Organizations will be challenged to design a more engaging and productive workplace if they want to attract and retain employees in the new always-on, hyper-connected world of work, according to predictions for 2016 from Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

In “Predictions for 2016: A Bold New World of Talent, Learning, Leadership and HR Technology Ahead,” Bersin by Deloitte encourages HR leaders to focus on bold, inventive HR strategies that can help drive bottom-line impact.

These include harnessing technology and transparency to improve employee engagement; leveraging analytics to attract and retain employees; developing great leaders; and championing diversity and inclusion to drive improved financial outcomes.

This new digital focus for HR is not simply about technology; it changes the way we serve and support employees. Digital is the world our employees live in and, if we do not become part of it, then we cannot really do our jobs.

HR and L&D need to learn how to build mobile apps; we can apply design thinking to our jobs; it’s important to think about “experiences” and not “programs”; and, to learn how to leverage data in a more strategic way. People do not want to look at dashboards; they want their computers to “tell them” or “recommend” what to do—based on data.

“New digital technologies, increased transparency in employment brand and work practices, and the need to compete vigorously for talent are all disrupting the workplace,” said Josh Bersin, principal, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

“In this environment, effective HR teams are starting to practice ‘design thinking’ – studying the behaviour of employees and designing solutions to fit their work lives. One of the biggest challenges for HR in the next few years will be to focus on improving the work experience for employees while driving productivity. So HR leaders will have to work harder to understand what drives results.”

The top 10 predictions below highlight many of the massive changes underway in the workplace of the future. In addition to predicting that the discipline of design thinking will become a major new area for HR, predictive trends include the following:

1. Digital HR arrives, changing the way HR organizations design and deliver employee solutions. Instead of allowing digital processes such as online learning and communications to overwhelm employees, it’s anticipated that HR and learning and development organizations will focus on designing digital applications to improve the way employees are served and supported.

See: Top 5 HR Technology Predictions for 2016

2. The stampede to replace dated HR systems will accelerate. As HR organizations strive to build true “systems of engagement” (versus systems of record), look for ease of use, integrated data and analytics to drive a massive transformational shift – away from traditional licensed HR software to a new breed of integrated HR and talent tools in the cloud.
3. New models of talent management breed a new generation of talent management systems. For example, the redesign of performance management to an often rating-less model is driving the need for talent management software built around feedback-centric systems. Similarly, aging applicant tracking systems used in recruiting are being replaced by new integrated recruitment platforms that include smart sourcing, candidate relationship management, interview management, applicant tracking and smart analytics.
4. The rush to replace and re-engineer performance management will accelerate globally. Many organizations around the world are moving away from top-down annual performance processes. Now is the time to test pilot more continuous, developmental and empowering performance management and feedback processes to get the details right and aligned with an organization’s culture.
5. Engagement, retention, and culture will remain top priorities as new feedback tools come to market. As the competition for talent remains fierce, we expect the topics of culture and engagement will remain high on the list of concerns. Look for new tools, techniques and analytics methods to encourage and collect employee feedback and help leaders understand where culture and management should change.
6. Global leadership development, coupled with career and talent mobility, will take on a fresh new focus. Mentoring and coaching will grow rapidly. Our high-impact talent management research shows that coaching and mentoring are the most valuable talent practices to develop in an organization. These activities should be built into an organization’s culture, rewarded and include the use of technology tools to bring in external coaches.
7. The revolution in corporate learning will continue as a new model evolves. The research-based Continuous Learning Model shows the most effective learning involves education (formal training), experiences (developmental assignments and projects), environment (a culture and work environment that facilitates learning), and exposure (connections and relationships with great people). Organizations that think about these four functions will likely be ahead of the learning curve in 2016.
8. Diversity and inclusion will move beyond compliance and become a strategic part of business and talent management. Based on predictions of the Talent Management Maturity Model, it shows that organizations that align diversity and inclusion practices to business objectives are more likely to perform well on financial outcomes. Prepare for the talent market of 2016 by benchmarking existing diversity and inclusion programs against key areas including age, culture, gender, nationality, ethnicity/race, and mental and physical status.
9. People analytics likely will evolve to become a mainstream program in the HR function. Using new data streams coming from mobile, engagement, and feedback applications and network analysis, organizations are building valuable databases about what people are doing, their history, experiences at work and career progress. Increasingly, this data likely will be used to identify specific solutions to business challenges and to drive business results.
10. The HR profession leaps forward as a new breed of HR leaders emerge. Companies are investing heavily in innovation and analytics, organizations are sharing creative solutions more openly and HR’s alignment with business is improving dramatically.

Look for 2016 to be a year of positive changes in multiple areas of HR and for a new breed of innovative and strategic HR and L&D leaders to come to the forefront.

Also read: 16 Predictions for Employee Engagement in 2016

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