In 2020, the world is not the same. To say that the world will go back to its old ways is still a long-shot. In a scenario like that the entire market has shifted from its ‘normal’ course and taken a turn towards something which is, to say the least, unfamiliar. Most jobs have gone online with every operation occurring in the digital platform. Meetings, conferences, recruitment, termination, parties, you name it and it is conducted online.

According to a recent study, more than 63 percent of employees are aiming to switch their jobs this year. This may be due to various reasons like insufficient pay, heavy work-stress, propensity to choose a new career path, etc. However, this heavy job-shifting phenomenon has put considerable pressure on the HR departments of many organizations.

A high number of employees changing jobs means a high number of employees to be recruited by other organizations. This means that the recruitment process should be top-notch to handle these new candidates. It not only has to be efficient and accurate but also cost-effective and time-economical. 

WHAT DOES STREAMLINING THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS MEAN?

Since everything has gone online and there are numerous job boards and online portals where candidates can apply, the number of potential candidates has dramatically increased in the recruitment procedure. This has shown the inefficiencies in the recruitment strategy, evaluation procedure, and ultimate onboarding process.

Streamlining the recruitment process means that simplifying each level of the recruitment process to attain better productivity and efficiency while simultaneously economizing on the costs and efforts that are put in the process. This includes making changes like incorporating collaborations in the strategy, adding innovations to the strategy, automating the strategy as well as adding checklists in the process, While substituting the traditional long-haul strategies with these advanced ones, the recruitment process can be successfully streamlined.

WHAT ARE THE WAYS TO STREAMLINE THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Let us dive into a descriptive analysis of the tips and tricks to streamline the process of recruitment in an organization. 

Re-thinking access to the recruitment procedure:

Most companies, upon having a vacant position in their organization make hiring posts to attract candidates. In most cases, these posts or hiring calls are made on the same kind of platforms regardless of the type of the job, the need of the company, or the urgency of the position. 

This dilution of the job posting leads to the organization receiving thousands of applications. This slows down the recruitment process posing greater stress on the recruitment manager. This also poses a risk that the truly deserving candidates might get miss out due to the huge number of miscellaneous applications that have been received. Hence, to streamline the recruitment process, organizations should rethink the given access to their job postings.

Instead of posting the jobs in similar forums, the organizations can firstly, analyze these online job portals. Upon doing that, they can post respective jobs on respective platforms depending upon the kind of candidates that are generally found there. This will naturally filter the number of applications received. In addition to that, it will also filter the kinds of candidates that the organization is potentially looking for.

The organization may also employ a recruitment agency to cater to their needs. This means that the organization will showcase the job role as well as the kind of candidates that they are looking for. The recruitment agency then will do the outreach on the company’s behalf and therefore yield a pool of more specific and targetted candidates.

Sourcing candidates internally is also an effective way to streamline the recruitment process. Upskilling and reskilling existing employees are not only extremely cost-effective but also have proven to provide higher and better output in terms of productivity.

Incorporating innovation

In almost every field in today’s time, a degree of innovation is needed for the operations to function properly without many bottlenecks. It is the same for the HR process. The numerous software and systems that are out there in the market help streamline the recruitment process in multi-dimensional ways. Be it the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to filter the candidates or the numerous psychometric and personality tests to evaluate the candidate’s current and future potential of the organization.

Incorporating systems like ATS ensures that the applications are automatically filtered according to the company’s requirements and hence the recruiters have to only evaluate the candidates who have the required KSA. Also, traditional ways of evaluation are time-consuming and have an element of human error in them. However, various online psychometric tests are relatively highly accurate. They make sure that a candidate is the right fit for the job both in the short run and in the long run. This is significant because people with a certain set of personality traits are proven to be better at certain kinds of jobs.

Automating the recruitment process 

While attempting to employ candidates with a relatively more basic skillset, the automation process works better than any other. 

This incorporates potential candidate sourcing through automatic enrollment advertisements, prescreening with the assistance of a robotized list of reference scrubbers, screening with video-examining tools that search for body signals, and word decisions in a pre-recorded video interviews, and speaking with applicants in regards to their application. The process of automation may likewise be reached out to different parts of Human Resources, such as onboarding.

Create Check-lists through different stages of the process

To think of it generally, the recruitment process can be extremely messy given its ever-changing nature. Various functions of the process are always overlapping and the need assessments are equally dimensional. 

To smooth out these different situations, it is suggested that an organization fabricates a work process outline or a work-flow chart. This will rundown each progression in the recruitment process and how to continue with the work process contingent upon the candidate or the part being referred to. This guarantees that recruiters can execute a smoothed-out recruitment measure despite candidate contrasts.

SUMMING UP

Streamlining the recruitment process is the current need of every modern organization. Bogged down by the open access to candidates, and a high rate of new candidate-influx, streamlining the entire process is probably the closest sure-fire way to ensure productivity as well as making the process economical and time-economical.

The performing stage of the group formation starts after the group becomes stable and steady in their structural sense. At this point, the team is mature, organized, and clear on what they have to do to reach their goal. Even though conflict still arises due to the human element of the group, they have already become efficient at solving the conflicts and they can securely focus on problem-solving, meeting goals, and being productive at their peak. The digital transformation of the current world is the truth we cannot even choose to ignore. Beginning from daily grocery to shopping, to interviews and termination, the world has not only just gone online, but it has also successfully settled there. Owing to the pandemic, social distancing has become the new normal. Having said that, it is noteworthy to mention that, the entire online framework is not just safer but in most cases, very convenient.

In a scene where organizations are coping up with everything new, recruitment is also undergoing a massive change. The online recruitment process is relatively new to both the candidates and the employers. However, the most important question that employers and HR managers are asking is that, “how to make the online recruiting process successful?”. From a layman’s perspective, it might look like a cakewalk to onboard candidates by conducting an online interview. In reality, online recruitment includes aspects like choosing the right place to post the job, sourcing and managing the data of potential candidates, conducting interviews, performing evaluation and et cetera.

If you are someone struggling with your online recruitment process and looking for sure-fire ways to make your online recruitment process successful, you are in the right place. Read on to know about the best tools and strategies that you can incorporate in your online recruitment process to extract the best of the best while also economizing on your resources.

STRATEGIES FOR A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Before embarking on an online recruitment procedure, make sure that the strategies are in place and well-versed. Without a concrete strategy, the recruitment process will not only fail but also wreak havoc on the company’s resources. 

Following listed are some of the most important strategies to ace your online recruitment game :

• Building a Brand

One of the most important reasons why a candidate would be interested in a particular company is because of the brand value of that company. The employer has to make sure that it has a strong online presence that exudes the brand value of the company. Social media is a good place to start where the company can establish a fruitful presence. A good brand would ensure that a large pool of candidates are interested in the company and hence apply.

• Diverse Sources

Recruitment or not, it is always a bad idea to keep all your coins in one place. In the same way, while conducting an online recruitment process, the employer should make sure to leverage diverse channels to source potential candidates. The diverse sources may include online job boards, various job portals, social media, e-mail marketing, et cetera.

• Attending To Passive Candidates

Passive candidates are a great way to source several talents that your company can potentially use. Passive candidates are those who are not actively looking for a job and already have one. The employer should be able to reach these candidates and pitch the brand of the company so that these candidates feel attracted to this job. This can be done by creating a great social presence. Creating informational and beneficial content on platforms like LinkedIn will also make sure that the passive candidates notice and engage with the company socially thereby increasing the possibility of turning them into active leads.

• Attractive Job Postings

Instead of choosing text formats or generic posters, job postings can be made relatively attractive. This can be done by incorporating video postings or attractive graphic images as a part of the recruitment procedure. It is to be ensured that these graphics or videos tell something about the company and match with the company’s presence. 

• Utilize Employee Channels

Your company’s current employees serve as your company’s best testimonial. The word-of-mouth communication from your current employees will prove the genuinity of the company’s goodwill. Hence, it is also important to use the current employees for a successful online recruitment process. Encourage your employees to share the job postings on their social media handles for not only a better reach but also for creating a better image.

TOOLS FOR A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Apart from the above-mentioned strategies, several specific tools can be used for a successful online recruitment process. These tools economize on time, reduce the possibility of human error, and also make storage and retrieval of necessary data very easy.

• Video Tools

Instead of using voice interviews or using low-quality video apps, using tools like Skype will ensure a hassle-free interview experience for both the interviewer and the interviewee. This, in turn, will ensure that the interview process is transparent and well-conducted.

• Applicant Tracking System

ATS tools are a great way to speed up the online recruitment process. They make the storing and retrieval of candidate data easy. This ensures more accurate evaluation and easy retrieval of candidate information according to the needs of the process.

• Psychometric Tools

Online psychometric tools will evaluate the candidates based on the required personality traits for the job that is being offered. The use of these tools will automatically screen out the ineligible candidates and retrieve a pool of candidates most suitable for the job that is being offered.

• Candidate Surveys

Various tools of candidate survey that is available online needs to be incorporated into the online recruitment process. This would be a great way to extract the candidate experience and also give a transparent picture of the bottlenecks in the process which can be used for further improvement.

The online recruitment process requires some strategies and a certain degree of planning to make it successful. However, once these strategies are set and onboarded into the process, it would effectively streamline the entire recruitment process. In addition to that, it would also save time and human efforts that could be utilized in other avenues where it is most necessary. 

If you are still having second thoughts, maybe it’s time to take that plunge of faith and see the zeniths of success your company can reach with an online recruitment process. 

In general terms, most of us associate HR with several quintessential tasks that we think Human Resources abide by. These include hiring employees, terminating them, handling the benefits and compensation of the workforce, resolving employee conflicts at the workplace, etc. To divide the workplace into various demarcations, it can be seen how it has evolved over the years and over different times in history. 

HR is an integral part of any organization. An organization’s human resource is one of its most important assets. Likewise, the management of this resource is also one of the most vital tasks. With the evolution of this work culture, the role of HR has indeed changed over the years. During the period surrounding the industrial revolution, the role of HR was mostly inclined to the management of employees. This included recruitment, termination, compensation management, etc.

To look at it analytically, the role of HR was solely confined to the employees and what are the ways they function or cease to function. HR had nothing to do with their performance or organizational productivity. On the flip side, HR in today’s time has multi-dimensional roles and functions. While the traditional functions of HR remain constant, there has been a great diversification of the role. HR is also detrimental to the productivity of the organization. The new role of HR also includes working on employee performance by ensuring employee motivation. The use of big data technology and various automation tools is also a part of the role to streamline the process and also ensure cost-effectiveness.

WAYS IN WHICH HR HAS EVOLVED

Needless to say, the work and role of HR are not the same as it was 10 years back. It would not be wrong to say that the work has increased. But the most appropriate statement to make here would be to say that the work of HR has diversified. It has been enriched over time to being a responsibility that is more than just interviewing, hiring, and terminating candidates. 

Below described are some of the most notable and significant developments in the changing role of HR over the years and phases.

Empowering The Employees

Employee empowerment might not be the most common term for laymen. Besides, its meaning or concept is also not something that most people can relate to. Like already mentioned, today’s HR plays a detrimental role in ensuring the productivity of the organization. This means that HR makes sure that employee performance is at par with the organizational goals.

Employees’ performance depends on many factors, employee engagement is one of them. Employee engagement is undoubtedly identified as one of the changing roles of HR. This refers to the idea that an employee is engaged and focused on the work that he/she is engaged in. 

This also means that he/she likes the specific work in question.

However, merely employee engagement might not yield the most desired results. High engagement does not always yield high success. This may lead to easy burnout and high absenteeism. Hence the HR department should be responsible for empowering the employees as well. This means the role of HR here is to inculcate a sense of competency within the employees. In addition to that, HR is also responsible for giving the employees an idea of impact and accountability.

Once the HR blends engagement and empowerment of employees in its role, the direct successor of the organization can be ensured. 

Technological Familiarity

Above all, in totality, the role of HR is to ensure that the core human resource of an organization is attended to. This means storing and studying employee records, retrieving these records as and when necessary, analyzing these records, producing these records for evaluation, so on and so forth.

HR in the traditional days was responsible for these tasks but almost all of it was conducted offline. This meant a great deal of paperwork, manual labor, and a degree of human error involved with it. As a consequence, the output was shaky and delayed, there were inadequate results and increased dissatisfaction among the employees as their needs and grievances were not meant on time. This greatly affected the overall productivity of the organization as well.

The changing role of HR requires HR to be familiar with the latest technology in Human Resource Management. This will economize on both time and cost, ensuring faster and better results with improved productivity. This means that the HR personnel has to be well acquainted with the various employee management software to be able to effectively use them and yield the desired results.

Data Specialists

Traditionally HR has not been an analytical and data-driven role. It mainly records primary data from the organization and employs humane analysis and evaluation to conclude. Even though that has been occurring for years now, with the change of time and recent development of technology, this entire process can have a different approach.

HR personnel, now, employ big data technology to analyze all records to design and implement their various programs. This includes incorporating solid evidence to figure out the needs and shortcomings of the human resource of the organization and how to overcome that challenge. 

SUMMING UP

When we chalk out a timeline of the evolution of HR over the past couple of years, a significant number of path-breaking changes could be observed. This includes more employee-focused schemes, implementation of automation and technology, employing a data-driven approach to HR, etc.

What doesn’t change is the sole focus of HR. Whatever might be the change and diversification of the role, the ultimate footnote of HR responsibility is to ensure that employee satisfaction is intact, that the employee performance meets the organizational needs and the rate of retention is very high. 

To say the very least, the change in the role of HR is massive and the change is not going to be constant. However, the current seat of HR is highly evolved and futuristic in itself. The happier the employees, the happier is the organisation. A few more years and HR will probably completely revolutionize into an unprecedented process. 

INTRODUCTION
Many view Screening as the first step of the selection process, while others perceive screening of applications as an integral part of the recruiting process. Once the applications have been scrutinized and shortlisted, the selection process begins. The purpose of screening is to remove from the recruitment process at an early age, those applications who are visibly unqualified for the job. Effective screening can not only save a great deal of time but also keeps a check on the recruitment(hiring) cost. The main aim of resume screening is that it is both good practice and a legal necessity that applicants’ qualifications be judged based on their knowledge skills and abilities and interest required to do the job. Resumes are official documents where a candidate is expected to give details about his or her academic and career life and achievements. Further on being evaluated, whether the job specifications match with the candidates’ background or not, resume screening proceeds to the next stage of selection.

In general, there are two stages/types of resume screening. First, is the initial resume screening which is done by HR personnel by scrutinizing every candidates’ resumes and shortlisting the qualified ones best fit for the job. Further, the second stage of resume screening is when the filtered resumes are forwarded by the HR personnel to the hiring manager. Resume screening is the crossovers between the job position and the best suitable candidates fit for it

RESUME SCREENING FACTORS

Several vital factors weigh in whereas screening resumes. Although not all factors right away can outline the resume screening, most of them are vital.

1. Education Skills
2. Relevant expertise
3. Years of expertise
4. Current Company Other corporations worked for
5. Functional Domain worked in
6. Cities or countries worked in
7. Number of Jobs
8. Written Communication
9. Contact Details and Current Location
10. Web Presence

WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR RESUME SCREENING

1) Time Is Important
As any prosperous leader can perceive, time may be a valuable artefact and the objective of every organization is to minimize the time required to do particular tasks without compromising the quality of work and performance. Screening candidates may be a good way to avoid both – wasting time and cash by guaranteeing that employers don’t need to sit through long interviews with candidates who are neither qualified nor are suited to the open position.

2) Cut ninetieth of Applicants
The screening method has also proven to be resource-efficient, as a result of the unimaginable variety of candidates that organizations discard when evaluated to be unsuitable for the job. Out of all the candidates who apply some may not have the required knowledge base necessary for the job position which makes the entire hiring process meaningless. Thus resume screening is done to go through the resumes of candidates and ensure that the employees who sit through the interviews fit the eligibility criteria apply for the position.

3) Lower worker Turnover
One of the key issues intimate with businesses is finding staff who should find themselves staying on board for any serious length of time. A high turnover in an exceedingly large company means they need to pay valuable time, resources, and cash running enlisting programs, coaching new staff, and guiding them through the induction part once they won’t be at their most effective. Screening provides employers the chance to look out for those recruits that appear to show qualities that may keep them at employment for a longer period.

4) Efficiency
A lot of success within the business world is placed down to creating tons out of the small businesses they got to work with. This ability to maximize potency may be a fantastic attribute, significantly within the world of achievement, and screening ought to assist the hiring method.

5) Hiring the right person for the right job
Hiring the correct personnel is a vital part of running a business and can go a long way in ensuring future success. The screening method can facilitate and contribute to the hiring method that helps employers notice an acceptable and property personnel.

WHAT IS RESUME SCREENING ELEMENTS
Although resumes aren’t the most effective indicator of a candidate’s skills, they include all the key components of hiring, and that they don’t appear to be departing any time soon. some of the information recruiters can get from a resume while screening candidates.

1. Length – an organization gets numerous applications per position, eventually recruiters cannot commit to a longer period for screening every minute detail. Ideally, the resume ought to be 1-2 pages long, with the foremost relevant info regarding the candidate.
2. Design – Even the proper resume length doesn’t cut it if the information is scattered around the resume in different sections and formats without any parity or sync and it’s tough to look at. It advised following a properly organized format in a resume for a more professional approach.
3. Language – Grammar and spelling mistakes in resumes reflect a lackadaisical attitude on the candidate’s part. And are usually a sign that a candidate is not very detail-oriented and professional. However, recruiters are not very hasty with the evaluation, particularly if the position has little or nothing to try and do with writing and language.
4. Previous Work Expertise – Ideally, the candidate ought to have relevant work expertise listed, together with months and years spent on every position which gives the candidate an advantageous edge in the competition as he/she is previously preliminarily trained for the position and would have a higher preference from the recruiter’s perspective.
5. Resume Match – One of the largest mistakes candidates build is sending out the same resume to any job applications. Each job has different necessities and requirements and therefore the resume would possibly want smaller or larger tweaks to create it relevant. And this takes time and lots of candidates don’t invest their time right – however, it could be a way to portray their dedication and desire to get the job which acts as an additional aspect to create a positive work image of the candidate.

INTRODUCTION

In this life-altering day and age of technology, we can visually gauge the dependency of the entire world on technology in every kind of way. The advancement in technology at such a pace is instigating and initiating human dependence on artificial intelligence. With the advent of machine learning and deep learning technologies, artificial intelligence is somewhat being meshed into our system. Hence, the depreciation of human labor. Every department of every MNC is dependent on some software or technology, so does the HR department. Over the last 5 to 7 years there has been a prevalence of E-HR. E-HR is also known as web-enabled HR which performs all HR-related activities and functions on an online platform via a particular software. This software is known as the HRIS which is the integration of all HR systems and processes with the use of technology to benefit the overall management of HR in the organization. HRIS is an umbrella term that also includes the usage of AI in various HR functions such as recruitment. E-recruitment or online recruitment is a concept that is familiarized to all. Electronic recruitment is a much sought-after source of recruitment made used by all organizations. Job portals like Naukri, Monster, and Shine enable recruiters to reach out to a large audience. Artificial intelligence or Chabot’s have a huge role to play on these platforms.

USAGE OF AI-CHATBOTS IN E-RECRUITMENT

With the increase in the dependency on technology and the precision and accuracy it provides, it is human tendency to shift the paradigm of human labour to the usage of chatbots. Chatbots are pre-programmed software that works on artificial intelligence. It not only cuts down human labour but also saves time and effort yet gives a more accurate result. Usage of chatbots in e-recruitment negates confusion about information because the chatbots provide very specific and required information about the job position and the roles and requirements of the candidate who is willing to apply. When a candidate is interested in a particular position of a particular company he or she applies for the post through the AI chatbot.

The chatbot provides information to the candidate about the job position, job description and requirements, and eligibility for the post. Further, once the candidate updates his or her details the chatbot filters out those who are eligible and not eligible for the position they have applied for. Since the chatbot is already a pre-programmed software it has specific automation systems that help in filtering out candidates for the screening process in a much smoother and accurate manner. The added advantage of a chatbot is that it helps in accurate standardization with protected data and information that are essential. Usage of chatbots in e-recruitment cuts down the expenses for the organization with reduced use of labour. Using AI chatbots for E-recruitment is a Win-Win situation for both organizations and the candidate because that way both parties have a clear picture (about the job position, vacancy, the information of the candidate who would be appropriately filling for the position) with an accurate standardized screening system which makes way for an easier and more effective decision making.

ADVANTAGES OF CHATBOTS IN E-RECRUITMENT

A few of the key advantages or benefits of using AI chatbots for e-recruitment are as follows :

1. Cost-saving
   Installation of AI chatbots in e-recruitment saves on employee cost since the chatbots are user-friendly interfaces, the interaction between the candidate and the organization is done via technology through a bot. the dependency on human labour for the screening of candidates’ applications has shifted to dependency on technology. Starting from posting for a job vacancy till the candidate provides his or her application details the chatbot takes care of all the information inner a systematized and standardized manner with the assurance of the safety of information.
2. Easy Approach
   The usage of chatbots makes it easier for the organization as well as the candidate for the initial phases of hiring. With the security of AI-based technology and the use of a conversation-friendly interface, it is easier for candidates to approach organizations. Also, it is easier for the organization to post job vacancies through chatbots as it reaches a much wider pool of prospective candidates who would be interested in that particular position.
3. 24×7 Assistance
   Chatbots answer queries of candidates in a much quicker and precise manner. Chatbots provide very specific information which leaves no speck of confusion. Also, since chatbots or not human-operated, thus customer service is available 24/7 for any kind of assistance that the candidate requires for the application process making the direction and the redirection of the entire hiring process smoother and much more efficient.
4. Helps in The Quick and Error-Free Interview Schedule
   Since chatbots are very specific and precise about the conversation they have with the candidates and with the support of artificial intelligence, it is easier for the chatbots to schedule an interview meeting between the candidate and the organization coordinating the date and time of both the parties. Since there is no human labour involvement it reduces the chance of unmindfulness or any error in scheduling updates for interview meetings of candidates. In a recruitment maximum of the times, we have seen that the interview is done via video calling or telephonic interview system, once the chatbot fixes the date and time for an interview it is automatically added to the calendar of the organization scheduling the particular interview with that particular day and time.
5. Transparency is Maintained
   These man-made intelligence chatbots help the selection representatives to rely upon its NLP hiring to excellently play out the underlying enlistment capacities and afterwards waitlist the correct applicants. The artificial intelligence chatbots gain information on the screening through great many use cases and increment capacities that can bring advancement results. Chatbots help in a pre-screening cycle and make the entire recruitment process transparent and intuitive.
   They filter out the non-eligible candidates instantly. This straightforwardness of utilization measure assists competitors with getting a snappy update on the status of their requests for employment and lessens a great deal of back a forward methods for the HR executives and up-and-comer.

INTRODUCTION 

HR productivity is dependent and is directly proportional to employee performance. Once a candidate is hired for a particular job, after being assessed to be the most suitable person to fill in for the job, his/her performance is evaluated to ensure whether the higher has been successfully effective or not. A successfully effective hire automatically translates to productive employee performance. Employee productivity not only ensures profitability for the organization but also is a prerequisite for the growth of the organization as a whole. The role of the HR department of the organization encompasses functions not only limited to recruiting, hiring, and onboarding but also assessing, evaluating, and measuring employee performance to ensure correct decision making. 

HR PRODUCTIVITY 

HR productivity also sometimes referred to as workforce productivity is the evaluation of an employee’s work to decide upon whether he or she is effective and efficient enough. Productivity is abstract and is subjected to individuals’ perspectives, that’s ideally it cannot be measured. But to keep a track of the output of an employee at a specific time it is important to measure, assess and evaluate the amount of work and the accuracy of the work done by an employee. HR productivity is also known as employee productivity because HR stands for human resources and the human resources of an organization are the employees who work for the organization. Employee productivity is measured by keeping a track of the output by every employee (e.g the number of projects handled by an employee in a month). The precision, accuracy, and effectiveness of an employee’s performance have a direct reflection on employee productivity. Measuring HR productivity gives the employer an idea about the efficiency of the employees for a task or project. And for measuring HR productivity the employer needs to collect data about the employee performance demarcating their KPIs. 

FUNCTIONS OF HR (FOR MEASURING HR PRODUCTIVITY)

1. Collecting data about the output generated by every employee through a tracker mode
2. Having a regular check on the employee performance
3. Motivating employees to work more efficiently
4. Implementing incentives and lucrative reward system for the employees
5. having clear communication to avoid any kind of confusion or delay in work, lack of productivity
6. Planning, organizing, controlling, and coordinating other HR functions like recruitment in such a way to ensure a smooth workflow and effective employee performance
7. Measuring employee KPIs because the performance indicator is going to give a fair idea about the HR productivity measurement.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR (KPI)

Key performance indicators help businesses to staff outline and reach their goals. KPIs are a style of performance measure and are usually used at an operational level to guide the business towards pre-determined goals and at the worker’s appraisal level to facilitate staff stretch themselves and have the end goal in sight.

THE INDICATORS 

ABSENCE RATE: The absence rate within the organization is typically calculated by dividing the range of operating days within which the worker was absent by their total number of operating days.

ABSENCE COST: The total value of absence is calculated by counting worker pay, as well as the value of managing absent, and substitution costs.

BENEFITS SATISFACTION: Satisfaction with employment advantages is typically measured through a worker engagement survey. These are often relevant to cut back the turnover rate.

EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY RATE: Although this metric is difficult to calculate, it says one thing regarding the capability of growth in terms of the production of human capital.

EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION INDEX: Employee satisfaction is measured through worker angle and engagement surveys. Discontentedness is a vital cause of the employee turnover rate.

INTERNAL PROMOTION RATE: This KPI is measured by dividing the variety of senior functions that were procured through internal promotion by the whole number of senior positions procured. Internal hires are usually to hurry up quicker, scale back the danger of a poor recruit, and keep them longer within the job.

HOW TO INCREASE HR PRODUCTIVITY

• Management (Training) By Objective 

Every organization has a certain objective which all departments of the organization comply with and work towards achieving. Hence every hire should be effective enough to produce productive output which helps the organization achieve its objectives. Thus it is very important to evaluate the employee’s performance whether the employee’s actions are aiding the organization to achieve its goals and targets. Once the employee evaluation is done apt training could be given to the employee to brush up on his or her skills for better and much productive performance.

• Motivation For Achieving Benchmarks and Targets 

Every employee of an organization is assigned to do a particular number of tasks in a job, and his or her productivity is assessed by the rate at which he or she finishes the assigned tasks. Often employees are given particular targets to reach in a stipulated time frame which gets the employees to work with full zeal to finish the target. An organization could also opt for a reward system for the employee who finishes the maximum number of targets in the least time frame. This can also work as an added motivation for the employees to work in a much efficient and productive manner with more profitable results.

• Employee Appraisal

An effective appraisal system can contribute to the competitive advantage of the organization by improving employee performance in two ways – by directing employee behaviour towards organizational goals and by monitoring that behaviour to make sure the employee performance is productive enough that the goals are met. Often, HR departments of organizations implement employee appraisal programs to boost the motivation level of the employees which leads to more productivity as the employees become more focused and committed to their work.

• Employee Engagement

When an employee is engaged in their work he or she would be willing to go above and beyond what would typically be expected in his or her role, this is employee engagement. engagement is the extent to which employees are willing to go beyond the minimum requirements of the rules to provide additional energy or to advocate for their organization as a great place to work. Employee engagement is a strong predictor of employee retention and employee performance which gives an idea about the level of effectiveness and productivity maintained in the organization and the strong willingness towards goal achievement.

Human Resource Management (HRM) is a partial segment of management responsible for allowing effective use of the human capital or workforce of the company and supplying workers with flexible working conditions. This incorporates those activities which plan and manage a company’s human capital. HRM also focuses on building and maintaining a healthy relationship among the employees and at different management levels.

Whereas Human Resource Development (HRD) is a subset of HRM that aims towards the betterment, empowerment and development of the human capital or workforce. HRD mostly puts its effort into training and developing the manpower of the company so that the organisation and it’s employees both achieve growth and success. HRM and HRD are often misinterpreted and is considered to have a similar meaning, but it is not. Therefore to provide a better understanding and help you distinguish between HRM and HRD, here are furthermore details to how they are different from each other.

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management, often known as HRM, implies a particular management segment that is dealing with handling employees in a company so that to ensure maximum quality output to meet the mission and vision of the entity. The principles of management are brought into practical application on the employees of the organisation. It helps to boost the organisation’s efficiency and profitability by discovering the quality and capability of the workforce. HRM is, therefore, the allocation of work to the accurate person at the right time to get the maximum result.

The procedure consists of various steps beginning with recruiting, screening, orientation, integration, training & development, performance assessment, incentive, compensation, inspiration, employee protection, health & wellness policy, corporate partnership management, change management.

Human Resource Development

The word Human Resource Development or HRD indicates the growth of the workforce in an organization. This is a component of HRM; it helps to develop the organization’s workers’ abilities, expertise, capabilities, mindset, nature and attitude. The HRD aim at empowering and improving the employees ‘ abilities so that their productivity is more efficient.

Human Resource Development provides employees with these prospects that will respond effectively to their overall growth. Such prospects involve training and development programs, career development, performance management, KSA improvement, leadership development, identification of specific staff, strategic planning, etc. Nowadays, several companies work for HRD of workers from the very beginning, and the practice remains until their employment.

Role of Human Resource Management

The basic role of HRM is to design, organize and plan the policies and norms that support and work along with the benefits and upliftment of the employees working for the organisation. Also, it’s role is to maintain relations within the workplace.

There are three major roles of HRM:

• Administrative role of HRM – here, Human Resource Management is mainly to keep records, and legal paper works about the employees in the organisation. With this tie, the administrative role has been improved with technology that maintains huge databases, and the paper works can be easily done online or through accessible forms over the internet.
• Operational role of HRM – this handles the relationship barriers in the organisation. Often the HRM department is said to act as an advocate, and it helps in maintaining relationships between different levels of the organisation and also internal relations. This helps in avoiding conflicts and creates a healthy work atmosphere for the maximum benefit of employees as well as organisation.
• Strategical role of HRM – the strategical role of Human Resource Management is the footsteps towards HRP ( Human Resource Planning ), i.e., the organisation includes the HRM head in the strategical planning and takes into consideration the opinions and viewpoint of the HR manager as they have a better insight to the potentiality of candidates in the market.

Role of Human Resource Development

As HRD is a component of HRM, and its role is precise and particular in the organisation. The major role of Human Resource Development is to enhance the KSA factor of the employees, that is, brushing upon their knowledge, skills and abilities toward the job they have been assigned for. Also, the HRD department must provide the required training to the employees. Nowadays, many companies invest a lot in T&D programs to increase the efficiency of the employees.

Objectives of HRM

• Personal objective – helping the employees accomplish personal goals that also benefit the organisation.
• Functional objective – the contribution toward the organisational achievements as a department of the firm that shows motivation and teamwork and the relation among the employees.
• Organisational objective – putting efforts towards the mission and vision of the organisation. Organisational success should be one of the goals of the employees to increase their productivity.
• Societal objective – when the above objectives are met by an organisation, it creates an image, preaches teamwork and motivates others and also attract new potential in the market.

Objectives of HRD

• To develop and uplift the workforce altogether to enhance the performance of the organisation.
• To design better and more efficient training and development programs to attract greater potentiality and find talent.
• To enhance the performance level of the employees to make them capable of achieving their personal goals.
• To motivate the employees to have similar goals as the organisation.

Difference between HRM and HRD

To conclude, HRM is a wider and broader concept of management. It consists of the traditional principles of management that are applied to the human capital to make them grow personally that further results in the enhancement or improvement of the organization as well. It also helps in creating an image in the society and therefore creating its public profile based on how the company’s performance is.

Human Resource Development is a subset or subsystem of HRM. This department of an organisation is more of a functional part of the system that comes into action in developing both employees and the organization together. The employees are trained towards meeting personal and organisational goals and motivates the workforce to have mutual objectives as the entity.

Companies using staffing agencies have increased tremendously. You might be thinking about why such a trend is happening and if it’s something that you must look into it. So, here are some top reasons why you must consider doing a similar thing.

Decrease Overhead Costs

Permanent employees cost much more than the salary they are paid. Like health care, retirement plans, vacation pay, sick days, and more are some costs that are included with the permanent staff. With a staffing agency, a manager or employer does not have to pay that, and they pay them for work that they have done without any additional overhead expenses.

Decrease Overtime Pay

Instead of putting extra demands on the current permanent staff, the employer may use a staffing agency to bring in the temporary workers to reduce the work during busy times. It saves time from churning out their full-time employees & overtime costs for the employees if they are work on an hourly basis.

Need for the Short Term Staff

Sometimes employers might need some temp employees because of permanent staff being sick, having some family emergency, on maternity leave, or taking an absence leave. Hiring through the temporary staffing agency will give an employer a little flexibility for scheduling somebody for a short time to handle such situations.

Save on Time, Training, and Decrease Hiring Risks

Training any new employees need an important investment in costs and time. While looking for somebody to cover some months’ work, it does not make any sense to spend that much money only to train them. So, the staffing agency will provide somebody keen to do the task they need. When a contractor’s job is done, work is over, and there is nothing to worry about unemployment insurance, severance pay, or finding a replacement. Not to mention the parting of ways is streamlined and smooth.

Improves ROI

At times employers searching for resumes might have certain projects that need a specialist or somebody with expertise. If it is a temporary project that can take some amount of time, it does not make any sense to hire permanently. The staffing agency will set the employer up with a skilled staffing professional and save time by weeding over hundreds of resumes, taking calls, and checking references who can or cannot be qualified.

The role of a staffing agency is to help and find workers in the company and save employers money and time so that they can focus on other aspects of the business.

When to Use Staffing Agency?

Like with anything, even staffing agencies are not an ideal answer for each business out there. But, they are the most viable choice for the majority of the business. Here are a few things you must consider if the staffing agency can help to move your brand or business to the next level.

Need an Employee Urgently

Suppose your business has seen a sudden need for employees, then you have to consider a staffing agency. When the current employees feel overworked or stressed, they will not perform at the maximum level, and your business will suffer more.

Business is Seasonal

Most of the businesses, like one that caters to the tourists or those having seasonal work, must need full staff all year round. Others have to improve the number of staff during their holiday season. So, whatever is your business nature, if it’s seasonal, hiring the full-time staff is counterintuitive. And turning to the staffing agency can find you the right employees that you need.

Want Experts for Finding Best in Their Field

You know the process of interviewing each candidate and still cannot find the best one to fill the job positions that you have open. So, you’re stuck with continuing the long procedure and hoping that somebody will answer the ad fits perfectly or turn to the staffing agency. It can improve the pool of your candidates considerably and further enhances your odds of finding the best employees.

Employers often find it tough to outsource the workforce requirements to the staffing agencies; they would rather be the ones looking after the hiring procedure. But, when they get over the mindset, they find it very useful to associate with the placement agencies, particularly a staffing agency.

Employment agencies are handy in a given situation:

• There is an immediate need for many skilled workers on the short-term plan.
• Business is seasonal, and you do not want people around a year.
• You want a qualified worker with a specialized skillset.
• You don’t have the proper resources or time to recruit the new team.
• You are looking to decrease recruitment costs like the large HR department, employee insurance, and more.

At times, the staffing agency will be a single industry-focussed market serving only one particular sector such as IT and manufacturing. In some cases, they will allow the businesses to connect over specific roles such as executive positions and subject matter experts.

Responsibilities of the Staffing Agency

The staffing agency will offer complete staffing solutions to the business that includes:

• Determining the workforce needed 
• Understanding workload needs of a company
• Conducting proper interviews & shortlisting candidates
• Vetting potential staff through background checks & employment history
• Checking the performance of your temp workers and see if requirements are met
• Drawing proper contracts & looking at the legal issues
• Imparting training

If a worker isn’t the right fit for the company, then a staffing agency must stop the hire and compensate if needed.

Final Thoughts

Finally, using the best external staffing agency that meets the criteria must be an important part of each company’s talent program. But, when you find the right company, then the worst thing done is to comply with the internal rules and processes that can negate their unique power and strengths. But, leverage their capabilities, pay a one-time fee, and understand that hiring the right people is a multi-year investment, which keeps on giving.

Human Resource, like any other professional field, is an ever changing concept. There are trends, news and innovations happening every day and people associated with an organization, especially people working closely with Human Resource Department need to keep up with these updates so that the organization doesn’t miss out on effective and efficient innovations.

One of the easiest ways to keep up with the newest trends is through magazines. Specifically, curated information and innovation is in a magazine can help your organization keep up with the latest developments in the HR sector. Given below are some of the reputed HR magazines in India, read and discussed by many reputable firms and HR professionals daily.

Top 10 HR Magazines In India

1. People Management

People Management is a UK based magazine ranked number one by many trusted sources in the global HR network. It is the biggest publication on HR worldwide and also the official publication of Chartered Institute of Public Development (CIPD). It is published by Haymarket Media Group. It is trusted by many organizations in India as well as abroad due to its comprehensive knowledge dissemination through its varied content. It can brief you about specific issues, newest trends and familiarize you with known faces of HR world all around the globe through one issue. You can check their website for more details at www.peoplemanagement.co.uk

2. HRD Connect

HRD connect is again one of the more respected HR journal trusted by many organizations and professionally associated with Human Resource sphere. It again a UK based publication providing information on nearly all the spheres of Human Resource. HRD connect also provides a digital subscription for individuals and organizations to make it more accessible. One can also look into their podcast by the name HRD Connect Podcast to look into various topics or subscribe to their newsletter for specially curated news delivered into your email. For more information, check out their website www.hrdconnect.com

3. HR Grapevine

HR grapevine is a professional network of HR, mainly from Europe. It publishes a magazine by the same name covering the latest news, case studies, trends and innovations which is widely trusted by HR organizations and professionals worldwide. Their digital, as well as newsletter collection, is very much comprehensive in dealing with diverse topics at one go. Although the magazine is specifically talking about the UK, or more so Europe, it is widely read and respected by the global Human Resource network. Check out their website with this link, www.hrgrapevine.com

4. Recruiter

Recruiter is another magazine based out of the United Kingdom and mainly deals with the Human Resource culture of Europe but is widely read and respected by many Human Resource professionals. It deals with news articles, opinion pieces, culture and travel and everything related to the human resource field. For the organizations that want to take up a comprehensive discussion on Human Resource, this is the best option available in the market. Their online issue is available at www.recruiter.co.uk/magazine

5. Employee Benefits

Employee Benefits can be reached out with the following click on employeebenefits.co.uk/. This magazine is ranked in the top five HR and Business organization magazines that are available in the market about employee well being and human resource development in general.

6. Personnel Today

Personnel Today, which goes by the name of PT amongst its followers is again one of the best ranked magazines on employees, human resources and professional work environment in general. From day to day development in terms of factual news to the ways new ideas can be incorporated to make Human Resource more compatible and efficient, this magazine covers it all. The newsletter and digital subscription are also available, which makes it accessible to more people. For further information, check out their website at www.personneltoday.com

7. Training Journal

Training Journal known by the name of TD is again one of the widely read journals by human resource network worldwide. Although it deals with recruitment, training, apprenticeship and other similar opportunities for the benefit of job seekers as well as the organizations, it is widely trusted by HR professionals to make their work environment more compatible with the changes that are occurring the workspace. Further information can be accessed at www.trainingjournal.com.

8. HR Magazine 

HR magazine is again one of the most trusted reads by the emerging corporate workforce. It deals with the issues of employees as well as the employers and everything that is mildly related to HR. It gives a holistic framework to understand every role and responsibility of Human Resource professionals. You can check out about subscription plans and other information at www.hrmagazine.co.uk.

9. HR Zone

HR Zone, contrary to its various counter parts, is an online publication and does not come in print format. However, it deals with the various topic, issues and studies related to employment, management and work environment. Crafted especially for HR professionals, it touches diverse themes and hence is trusted by many across the globe. HR Zone can be accessed at www.hrzone.com.

10. Changeboard

Changeboard is a platform maintained by HR specialists and deals with each and every HR related issue in a very comprehensive yet varied way. One can find all sorts of information about every famous professional, event and trend from this magazine. For further information, check out their website at www.changeboard.com.

These magazines are altogether one stop destination for all the quests and questions that you have regarding HR and everything around it.

Every organization has got their goals, missions, and certain objectives to achieve. These objectives could be the short-term goals that need to be fulfilled in a given period. To determine if these strategies will achieve their goals and take the organization in the right way or not, the company makes use of dedicated metrics. And those are KRA and KPI. The primary relationship between KRA and KPI is that goals are made using KRAs, and realization will be measured by KPIs. Now, let us see the difference between KRA and KPI!

What is KRA?

KRA is a key result area and is one important success factor to the company no matter internal or external where superior performance should be achieved for an organization to attain their strategic goals and the vision and mission. The main result areas are the ‘critical success factors’ and ‘key drivers for success’.

KRAs can be developed for the employees in a company linked to the job roles and performance objectives. Normally, key result areas will be around 3 to 5 major responsibilities, which are included in the employee’s job specification and indicate the main value of a person to the company. The analysis of such areas will help the employees to develop the personal strategic program for career development as well as serve basis for the employee performance analysis valuation.

What is KPI?

KPI is a key performance indicator made to assess the achievement of the objectives. For every objective out there, there is a dedicated KPI that can be set at the beginning of their performance period. At the end of this performance period, as per KPI, management will determine if the organization will attain a particular goal.

Management must evaluate the following questions if deciding over KPIs

• Can the KPI achievement be controlled?
• Are KPIs linked with strategic objectives?
• Can KPIs explain easily?
• Is KPI simple to manipulate?
• Are proper actions taken for improving the KPI performance?

This balanced scorecard is the management tool made with heavy use of the KPIs and used to know KPIs efficiently. The balanced scorecard functions with 4 perspectives; goals are set for every perspective, and KPIs are used for measuring whether these goals are accomplished or not and to what extent they are realized.

Difference between KRA and KPI

The primary objective of this post is to offer you an overview of what KPIs & KRAs are –and clear up a few misconceptions – and shed some light on why it’s important to separate both the metrics. We will run through a few definitions, and clear up what’s a KRA or KPI, dive into the importance of both, and offer some examples too.

Your metrics can easily be broken down into two categories:

Performance Indicators – PI’s are nonfinancial. They are measured on the regular cadence (every day, every week, every month, and so on.) and are the result of a person’s activity. PIs offer information over what action should be taken for improvement and are highly useful for creating proper strategies and aligning the goals. The indicators are:

• Understood by employees
• Actionable
• Leading and forward-looking

Result Area – One of the important goals for setting KRA is improving business communication and enhances productivity because everybody is aware of what winning is in their respective role. The areas are:

• It’s specific, clear, and measurable 
• It is under your control
• It is an important business activity 

Now, you have got your KPIs and KRAs. The major difference between the Indicator and Result Areas lies in their importance and value to you. So, whichever metric you consider is dependent upon your business’ priorities. For this reason, no tangible list of the indicators (i.e., Performance and Result) exists – and they are fluid & change depending on their business. Important to note that: If a metric impacts your business directly, it is ‘KEY’ for your business success

Importance of KRAs and KPIs

Key Result Areas is a strategic factor, implied to an organization where most favorable results are achieved, and reach its goal and take ahead the vision of the organization. 

KPIs aren’t much flashy as KRAs, but more focused on actions, leading to positive results. Key performance indicators are the foundation from where successful strategies are made, and they are some steps, which take us to KRAs.

Most of the businesses mistakenly rely on KRAs for offering insight into the overall performance of the business & direction over which activities are successful and what steps you must take next. Just KPIs can track down the steps taken (those that have to be taken) to make sure the success.

Based on the above information, some major differences between KRA and KPI are:

Final Words

As we can see, the major difference between KPI & KRA depends predominantly on the way that they are employed for organizational success. Each business has a pre-determined set of objectives that they wish to achieve that must be assessed against the dedicated metrics.

In a current challenging field of HR, there is always plenty of things to learn—especially this year brings a huge collection of books for Human Resource professionals. In this post, we have listed some best hr books that will help you to sharpen your skills, learn from the diverse perspectives, and keep up with the changing trends.

People who are keen to become better in their work or personal lives, search for the books that show them different possibilities and ideas. Hopefully, this list we have put together will make your work life more fulfilling!

10 Best HR Books in 2020

1. Unleashing the Power of Diversity by Bjorn Z. Ekelund

With the changing world in a workforce, Unleashing the Power of Diversity highlights on how to ensure that your company works to improve the communication between the people from different cultural experiences. You will learn to break down the barriers to trust and unification is at the forefront mission of this book. This book helps the HR professional to ensure that diversity is sustainable and viable.

2. People Analytics for Dummies by Mike West

It is the best HR book for novice HR professionals or one who wishes to start utilizing analytics to improve their HR strategies. The book shows that different data will help to point you in the right direction, keep workers satisfied, and enhance their motivation.

Also Read: 14 Best Books on Leadership and Management 2020

3. The HR Scorecard by Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, Dave Ulrich

The book by Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, Dave Ulrich is arguably one of the oldest on our list –however the most timeless of all. In an HR Scorecard, Becker & colleagues explain in detail how people, performance, and strategy are quantified and linked. HRM hasn’t been regarded as hard science. To align HR strategies with an organizational strategy, and measuring an impact on the workforce does not come naturally to Human Resource. But, when it is done well, it allows HR to quantify the impact & measure effectiveness in their work.

4. Predictive HR Analytics: Mastering the HR Metric by Kirsten & Martin Edwards

Predictive HR Analytics builds on their previous version and is used as the reading material for Human Resource analytics classes. This book explores analytics and metrics in a detailed form. Using many different case studies, this book explores metrics and analytics linked to employee attitudes, diversity, employee turnover, recruitment analytics, employee performance, and much more.

5. The Essential HR Handbook By Sharon Armstrong and Barbara Mitchell

This is one book that many Human Resource Professionals reach out for whenever any question and problem comes up. The newly updated edition for 2020, the book offers complete advice and information on just about each HR topic, which includes hiring & firing, managing the diverse workforce, telework, making compensation packages, as well as avoiding any legal pitfalls. You can find best practices, which will help you to attract talented workers, create positive relationships between the managers and employees, and navigate human resource issues in a complex business environment today.

6. The HR Answer Book by S. Smith and R. Mazin

The HR Answer Book by S. Smith and R. Mazin is a go-to HR book for getting quick answers over HR problems. It is simple to read, precise and provides complete guidance on all the issues that are found in the Human Resource. Answers range from simple to complex and making it one best quick reference HR book for everybody interested in this professional and are working in this field. It’s one of the best books for the HR experts that must also be kept in HR libraries.

7. SHRM Essential Guide to Employment Law by Charles Fleischer

SHRM Essential Guide to Employment Law by Charles Fleischer sets the foundation for the HR professionals to improve their knowledge of data and analytics as well as help to improve the overall performance of the business. The book covers practical aspects like data-analytic thinking, data collection, data management, applying human resource tools and analytics to the workforce, and planning, training, recruiting, as well as turnover analysis.

8. Human Resource Management By Gary Dessler

Gary Dessler is known to be the pioneer when it comes to HR Management literature, and his Human Resource Management work is arguable the best read & studied HR books right now. The new edition covers important key aspects of Human Resource. This includes the practical and step-by-step details of the key cornerstones of HR. The author breaks it down into five important parts: recruitment, placement and talent management, training and development, compensation, as well as employee relations.

9. Unleashing Capacity: The Hidden Human Resources by Rita Trehan

Human Resource professionals are on a lookout for different ways to improve their careers and skills. When a human resource is enabled just by taking on the new leadership issues, they will enhance the roles, skills, as well as processes in the organizations. The author tries to share the first-hand experience in simple-to-read chapters, which will help the HR experts at different levels to move the corporate ladder.

10. Financial Analysis for HR Managers: Tools for Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy by Steven Director

One main part of being a successful human resource professional lies in the ability to manage the financial functions of your work. It includes assessing the financial impact of human resources in the long-term business goals, preparing meaningful rewards packages for the employees, and making sure that HR plays an important role in the bigger enterprise profitability.

This book is a thorough guide, covering each and every aspect of the financial element in HR today. Filled with examples, the breakdown of financial numbers in simple-to-understand aspects, and step-by-step point towards designing the successful HR & financial roadmap –it is one best read for people who are looking to get the best strategy from CFOs.

Keep Reading

HR isn’t about leveraging authority, bit, it is about the soft power: Human Resource must co-opt and attract than coerce. So, these are some of the top-rated HR books, check them out and do not stop reading.

As said “well begun is half done” and the beginning of anything great starts with excellent planning as planning is the initial step in the area of management. To manage everything well in any organization, the key factor is to plan everything perfectly. Since human assets are the most precious assets in the organization based on whom the journey of success starts so planning them well becomes even more essential, and this prospective approach for the human resources is called Strategic Human Resource Planning.

What is Strategic Human Resource Planning?

Strategic HR planning is an essential component of HR management. Almost every sized organization has a strategic plan that guides the organization in successfully meeting its mission. Organizations regularly complete financial plans to ensure they achieve organizational goals, and while workforce plans are not as common. Strategic HR management is defined as “Integrating human resource management strategies and systems to achieve the overall mission, strategies, and success of the firm while meeting the needs of employees and other stakeholders.”

Strategic HR planning is a process that helps an organization to identify current and future human resources needs to achieve the end goals. It links human resource management to the overall strategic plan of an organization.

Importance of Strategic Human Resource Planning

1. Clarifies the Current Scenario and Indicates the Loopholes

HR planning strategy, start with where you currently are. Here are several questions that can be used for self-assessment in the course of Strategic Human Resource Planning which gives a clear picture of the present situation.

• What is going well right now?
• Where do struggle is the most?
• Which processes are running efficiently, and which ones are a constant pain?
• Where does the team spend most of its energy and time?
• Amount of manual tasks?

2. Helps in Future Anticipation

Success is not accidental. To keep moving forward and finish the race, you want to check out the long term and make a solid plan. Here are a few questions to consider when you predict the future to assure a brighter tomorrow:

• How do the current assets and liabilities align with your goals?
• Is welcoming new people feasible?
• How to retain your existing and new employees?
• Will a training strategy help your team build new competencies?

3. Helps to Incline with Market Trends

It’s possible to get lost in the ever-growing complexities in the market. Monitoring market trends and external factors are crucial elements of a strategic HR plan. The following questions will help to assess market conditions:

• How is the labour market doing?
• What are employees most likely to demand?
• Which technological changes will disrupt the industry?
• How is the economy expected to vary in the future? What impact will it leave?
• What are the government regulations you need to be aware of?

4. Assess the Workflows and the Delays

Strategic Human Resource plan is to perform an internal scan on tech, and other inventory.its must convert your strategic plan into action. These questions will help you evaluate the current HR technology:

• Is the current HR process capable of accomplishing strategic goals?
• What are the frequent bottlenecks within the present HR workflow?
• Is the current HR process plagued by errors?

5. Unleashing the Power of Automation in HR Planning

Strategic HR planning helps organizations absorb changes easily. However, before implementing strategic planning, eliminating the existing chaos in HR Processes is a must.

Strategic Human Resource Planning Process

The strategic HR Planning process has four steps:

1. Assessing the current HR capacity
2. Forecasting HR requirements
3. Gap analysis
4. Developing HR strategies to support organizational strategies

1. Assessing Current HR Capacity

Based on the organization’s strategic plan, the primary step within the strategic HR planning process is to assess the present HR capacity of the organization. The knowledge and skills of your current staff got to be identified. This can be done by developing a skills inventory for every employee. An employee’s performance assessment forms are often reviewed to work out if the person is prepared and willing to require more responsibility and to seem at the employee’s current development plans.

2. Forecasting HR Requirements

The next step is to forecast HR needs for the longer-term supported the strategic goals of the organization. Realistic forecasting of human resources involves estimating both to and fro. Questions to be answered include:

• How many staff are going to be required to realize the strategic goals of the organization?
• What skill sets will people need?

3. Gap Analysis

The next step is to determine the gap between where the organization wants to be in the future and where it is now. The gap analysis includes identifying the amount of staff and therefore, the skills required within the future as compared to the present situation. Gap analysis must encompass these below questions to be answered:

• What new skills will be required?
• Do our present employees have the required skills?
• Are employees currently in positions that use their strengths?
• Do we have enough managers/supervisors?

4. Developing HR Strategies to Support Organizational Strategies

There are mainly three HR strategies for meeting organization’s needs in the future:

Training and Development Strategies: This strategy includes:

• Providing staff with training to require new roles
• Providing current staff with development opportunities to organize them for future jobs in your organization

Recruitment Strategies: This strategy includes:

• Recruiting new staff with the skill that your organization will need within the future
• Considering all the available options for strategically promoting job openings and inspiring suitable candidates to use.

Outsourcing Strategies: This strategy includes external individuals or organizations to undertake and try to do some tasks. Many organizations look outside their staff pool and contract skills. This is incredibly helpful for accomplishing specific, specialized tasks. Each outsourcing decision has implications for meeting the organization’s goals and will, therefore, be carefully assessed.

Are you in the process of Strategic Human Resource Planning, end up with us? Zigsaw provides the best-outsourced recruitment service to fulfill organizational prospective goals. 

Gamification is the use of recreation-wondering and recreation mechanics in non-recreation eventualities inclusive of commercial enterprise surroundings and procedures, specially in recruitment, schooling and improvement, and motivation, with a purpose to interact with customers and remedy problems, as described through Gartner Group.

According to Gallup studies launched in April 2012, much less than one in 10 personnel are ‘engaged’ in their jobs. The closures are ‘now no longer engaged’ (60 %) or are ‘actively disengaged’ (32 %) – the maximum dangerous shape of disengagement. The goal is to take strategies from recreation layout and effect them in non-recreation contexts so that the general revel in for the worker or ‘user’ is extra enticing.

The writer of Gamification of Learning & Instruction, Karl Kapp, says the important thing to gamification is how addictive it could end up throughout all generations of people. Kapp believes the benefits which might be a part of gamification inspire customers to live engaged and engage with each other, constructing more potent relationships. Several companies like Marriott, Cognizant, Deloitte, Aetna, and others are using gaming to enhance staff alignment, decorate worker skills, remedy complex troubles, and faucet into new expertise pools. Typical recreation layout strategies encompass intention setting, competition, real-time comments, and rewards. There also are systems inclusive of eMee and MindTickle that facilitate Gamification in companies.

TCabs, a nearby radio cab provider issuer from Pune, India, has converted its everyday Call a Cab commercial enterprise right into a gamified consumer-enticing offering, using the eMee gamification engine. TCabs has added one of the first consumer loyalty software for cabs in India, referred to as TMiles. They have additionally brought recreation mechanics to inspire consumer sports like presenting comments at the cab journey, encouraging customers to actively take part in enhancing their provider, and sharing their TCabs revel in with their friends.

How Does It Work?

The energy of Gamification works like this: it makes use of the aggressive streak all of us have inside us, and as we play a recreation, we end up extra absorbed and engaged, we experience a different experience of fulfillment and are extra inclined to head the greater mile in both making extra efforts to pick the proper people or finishing extra schooling programs, or maybe assisting personnel to live motivated. And as we progress, we retain to boost our engagement with the sport and attain new levels.

In Recruitment and Selection

Marriott International Inc. became an early implementer to check how gamification may be applied in recruiting the proper people. It advanced a motel-themed video game, much like Farmville or The Sims, to acclimatize potential personnel with the Marriott as an organization, the corporation tradition, and the motel industry. Anil Garg, VP-HR, Whirlpool, said at some point in the latest TimesJobs.Com boardroom convention that they had been drastically using social media and gamification (cryptic puzzles) to interact with potential personnel to preserve the emblem join alive. It’s clear that gamification withinside the recruitment sphere has proved to achieve success for those businesses and is getting outstanding results.

Also Read: Difference between Recruitment and Selection

In Training and Development

The famed Deloitte Leadership Academy has skilled 10000+ executives from everywhere in the international, grants getting to know gamification through Badgeville to boom expertise sharing and emblem improvement. TCS has additionally stepped withinside the international of gamification through imposing recreation engines that permit the introduction of real-existence environments with integrated networking features, allowing the improvement of such Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). The software of MMORPG for real-international commercial schooling and simulation can cause extra collaboration and group play and decrease the dreariness concerned in solo-schooling, says the group.

In Retention of Employees

Accenture is the use of the gamification gear for worker engagement and administrative center conduct modification. The World Bank’s Evoke is a social collaboration recreation for fixing social problems. A very promising region of engagement and retention wherein gamification may be applied to worker health. For example, Mindbloom’s Life Game being used by Aetna is a freemium online social recreation aimed toward enhancing worker fitness and health through encouraging interactions with a metaphorical “self.” In essence, customers can preserve a test on their health by choosing and growing plans to foster health.

The marketplace for gamification is anticipated to develop drastically, withinside the subsequent coming years. The Gartner studies suggest that through 2015, 50% of companies that cope with innovation procedures will gamify the one’s procedures, and that through 2014, extra than 70% of Global 2000 companies can have as a minimum one gamified app.

Importance of Gamification

1.  HR can alternate the education content material with the aid of using revamping it right into a game. Activities may be added if you want to permit personnel to advantage factors and badges via levels.
2. Onboarding costs bureaucracy, and files may be very time consuming and complicated. Reward factors via gamification can result in performance withinside the commercial enterprise processes.
3. It facilitates the HRs to install a difficult machine for worker well-being. There is an organisation answer known as Welbe, which aggregates information from wearables and worker well-being right into a dashboard. All people can determine every difference via leaderboards.
4. It lets personnel understand every difference via aggressive and collaborative processes to commercial enterprise processes, necessities, and events.
5. It lets in personnel to cost every difference once they excel at a specific activity. This is carried out via the assist of cost badges and lifestyle factors supplied to personnel if they comply with the agency values appropriately.

Example of Gamification

In 2015, PWC Hungary introduced a sport referred to as a Multipoly video game that carried out the commercial enterprise demanding situations right into a digital surrounding wherein the personnel get a hazard to check their flair and abilities via means of receiving guidelines and remarks via the in-sport performances. It now no longer best improved worker retention however additionally boosted the agency recruitment,

Another New Zealand famed agency, Deloitte, used a recruiting video that became gamified and interactive. It went by way of the call of ‘Will you be healthy in Deloitte?’. It defined the firm’s offerings and agency lifestyle in information permitting applicants to play a position to get entry to their sports via desired points.

From getting to know and improvement to recruiting, gamification withinside the destiny will migrate from the place of work surroundings to new domain names if you want to assist HRs to realise excessive appearing personnel. If you’re one of these people who’s searching ahead to growing an attentive, worthwhile, and interactive workforce, it’s time which you to leverage their intrinsic motivators via exceptional gamification approaches.

HR trends are an important part of HR operations. HR trend depends on a lot of internal and external factors. These include market conditions, changing social dynamics, changing political dynamics, laws and legislations, predictive analysis etc. HR professionals predict and study these various trends to get an idea and decide on how the HR operations are going to take place.

HR trends are important both in terms of the welfare of the organisations as well as from the perspective of the employees.

2020 was a roller-coaster year in terms of everything. It has changed the economic situation, changed the social dynamics and completely shifted how workplaces used to work. With almost all the entire planet in lockdown and confined to their homes, the work has shifted to the homes as well, and all work has gone digital. With all the workforce going digital, it is only natural that the HR trends will take a digital turn too. Let’s find out a few top HR trends in 2024.

Top 5 HR Trends in 2024

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1. AI in The Recruitment Process

Artificial intelligence has made its way in the various sectors in the market. Be it baking, finance, health, marketing, retail, artificial intelligence has operations everywhere by substituting the traditionally used human labour.

AI will also make its way in the HR hiring and recruitment process. It is not only supposed to be saving a lot of time but also supposed to yield more accurate results. Chatbots are going to be implemented in the recruitment procedure. This would largely eliminate the repetitive tasks of the recruiters by providing automated responses. Most applicants have several Frequently Asked Questions, and by employing the bot to answer them, the recruiters will save upon a lot of time that they can use somewhere else.

Screening and elimination of candidates will also become easier and faster. The job requirements of the candidate would be recorded by AI, and the candidates would be screened accordingly. Otherwise, to screen candidates for a single hire, it takes 20 hours on an average by recruiters. As an additional advantage, the AI-based recruitment will not only be faster but also more accurate due to the absence of human bias.

Also Read: Role Of Artificial Intelligence In Recruitment

2. Implementation Of Data Analytics

Data analytics will make a striking presence in the HR trends in the coming years. Instead of the observatory and recorded information, HR decisions will be guided by data-driven results. This can help HR professionals to attract potential best candidates for their jobs. Data analytics will also help in retaining talented employees. Employee absenteeism, turnover rate, level of engagement etc. will have tremendous scope to be recorded under data analytics. Studying and predicting these trends by analytics will give HR professionals a great added advantage.

Implementation of data analytics will have varied impacts on the HR domain. Employee satisfaction and experience can be greatly improved by the use of data analytics. This will eventually lead to greater productivity. Studying the trends will also help in reducing employee turnover rate. Planning of workforce and development of training can also be improved by the use of data analytics.

3. Employee Experience Platforms

Ensuring a good employee experience is not just important to the employees but also hugely important to the company. Just a good pay and a healthy work environment are not enough to keep the employees satisfied. With widespread digitalisation and such a great social forum, employees can anytime take to websites like Glassdoor and review their current company. The reviews can be based on their workplace policies, compensation, benefits, etc. If an employee is not satisfied, negative reviews on these forums can impact the goodwill of the company.

Hence improving the experiences of the employees is an important part to focus on. This is where changing HR trends come into play. This means that global experts suggest that implementing HR technologies can positively impact the experience of these employees.

Hence, Employee Experience Platforms or EXPs can be used. These help in managing and designing different kinds of employee interactions that take place across the company. EXPs will help a great deal in to economise on cost and time that help in the development of custom employee portals, developing backend integrated systems etc.

The EXP will also help in integrating several processes on a single platform. These include the development of career, administration of benefits, performance management, payroll management, onboarding procedures, etc. The EXP uses an intuitive procedure to perform these tasks. In totality, HR will see an amalgamation of HR and IT functions that would lead to higher productivity.

Also Read: 7 Workplace Rules for Happy Life

4. On The Job Training

Training is very important for the employees to understand the functions of the organisation and to be able to fit in with that. On the job training is an important part of the entire training procedure where the employees are provided hands-on training about how to perform their specific job roles to meet the various long term and short term goals.

 However, the traditions methods of training are most likely to be replaced by more technologically advanced ones in the coming time. The companies can make use of augmented reality, virtual reality, gamification, etc. to provide training to their employees before they get on with their jobs. 

5. Feedback Tools

Feedback is an important part of engaging the employees in an organisation. Engaging the employees also mean increasing the possibility of their retention and improving their satisfaction. Hence an important trend in HR would be about employing feedback tools to increase employee engagement in the organisation. These tools would largely help in managing and tracking the concerns of the employees and thereby taking corrective measures.

All of these trends are based on predictive analysis and are not be trusted in blindsight about determining the functioning of a company. However, they are made by extensive studying of patterns, and other external factors and hence can be used as a framework upon which the operations will take place. These are created after analysis and in real-time should be implemented in steps after considering the needs and current status of the company. 

Job simplification is a widely used process in many organizations. In simple terms, job simplification means simplifying a complex job into several simpler parts. It is intended to improve the productivity of the individual by lessening the work-pressure on him. The work-pressure includes strenuous physical activity, mental pressure, and psychological stress caused due to complex jobs.

A complex job is considered, and then it is broken down into smaller and simpler parts. These simpler parts are reach assigned to employees, and they are employed to work on that part of the job only. The employees’ work is repetitive, and that increases the expertise of the employee on that particular job. Therefore it leads to individual skill formation of the employee as well as increases the productivity of the company. It is a component of job design where job rotation and job enlargement is also a part.

Also Read: What is Job Enlargement? – Definition, Advantages and Disadvantages

Under the job simplification procedure, the organization spares its preparation cost, as a low degree of aptitude is required to play out the improved employments. Additionally, the activity speed increments, as the individual is required to play out a little segment of the beforehand bigger and complex activity.

Because of expansion in mechanization and expanded familiarity with working conditions for representatives, work simplification tumbled from popularity. Rather than a building approach, a persuasive methodology was supported. This methodology concentrated on making employments inspiring to chip away at – particularly for information laborers. 

Notwithstanding the lessening in prevalence, job simplification stays one of the four key approaches to job design. Moreover, a contention could be made to reintroduce job simplification as a strategy to improve jobs during a time where extreme work-pressure can prompt pressure and medical issues.

Techniques of Job Simplification

1. Identification of the Job

The first step towards simplifying a job is identifying or selecting which job is to be simplified. The best way to identify such a job is to check which one is most strenuous or produce the most unproductive results. If the knowledge about the said job is inadequate, then interviews must be conducted with people who have the experience to get a better insight.

2. Collecting Relevant Data

The second step is collecting all relevant information about the job that is being simplified. This involves gathering information about the total time taken, the steps involved in the job, how they are performed, etc.

3. Analysis of Collected Data

After the collection of data about the job is done, it needs to be analyzed. This is the step for analysis. This is where all the questions are asked, and analysis is made for alternatives are investigated.

4. Finding Alternate Solutions

This is the step for the development of different possibilities and alternatives for the simplification of the job. This is the core step where job simplification is done. Four criteria are employed for the jobs that are to be simplified. These criteria are elimination, combination, re-arranging, and simplification. The main objective of this step is that the current job has to be made safer, easier, and the effectiveness of the job has to be improved.

While simplification of the job at this stage, different tools can be used. These can be newer technology, digitalization, automation even physical instruments. Once the simplification of the job is finally done, the result should be duly noted, and the new method should be proposed.

5. Evaluation of Such Solutions

The last and the final step is the implementation and optimization of the ultimate simplified job. At this step, the new result is taken into account to test the new prototype. Henceforth, it is optimized and adjusted. This step mainly includes managing stakeholders and convincing superiors to facilitate the final implementation of job simplification.

Job Simplification Advantages

• Since the job is broken down and simplified, it makes the job a lot easier than complex jobs.
• Since an employee is continuously associated with a narrow line of job, it increases the skill and productivity of the employee.
• More straightforward jobs reduce various kinds of physical and mental stress that the employees otherwise go through due to complex jobs.
• The training process of staff becomes simpler as the jobs are simplified.
• It is easier to replace unproductive employees with newer ones as the training attached is not very complicated.
• It is a cost-effective method as the cost incurred to the organization after job simplification is practically negligible.
• It achieves specialization.
• Employees under job simplification are prone to get higher rewards.

Job Simplification Disadvantages

Job simplification has several significant drawbacks, and they are why better alternatives to job simplification are chosen in recent times. Maybe it poses many benefits to the organization, but on more in-depth analysis, it has underlying limitations. Even to the employees, it causes several issues that have to be considered. The limitations of job simplification are listed as follows:

• It affects the quality of work of the employee in the long-run due to the constant repetition of the job.
• Presence of monotony in the employees due to the same narrow nature of the job.
• Increased tardiness among the employees.
• Even though the productivity increases initially, in the long run, the productivity of work due to repetition goes on decreasing.
• Increasing absenteeism among the employees.
• The companies are most likely have to increase the wages to retain the employees in the job.
• The process decreases the pressure and complexity of the job upon the employees but increases the frustration.

In totality, job simplification can be used as a short-term approach to achieve short-term goals. However, in the long run, it does more harm than good. The productivity and cost-effectiveness that it achieves in the short-term get overshadowed by the decreasing productivity and employee tardiness in the long-run.

This is why several alternatives are preferred in place of job simplification. Even though it is part and parcel of job design, the other components like job rotation and job design have better benefits and lesser drawbacks in terms of both the employee and the organization. 

In the Human Resource perspective, skills and competencies are often used interchangeably. They are often considered similar to the other and put into a similar context. However, skills and competencies have a few differences that are, if not significant, noticeable. It can be said that skills are a subset of competencies. Competency, as the literal meaning of the term, considers all the abilities, skills, and personality traits of a person. Competencies are behavioural, whereas skills only test the raw abilities of a person. 

Let us find out some of the key differences between Skills and Competencies under different heads.

Meaning

There have been different attempts to define what skills are and various definitions have emerged to point out the meaning of skills distinctively. It is defined as the capability or aptitude that is obtained or created through preparing or experience. It is the capacity, originating from one’s information, practice, inclination, and so forth., to accomplish something great. A capacity and limit obtained through conscious, precise, and supported exertion to easily and adaptively complete complex exercises or employment capacities, including thoughts (psychological abilities), things (specialized aptitudes), as well as individuals (relational aptitudes) can be successfully described as a skill set. 

Skill is the educated ability to do pre-decided outcomes and an educated capacity to achieve the result one needs, with the most extreme conviction and effectiveness. It is the capability or adroitness that is procured or created through preparing or experience. So, a Skill is something Learned to be able to carry out one or more job functions.

Different sources and different definitions also attempt to pin-point ta exact definition of competencies to set it notably apart from skills. It is defined as a group of related capacities, duties, information, and abilities that empower an individual (or an association) to act adequately in an occupation or circumstance. Competencies mean abilities or knowledge that lead to overall execution. 

Quantifiable aptitudes, skills, and character qualities that distinguish effective workers against characterized jobs inside an association. A competency is something other than just information and skills. It includes the capacity to fulfill complex needs by drawing on and assembling psychosocial assets (counting abilities and perspectives) in a specific setting. It is a quantifiable example of information, aptitudes, capacities, practices, and different attributes that an individual needs to perform work jobs or word related capacities effectively. Competencies determine the “how” (rather than the what) of performing work errands or what the individual needs to carry out the responsibility effectively. 

Competencies employ skills, but it is not just limited to skills. It also uses knowledge and action. They incorporate capacities and practices only as information that is principal to the utilization of a potential skill-set.

Approach

Skills have a universal approach, per se. It means that a specific individual with a particular skill is universally the same. The skills remain constant irrespective of place, situation, or type of employment. For example, if a person has a technical skill of Digital Marketing, his skill can and will be listed everywhere the same provided he/she has the proper certification.

However, competencies are contextual. This means that just because a person has a particular skill does not mean that he/she is competent in the same. Competencies include skill, knowledge as well as the ability. Hence a person with skill has to analytically and logically apply it in a correct situation, then only will he/she prove to be competent. Taking the above example, a skilled employee in Digital Marketing must know and have the ability to apply that knowledge in his term of requirement; otherwise, he/she would not be considered as competent.

Position

Skills are generally transferable across various job roles in an organization. This means that an employee with a specific skill can be moved across different jobs that demand that specific skill-set that the person possesses. Hence, it is more dynamic. Skills are not aspirational. These are need-based and absolute.

Competencies, on the other hand, are extremely aspirational and job-specific. When moved across various jobs, a person’s skill set will remain the same. However, his/her competencies will vary to a great extent. A person with skill will be put in a position of work. When the person employs that skill into execution to perform the job efficiently, his/her competency will be proved. 

Relationship

It can be so regarded that skills and competencies have a cause and effect relationship. Skills are what is the initial requirement for a person to perform a particular job. Without the required skills, a person is not eligible to be employed in a job that demands it.

However, competencies are how the job is performed. With the effective implementation of skills, knowledge, and ability, when the job is completed, and the result is obtained, which determines the competency.

Concept

Skills are a narrower concept comprising technical or non-technical knowledge that is required for a job.

Competency is much broader that is more result-oriented by employing skills, knowledge, and abilities.

Example

Digital marketing, coding, language proficiency, software proficiency, computer programming are some of the things that can be defined as skills.

Whereas professionalism, time-management, analytical abilities, excellent communication are some of the competencies, to name a few. 

Difference between Skill and Competency

Skills and competencies might not be interchangeable but not inseparable. However, skills can exist without competencies. But, competencies cannot exist without skills. Competency is a superset of which skill is a component. That is why it is essential to acquire skills. It is also important to know how to apply them. Employers are not looking for just skilled employees; they are looking for competent ones.