While in the past the role of HR has been policy development coupled by a lot of paperwork. There has been a paradigm shift. The basic HR roles have not changed. However, these roles have evolved. The impact that employee engagement has on productivity, innovation, customer satisfaction, and loyalty have forced HR managers to take on new skills.
Also read: Possible Applications of AI in HR
These skills are key in conducting training and development so as to build a workforce that is able to face and withstand competition. To remain relevant and adaptability is key, and HR managers will need to adopt the following out-of-the box skills.
Marketing skills
The success of marketers is pegged on understanding the mindset of the customer and the emotions that lead to the purchase decisions. Marketers create a customer journey or profile to draw a map through the different phases that customers go through. In the same light, HR managers will need to borrow marketing skills. If HR managers replace the customer with an employee, they can draw an employee journey map.
Over the years, the mind of the employee has shifted. Millennials in particular, are more concerned about work/life balance, company culture, and purposeful work. A survey by Fidelity Investments revealed that this young workforce is open to a pay cut in exchange for immaterial incentives. Understanding the needs of the customer is key to retaining them, so HR managers will also need to focus on what drives the employee so as to reduce the labor turnover.
Also read: 5 Marketing Trends that Are Shaping the Recruitment Industry
It is evident that marketers have achieved success through drawing customer journey maps, in the same way, HR managers will need to track the journey of their employee’s right from recruitment to the day they exit the company. This will give them a better understanding on what the employer deems important. As such, they can make policy changes based on their findings.
Psychology skills
Psychology skills will be built on the marketing skills. HR managers will find that psychology skills are useful when it comes to creating and understanding employee personas. Traditionally, HR managers have often viewed their workforce as one entity and in most cases, treated them as such. However, in order to get the best from each worker, psychology skills are crucial in creating personas. These skills will not only be used on the existing workforce but in recruitment as well.
While recruitment has been more focused on qualifications and experience, personas also play a huge role in getting the right worker for the job. HR managers will need to come up with a profile and find the person who comes closest to fitting this profile based on the job role.
Psychology skills are also crucial in understanding the challenges faced by each employee. For instance, if you notice that a worker in under-performing, these skills can help you arrive at the core of the issue. This helps you address the problem at the root as opposed to firing people and hiring new ones.
Also read: Management Psychology 101: Practical Behaviorism in the Workplace
Statistics and data collection skills
Statistics skills with regard to HR are more introspective. Here, HR managers will need to assess the factors that are important to their work environment. The data collection will include areas where you may be failing as a HR manager. Are you having a problem with hiring and retaining workers? What goals do you have in terms of the work force that you desire to have? What have you noticed from the performance reviews? This data needs to be collected and analyzed on a regular basis.
The HR manager of the future will also need survey skills so as to collect information that will impact the workforce. The more information you gather about your managerial skills and the needs of your workers, the more effective you become in executing your mandate.
Today’s business environment is characterized by stiff competition. The winning HR managers are those who will adapt to these new skills and use them to develop a better and more effective workforce.
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