This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 30, 2017 - November 5, 2017
Recently, Malaysian Digital Economy Corp Sdn Bhd (MDEC) talent and digital entrepreneurship director Siti Norliza Mohd Sahar cautioned the local human resources (HR) industry to take heed of evolving hiring trends and to be more open to using technology, or risk losing talent to more agile and flexible companies. Her words are part of the government’s clarion call for business builders to focus on re-inventing their businesses and enabling their talent to succeed in a digital world.
Following the 29th MSC Malaysia Implementation Council meeting on Oct 19, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced a new stream of initiatives to boost nationwide digital transformation. This brings our attention to Vision 2020, the year by which Malaysia aims to achieve the status of digital, developed economy.
Changing people’s mindsets about technology-led disruption and embracing digitalisation efforts will be key to ensuring the success of Vision 2020. The role of HR within businesses will continue to be pivotal in this transformation as talent becomes the most valued resource, in line with the goal of Malaysia becoming a high-income, knowledge-based society.
Earlier in the year, at an executive roundtable organised by Sage, I had the pleasure of hosting a small group of HR leaders to hear first-hand the challenges they face in managing talent. We talked about living in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world. Originally a vernacular military term, VUCA is used today to describe a business environment where change is constant and business leaders must make several key decisions every day.
It is a known fact that it is important for business leaders to be agile. The Global Leadership Forecast 2014/2015 revealed that organisations whose leaders can operate effectively in a VUCA world are three times more likely to be in the top 20% of financial performance, compared with organisations lacking such leaders.
As digital technology redefines the role of HR within businesses, it is evolving towards a future characterised by social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies. Here are the top three concerns of HR leaders today, gleaned from the roundtable discussion.
Engaging a diverse workforce
HR leaders are grappling with a multi-generational talent pool. Differing communication styles and viewpoints are causing friction in the workplace, exacerbated at times by new technology and work trends that mix workers of different ages and backgrounds.
According to International Data Corp, 50% of IT organisations will shift their culture to a start-up-like work environment by embracing agile practices and open-source communities by 2020. With technological advancements, changes in demographics and emerging business models, HR professionals today are tasked with scaling their operations to understand each unique employee, while keeping them engaged.
Integrating technology into HR
HR leaders recognise that to play a critical role in helping businesses anticipate and manage organisational change in the VUCA and manpower-lean environment of today, they must harness technology at its core. However, HR leaders still find themselves on the back foot.
Disparate information systems is one challenge that HR leaders need to address. Data in incompatible formats has always been difficult to work with. Many also face an incongruent IT experience at work, especially after mergers and acquisitions. Too often, companies engaging in M&A ignore the IT scalability of their new business partner or their own systems. A slow or poorly handled IT integration between merging companies can jeopardise business goals and have a trickle-down effect across the business.
Gleaning insights from data
The HR leaders lamented not having enough insight into their workforce and companies, recognising that this was contributing to poor decision-making. For instance, they were not able to determine which HR programmes had the greatest impact on employee performance. Challenges ranged widely, from identifying the causes of high turnover rates to simple tasks such as reporting the number of employees across different positions and regions. Many shared their experience of using spreadsheets to manage HR data.
Transforming HR to support growth
The HR function has shouldered much of the responsibility for managing people, working largely in a silo with little technological backing. If we want to build workplace environments and groom talent ready to tackle the challenges of Industry 4.0, things need to change.
For starters, employees are used to a lifestyle that incorporates digital technology into their everyday lives. They now expect that same lifestyle and convenience in the workplace. Many employees already access email and their payslips through mobile apps, but they are raring to do more on the go. Companies today can offer on-demand video learning and allow workers to manage time sheets and attendance records via mobile devices. The more the workplace reflects the way employees live, the more engaged and productive they will be.
To derive the most updated business insights, HR leaders must have an integrated view of human resources and payroll. Leaders need to know how to utilise informative dashboards to integrate various sources of information for fast and understandable analytical reporting. A good HR management system pulls real-time data from multiple sources, eliminating redundant data entry and allowing HR leaders to focus on strategic tasks, such as forecasting future business plans and optimising talent programmes.
Furthermore, technology-enabled development methods will also be more successful in reaching employees who are dispersed across business units and countries.
Ultimately, today’s HR practitioners are business leaders first. Their mission is to help their organisation’s people — its most valuable asset — to be successful, so they can drive a successful business. HR needs to lead the way in allowing the organisation to adapt to industry disruptions and achieve business success.
Anthony Tian is director, new customer acquisition, at Sage Software Asia
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