR. For 2019, AI will continue to develop, and companies are looking at NLP to address one of AI’s many flaws.
AI-based conversational tools lack the failure to understand the true meaning of words as it relies on literal interpretations and translations, even when the human language used is not always used in the literal sense. NLP solutions will learn to think and speak like humans. The AI will speak the language, not just translate it, and will go as far as recognizing human emotions.
With this new feature, NLP will be able to carry out text analysis from natural language data with high detail and accuracy, thus being helpful in many HR processes, forms, and business engagements like making hiring decisions without human bias or enhancing employee experience through analysis of employee feedback or survey.
Cognitive Automation
Another derivative of AI worth the look for HR teams is cognitive automation. As discussed, basic robotic process automation (RPA) solutions are being improved. Soon enough, robots will be made to think more like humans to move it to the next phase: cognitive automation (CA). This isn’t to say that humans will be obsolete in the HR processes—both RPA and CA are complements to human skills.
CA will supplement human capacities and focus on locating knowledge, identifying patterns, natural language, machine learning, and disregard bias and fatigue. CA can operate in two primary ways as an HR solution:
1. Cognitive engagement uses NLP to act like a virtual assistant and handle processed like HR inquiries and routine transactions like position changes, leaves of absence, and paid time off management.
2. Cognitive insights use statistical data analysis and machine learning to uncover insights for better decision-making and improvement, which may be useful for talent and predictive analytics.
Other CA applications in HR include improvement of employee satisfaction, regulatory compliance, personalized learning and career development, better risk, internal controls, cybersecurity, and customer data management, and empowering of talent to effectively implement CA.
Atomization of Work
The last AI-related recruitment trend that you should expect in 2019 is atomization. From the root word, it’s safe to assume that it’s relevant to separating work into small, atomized, tasks that can be completed in seconds. It also occurs in the crowdsourcing subset called microtasking.
Today, many companies are trying out processes or individual tasks that can be further broken down and sourced internally or externally. However, it is technology—AI, in particular—that has contributed to the atomization of work because it aims to make jobs easier.
With techs like software and smartphones, jobs are easily partitioned, subdivided, and outsourced; one of the main tasks that have benefitted greatly from atomization is recruitment. For instance, recruiters can just focus on sourcing talents, work on branding, screening, or doing assessments.
Much like CA, atomization should be embraced so recruitment specialists can focus instead on the human side of the job like building networks, strategizing, collaborating, and communicating with prospects.
Virtual Reality
VR isn’t a new addition to corporations. It’s being used for training pilots through flight simulators for years. Nowadays, however, VR is bringing more to the table thanks to better technology. Aside from training, it can also contribute to a company’s branding, hiring process, and onboarding.
This cool new (or seemingly new, rather) technology can entice tech-savvy graduates to apply to your company, as it will showcase your company’s innovation. VR can also be used to gamify the application process (as Jaguar has done so), and conduct office tours so that applicants and newcomers get a feel of their future workspace, all while saving the company money and time.
Interviews can be done through VR, so hiring managers and applicants still get to interact wherever they are in the world. You can also check their abilities in VR-simulated situations, so you can assess them right then and there.
Lastly, VR onboarding will help new hires and HR avoid spending too many hours on paperwork and orientation; companies can simulate hands-on training instead and still add real value to it. For employees, they can do the onboarding on their own pace without having to use up the HR personnel’s own time.
General Data Protection Regulation
The European Union (EU) recently approved the implementation of GDPR legislation that will unify data regulations among EU members and give people greater control over their own personal information. Non-compliance will mean facing hefty fines, so companies, including their HR department and recruitment agency, better update their privacy rules to protect employee information.
It’s important to note that GDPR regulations will not only be relevant to businesses in EU countries, but also to companies founded outside of EU countries with affiliates, offices, or subsidiaries in the aforementioned region.
Companies should do a personal data audit to know what kind of details they have on their employees, who has access to it, and where it is kept. Everything must not be shared without proper permissions, and anything not related to work should be destroyed. Train everyone on how to handle their own and other people’s information. They should know their rights when it comes to sharing their own details.
This goes the same for recruitment teams: only keep the necessary information that is necessary. Get rid of details of unsuccessful applicants after a certain period.
Aside from GPDR, Philippine-based offices should also keep RA 10173 or the Data Privacy Act in mind. Under this legislation, employees have certain rights pertaining to their personal information, the most notable of which are:
- To correct, amend, or remove inaccurate data from their record (Sec. 16(d) and Sec. 16(e))
- To know how long and for what purposes employees’ data are to be maintained (Sec. 16(b))
- To know what and how the personal information is processed and stored in the human resource information system (Sec. 16(b) and Sec. 16(c))
- To know who the third parties outside the organization that such information are shared with are, including why and how it is shared (Sec. 16(c))
Recruitment Marketing / Inbound Recruitment
It may be strange to hear recruitment and marketing in the same statement, but without a doubt, this process has a lot of similarities with marketing. Recruitment and inbound marketing implement traditional marketing and inbound marketing tactics to find applicants and nurture them. The reason being is that the demand for talent is high, but supply is low.
Modern recruiters should know how to “market” themselves as employers and trigger candidates’ interests. The process is as follows:
- Make prospects aware of your company and open positions
- Trigger their interest
- Make them consider you as their employer of choice
- Drive other talents to apply
One of the elements of recruitment marketing is inbound recruiting, wherein companies create and target branded content to increase brand recognition as an employer and candidate engagement with future hires. This may be done through a career blog, social media, and even search engine optimization. Inbound recruitment is also recognized by the following elements:
- Candidate Engagement to keep qualified candidates in the talent pool.
- Candidate Relationship Management to build outstanding relationships with them through relevant content.
- Candidate Experience or providing exceptional candidate experience throughout good recruitment and hiring process. This can be done through appropriate and timely feedback, transparency, and openness. Negative experiences may reach other prospects quickly.
Out with the Old; In with the New
Today’s HR landscape should preserve their creativity, innovation, and tech-savviness to survive the next millennia. These trends and upcoming technologies have incredible implications, but it’s important to embrace them and witness their full potential that may significantly impact your organization. Similarly, HR professionals must learn to keep up with it, without losing sight of the importance of human touch in recruitment.
