Technology is slowly but surely changing just about everything in our lives, especially how we work. These days, most employees not only do a large amount of their work on a computer, but many work remotely, learn new skills in online courses, and even find jobs via social sites and web-based job hunts. All of these things must be managed and developed through those working in human resources, and over the past few decades technology has had a pretty profound effect on how these departments operate. Read on to learn more about the impact of the latest technologies on human resources that could just change how you get hired, learn job skills, access business information, and even use the Internet in your off time.
Computers are certainly a major part of just about any workplace setting these days, but did you know that they could soon be the determining factor in whether you get a job? Employment simulations are becoming increasingly popular ways for HR departments to screen potential job candidates all over the world. The simulations work by asking candidates to participate in an online video game of sorts that simulates the real work environment, allowing employers to more accurately assess how a worker would do at a given company. While they’re obviously not applicable to every industry, some proponents say that they can help remove many hiring biases and help those who are truly the most qualified get a position. As an added bonus, they can also make HR departments more efficient. Of course, there’s been plenty of criticism of them as well, as many point out that the programs don’t account for social and interpersonal skills that are necessary to be successful in the workplace.
Once, HR departments pored over resumes by hand, but that’s no longer entirely common, at least not up front. Many companies now use automated resume screeners to do the work for them, and it’s no surprise as many report getting up to three times the numbers of resumes every year as they have employees in the entire company. These computer tools scan through resumes stored in an online database, looking for applicants to match to job openings. While this is a pretty efficient way of getting through a large number of resumes, it does have some drawbacks. Scanners are usually programmed to look for key words and phrases for a given position, and a resume that doesn’t contain them, even from a qualified applicant, may be overlooked. Resume screening by computer hasn’t eliminated the human element from hiring, however. Someone still has to choose and program in those key terms and scan the resumes that the program picks out as the best, but it’s clear that technology is having a major impact on this area of HR.
Technology has also changed how HR departments and hiring managers deal with checking out employees. Once, a call to a few references would have sufficed as a good check on the character of an employee, but these days it’s commonplace for potential employers to do an Internet search, especially on social media, for information about employees. As individuals have become more careful about what they show publicly online, some HR departments are getting a little too personal in their exploration of online data, even going so far as to ask for passwords to sites like Facebook to learn more about a candidate. Recent legislation could put a stop to that, but even with these limitations, online data about an individual will likely always play a role in the hiring process in the modern world.
Training used to require employees to be on site and in a meeting for several hours at a time to learn essential workplace skills, but new technology has made it possible to train employees anywhere in the country, at any time, using limited resources. Basic tech tools like web conferencing, Skype, and Google Hangouts make it possible for training professionals to speak to a large audience of employees located just about anywhere with Internet access, all at once. There are also numerous programs and services that make it simple for HR to combine PDFs, Power Points, documents, and videos into comprehensive training programs that can be completed by employees on their own time, perhaps even before they arrive for their first day of work. Because these materials can be distributed quickly and easily, it saves companies money and HR departments time, as well as helping employees become more productive more quickly.
The web not only plays a role in how potential employees are assessed, but also in how they’re found in the first place. Technology has made it simple, and sometimes preferable, to do recruiting and hiring through an online portal. Openings can easily be posted online, both on larger job sites and on those targeted towards those with a very specific skill set. Recruiting is also becoming a tech-cantered task. Not only is the web used to seek out qualified candidates through social media and employment sites, but some recruiters are also reaching out to job seekers through their mobile devices, a strategy that many believe is smart given the widespread use of such devices. While traditional networking and recruitment strategies are still valuable in HR today, the web is playing an increasingly larger role in how the best talent is found and attracted to a given business.
With the always-on connectivity provided by the Internet and the ease that new tech tools offer, companies no longer need to have in-house HR departments. It might sound strange, but outsourcing HR can be a great way for many businesses to save money and time while still offering employees comprehensive benefits, training, and other features of human resources. Currently, there are around 700 of these professional employer organizations (PEOs) in the U.S. PEOs can take the pressure off business owners and operators to manage their own HR affairs, leaving them free to focus on other, more critical areas of business. With many businesses now boasting offices around the nation and employees who work remotely or on-the-go, the services can also provide a way to keep everyone connected via a range of web resources that offer tools for monitoring pay and participating in training and helping employees manage things like vacation time and retirement benefits. While not an ideal fit for every business, technology has certainly made these kinds of services a much more practical option for many businesses uninterested in building their own HR facilities.
HR departments used to spend a lot of time on paperwork and general personnel administration tasks, but as computers and automated systems have taken over much of that, the focus of HR has gradually changed. Instead of having to dedicate large amounts of time and energy to processing paperwork and managing talent, many HR departments are now free to focus on other, more critical tasks. In recent years, that has meant using technology tools to increase workplace productivity by helping managers make smart choices and by more effectively monitoring employees. Through the ease of use provided by cloud computing and other technological advances, human resources can now easily track employee performance, offer training, and ensure that all members of an organization are working toward a business’ short- and long-term goals. This change in focus may adapt even further as new technologies arise and become commonly used in the workplace.
Human resources departments aren’t only using social media to check up on prospective employees. In fact, social media may soon be playing a significant role in how many businesses operate their HR departments. There has been a growth in recent years of social media products geared towards HR and business management, including Salesforce, Yammer, WorkSimple, and UpMo to name a few. Many HR departments are embracing these social tools as a means of more easily communicating with employees who are already familiar with using social media outside of work, as well as aligning themselves with larger business goals aimed at keeping up with trends in the market. Social media can be used to share information about things going on in the business, post job openings, offer training and education resources, or even just boost employee morale and camaraderie and will likely prove to be an essential tool for the HR department of the future.
Cloud computing has seen a boom in popularity in recent years at businesses of all sizes and specializations, as it lowers costs, is easier to implement and maintain, and provides more levels of security than many more traditional systems. Cloud computing is having a major impact on human resource departments within those businesses, too. Through the cloud, HR professionals can easily share data across a range of HR processes, helping employees get the development and management they need and offering managers access to tools that will improve employee productivity and work better within a business’ strategy. In many ways, the move to the cloud is the natural progression of both information management technologies and human resources, allowing information to be more easily shared, updated, created, managed, and accessed remotely, even from mobile devices.
Technology may just change the face of HR altogether. The combination of mobile technologies, the web, cloud computing, and other inventions yet to come will motivate some major changes in how HR works and is organized. In many ways, these things already have changed human resources a great deal, but many predict that there are significant changes yet to come. HR expert Anita Lettink believes that the human resources department of the future will be largely shaped by technology. It will be, in her words, “remote, mobile, social, automated, specialized and smaller than in the past.” As a result, the outsourcing of HR will become more common, more information and resources for employees will be accessible through mobile devices, and HR departments will need to adapt to a generation of workers who are used to using tech to easily find answers, solve problems, and stay connected.
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