Just as many individuals make New Year’s resolutions for improving themselves, companies also strive to improve their products and services by making positive changes each new year. This involves knowing about the latest HR (Human Resources) trends. HR specialists and business leaders are anticipating new trends, in addition to improving the old ones. Are you an HR professional, CEO or CFO, wondering what to expect in 2019? Here are five of the top HR trends for 2019, along with a few other trends and considerations.

6 Top Trends for 2019

1. Improved Planning and More Targeted Goals in Training Sessions

One of the worst mistakes preventing organizations or businesses from achieving their highest potential is sloppy, inadequate planning and a lack of commitment from leaders. It’s essential HR personnel and business executives have specific and clearly defined goals, regarding what they want their training sessions to accomplish.

Moreover, it’s crucial for a C-suite (corporate leaders and officers) and HR to work together diplomatically in defining their mission statement and values. When this occurs, a company runs smoother and can render optimal performance. In addition, this can help in developing a reputation for a business being more competent.  

2. Continued Development of People Analytics

Simply put, people analytics is the use of statistics, math and modeling for employee-related information for seeing and predicting patterns. As a result, better decisions can be made in HR strategies, which improves business performance. 

Many aspects of people analytics are already used now in daily operations, but we have only “scratched the surface.” The new year is expected to usher in better data usage than last year. This means HR personnel and business leaders will become more informed as to how to implement their data for hiring the best job candidates.

3. More Emphasis on Soft Skills

Because organizations are reaching out to more people and becoming more diverse and inclusive, there’s even a greater need for employees to develop their “soft skills.” This means business leaders need to find better ways to communicate, along with enhancing their negotiation skills. 

Consider that, according to a 2016 Deloitte survey, over 90 percent of those surveyed ranked soft skills as a critical priority. Furthermore, the respondents pointed out that improved soft skills can help in retaining employees, besides enjoying better leadership and creating a more meaningful workplace culture.

4. Improved Recruiting Software and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Updated recruiting software benefits companies in two main areas, which include optimization and targeting. In other words, recruiting software gets to do the negative part of hiring candidates, which saves time for job recruiters. As a result, HR professionals don't have to waste the countless hours it used to take to recruit new employees.  

There will be more use of AI (Artificial Intelligence), which refers to performing jobs that human beings normally do, such as speech recognition, visual perceptions, language translation and decision-making. The continued development of AI has increased to where there's a faster response for questionnaires and queries.

But this doesn’t mean getting rid of HR pros. Instead, it simply means having smarter tools and improved technology. Just think about how AI helps in enhancing HR decision making.

To see this technology in action, visit our iSolved Demo below:

5. Hiring More Freelancers, Temps and Contract Workers

Consider that by 2020, it’s estimated that about 50 percent of the entire U.S workforce will be composed of freelancers, temporary (temp) or contract workers. Although some companies and organizations consider this to be a negative change, others see it as a way for saving money as well as taking advantage of specialized, skilled talent. Instead of being tied down to a limited group of people, with some of them not having the capacities or motivation to perform what a company expects them to do, you can benefit from having exceptional talent.

6. Hiring Accuracy

Consider that hiring new candidates can be time consuming, taking anywhere from just a few days to as long as four months. However, using improved hiring tools can make the hiring process much quicker and easier.

Other Trends and Considerations

• Diversity in a work environment is a trend that’s expected to continue and is especially important for attracting millennials.  
• More and more companies are realizing the benefits of embracing team values.
• There’s also the trend for more emphasis on mental health in the workplace. This means HR departments are seeking better ways to offer support for employees undergoing mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety.

Questions?  At Platinum Group, we offer employee engagement and HR hiring solutions that are integrated with our HCM platform. Please feel free to schedule an appointment and find out more about how we can help you.