In 2018, we witnessed many businesses grapple with ever-changing work environments. The arrival of new legislation, regulatory standards and technologies continue to shake the core of the workplace, altering the nature of work as we know it. One of the main takeaways from 2018 is that work is no longer where you go, but what you do. This year, we will continue to see businesses adopt new technologies to attract and retain the best talent while winning new business opportunities on a global scale. HR plays a crucial role in helping organisations manage this transformation journey, whether it is digital or legislative.

While the future will always be a mystery, we expect these HR trends to dominate the HR department in 2019 and pave the way for the future. 

  1. Transparency and reporting: Employees are looking for businesses that have a bigger mission than selling products. The rise of social activism means that workers want to see their employer practise what it preaches. As a result, we have witnessed many legislation come into force that requires British businesses to be more transparent. This year could see HR departments using employee data to provide reports on race, executive and employee pay gaps, as well as the already existing gender pay gap reporting. Organisations are also falling under pressure to publish their family-friendly policies to make the workplace more inclusive. So in 2019, we will see the HR department invest in some comprehensive, cloud-based human capital management systems to simplify and streamlines HR processes for easy reporting and analysis.
     
  2. The rise of women in HR technology: Businesses are increasingly adopting HR technologies to solve organisational issues, enhance business outcomes and get ahead of the curve. According to Forbes, at the beginning of 2018, 40 per cent of businesses had a human capital management system in place. While men predominantly dominate STEM, the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, HR tech gives women the competitive edge that is required to advance in this sector. To be successful in HR technology, employees need to have a deeper understanding of the human resources function. As women make up the majority of HR professionals, we will likely see an increase in women in HR technology this year.
     
  3. Recruiting with bots: The recruiting process is fundamentally human, as it’s about building relationships between candidates and the business. Although we don’t foresee chatbots talking over the recruitment process entirely, some functions will be handled by bots for efficiency purposes. Chatbots, for example, can answer candidate questions and help with the on boarding process. Computers can even do vital parts of running background checks. Nevertheless, humans still need to talk with references. This year we will see the HR department delegate the day to day admin tasks to bots while they focus on the more important, strategic and relationship building side of their role. 
     
  4. The future of HR is mobile: Over the last few years, businesses have adopted the use of mobile devices in the workplace to provide employees with flexibility while supercharging productivity. This year, we anticipate this trend to move to the HR department. Organisations with remote workforces especially will use smartphone applications for scheduling and communicating with employees. These apps connect directly to the human capital management systems so that employees can always know how to reach their HR manager, even if that person changes regularly.
     
  5. A move towards mobile payroll: digital natives – those that have grown up with technology at their fingertips – have slowly started to join the workforce. However, they expect to be able to access their information instantly from anywhere, in both their professional and personal lives. While businesses have started to accommodate their technological needs, the HR department has only just begun to use mobile payroll apps. 

With a higher level of self-service, employees can access relevant information about their pay, sick days or holidays without ever needing to contact HR, freeing up some valuable time for the department. Moving to a mobile payment system can also help the employer to streamline wage payment management and reduce the administrative and operational costs of paper check stubs. In 2019, we will see the HR department embrace mobile payroll and giving power back to their employees.

These 2019 HR trends will dominate HR teams as HR continues to make itself the business-oriented, technology-savvy people expert.