Labour Market: Retaining and Attracting Employees
According to this article, the labour market is currently intensive and complex. Organizations must, therefore, undergo vigorous adjustments to retain and attract employees. Competition for employees is high in the current dispensation. From the article under study, a summary of Josh Bersin's speech at HRD Summit 2018, it is evident that going forward, employers and managers need to appreciate the ever-changing dimensions of the current human resource world. As a result, Bersin focused on the trending issues of the wellbeing of employees, hierarchies, and technologies regarding its advantages and disadvantages (Muller-Heyndyk n.p). Below are his expert views on the critical subject.
Employee Well-being: A Priority for HR Management
In his propositions, Bersin argued that human resource management should make employee well-being a priority in their work. In support of this argument, he pointed out high-stress levels and depression as the causes of the decreasing productivity of workers. Consequently, such employees have little motivation, which makes them not to deliver their best. The results of such behaviour are without exclusion of reduced productivity. Precisely, Bersin established that the economy is losing an approximate of \u00a342 billion annually through stress alone. On the outlook, stressed employees do not out-rightly miss work. In contrast, they portray physical presence not met with equal positivity and energy in their work assignments.
Impact of Technology on Productivity
Furthermore, he pointed out that although technology has increased usage in production processes at the workplace, the results do not measure this existence. In fact, productivity keeps on decreasing, leading to a mental overload of human labour present. Employees are not engaged efficiently due to their high-stress levels attributable to many emails they need to respond. Moreover, he reiterated this challenge by referring to a study by Deloitte, which revealed that an average American worker spent a whole 25% of their time scanning through emails. Worse still, they looked at their phones at least 150 times in a day (Muller-Heyndyk n.p). Also, about 40% of workers cannot concentrate on their work due to inability to balance family and work (Muller-Heyndyk n.p).
Importance of Well-being in Management Practices
The significance of the point of wellbeing to current management practices is that it helps in employee retention- those who feel the management takes good care of their welfare may stay admittedly. Moreover, firms with a reputation for excellent employee wellbeing attract high skilled labour from the job market. Consequently, such companies churn out the highest productivity levels in comparison to enterprises where employees are left to sort their problem.
Shift in Management Styles
Additionally, Bersin advised human resource managers to change their management styles. In this regard, he was referring to the old leadership structures which make bosses too bossy. Old hierarchical management is authoritarian and limits employee independence and involvement in the processes at work. Bersin pointed out that in this digital era, old hierarchies are insignificant and in fact unwarranted. To remain relevant and retain employees in the workplace, he urged managers to be coaches to employees, rather than bosses. In reality, coaches are collaborative, friendly and supportive. Replication of this practice at workplace means that employees are not merely subordinates to managers, instead, becomes an integral part of the system.
Empowerment through Performance Management
Effective human resource management should be empowering- empowered employees are more efficient and collaborating on management policies. For managers to be better coaches, they should incorporate ongoing performance management. Thus, workers receive periodic performance results upon assessment. In practice, even in other fields, people are motivated to perform better when they get results. Human beings seek to improve their previous performance- more results augment productivity. As coaches do by applauding improvement of team players, so should human resource managers concerning employees.
Adapting to Modern HR Practices with Technology
Evidently, the contemporary world requires adaptation to modern practices of human resource management. Organizations that are adamant to change suffer the consequence of losing their competitive edge in the industry. More importantly, change of business models of the hierarchy is in line with the modern concept of career development on employee engagement. Involvement of workers in management helps them develop their careers.
The Role of Technology in HR Management
Regarding this point, Bersin was of the opinion that not all technology guarantees productivity. However, if the management knew how to apply technology in their processes efficiently, they would be sure of better results, given that technology enhances communication processes within organisations. Additionally, he reiterated the importance of staying with up to date technology by the human resource management (Muller-Heyndyk n.p). Effectively, technology will be used to manage human resource efficiently and in the most productive manner that will yield higher levels of productivity undoubtedly. Additionally, technology is vital in keeping statistical data about employee performance and human resource management that is usable in the future. Adaptability to technological changes is crucial for organisational growth. Hence, as a trend shaping HR practice, it is essential to incorporate technology.
Work Cited
Muller-Heyndyk, Rachel. Josh Bersin's vision for HR in a changing world of work. 13 February 2018. Web. 14 February 2018 .
