The Acceleration of HR as a Business Priority

As the workforce continues to change, the human resources function is also at the centre of change and growth. In 2018, a majority of employers had no plans to increase headcount in HR functions, with some set to decrease. Fast forward two years and the crisis of a pandemic, employers today are now investing in hiring more people - a net 15% increase in headcount by those employers that plan to automate, according to newly-released ManpowerGroup research, Skills Revolution Reboot: The 3R’s-Renew, Reskill, Redeploy. The research helps shed light on what businesses can expect HR to look like now and in the future.

The health, economic and social crisis has positioned HR more critically than ever as companies have had to take a #PeopleFirst approach and see HR firmly rooted in their business strategy. This acceleration of HR means new skills are emerging and new technology required – data collection, protection and analysis are in high demand. Chief Human Resource Officers are now increasingly leading the charge in health, wellbeing and resilience, workforce planning and reimagining the workplace, plus engagement and ethics, reskilling and upskilling as well as broader employees-as-consumers initiatives.

For 2021 and beyond, HR leaders see employee health and wellbeing as the most important priority, especially given the fallout from the global pandemic of the past year. Companies and HR are turning into wellbeing experts, balance advocates and education advisors. Now is the time for HR to rethink the way people work most effectively in the long term, are recognised and rewarded along with tools and support to help them juggle work-life priorities and challenges.

Next to employee wellbeing, HR’s highest priority in 2021 and beyond is around work models. Now that work can be untethered from location, new opportunities exist for employers to tap skills that may have previously been outside their periphery. Digital connections, increased social networking and virtual communities enable worker interaction anywhere, anytime. These agile operating models are redefining the workplace and the worker.

Read the full report, Skills Revolution Reboot: The 3R’s-Renew, Reskill, Redeploy, to learn about other top HR priorities and to access a practical roadmap around strategies to attract, develop, engage and retain the best talent in today’s Skills Revolution.