HR and Management Trends of 2019

46% of HR staff state that employee burnout is accountable for up to half of their annual workforce turnover. Looking ahead into the new year, HR departments and management teams might want to think about new ways in which they can ensure employees are having positive experiences at work and that any negatives are taken on board and learnt from. 

Human Resources has never been so much at the forefront of business as it is now. Across the country (and even the world) employees are being encouraged to talk more about mental health & wellbeing, equality & diversity and sexual harassment at work. As technology rapidly develops and increases, the new trend now seems to be designing applications and software to help with these issues.

In light of headlines about sexual harassment and mental health across the world last year, the importance of effective HR in the workplace is more demanded than ever. Here are some points that we think HR and management teams should consider in 2019...

Company Culture

For a company to be successful, they need to have a positive and inclusive workplace culture. To gain a positive workplace culture, within your business employees must feel respected, included and safe in their workplace.

It has been found that women, particularly women of colour are subject to more disrespectful comments and behaviour. Saying this, 58% of all staff experience some sort of negative behaviour at work. Both of these need to be changed in order for everyone to feel like they have a positive culture at the heart of their company. 

Training should be provided to management to educate employees on what is and isn't acceptable behaviour in the workplace. They should also be the ones to lead others in creating an inclusive workplace for all and ensure no discriminatory behaviour occurs. 

Although management should pave the way for the employees to follow in their behaviour and in creating a positive culture at work. There is training available for all levels of employees, HR should encourage training so that everyone is educated in diversity and to aid a positive culture at work.

A workplace culture can make or break the business by how happy employees are at their place of work.

Equality and Diversity

Although we have made many steps in the right direction, Equality and Diversity is still a challenge in the workplace. 

There are still many Unconscious Biases that people have, even though they may not realise it. This may be mainly prominent for those who work in recruitment roles. They have to challenge their stereotypes and ensure that they focus solely on whether the individual is suitable for the job. If a company makes a conscious effort to promote equality and diversity with existing staff in the workplace, then these values need to be extended towards the hiring processes too. 

G2 Crowd predicted that companies will increase HR software use to reduce unconscious bias in the workplace while recruiting new staff by 30% in 2019.

Analysing data from workplaces is also a useful way to see how diverse your workforce is and compare it to others. There is also existing technology to remove unconscious bias (like our fabulous training programme) and maintain equality and diversity at work. 

WFH (Working from Home)

IWG found that 70% of people across the world worked remotely each week. This proves that remote working is not only increasing in popularity and frequency but it is also now becoming more of a possibility for various job roles. This is likely to be because of things like Google Drive and software that allows you to access the same file and information that you would in the workplace, but from home. 

Not only is it a company benefit but it is also an employee benefit too. The benefits include; reducing travel (saving on money & CO² emissions), completing work uninterrupted, better employee experience, a good work-life balance and employers may be able to hire a wider pool of employees (regarding location). 

eLearning is also something that can be completed remotely, so even if you run a team that work in various locations, you can ensure they have all had the same training opportunities. 

Programmes like Slack and other cloud-based HR platforms like BreatheHR, both used here at iHASCO, communication between work colleagues is just the same as if you are in the building together. What's more is that it has been shown to increase employee retention, productivity and employee experience.

Sexual Harassment Awareness

The most obvious example of Sexual Harassment in the news is #MeToo movement which saw 1000s of people come forward about sexual assault after allegations came forward about Harvey Weinstein. In light of this, the need for a Sexual Harassment Policy is now strongly recognised in the workplace.

However, there are still many men and women that feel like the can't come forward after sexual harassment or assault. 

Workplaces need to make a conscious effort to go beyond the Policy and invest time into making sure that people feel comfortable and supported enough to come forward. 

Artificial Intelligence

As mentioned above, AI is already paving the way for new and interactive training. It is predicted that a lot of businesses will also invest in taking AI assisting HR solutions. 

Ai also has the ability to speed up a recruitment process and make some otherwise 'boring' tasks and make them enjoyable while beneficial. G2 Crowd also state that AI can "improve internal workflows, and increase productivity, to name a few".

Getting Employees Involved

By getting employees involved and engaged, commitment and loyalty to your company can be increased and employees are likely to be more productive and excited about what they do. 

Employee engagement can be more than just getting together once a month. Technology has been developed to open the lines of communication between employees and management/employers so that recognition, targets, performance and meeting goals can all be monitored. 

In 2019 we employers may look to HR technology to make the employee engagement levels better and more manageable. With more communication with employees and more interaction, a positive connection can be made to their attitude towards the company. 

Employee Experience 

Hopefully, in 2019 we will see employers investing time into employee experience, noticing that this can play a key role in the success of a business. 

Much like the way we value customer experience, employee experience can be put down to the physical, cultural and technological environment. Further to this, the employee experience can also impact on a customers experience. 

Employee experience can be improved by providing simple training to ensure that they know what software they are using, which again, can then positively impact on a customer if the employee appears to have a good knowledge about what they are doing. For example, if you work in a phone repair shop and your employer has given you extensive training and a customer then wants their phone repaired and the employee is very helpful and knowledgable, this is a positive experience for both. 

HR technology could be created to assist with surveys for this and to analyse the data. Also, technology could assist in employee training as well as making their job more easy and enjoyable day-to-day. 

Looking Forward...

There are lots of things to consider when you are thinking about having a successful business and employee experience and having an effective HR department should be at the forefront of it. Both management and HR have a lot to think about in the coming year to ensure employees are happy at work and in turn they are retaining them! Technology that is being developed will be able to assist in some of the things we have mentioned above, but HR & management themselves should have a good grip on staff wellbeing and work satisfaction. Empxtrack found that 69% of millennials would take £50K per year at a job they love, over £75K a year at a job they think is boring.