Technology has revolutionized the world in the past two decades and the increasingly digital world is fusing with our material reality fast – impacting every aspect of our lives, prominent industries, businesses across all niches and a lot more.
During a recent study, two-thirds of global business leaders expressed concerns that if they didn’t digitize more by 2020, their companies would no longer be competitive.
These demands of digitization are even more prominent in the field of HR where everything is changing – from the way we hire and train talent to how we introduce new ways of raising performance.
The job of a modern HR manager has been significantly altered by digitization and the role needs to be more adaptive to the changes.
Changes In HRM Due To Digitization
Digitization has caused many deviations from the traditional role of Human Resource Management in an organization; connecting HR officers to talent from opposite ends of the world.
This has opened doors to opportunities, increased speed, and impacted two areas of Human Resource Management to a great degree – one being recruitment, and the other management.
Impact On Recruitment
Older recruitment processes required job seekers to shuffle through newspapers to find suitable jobs. For recruiters, it meant sorting through piles of applications to find the right candidate.
These days, around 60% of the candidates use online job boards and professional social networks to look for new careers, providing recruiters with the visibility, accessibility, and information they need to target the right candidates.
Recruiters and companies use digital resources and tools as much as the job seekers, as demonstrated by the fact that at least 20 million companies are listed on professional networking websites and 90% of recruiters use such platforms regularly.
HR departments are also investing in the development of advanced application tracking systems that help make their jobs more manageable. And it has become commonplace to conduct the first round of interviews online via video conferences.
A digitalized recruitment system has no doubt improved the pace, connectivity and the effectiveness of the recruiting process for modern businesses.
Impact On Management
It is essential to understand here that hiring and firing are not the only functions of the human resource department. They are also concerned with the management of employees – monitoring performance, dealing with their grievances on a day-to-day basis, ensuring their productivity, and taking care of their needs, among other things.
Management requires multitasking, and that’s where apps and software come in handy – companies have a whole list of HR software at their disposal to help manage their Human Resources more efficiently.
Management tools are already taking over the market to make direct supervision and human resource management easier. These apps keep track of progress and maintain transparency in HRM functions.
Until fairly recently, businesses organized their data on multiple platforms – leading to massive wastage of time and resources when they needed to pull information from many databases at a time.
94% of enterprises have a way around those challenges as they are already using Cloud services and infrastructure to carry out most of their processes, making remote work and Human Resource Management easier than ever thought possible.
Cloud technology has allowed companies to integrate various systems to create a unique platform where employees can focus on a task at a time.
These new technologies not only make employee management more convenient but also facilitate learning in the workplace. Additionally, using them for research of candidates is crucial as well.
Downsides Of Digitization
Piracy, cybercrime, breach of privacy, and malware are a few of the side effects of digitization that human resources and recruitment have to bear.
As easy as it has become to function using digital resources for HR stakeholders, it has become equally easy for criminals to infiltrate these systems – mandating better digital security across organizations and industries. Considering the confidentiality and personal nature of the information in store with human resources, this can prove to be a significant disadvantage.
Additionally, while the wealth of information and easy accessibility has allowed recruiters to find ideal candidates, it has also introduced increased retention woes for human resource managers.
Rivals can easily prey on excellent performers and lure them using multiple communication channels afforded to modern employees. This makes it harder to retain employees, requiring organizations to be wary of appropriately treating and compensating their workforce.
While the influx of technology has led to an abundance of information – not all of it is reliable or substantial.
Verification and candidate research have become the basic needs of modern day HR management to avoid wasting resources on the wrong candidates.
Key Takeaway
The process of hiring and managing people has become faster, easier, and more manageable – and with emerging tech trends such as advanced analytics that are used to rank candidate profiles, HR research and management are likely to be revolutionized soon.
HR managers can no longer afford to neglect the digital aspects of their business if they are to deal with the ever-growing risks and challenges of the tech transformation.