We have just entered the first month of 2019 and many HR professionals out there are probably curious to know, what should I be paying attention to for the upcoming year? How do I get my team more equipped to tackle the challenges that are coming our way? And perhaps, are all of these so-called predictions and trends anything new? If not, how can we better approach them since it has been something that we have talked about year after year?

As an HR-trained entrepreneur, I’m by no means a fortune-teller who can predict exactly what’s going to happen. But what I’ll be sharing are based on my discussions with HR and business leaders, past experiences as an in-house practitioner and personal observations of the highly dynamic market when dealing with various assignments across the region as a consultant and keynote speaker. Here’s what I think you should consider:

HR needs to become better storytellers

Increasingly, we are seeing more organizations paying attention to their employer brand both to attract external candidates and to engage their internal talent. While it’s great to know that HR is finally seeing the value of enhancing their employer brand, the rise in the number of organizations working on this piece also implies that this space is getting crowded.

Question now, “How do I stand out from all these noises in the market?”

With an overwhelming amount of content online alongside a sharp decrease in attention span today, HR professionals need to find ways to create purposeful content that can stand out. Not only does it need to attract the attention of candidates, more importantly, it has to be relevant and connects with the audience.

One of the best ways to do it? Be a storyteller. 

Instead of throwing out corporate-like content about how good you are, I’ll urge you to consider appealing more to the emotional aspect and relate to candidates at a personal level. What you are essentially doing is to help them better understand your organization’s value proposition and for the right candidate to be attracted to you because they value what you can offer. Remember, telling authentic stories will help you engage not just the BEST talent, but more importantly, the BEST FIT talent.

Effective integration of the multi-generational workforce is a must

We have heard a lot about how the Millennials are taking over the workforce. This group of employees will basically form 50% of the global workforce and more in no time. Employers and more experienced managers are constantly complaining how these bunch of young people are being a pain in the neck – job-hopping, unable to take hardship, wants instant gratification and the list goes on.

But what are we really looking at here? It’s not simply about the Millennial generation. How about your other 50% of the workforce? What about the aging workforce and rising retirement age?

We are in the era where we have up to 5 generations working together, depending on the type of organization you are in. This means that ensuring that you can tap on the various strengths of each group of employees and bringing them together as a cohesive team is extremely critical in enabling the full potential of your human capital. That said, you will need more emphasis on creating more communication channels as well as personalization at work where flexibility within the policies and structures are necessary to optimize how each generation works.

Build an ecosystem of gig workers to maximize value delivery

With technology getting more advanced, we are starting to see certain jobs slowly being removed. On that note, companies are also constantly looking to maximize their outputs with lesser resources and lowering cost by outsourcing when possible.

Considering how the gig workforce is getting more skilled and cost-effective, it makes sense that organizations should engage them more than before instead of purely considering a workforce that is full-time hire heavy because that often comes with a lot more commitment on multiple fronts.

This is not new, is it? What’s unresolved is how most organizations are managing and engaging this group of workers. In the simplest terms, contractors! Putting yourself in the shoes of the gig workers, how would you feel if you are called a vendor? What would you do if you are paid by the hour and treated as an outsider? At the end of the day, don’t these “contractors” still work with you to contribute to the success of the organization? Do they deserve to be treated as an outsider just because their contract looks different from yours?

Closing thoughts

While we all come from different industries, varying organization type and face challenges that are unique to us in some ways, these are some areas that I would like to encourage you to ponder on moving ahead for the year. These are things that may or may not require digital transformation, which is somewhat top of mind in almost all content you see today, but one thing for sure, it all starts with a change in mindset.

With that, I wish you best of luck on your HR transformation journey in 2019!