Will HR still exist in 2022?

1 © Korn Ferry Hay Group 2016. All right reserved.

There is a growing expectation for HR leaders to collect and analyze more data around employee performance to deliver greater value to the business. Research shows that 80% of CEOs see data analytics as important to their business, while 46% now use it to provide insights into how their workforce is deployed1.

The benefits of using data and analytics to underpin

HR’s activities are compelling. Organizations that

actively use HR data analytics are two times more likely

to improve their recruiting and leadership pipeline.

They are also three times more likely to realize cost or

efficiency gains and three and half times more likely

to hire the right people for the right jobs in the first

place2. Companies using talent management reporting

and analytics achieve at least an 11% increase in profits

and a 6% improvement in per-employee revenue3.

But collecting the right data and presenting it as a

meaningful analysis to the business is not without

challenge. Historically, HR has not been a data-

driven function, unlike sales and finance, and while

leaders often recognize the need to invest in CRM

tools like Salesforce, they do not always see the

value of modern talent systems. HR leaders who can

demonstrate how using data and analytics can boost

performance and growth, and communicate a clear

value proposition to the organization stand to gain

powerful tools to help strengthen the organization.

The case for data and analytics.

Technology is having a huge impact on how the HR function works. HR knowledge is rapidly becoming democratized and readily available on the web. As we enable our people to do more, we inevitably lose more control, but those that believe the HR department is doomed couldn’t be more wrong.

Now is the time for HR to step up into the

strategic advisory role the business needs. The

proliferation of technology is clearly driving

change but contrary to the doomsayers, the

future of HR has never been so exciting.

So what will ‘HR’ look like in five years’ time? How

is technology enabling change? And what are the

implications for HR leaders in the digital age? Let’s

take a look at data and analytics in the digital age

- the biggest trends shaping the future of HR.

1 PwC 18th Annual Global CEO survey

2 J Bersin, 2013. High Impact Talent Analytics: Building

a World-Class Measurement and Analytics Function.

3 Harvard Business Review Analytics Services -

Workaday, 2015. Taking Measure of Talent.

2 © Korn Ferry Hay Group 2016. All right reserved.

Partnering with finance.

Historically, there has always been a partnership

between HR and Finance. If you can link HR data into

existing finance systems with a little bit of investment,

as opposed to buying a completely new system,

gaining support for HR data and analytics should be

easier. Ask your leadership team what information is

important to them as this will help you to determine

what data you need to boost overall performance.

Any investment should be ongoing - analysis needs to

be a continuous part of the HR function, not a once a

year tick-box activity. There is plenty of evidence that

shows that measuring employee engagement on a

continuous basis is much more effective than annual

surveys. But of course, how exactly you measure that

engagement and the impact of engagement on the

business needs to be carefully determined. Performance

is key, so consider exploring employee performance

versus engagement versus compensation. Currently

only 4% of C-Suite leaders4 believe they can accurately

measure the impact of their people, yet the movement

towards HR analytics is enabling forward-looking

organizations to influence performance at scale.

Data will play an increasingly important role over

the next five years in helping HR to understand its

people better and raise its game as a strategic leader,

armed with the vital information it needs to drive

change. As employee data becomes more readily

available, the key to the success of any HR leader

and its team will be understanding what to focus on

and how to turn the data into actionable plans.

Making data work for you.

Thanks to these tools, HR leaders now have the

potential to track a host of new metrics beyond

employee engagement and turnover levels. But

buying sophisticated technology to collect data is

only the start: the data needs to be translated into a

clear story before it becomes useful or actionable.

Before investing in a new system, HR must be clear on

exactly what they want to measure, and then how the

information will be used to drive and deliver results.

A good starting point is to try and determine four or five

meaningful data points that represent the most important

factors you want to influence. These metrics will differ

from organization to organization and will depend on your

value proposition and what’s important to your company.

Looking at different processes within the business can be

helpful: take sales for example. By looking at Salesforce for

productivity data, it’s possible to determine that a certain

number of employees are required to make a certain

number of calls, to generate a certain number of demos

which will result in a certain number of desired sales.

4 Korn Ferry, 2016 – The trillion-dollar difference.

Determine four or five meaningful data points that represent the most important factors you want to influence.

3 © Korn Ferry Hay Group 2016. All right reserved.

Recruitment and employer branding in the social age.

Technology, globalization and the changing demographics of the workplace have intensified competition for the best candidates. Talent acquisition has become a seller’s market and the rise of social media has made companies’ internal culture much more visible to the outside world. How an organization engages with past, present and future employees has never been so important.

Glassdoor: friend or foe?

The dramatic growth of employee review sites like

Glassdoor means nowadays people are far more likely

to trust a company based on what its employees have

to say than on its recruitment campaigns. According

to Glassdoor, 72% of employees are ‘ok’ with their job/

company and average CEO approval rating stands

at 67%. So what happens if your company gets a

negative review? Some employers see Glassdoor and

their peers as little more than places for ‘disgruntled

employees to vent frustration’ while others are all

too aware how negative reviews can damage their

reputation and discourage valuable potential hires.

Providing a personal response to a negative review is not

always viable, but organizations that ignore the reach

of social media and fail to leverage its positive impact,

including its impact on employer branding do so at their

own peril. Talent attraction now relies far more heavily on

employee engagement and advocacy than it has done

in the past. As a result, savvy HR leaders are recognising

the need to think more like marketers in how they engage

with talent and deliver a positive employee experience,

in the same way good marketers are embracing the

practice of customer experience as a key focus.

At the same time, employer branding is rising up the

corporate agenda and is set to gain greater strategic

importance in today’s global organizations. 59% of

organizations have increased their investment in

their employer brand this year5. As we move towards

2022, HR leaders will need to work more closely with

marketing leaders and CEOs to build a stronger employer

brand, and ensure it is aligned with the corporate

brand - many successful companies view their people

and their customers as two sides of the same coin.

The rapid rise of social media and platforms such as

Glassdoor mean that the employer brand and the

Employee Value Proposition that underpins it must

be clear, compelling and above all authentic. This

is critical in today’s transparent, globalized talent

market. Organizations can no longer say one thing

and do another; they have to deliver on their brand

promise, and not just to retain their customers, but

to engage their employees and potential hires too.

5 LinkedIn – Global Recruiting Trends, 2016

4 © Korn Ferry Hay Group 2016. All right reserved.

Social media: a two way street.

With clear signs that the competition for talent is

intensifying, those organizations that turn greater

attention to strengthening their employer brand online

and proactively increase their social media activity

are going to be more likely to shape the way people

perceive their organization, attract like-minded

individuals, and win the war for talent. Professional

social networks have become the number one source

for quality hires for 43% of organizations5 while

more than 75% of people who recently changed

jobs used LinkedIn to help inform their decision6.

While social media has made the corporate world

more transparent, so too has it given HR a new level

of insight into potential candidates. The fact that most

organizations now use social media for recruitment

and to reach out to passive job candidates has led to

higher profile standards on LinkedIn. A candidate’s

digital footprint can be very revealing, from who they

are following to what they are saying online. Candidates’

true colors are just as visible as organizations’

internal cultures today, which helps employers get

the right person for the right job in the first place.

Creating a great employee experience for everybody.

Without doubt, today’s workplace is increasingly

dominated by digitally-savvy employees. But we mustn’t

forget it’s still a rich fabric of individuals drawn from four

different generations. The different levels of technology

expertise in the workforce continues to create a challenge

for HR leaders in everything from employer branding

to online recruitment. How do you appeal to, remain

relevant and get the best out of everybody? How do you

strike the right balance and still hit budget targets?

Online recruitment is a good case in point. With the

rise in digital CVs and near-ubiquitous use of mobiles,

how many organizations today have fully mobile-

responsive career sites? The answer is not as many as

today’s tech-savvy workers expect! Keeping up with

technology advancements is not just a budgetary

challenge. As technology continues to develop, bringing

greater levels of automation to recruitment, HR must

ensure recruitment retains the ‘personal touch’. So

it’s going to become even more important over the

next five years to maximise the candidate experience

through every stage of the job application process.

In the next five years, HR must be agile to adapt to

continuous change. They must embrace the data and

analytics required to deliver insight and value to the

business and help drive change. HR need to capitalise on

social media talent opportunities, thinking like marketers

and partnering with marketing to attract, recruit and

retain the best people, while ensuring there is no gap

between the organization’s employer and customer

brands. While new technologies and skills will need to

be mastered, these can only help improve HR’s delivery

of what it has long championed - creating the right

organisational culture and an engaged workforce.

HR is the strategic partner the organization needs

to succeed now and in the future. Investment and

development will be required to keep up in an ever-

changing world; but when the prize is an engaged

workforce, delivering greater performance and ROI

to the organization, the change is surely worth it.

5 LinkedIn – Global Recruiting Trends, 2016

6 LinkedIn – Job Switchers Global Report, 2015

Professional social networks have become the number one source for quality hires for 43% of organizations5 while more than 75% of people who recently changed jobs used LinkedIn to help inform their decision.

© Korn Ferry Hay Group 2016. All right reserved.

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