HR Approach in the Digital World Date:   Wednesday , June 15, 2016 Headquartered in California, Xavient is an IT consulting firm that provides enterprise solutions and operational support services like customization, enhancement, OSS/BSS applications, infrastructure & security management and many others Digitization has transformed the way corporates work, requiring a tremendous change in all areas of human resources. What\'s needed is a complete reversal of how the technology should serve the human needs of people at work, starting not from the needs of the enterprise, but from those of the people who make it what it is. The new technologies play an important role in portraying a brand in a manner that is attractive to the people joining it. From social media to blogs and mobile to web-apps, every internet tool serves fairly well in connecting people within the organization and linking them outside the organization. Some areas of digital age that seeped into the human resource function right from talent search to maintaining employee functions within the organization can be: - Using social networking sites (such as LinkedIn) to search for and recruit the right talent. - Using the web for company job postings and awareness of vacancies and hiring. - Providing web based or mobile HR platforms (payroll, benefits, and others). - Using technology to capture performance reviews and create workforce reports. - Using data analytics for business intelligence and also to identify risk areas. The revolution that technology brought in Human resources- - Transparency of Data: All HR-related information is now freely shared on the Internet. Glassdoor holds unfiltered feedback about an organization\'s CEO, culture, benefits and salaries. LinkedIn is an open recruiting tool that lets recruiters find and contact more than 500 million professionals at almost no cost; and many a new web applications and sites are now enabling employees to share their salaries, rate their managers, and talk about what it\'s like to work at their company. This has completely taken away all the meaning from secret talent reviews and ratings. People now expect transparency in HR practices as well. - New Models of Leadership: One of the most important roles HR plays is the development and support of the leadership pipeline. But leadership styles and needs today are radically different from the traditional models pioneered by GE and IBM in the last few decades. The lean six sigma model, the Japanese Kaizen practice and various such models are being accepted and used widely within the organization which has changed the face of training and development functions. Leaders these days must be agile, globally aware, innovative, and highly collaborative. While the top-down hierarchical structure still exists in most companies, more and more research shows that it is empowerment and agility that drives success in today\'s economy. Staying up-to-date with the analytical and predictive capabilities is enormously important so that the ability of the workforce to change can be analyzed and the corresponding advanced training and recruiting measures can be initiated. - Accelerated Career Expectations: The digital world has exposed people to in-depth knowledge and employees do not hesitate to move on in search of change or a better opportunity. So the concept of a \'job\' has changed and organizations have to facilitate their talent in a world of a rapidly changing, mobile, contingent working economy. - Big Data & Science: Many of the HR decisions that were mostly based on one\'s gut are being replaced with numbers and analytics, leading to the HR world of data driven decisions. The datafication of the HR would answer questions like - who to hire, who to promote, what career paths to facilitate, how much to pay people, and even where to locate a facility, how big an office someone needs, and what type of food we should serve in the cafeteria. HR departments are confronted with a flood of data from applications, partner networks and social networks. They have the critical task of filtering out and validating the data that are actually relevant - while strictly observing compliance regulations at all times. - Performance Management: Traditional performance assessment methods are fading into background because the associated administrative work is both time-consuming and costly. HR needs the right data for assessment and evaluation ready at all times to make sure they can keep employees satisfied with relevant information. Digitization has served this HR need as well. Also, employees these days, dislike being classified according to rigid performance levels. New innovative methods are in increased demand; they in turn require new IT tools for supporting the processes. - Future Workplace & Collaboration: Work capability; anywhere, anytime, across national borders, using various devices is an important aspect of the modern working world. One key aspect here is access to company data and processes without regard for the physical location of any specific employee. HR processes are utilized and important information is retrieved on mobile devices. Digitization has accelerated and smoothened the working of an onshore-offshore model wherein a constant update is required on both ends and one single HR department at the HQ manages employees at all the branches. The digital age HR functions include - - Internal - Staff Engagement, Retention Strategies, Training & Assessment, Building Internal Relationships, Information Sharing & Collaboration. - External - Staff Attraction, Candidate Relationship Building, Candidate Screening, Maintaining a Talent Pipeline, Pre-appointment Screening, Brand Reputation & Post Appointment Relationship Building. HR (Human Resource) and HCM (Human Capital Management) have evolved to serve the needs of an organizational model that is already crumbling as digital technology invades the modern enterprise. The Internet and the new forms of mobility are changing our society at a breathtaking pace. The new strategic orientation must be actively supported by HR management in line with today\'s world. Digitalization is leaving HR no choice but to become more deeply involved in business operations, and personnel departments will have to bid farewell to functional silo thinking. Digital technology has put information power in the hands of individuals; both employers and employees, and the same must be harnessed responsibly so that both parties stay engaged and content. HR should keep reorienting its processes and systems to ensure people always stay at its core.