Introducing HR in the workflow: A new shift

by Clayton Clive Blogger

Workplaces have changed in several ways. The attention span of workers has reduced drastically and productivity across companies is plummeting. Workers are overwhelmed and exhausted. Traditional HR practices need to be unlearned and new approaches need to be adopted, as far as increasing productivity is concerned.

This calls CHROs and senior HR professionals to take notice and implement HR practices in the workflow that increase productivity. Too short and baffling? Let’s elaborate.

There’s has been a drastic shift in workplace dynamics. The new generation of workforce isn’t the same as earlier. Here are some pointers to make the point clear--

1. Workers and business both are overwhelmed

People are too stressed. According to a study from HR Dive, 94 percent of workers in the UK and the US reported experiencing too much stress at work. Most of them work on weekends too. Millennials, who make a large portion of the workforce today, feel they are doing too much work. On top of this, the interruptive work environment is making work too difficult.

Technology alone isn’t responsible for this attention chaos in the workplace. Companies must encourage workers to stay focused and build a work environment that is meaningful and enjoyable. That’s where HR leaders come in.

2. The work is accelerated
In the past few years, the economy has grown. Companies are raising funds, the stock market is high, and companies are making more profits. However, the expanses across households have gone up and it is exhausting for people to keep up with the pace. Gen Z workers are concerned about their ‘financial security, while millennials are doing ‘side hustles’ to make extra money to meet their expenses. It feels like we’ve to work harder to keep up with the demands.

Further, all companies are undergoing digital transformation, becoming more digital, AI-driven, and more transparent. This creates tremendous pressure on business leaders and individuals.

3. Employees are busy
The attention span of employees has reduced drastically in the last few years. Cellphones are hijacking attention. People seem to not look up from their cellphones and pay attention to their surroundings, making people attention slaves to devices that constantly are vying for our attention by nudging us, notifying us, and constantly pushing us from our state of focus.

Result? Yoga classes, mindfulness, and psychological counseling have grown massively in the last few years. Currently, Yoga has grown 85 percent in the last three years, amounting to $27 billion.

Thus, Chief Human Resource Officers need to come up with ways to build a working environment that fosters focused and increases productivity.

4. Conversational HR systems

HR technology is now more conversational. This one major reason HR now more than ever is required to integrate into the workflow. Several AI-powered tools in HR space are take away the manual labor work like screening candidates for job openings. Conversations led by chatbots are proving successful in recruitment. Similarly, augmented analytics is helpful in decision making with human intervention and other subsections of HR.

It’s upon CHROs to see how various techniques can fit in their organization's needs.