The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated shared its predictive trends for the global workforce that we will get to witness in 2019. How well are organizations prepared for all that this year has in store? The Workforce Institute at Kronos include business and HR leaders from the Americas, Europe and China hailing from companies across the board like Merlin Entertainments, Great Place to Work® Institute, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Cofound Innovation Center, the China ECR Committee and Allpku Consulting.

While every company resolves to ride the change tide, here’s a peek into what is coming our way based on the Kronos report.

Being less human to be more human

The upcoming trend would be that of using non-human interventions like AI and machine learning to tap into previously hidden workforce data to make decisions that are more people-centric. Thus, the treasure trove of data that lacked application for decades would finally be put to effective use. With tools that allow predictive analysis, organization s can now adapt to deal with issues in a more far-sighted, preventive approach. What organizations must keep in mind while having to adapt quickly is that they are many customizable solutions and that in their hurry to change, they must not fall back to the apparent convenience of the one-size-fits-all model.

Challenging traditional hiring practices

With the emergence of the need for job-specific skills, there has been a rise of certification and micro-credential programmes. Besides, traditional blue-collar roles are in the process of transformation to keep pace with automation. With a drastic change in the genre of skills required, hiring practices will undergo further evolution in the months to come.  Employers must revamp their hiring profiles and remove traditional job requirements to tap into this new pool of qualified candidates. Moreover, as millennials become parents, many are likely to urge their school-aged children to take an alternative educational path for a brighter financial future. That is a generation for which that HR needs to start preparing the workplace from now.

The global localization of laws 

There seems to be further fracturing of employment laws globally, nationally, and at the local level on the cards. Whether with regard to minimum wage, sick pay, or with regard to maintain a healthy work-life balance,  governments around the world will continue localising – and repealing – employment laws, says the Kronos report. With changes such as Brexit on the horizon, organization might be likely to feel more strain. Organizations need to make the best use of available and future technology to keep laws as unbiased and human-centric as possible.

Employee-agnostic flexibility for greater sustainability

All employees, whether permanent, hourly wage earners, or gig workers, crave control over when, where and how they work. While employers have put more focus on flexibility and alternative work schedules, most have been slow to reengineer processes that underpin how the organisation runs. Tools must meet employees where they naturally work – such as on their mobile phone, tablet, or even their favourite social networking platforms. The gig economy and emergence of the “occasional-time worker” will force organisations to replace traditional hiring and scheduling processes with systems that enable workers to choose when, where, and how long they work. With these changes being balanced, business sustainability would increase since these would be ingrained into the fabric of the organization in ways that are applicable, meaningful and relatable both in terms of business and the people who run it.