A wide variety of articles exist about the need for human resources to change. Often those articles talk about the need for HR to be more of a “business partner” or “strategic” or “transformational.” But rarely do we see articles that address what the future jobs in human resources will look like.
Well, a group of human resources professionals has taken on the task. Project CHREATE is the global Consortium to reimagine HR, Employment Alternatives, Talent and the Enterprise. Their initiative is to map the future of the profession. Organizations including the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), PricewaterhouseCoopers, HR People + Strategy, and the National Academy of Human Resources are involved in the effort.
One of their first deliverables was the development of five job descriptions for HR roles in the future. The titles are:
- Organizational Engineer
- Virtual Culture Architect
- Global Talent Scout, Convener and Coach
- Data, Talent & Technology Integrator
- Social Policy and Community Activist
You can check out the descriptions here. While I don’t know that these will actually be job titles in the future, I did see some trends that I thought were interesting. It could offer some perspective about the future of the profession.
- Every role seemed to be a “connector.” What I mean by that is the roles connected talent with the organization, or talent with data, or the organization with the community, etc.
- Human resources will have responsibility for corporate social responsibility (CSR.) The SHRM competency model includes CSR so expect to see more conversation about HR’s role in CSR in the future.
- Technology, data, and analytics will be essential skills. And not just using social media. Coding, effective adoption, and influence will be front and center in the HR department of the future.
- Work and life will not be separated. It doesn’t matter if you call it work/life balance or integration. Or if you say wellness or well-being. Bottom line: the whole employee matters. And companies must address it.
It’s very exciting to see groups like Google reWork and Project CHREATE starting to form. They’re sharing their expertise and views about the workplaces of the future. Again the idea isn’t necessarily to take their findings verbatim and implement them in your organization. It’s to think about them and ask yourself, “How would this work in our company?” and “How would we benefit if we did XX in our organization?”
But one thing is certain. Human resources is going to be relied upon heavily in the future. As HR professionals, we need to be prepared for it. Even if we’re on top of our game right now. The game is changing and we need to change with it.
2
John McCoy says
After months of reading your blog, I found one tiny point of disagreement. I agree that the use of technology, data and analytics are essential skills, but disagree with the specific skills that will be required. Coding will not be one of them.
Analytics is becoming commoditized. Analytics-as-a-service is growing. Within five years, using the predictive and prescriptive analytics embedded in HCM platforms will be as easy as driving a car. The most in-demand skill will be knowing the right question to ask.
The future of integrations has already arrived. HCM platform providers are giving us non-technical tools for integrating with any platform. Once again, the most important skill is knowing the right question to ask.
Technology platforms that don’t have plug and play analytics and integrations will not be competitive in the future marketplace.
John at CompensationScience says
John,
I think the distinction might be on how you’re defining “coding”. Most of us would probably agree that C++ won’t be common in job descriptions of HR professionals. But understanding data and being able to manipulate it new and interesting ways is becoming more valuable. Although typing in a few “if statements” in excel isn’t rocket science, doing it well requires an understanding of logic and syntax. Our technology is becoming more advanced (look at what analytics Workday pushes out) but that means we need to become more advanced to successfully use those tools. The challenge is to have computers do things that computers are good at (like remembering things or repetitive tasks) and have humans do things humans are good at (out of the box creativity, humanistic understanding, making connections). The interface between the human and the machine for anything more complex then an email is going to be some form of coding because of its speed and flexibility. For the first time in our history, the human is the weak link in our relationship with computers.
TR Harvey says
Love the HR Bartender! I share it with my team and colleagues around the globe. As an HR professional responsible for global operational excellence, I’m tasked with aligning our processes and technology for operational/cost efficiency and strong user adoption. This also includes simplifying our infrastructure to achieve a high level of customer (HR community, employees, vendors, etc) satisfaction. The role requires strong skills in project management, process mapping, financial/statistical analysis, change management, etc. I experience some frustration because this type of operations role exists in other functions such as Finance and IT and is considered critical in these functions, but appears to be overlooked or undervalued in HR. I was happy to see some semblance of HR Operations in one of the future HR jobs, but I struggle to understand why HR Operations has not increased in importance considering the desire to be strategic business partners. More importantly, organizations are viewing op excellence as a competitive advantage. Hope to see more HR professionals develop their op ex in the future.
John Wick says
Missed a few job titles.
1. Policeman
2. Headhunter
3. Axeman
4. Yesman
5. Management Activist
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thank you for the comments! This has turned into a very interesting discussion.
@John – I agree that analytics is becoming commoditized and knowing the right questions to ask will be key. But I believe that learning a bit about coding can help people learn about logic which will lead to asking better questions. That should lead to better project management. I remember taking programming in college and while I don’t do any programming today, the thought process sticks with me.
@TR – Thank you so much for sharing HR Bartender. I totally agree that we have to do more in giving HR pros operational experience. Like you, I was fortunate to be included in those conversations and it makes a difference.
@JWick – Yea, I’m not sure the actual job titles the Project CHREATE group came up with are going to fly. Can you imagine answering the “What do you do?” question at a networking event. Job titles are marketing and they will need to be polished up a bit.
@CompensationScience – Totally agree. I’m seeing a lot of plug and play technology that HR pros will be able to configure themselves. They key will be understanding enough to do that successfully.
Jenny says
It will be fascinating to see how future jobs unfold. HR is such an important connector across a business, key to its future development will be how it’s communicated to the rest of the business. Some functions may be concerned with what they perceive as an overlap. In the UK especially a cultural shift will be required internally, so other departments understand the value and direct contribution to the bottom line HR brings
Sharlyn Lauby says
@Jenny – Thanks for the comment. I think inside many organizations HR struggles to define their role. With these types of changes, it will only become more difficult.