Dive Brief:
- HR technology expert Josh Bersin described in a blog post his discussions with CHROs and other HR leaders to explore the future of work, corporate culture and the role of new HR technologies. Their main conclusion? “We have to do less.”
- According to Bersin, an HR leader from a well-known media and technology company said that after nearly two decades in HR, her thought was "we need to do away with almost 75% of the things we do.”
- In that case, the executive mentioned mobility programs, which for her firm had meant a complex menu of options for expat assignments, moves and employee transitions. Bersin says she finally realized it wasn’t worth the hassle. Instead, she said all that was needed was a policy to “be generous with employee moves.”
Dive Insight:
Bersin's post mentioned another well known Fortune 50 brand company CHRO, who said that today people work in a much different way. Many people are now "shopping their skills internally," but internal talent marketplaces face roadblocks, so that employer successfully built an internal job site to help the global marketing function serve as a giant consulting firm to meet the challenge.
He also mentions the CHRO of a large non-profit who took a fresh perspective and "shut off" all major HR programs, adding them back slowly after studying the employee work experience.
"Your job in HR is to 'make employee’s work life better' – and that might mean less formal training, fewer programs, and simpler systems," Bersin says. "Every discussion we had revolved about 'doing less to do more,' something we all need to focus on in HR and leadership."
The theme here is design thinking. Today's working environment overwhelms workers with too many emails, messages and systems to use, Bersin notes. As more employers consider the impact HR systems have on work-life balance, such thinking has become front and center to prevent burnout and improve productivity.
