Futurama: Seven Trends Transforming HR and Rewards

I get asked a lot about the Future of HR and I always say - if I’m not talking to someone totally uptight - that in about ten years most of us will be replaced by artificially intelligent machines* who don’t whine about money or appreciation.  That’s why I tend to limit my crystal ball gazing to about 5 years. 

*For you doubters,  I just watched a science show in which I learned that the biggest obstacle to robots replacing humans isn’t the ability to think or learn, it’s the ability to climb stairs!   And between you and me, I think they’re gonna solve that one sometime over the next ten years.

So let’s look at the next five years and leave everything beyond that to the clever folks over at MIT.  Here are seven trends that are transforming HR as we speak and by extension, how work is compensated.

1. On Demand Workforce - By 2019 nearly half of the workforce will ‘rent’ their skills to one or more organizations.   Do you know who these people are, what they do for your company and how much they cost?  If not, it’s time to think about visibility into the continent workforce, how you pay these people and which roles absolutely need to be in-house because they are core to your business. 
2. Talent Without Boundaries- I’ve worked with a couple of folks who had absolutely no boundaries and they were always good for a laugh.  But seriously, the exciting thing about this trend is that HR organizations that struggle to ensure they have the right skills now have access to a global and diverse talent pool.  Location restrictions in the workplace are rapidly becoming a thing of the past and the challenge of how you pay someone living in one location but ‘working’ in another is about to go viral.
3. Data Driven Talent Management - Big data and using real data rather than intuition to guide decisions about talent development, benefits and rewards.  Executives love hard numbers because it makes them feel safe and there are all kinds of insights that can be gleaned from information, such as how wellness correlates to insurance costs, how talent practices correlate to market performance and how compensation decisions impact retention. Of course, we all know the past doesn’t predict the future so don’t stop listening to the nagging, pessimistic voice of experience just yet.
4. Disruptive Technology - Technology drives or enables most of these trends and has ushered in a new age of informed consumers and networked knowledge workers.  As an added bonus, everyone knows that networked employees with smartphones happily require less downtime than non-networked employees so everyone wins.  I also predict that in five years the comparatively clunky video conferencing tools we use today will be replaced by state of the art holographic technology, or at least headed for obsolescence.  Take note HR that managing a remote workforce is fast becoming a critical leadership skill and in terms of compensation: Who will you pay by the hour, who will you pay for the job, and who will you pay for results?
5. Social Networking - I just ran across this great article on the Future of Work that talks about how work is likely to change as technology continues to advance.  It’s time to think about new ways to reward innovation, not least of which is creating a corporate environment where people can collaborate, share information and bring crazy new ideas to life.
6. Change as the Only Constant - Business leaders have historically been known to change their minds overnight.  But in a world where business strategy can change daily, business strategy may change every day.  How quickly is your organization able to execute new business strategies with new focus, skills and organizational models?
7. Tailored Talent Practices - Otherwise known as ‘Workforce Segmentation', this trend recognizes that cookie cutter talent practices are unlikely to drive higher levels of performance or engage your best people.  At the very least you should look at different workforce demographics when designing rewards programs and for truly critical skills you may need to offer individualized development and incentives.

So there you have it in a nutshell.  HR is changing, how you pay people is changing and most of the changes are positive because they bring such a diverse global talent pool into play.  For roles that require flexibility, creativity, leadership and the ability to apply knowledge to new situations the selection of available talent will be bigger and better than ever before.  Leaders will emerge where least expected, defined not by title or executive endorsement but by… well… ability to inspire and partner with others.  Knowledge will be shared and amazing new ideas will emerge that change the world.

Happily for compensation specialists - at least for the next five years - you still have to pay people.  You may just want to do it a bit differently.

Picture courtesy of The Scary and Amazing Future of Work.

Laura Schroeder is EMEA product marketing director at Workday, headquartered in Pleasanton, CA.  She has nearly fifteen years of experience envisioning, designing, developing, implementing and 
evangelizing global Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions and holds a certificate in Strategic Human Resources Practices from Cornell University.  Her articles and interviews on HCM topics have been published in the US, Europe and Asia.  She lives in Munich, Germany and enjoys cooking, reading, writing, kick boxing (well, kicking things) and spending time with friends and family. If you want to read more from  Laura, check out her talent management blog Working Girl or follow her on Twitter @WorkGal.

Comments

[E. James (Jim) Brennan]

Skeptical about the ease of robots replacing humans. Maybe for rote repetitive tasks that monkeys could do, but those are already automated. Never saw a robot make a joke or create something new. The Turing test has never been passed by a machine so far. The barrier is more than thinking or learning but involves intuition and imagination. THAT's how we should apply our brains.

[John Bushfield]

Laura - Excellent post! With deference to Jim, robotic employee replacements have already arrived; just look at any large scale manufacturing organization. The fast food industry is currently testing robots designed to replace line staff, which have been a constant source of pain for franchisors.

I believe the trends you've outlined are exactly right. Some of the implications resulting from this movement are already becoming clear, at least to me; others, not so much.

We are at the crest of an exhilarating rollercoaster ride. Buckle up!

[Girish]

How can a company compensate and remunerate its employee secretly that other employees don’t get to know? Please advise.

[Trevor Norcross]

Laura,

Great post. I think I’m watching the same science shows, so interesting. There are so many potential socio-economic issues society is going to be faced with over the next few decades. I have a feeling the response to these changes may be slow as people fail to realize the water is beginning to get hotter on its way to a boil. People need to stop blindly following “best practice” and think about what their future strategy is holistically.

Rewards professionals have to get better at building the business case for more tailored reward programs to drive higher results and make sure they support the overall workforce strategy.