In the August issue of its HR Magazine, SHRM published an overview of the following changes in HR over the past ten years, along with predictions of further developments in the years ahead.
1. Social networks
Ten years ago, social networks were still in their infancy. As they gradually gained more popularity, companies started blocking them to prevent employees being distracted. Today's attitudes to social networks are more open. Employers have learned to perceive them as common tools of communication whose blocking does not make much sense: on the contrary, they can be used to a company's benefit.
2. Flexible benefits
Ten years ago, the most frequent benefits were non-individualised healthcare and pension contributions. The basic offer remains but now many other options also exist: payment of tuition fees, various benefits for parents with children, sports, massages, etc. Above all, there has been a shift towards employees being able individually to select their own benefits up to a certain amount of money.
3. Performance evaluation
Until recently, feedback on employee performance took the form of traditional annual assessments. In the past few years, however, the process has become less formal and more flexible.
Employers have started to abolish structured annual ratings and implement real-time feedback. Instead of competition among employees, cooperation is promoted. The work of whole teams and the role of individual team members is evaluated. The youngest generation of employees in particular welcomes this form of assessment.
Part two of the article will look at three more trends: remote work, development of the so-called gig economy, and data analysis in HR.
-kk-