Gartner Recommends HR Leaders to Optimize these Five Aspects to Drive the Future of Work

AI will play an important role in the years to come.

As per Gartner, Inc., only 9% of Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs) agree that their businesses are ready for the future of work. Several Analysts at Gartner are discussing talent issues and the role of HR in reimagining the future of work to drive performance across the organization at the Gartner ReimagineHR conference being held in Florida currently. The premier event for HR leaders is being adorned by over 1,700 CHROs and Senior HR Executives from across the globe. Gartner proposed five areas of work for HR leaders to focus on in order to drive the future performance of their companies, staff, and community at large.

Brian Kropp, Distinguished Vice President and Chief of HR Research at Gartner said, “Tackling this next phase – the future of work – involves planning for and leveraging the changes in the way work gets done over the next decade, influenced by social, generational and technological shifts.” Kropp suggested that in spite of focusing on the various aspects of work, like the gig economy, AI, and the multigenerational workforce, in silos, HR leaders need to look on the bigger picture of what the future of work can and should look like in their companies.

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5 Key Areas for Senior HR Leaders to Consider

1. Developing an AI Ethics Strategy

Data has an important role to play in work-related decisions in Talent Acquisition and Management. Gartner’s report reveals that 3/4th of organizations are radically increasing their investment in analytics, talent analytics being unsurprisingly on top of the list. As the implementation of AI in the workplace increases, Senior HR leaders are left to wonder how to collect quality data ethically and how to make ethical use of the data obtained. In the days to come, the HR department needs to create and drive an ethical AI and Analytics strategy. This will help the HR personnel to understand real-world employee data misuse and how to make the best use of the available data.

2. Rethinking Employee Development Skills

Building critical skills and competencies is a priority for 73% of CHROs, Gartner says. On-the-job training is the major means of developing employees’ digital skills, but 47% of on-the-job learning chances are either on the verge of automation, or elimination, courtesy of Artificial Intelligence. Organizations must evaluate their existing learning methodologies and reimagine how skills development can be done in order to make the best use of new technology while providing employees with better learning and development opportunities.

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3. Overhauling the Role of Managers

An average organization spent $471 annually to train a Manager in 2010. Over a decade, this translates to around $5000 per Manager. But companies are not experiencing major shifts in the managers’ skills by these investments. As a matter of fact, 69% of a Manager’s tasks will be automated by 2024. Gartner recommends establishing updated expectations for managers while determining the extent of management tasks to be automated.

4. Using AI to Enable Access to New Talent Pools

Gartner says that 90% of the companies reported making considerable investments in AI to replace jobs in the upcoming years. As jobs will be lost in the transition, numerous new opportunities will arise too, enabling access to jobs to a workforce that didn’t have access in the past. In order for the process to be smooth and welcoming for the new set of workers, HR needs to review internal systems and practices for possible barriers to success.

5. Increasing Transparency

There are platforms like Glassdoor and Fairygodboss that can help candidates get a good idea of companies and their people at any time. Gartner reports that 60% of the candidates feel well-informed about the company they are applying to. But on the other side, employees do not feel so well-informed about their employers, unfortunately. 71% of the staff opined that employers should have transparent policies in place. With the increasing demand for transparency at the workplace, HR should develop an updated strategy and train its staff to work in a more transparent manner.

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