The COVID-19 pandemic will go down in history as a ‘Black Swan’ event that disrupted and transformed the way businesses function. While the economy has been hit hard by COVID-19, severely disrupting the way much of the business world operates, many sectors have emerged relatively unscathed from the turmoil, while the rest have undergone an enormous shift. While along with sectors, many job functions have also been affected HR function has been the most challenging one. Pandemic has led the role of HR a lot more crucial than ever before. HR now has a strong role in making an environment in which employees can contribute to the business better. 

As 2020 passed by, here are a few trends to watch out for in HR in 2021:

1. Remote working and learning: The demand for flexibility where people can work has been building for decades. Due to the pandemic, many organisation has shifted to work from anywhere culture, while we think the trend will prevail on the organization front, seems the majority of professionals want the same. In a recent poll on SCIKEY, 43% of professionals said they prefer working from anywhere 30% of professionals stated they want WFH. Well, employees are enjoying the new setup, organisations have observed an upward shift in employees’ productivity. 

Upskilling reskilling have become the new norm. Virtual learning will be on the rampage. HR needs to have a strategy to design the workplace for digital learning, else employees are left behind with learning online through other companies by enrolling themselves in courses.

2. Growing gig workforce: The gig economy has been around for a while; it will witness an upward spike as people are looking to work on their terms and conditions. Employers have started using a mix of contractors, freelancers, and full-time employees in their organisation. They have been experimenting with several workforce models that include Virtual Talent, Agile workforce, Hybrid Talent, and Talent Clouds as they continued to redefine work itself. 

Organizations are more and more focusing on Gig Talent due to the following reasons.

1. Talent On-Demand - Gig provides organizations agility to hire talent on-demand, which is unavailable in traditional hiring methods. 
2. Another attractive proposition with Gig Professionals is that they are highly Skilled Professionals already trained in Next Generation Skills.
3. Gig Professionals are best suited for our ever-changing demands.
4. Hiring people on gig ensures reduced cycle time, which means earlier billability and revenue realizations.  

HR will have to bring these diverse workers on one platform. 

3. Employee Mental Health: The impact of COVID-19 has been different for every individual, so is the effect on mental health. As the remote work culture is here to stay long, the physical connection between the employees has reduced. One of the enduring trends in the space of HR will be to spend more time on mental health employee wellbeing. In 2021, HR departments will need to develop long-term strategies for providing employees with mental health resources.

4. Virtual/Digital reality: HR is no exception in adopting Digital reality as many sectors have been transforming to Virtual reality after the recent global pandemic. All the job interviews, onboarding of candidates, team meetings, and managing employee performance are now supported digitally. 

You may also read: The Art of Digital Transformation

5. Digital Employee Experience: In 2021, companies should focus more on the endowment of artificial intelligence digital technology to build an excellent experience for the employees also new employees joining the organization. The old techniques used by HR will not help retain the best talent. The organisation will have to develop ways of brilliant engagement strategies to attract retain their best talent. HR will have to rebuild the employee journey and measure the digital employee experience. Elements like work-life balance, wellbeing, connection, and collaboration will be crucial for employee satisfaction and business outcomes. One of the most vital trends to look forward to in 2021 is Employee experience.

6. Data-Driven HR: Analytics in HR its function will increase business and workforce productivity. Data-driven HR is changing many characteristics of the HR team working in an organisation. The most challenging part for HR will be to find the right balance between digital technology the human role in the organisation. The good news for the HR team is that there are many tools related to AI machine learning present in the market, which will show us the data generate valuable insights for the organisation. This trend data-driven HR will help the HR teams effectively interact share data with all the business units also help them do what they do the best work with people.

7. Focus on cybersecurity: Cybersecurity will be an essential aspect to look forward in the world of a hybrid work environment by HR. The HR team will have to develop new WFH policies cyber rules to keep the organization employees’ data confidential. The HR will have to closely work with the IT team to create an online attack-free remote workforce.

The HR KPIs are changing will continue to change. The need to change stay updated is more than ever. These top seven HR trends of 2021 will surely be part of the strategic roadmap for this year. The HR department will have to identify develop new tactics to execute stay on top of the game help the organization achieve its business goals.