The new state of HR: Pressures, systems and skills

A global skills shortage, particularly in the tech and green sectors, means businesses struggle to retain top talent. AI and automation are transforming job roles while increasing productivity goals. Employee expectations are at an all-time high, with 57% believing that unless their company makes serious changes, their burnout will not improve.

To prepare for the workforce of the future, HR leaders should face these challenges-head on. Recently, I spoke to Kimberly Morick, Global Technology Practice Leader at IBM, about how HR can create new paradigms within their organizations.

Both managers and employees are struggling to adapt to a relentless global pace. The combination of remote work, AI’s influence on the business world and a worldwide talent shortage have left HR departments at a critical juncture, says Morick. 

“[W]e’re seeing budgetary pressures across entire organizations. HR as an operational center is feeling that. So the question becomes: How can they use AI and automation so they can streamline their operations and return some of that cost?”

In part due to these budgetary pressures and a culture of consolidation, says Morick, “a lot of the leading coaching has been pushed down onto the managers.” Many managers today, she says, are holding dual roles.

“So you’re the day-to-day manager, but you’re also the coach. You’re expecting that individuals, as they go up through the organization, are going to be effective coaches.” This kind of career progression, she says, isn’t necessarily something managers were interested in, or trained to do effectively. “So there is this leadership gap.”

HR needs to plant the flag and say, ‘We’re strategic and transformational,’ says Morick.” As she notes, AI is as much, if not more, of an HR initiative as the purview of IT. “Because I want to amplify my own brain with artificial intelligence capabilities. And that’s not an IT job.” Thinking strategically like this can be a useful practice in a moment in which enterprises are largely thinking about which operations could be automated, she notes.

In a moment of constricted budgets, and with businesses adopting new technologies at a rapid pace, it can sometimes be difficult to stay focused on employee experience. But you have to work on your culture, she says, because current employees are your best advocates. When you’re investing in your employees—by giving them strategic career opportunities, mentoring and coaching them—you’ll not only foster more effective employees but improve your company’s ability to attract top talent. HR has the capacity to reverse the lack of effective coaching that’s led to the leadership gap. 

According to Morick, it’s imperative for HR departments to focus on the following four areas to become AI-ready and establish transformative practices: 

Organizations need to be intentional and strategic about how they’re adopting AI. Businesses should align AI strategies with HR mandates. For example, talent acquisition, employee engagement and workforce planning. Without predefining organizational goals, a company risks compliance and ethical issues. HR may also miss opportunities for further innovation and growth.

 “If you’re trying to increase adoption,” Morick says, “you might want to come up with something that allows workers to seamlessly swap their shift.” If an immediate business case for AI radically increases efficiency, an organization might start by automating repetitive, manual tasks. Ideally, an AI vision will balance employee experience with productivity gains—improving operations from both an organizational and employee perspective.  

Today, HR necessitates an additional set of skills: The ability to query AI tools effectively, the capacity to clean and organize data like policy documents, and a grasp of concepts like security and the ethical use of AI.

This is in addition to fostering a culture of innovation throughout HR departments, some of which may have been using the same processes for years. ”The agile mindset is definitely another muscle to work on,” says Morick. “We’re constantly seeing that.” Fluency with AI allows HR professionals to not just understand how existing tools operate, but identify what processes could be improved with technology.

It’s everyone’s job to incorporate AI into day-to-day functions, says Morick. HR organizations should be able to communicate the purpose and benefit of AI to reduce resistance.

AI literacy programs and continuous learning cycles can, and should, be driven by HR: “Everybody needs to take ownership and say how am I going to be more effective at my job? How am I going to deliver faster, higher-value results to the organization from my work?” According to Morick, even Fortune 500 companies should be thinking about how to operate a little more like a startup—rewarding transparency and agility to foster a culture of innovation. 

Morick recommends starting with small AI initiatives and predefining their metrics for success. That way, both HR departments and the broader organization can identify and scale the most fruitful workflows. And she believes the companies that scale AI successfully are those that treat it as an iterative process.  

Navigating the next generation of work is no easy task, says Morick, but it’s important to remember that culture change and data-driven HR can complement each other. “It all goes back to culture,” she says. “Typically culture starts from the top and cascades down. I think HR professionals need to go to the very top of their organizations and say, there’s a real value in us thinking about a new mindset. You need to set the tone so people start experimenting.”

“The CEO will benefit, because you’re going to find ways to reduce cost and potentially find ways to drive new revenue channels. And to do that, you need to change the culture.”