The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the way we work and live. In this sudden moment of truth, we’re all witnessing the greatest transformation of our lifetime.
As organizations and businesses learn to innovate to the new norm and adapt to the changing work environments, the pandemic has certainly caused an impact on the way businesses function. As businesses become more agile, the HR industry might need to keep a check on how the new normal is impacting the current workforce. More importantly, the major focus should also be directed toward the implication of how the pandemic will accelerate the future workforce initiative, i.e. post-pandemic.
We all believe that today is the right time to lead organizations toward navigating a successful future. HR professionals need to understand how to transform their skills and work toward the new normal.
Upcoming human resource jobs based on the following fundamental needs
During the next decade, HR jobs have been comprising of five different and important themes driven by the impact caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is in addition to the era of AI, automation, and algorithms.
Here’s what most HR professionals should be concerned about:
Creativity/innovation
The post-pandemic world might have turned everything to be virtual such as employee meetings and employee training sessions. The upcoming HR job functions will also be strictly around these compulsory mandates – those who can help the human resource department design, and roll-out of some of the best-in-class collaboration in the virtual reality world, WFH facilitator to check on the integration as well as the engagement of the remote employees, and the VR immersion counselors (this role might just allow envisioning the potential of using virtual reality for many cases such as scaling online training, reskilling and upskilling, onboarding new employees and coaching, etc.
These are all accountable to scale the best-in-class remote workforce programs.
Data literate
Becoming data literate should be a part of HR’s mantra and should be included as part of the organization’s culture. Not to mention, even the jobs of the human resources professionals needs to demonstrate it has evidence-based decisions. As the organizational network is on the rise, the human network analysts are expected to understand the natural phenomenon of how the workforce will gather together to stay connected using newer technologies like data analytics and artificial intelligence.
Organization’s trust
The HR professional holds the dignity to become the guards of ethical workplaces. The emergence of data literacy, where every decision that is made is based on data accelerates the need stating that one needs accountability and transparency, and a fair system between HR leaders. Therefore, leading to the HR job roles like human bias officers, algorithm bias officers who will ensure that the organization has both AI system and human values depicting a fair and ethical workforce or genetic diversity officers whose role deeply involves staying in contact with the genetic pathologist ensuring there’s genetic inclusion followed in the organization.
Heard about the humans and machines partnership?
The HR industry will have a team comprising of humans and machines. Such teams will be responsible for creating newer HR job roles that majorly focus on cooperative working. The job role such as the human-machine team manager will likely address at the intersection of humans and machines. Thus, to increase cooperation between the teams rather than just competition. This is done to create seamless collaboration between humans and machines.
Wellbeing/wellness
As digital transformation increases, the stress between how to manage the current work-life balance and the pressure due to the pandemic crisis has given employees new ways of taking care of themselves. The new HR jobs will be projected toward employee wellness rather than office perks. Newer jobs roles such as encouraging the workforce to rediscover the most productive part of themselves, or how to distract employees from not being obsessed on their smartphones will be included.
For instance, a chief purpose planner responsible for helping define how businesses can contribute to the society both for the employees and customers or workplace environment architects who will be involved in making sure the office premises have been designed with the wellness of the stakeholders. With work from home becoming the new norm, employees are discovering how an HR certification could help them gain the maximum benefit in this hypercompetitive jobs markets.
Some organization have already started hiring for a role as the Director of Wellbeing and is expected to see a rise within the next decade.
Enter the new world of HR professionals
The new world for human resource professionals includes the enormous impact of technology in the HR industry – multi-generational workforce, automation, disruption of jobs, and workforce demographics.
We’re on the verge of a changeable world of work, therefore the tools we use today might not be beneficial for the skills of tomorrow. One of the major reasons why human resource departments need to adapt according to the needs of their employees.
