Assignment Problem: Changing role of people professionals
How things used to be vs how they are now: Previously HR was record keeping, ensuring companies comply with legislation and policies, dealing with salary and wages. HR currently is aligned with technology, data/metric driven and being an employee advocate. Also, HR provides an insight in how employee engagement can assist in achieving organisational goals.
Technology: HR has typically been a very manual job. Attendance would be physically noted, holiday hours manually tracked and authorised, if employee was wanting further clarification on work documents they would have to approach HR. Now the technology is integrated with the day to day tasks HR consists of. For example, in Amazon if employees wanted to book holiday off they have access to an app on their phone which updates in real time to demonstrate their holiday balance as it accrues. It provides employees more control and HR less time in conducting menial administrative tasks. Furthermore, managers and HR alike have instant visibility.
Data and metric driven: Together with the integration of technology, we have access to data that allows us to improve the employee experience, reduce cost and identify defects. In Amazon we can now generate the cost of unapproved overtime per month through the recorded hours on the attendance software MyTime. This allows the company to deep dive when costs are more than expected.
Employee advocate: HR has evolved, especially during Covid, to provide employees with support to improve their efficiency and provide a positive working environment. This can be evidenced by flexible working and WFH. Amazon has adopted hybrid working for their employees as it improves work life balance as employees have more control over their working hours. Some employees benefit from working from home permanently and with HR support that has become a viable option. Some associates benefit from being in an office environment thus have the option to. Employees with children have the option of working when it suits their family, amidst the current financial crisis employees need only attend the office for a minimum of 2 days easing the financial burden. By advocating and listening o what the employee needs allows for a positive mindset at work encouraging people to be more efficient and build loyalty with the company.
Does this make sense? What can I improve?