In the age of social media, big data and artificial intelligence (AI) which continue to evolve at a rapid pace, businesses are embracing these technologies to move towards a model digital workplace.
When it comes to human resources (HR) and talent management, the business processes are continuously evolving with the integration of AI and social media transforming the daily HR tasks and interactions in the organisations. In the current scenario, HR function has become more important to find out ways to hire and retain best talents, and improve their productivity and efficiency by leveraging technology to make informed decisions.
The use of emerging technologies in organisations is redefining how people perform their assigned tasks and how they are evaluated. As a result, workplace is transforming, and HR needs to transform even faster to embrace the change.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HR: To ensure that they are prepared to step in the era of AI, firstly, HR practitioners need to make sure that people are at the centre of the talent technology they choose for their workplaces.
New tools driven by artificial intelligence should not affect the paramount role of the individuals as the efficiency and productivity gains and ultimate value the technology deployment brings to the workplace is determined by them. This should be the top priority of HR and technology is already there to innovatively deliver the best possible employee experience, interventions and learning opportunities.
Secondly, innovative use of technology for analytical capabilities should be another prime objective of organisations embracing AI. They need to leverage smart analytics driven by AI to make better informed decisions.
While the organisations look to hire and retain best available human resources, such employees and candidates are also aware of their worth and they expect more from the employers in terms of benefits and career progression, which often result in high employee turnover and increase in recruitment and retainment costs.
Emerging talent technologies allow for real-time analytics and integration of all data sources to help HR practitioners meet this challenge organisations are facing today.
Pacific Jeans and Ananta Group -- two of the leading denim manufacturers in Bangladesh have already started their Human Capital Modernisation journey. Modern workplace inclusion is in their roadmap.
AI assists HR practitioners to make better insight-driven decisions about the talent using the HR data available and allow organisations to simplify complex processes to deliver the best possible employee experience.
IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA: Social media over the last decade or so has largely redefined how we communicate and this is not just limited to us as individuals but has also taken organisations on board. Social media has the power to make or break an organisation's image within hours, and as a result, HR is constantly under pressure to deliver only the best image of the company on social media. Recruiters now need to ensure a positive image of the organisation on social networks to attract the best talents as they take advantage of social media tools to recruit them.
By leveraging technologies like the Oracle Talent Acquisition Cloud platform, HR can harness the power of the cloud to source talents across multiple social and digital community channels. Following the identification of prospective candidates and existing employees through social listening tools, the next step is for organisations to actively engage with them.
For social recruitment and engagement programmes to be truly effective in the long run, HR needs to have well-established channels, both online and offline, to continue conversation and ensure that they bring new recruits into the fold. For example, as part of one of the most recruitment-intensive industries, Apollo Hospitals in India, with its 32,000-strong workforce and 61 hospitals relied heavily on technology to hire and retain a diverse, knowledge-based workforce. Oracle HCM enabled Apollo Hospitals to clear the bottlenecks, eradicated the functional silos and helped it to manage the complete life cycle of an employee with ease. It gave an integrated platform to handle talent management challenges. PVR Cinemas, the largest chain of multiplexes in India, are using Oracle HCM Cloud technology to create a seamless and connected HR experience, leading to employee-centric processes and a marked change in customer experience. For example, the business previously used Excel files for the employee lifecycle process; but with Oracle, all that data has been shifted to a single source on the cloud for instant visibility of employee performance.
Additionally, to help businesses attract, engage and retain employees, Oracle is driving new innovations within its Oracle HCM Cloud that makes the HR experience even more akin to everything people love about social media. Employees can choose a "newsfeed" style interface for easy access to relevant updates, enjoy personalised and proactive training recommendations, and use automated chatbots to get quick answers to routine questions. These updates are coming soon to Oracle's HCM Cloud, and existing customers will have automatic access to the updated suite of AI-driven HR tools as soon as they're in place.
The next-generation of workers want more insight into the business of their organisations and also expect to remain connected with their employers and colleagues. Social media is a great tool to facilitate this, sharing moments as they unfold and to provide exclusive access through intimate online forums or live on-site visits for a select group of employees or potential recruits.
Emerging technologies have the potential to disrupt HR and redefine its future. Innovative use of AI and social media is crucial to transform HR operations and workplace and play its role to keep the organisation moving forward.
Md Aminul Haque is Head of Applications, Oracle Corporation – Bangladesh, Nepal & Bhutan.
