Dive Brief:
- A new Mercer study shows 93% of employers plan to redesign their organizations but only 4% are ready to do so. The 2017 Global Talent Trends Study also shows that these plans haven’t effectively included HR’s expertise.
- Ilya Bonic, president of Mercer’s career business, says that in focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and digitization as the solution to redesigning their organizations to be competitive, executives are overlooking the human element.
- The Mercer study found that, despite organizations’ plans to redesign their operations, HR leaders don’t have organizational or job redesign on their list of 2017 priorities. The study cites HR’s top priorities as attracting top talent, succession planning and building skills across their organizations.
Dive Insight:
Organizations might think that technology adoption is not in the purview of HR or employee management. However, technology change almost always affects employees at some point down the line; organizations need to be prepared for how and why the work may change. While technological advances will make some jobs obsolete, new jobs requiring human knowledge and skills will be created.
HR executives and organizations’ priorities must be aligned. HR knows the value of human capital better than anyone else in management. Research shows that while technology has eliminated some of the time-consuming HR tasks, it's also allowing HR to shift from focusing on just hiring to engaging employees.
