A sudden lockdown during COVID forced many organisations to pivot to a digital-first approach in every sphere including talent and people management. While the start was shaky, the efforts started bearing fruit as digitalisation meant the organisations now sit on a huge treasure trove of data. People analytics with ample use from technology became a source for many talent and employee decisions. This also amplified HR spends on tech.
According to a Darwinbox survey, 60% organisations invested in remote workforce management tools, 59% in digital hiring & onboarding and 41% in video calling infrastructure. Investments in HR Tech will thus continue to be central to HR spends for 2023. The advanced analytics offered by these services has a host of benefits. For example, it is now possible to track attrition or identify employee leave trends. This helps many firms mitigate the risk of losing a star employee by acting on time. Artificial Intelligence has thus become a favoured tech now. Then there’s e-learning which seemed to have caught up in a big way in the last couple of years and has led many companies to put extra emphasis on upskilling their professionals.
So on National Technology Day, which celebrates the successful nuclear bomb tests at Pokhran in 1998, we asked HR Leaders to mention one HR tech innovation that will be on the priority list of every organisation in 2023.
Here’s what they have to say:
Monitoring Employee Sentiments
Nitin Chandel, MD & Head of Engineering, BNY Mellon, India
Continuous engagement management tools, such as Peakon, allow us to monitor employee sentiments in relation to an array of engagement drivers. It helps us understand what is most important to them, what challenges they may be facing, and what changes can be made to enhance the employee experience. Since 2021, Engagement Net Promoter Scores for Engineering India at BNY Mellon have increased by 11 points, indicating a rise in Employee Engagement. Meaningful and targeted insights have been instrumental in driving specific actions/initiatives.
Power of HRMS strengthens
Dr. Sriharsha Achar – CHRO, Star Health and Allied Insurance.
Impactful HR innovation should put control into the employees’ hands. For example, automated processes are available to enable employees to manage their HR data and tasks, as everything from hiring to retirement can be found in a secure database. 58% of companies depend on HR technologies for talent recruitment and retention Over one-third of HR professionals admit they lack the proper onboarding technology. Just under 50% of businesses actively invest in HR management The HR software hosting market is worth over $13.8 billion 58% of businesses use HR software to find and retain talent. Thus having an HRMS system allows everyone to benefit.
Looking at the scenario this year, the potential of Web 3.0 and Mixed Reality is anticipated to enable HR management to virtually screen, assess, and onboard talent. Tech-enabled talent pipelines will become more ubiquitous for employers to keep a deep bench of active and passive talent ready so that they can hire proactively instead of resorting to reactive hiring when the need arises. Generative AI, too, needs a special mention here as various tech giants are deep into the technology and are optimizing it to suit a range of business divisions. HR stands a chance to highly benefit from the innovations in this field.
Learning and development
Naganagouda S J, Chief People Officer, Tally Solutions
Given the unprecedented technological disruptions happening at the speed of thought, where the intellectual capabilities of employees are being exponentially challenged by AI, ML, and the like, the global AI tech interest will triple by 2030 due to the advantages of disruptive Technology. Also, due to the rapid changes, there is a massive talent crisis across organizations where the current capabilities are not sufficient for success. To address this issue, we enabled Compass, The Digital Learning Platform in Tally – a one-stop solution for upskilling using hyper-personalization. It tracks the employees’ learning preferences over time and presents them with recommendations for further learning with the help of AI. This way, Compass enables us to intelligently match our employees’ evolving learning goals and preferences with the relevant resources.
HR metrics with diversity and campus recruitment data
Meenakshi Thakur, Group HR Head – Runaya.
“Using internal dashboard portals helps to analyze HR metrics like manpower planning and productivity tracking. Employee communication is a key focus area, with interventions such as Leader’s Connect, Townhall, Business Plan Workshops, and R-Connect through online portals and virtual connects, all aimed at ensuring transparency. Diversity and Inclusion are important to the group, with 55% gender diversity, and a related diversity charter and agenda formed at the business and group level. Hiring the right talent through campus is a priority, with virtual pre-campus visit connects, and campus recruitment through a digital screening platform.
Technology will keep evolving and new innovations will replace the previous ones. It will be important to understand which of these solutions are futuristic in their approach and will be able to adapt with the changes in the talent ecosystem.
A sudden lockdown during COVID forced many organisations to pivot to a digital-first approach in every sphere including talent and people management. While the start was shaky, the efforts started bearing fruit as digitalisation meant the organisations now sit on a huge treasure trove of data. People analytics with ample use from technology became a source for many talent and employee decisions. This also amplified HR spends on tech. 
Continuous engagement management tools, such as Peakon, allow us to monitor employee sentiments in relation to an array of engagement drivers. It helps us understand what is most important to them, what challenges they may be facing, and what changes can be made to enhance the employee experience. Since 2021, Engagement Net Promoter Scores for Engineering India at BNY Mellon have increased by 11 points, indicating a rise in Employee Engagement. Meaningful and targeted insights have been instrumental in driving specific actions/initiatives.
Impactful HR innovation should put control into the employees’ hands. For example, automated processes are available to enable employees to manage their HR data and tasks, as everything from hiring to retirement can be found in a secure database. 58% of companies depend on HR technologies for talent recruitment and retention Over one-third of HR professionals admit they lack the proper onboarding technology. Just under 50% of businesses actively invest in HR management The HR software hosting market is worth over $13.8 billion 58% of businesses use HR software to find and retain talent. Thus having an HRMS system allows everyone to benefit.
Looking at the scenario this year, the potential of Web 3.0 and Mixed Reality is anticipated to enable HR management to virtually screen, assess, and onboard talent. Tech-enabled talent pipelines will become more ubiquitous for employers to keep a deep bench of active and passive talent ready so that they can hire proactively instead of resorting to reactive hiring when the need arises. Generative AI, too, needs a special mention here as various tech giants are deep into the technology and are optimizing it to suit a range of business divisions. HR stands a chance to highly benefit from the innovations in this field.
Given the unprecedented technological disruptions happening at the speed of thought, where the intellectual capabilities of employees are being exponentially challenged by AI, ML, and the like, the global AI tech interest will triple by 2030 due to the advantages of disruptive Technology. Also, due to the rapid changes, there is a massive talent crisis across organizations where the current capabilities are not sufficient for success. To address this issue, we enabled Compass, The Digital Learning Platform in Tally – a one-stop solution for upskilling using hyper-personalization. It tracks the employees’ learning preferences over time and presents them with recommendations for further learning with the help of AI. This way, Compass enables us to intelligently match our employees’ evolving learning goals and preferences with the relevant resources.
“Using internal dashboard portals helps to analyze HR metrics like manpower planning and productivity tracking. Employee communication is a key focus area, with interventions such as Leader’s Connect, Townhall, Business Plan Workshops, and R-Connect through online portals and virtual connects, all aimed at ensuring transparency. Diversity and Inclusion are important to the group, with 55% gender diversity, and a related diversity charter and agenda formed at the business and group level. Hiring the right talent through campus is a priority, with virtual pre-campus visit connects, and campus recruitment through a digital screening platform.
