2016HRTrends-SHRM

Its that time again. As one year slides into the next, HR professionals often take stock of all that has passed and look ahead at whats to come. Whether the introspection is personal or professional, the natural question that arises is: What does it all mean?

We asked nine top business and HR thought leaders to shed some light on the answer to that question. The essays that follow highlight the most important events and trends that shaped the workplace and HR in 2015from the proposed over-time rules to performance management innovation to the evolution of workflexand provide advice on how to respond to them in 2016 and beyond. Our experts map out everything you need to succeed by competency in the new world of work.

Speaking of new worlds, we invite you to hop into our time machine and travel even further into the future. What will HR look like in 2025? The five far-out job descriptions youll find in these pages describe the vision of a group of top CHROs and thought leaders as part of Project CHREATE (The Global Consortium to Rei-magine HR, Employment Alternatives, Talent, and the Enterprise). This initiativewhose goal is to shape the future of the professionis supported by the Society for Human Resource Management, the National Academy of Human Resources, PricewaterhouseCoopers and HR People + Strategy.

One thing is clear: As the business world evolves to become more complex and global, HR will not be about just HR anymore. The next generation of leaders will need skills in marketing and brand management, information technology, finance, corporate relations, and even community activism. And so, as the calendar flips to another year, we wish you a very happy new HR.

The following individuals led the team that developed the job descriptions in this article: John Boudreau, Deb Engel, Scott Pitasky, Jeff Pon and Ian Ziskin.

By Jennifer Benz, John Boudreau, Marcus Buckingham, Peter Cappelli, Paul DeCamp, Ellen Galinsky,

Jeanne G. Harris, Chris MacDonald and Danielle Monaghan

Nine thought leaders map out everything you need to knowand doin 2016 and beyond.

28 HR Magazine December 2015/January 2016

In 2016, most CEOs will tell you that talent is their organi-zations most precious asset and that their culture is their best competitive advantage. Yet for many companies there remains a gaping hole between that rhetoric and reality.

This presents a tremendous leadership opportunity for HR, the one team that touches all parts of an organization. HR pro-fessionals are in a prime position to assess what the most pro-ductive and engaged teams are doingand to build a culture around them. Here are four ways to do that in 2016:

Serve the organization by serving the team leader. Engagement is driven by team leaders. Yet in most organiza-tions, HR measures engagement in an annual survey, with team leaders getting their data months later. HR professionals must put the right tools in the right hands, which means devel-oping strong relationships with team leaders.

Engage in dynamic teaming. Teaming today is shifting rapidly as new employment mod-els emerge and more workers think of jobs as short-term gigs rather than lifelong journeys. Our tools should reflect this reality, rather than being deployed through static, hierarchical boxes on an org chart.

If we dont have the agility to keep up with dynamic teams in real time, were acting on data thats out-of-date or irrelevant.

Gather real-time, reliable metrics. Most engagement surveys ask a long series of questions that show no correlation to retention or improved performance.

To address this disconnect, we must identify the questions that drive the outcomes we want and put the data back in the hands of team leaders to deploy right now. Mission Health and Hampton Hotels are great examples of companies getting this right.

In addition, as many organizations are discovering, perfor-mance assessment is in need of an overhaul. General Electric, Accenture and Deloitte this year joined a growing number of companies in abandoning traditional annual performance reviews. While theres certainly a need for innovation, doing

away with ratings altogether is not viable. Organizations will always need a way to differentiate talent.

Yet we know that rating people based on goals produces bad data. In fact, studies show that 61 percent of a performance assess-ment reflects the person assigning the rating rather than the one being evaluated.

Fortunately, we can accurately assess peoples own inten-tions. To gather good performance data, regularly ask team leaders a few questions about their plans for every team mem-ber: Who deserves a promotion? Who needs more training? By aggregating the data, the organization will see, quarter by quarter, what to do with each person.

Employ machine-learning algorithms. Once we have the right methods in place, our systems should be smart enough to learn, over time, the rating patterns of each individual. That will help neutralize peoples inescapable biases.

We can even apply algorithms to measure individuals strengths, thereby ensuring that all training and coaching fits each persons particular style and talents. Facebook has adopted an approach like this and infused it through the com-pany at the team leader level.

To build high-functioning organizations, we must identify the best teams and build more just like them. If HR professionals can do that, they will lead their organizations to greatness in 2016.

Marcus Buckingham is founder of engagement and performance solution company TMBC, a best-selling author, and a leadership thought leader.

Leadership and Navigation: Its All About Teams

By Marcus Buckingham

If we dont have the agility to keep up with dynamic teams in real time, were acting on data thats out-of-date or irrelevant.

Effectively leading organizations means getting the right tools to the right people.

What HR Needs to Know in 2016

December 2015/January 2016 HR Magazine 29

Workplace flexibility is one of the defining issues of our day. To attract and retain the best tal-ent, companies must think of employees as whole people. Doing so is also key to strength-

ening our relationships with and engaging our employees. In an era when job-hopping has become the norm, thats critically important. Here are four trends HR professionals should con-sider heading into 2016:

Flexibility is no longer seen as a perk but more as a solid business strategy. Todays workers see flexibility as essential. According to data from the Families and Work Insti-tute (FWI), 88 percent of employees report that having flexibility is extremely or very important in considering a job offer.

Employers are listening. In 2015, hardly a day passed when companies werent upping the ante for parental leavefrom Accenture announcing that new par-ents wont have to travel for a year after their childs birth to Micro-soft increasing its fully paid paren-tal leave to 12 weeks. And Netflix topped them all by announcing fully paid parental leave for a year.

There is a business payoff for providing these benefits. In March, mobile telecom company Vodafone announced that all 30 of its global companies would offer at least 16 weeks of paid leave to new mothers and enable them to work 30 hours a week at full pay for six months after returning. According to research Vodafone commissioned from KPMG, global businesses could save up to $19 billion annually by following Voda-fones lead. The company also reports that it is seeing improvements in engagement and applicant quality.

Providing flexibility is not a check-the-box solution. While some companies pay lip service to

flexibility by providing some kind of policy to check the box, our studies show that these practices will only improve engagement, job satisfaction and retention if they occur within a culture of flexibility. That means managers and HR must actively support flexible solutions, showcase examples of success and model the behavior they wish to see.

Flexibility is just one part of an effective work-place. In studies of the U.S. workforce, FWI determined six factors that are critical to predicting engagement, reten-tion, job satisfaction and health: 1) workplace flexibility and a culture that supports it; 2) opportunities for learn-ing; 3) autonomy; 4) supervisor support for success; 5) a culture of trust; and 6) satisfaction with earnings, benefits and advancement. We call the employers with all six char-

acteristics effective workplaces. Thats the type of environment HR must strive to create.

HR needs to provide real choices. Flexibility is not just a womens issue, although it often arises during the debate over womens roles. For example, the news that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer planned to take a very short leave after delivering twins spurred discussion this year about how female executives should manage work and home.

However, it should also be noted that most employees dont have the financial resources that Marissa Mayer hasand that needs to be addressed. FWI research indicates that what all employees need are real choices. When low-income employees work in flexible and effective workplaces, the payoff for companies can be more powerful than it is for more-advantaged employees. As HR professionals know, when our employees win, we all do.

Ellen Galinsky is president and co-founder of the Families and Work Institute in New York City.

Relationship Management: The New Flexibility

By Ellen Galinsky

You may think of employees as resources or capital, but above all they are people. Plan your business accordingly.



Culture advocate.

Brand-builder.

Connector of employees purpose with the companys purpose.

Communicator of values, norms and beliefs through virtual and personal means.

JOB OF THE FUTURE:

Virtual Culture

ARCHITECT


When the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its proposed overtime regulations in late June, it sent shock waves through the HR world. Now its time to master the skill of

consultation by guiding others on what to expect in 2016.In short, the DOL plans to more than double the mini-

mum annual salary for executive, administrative and profes-sional overtime exemptions to $50,440 from $23,660. The threshold for highly compensated employees would rise to $122,148 from $100,000. Both amounts would be adjusted annually thereafter. The department plans to issue a final rule sometime in 2016, with an effective date 60 to 120 days after publication.

If the final rule resembles the pro-posed one, these regulations will not affect all businesses evenly. If your company operates in lower-wage markets, such as the South, the Mid-west and rural areas, you will likely bear a heavier burden. The same is true in industries with many manag-ers who earn less than $50,000, such as retail, restaurants, health care and manufacturing.

In many companies, the reclas-sification may result only in opera-tional changesthat is, modified job duties, schedules and staffing levels, for example. Employees reclassified from exempt to nonexempt will likely see their scheduled hoursand overall paydecline as employers rearrange work schedules to avoid incurring high overtime costs. In the long run,

Consultation: Preparing Your Company for the New Overtime Rules

By Paul DeCamp

How to guide your business on the biggest potential regulatory change of the year.

the regulations will transfer working hours and pay from the workers who face reclassification to other employees or new hires. Make no mistake: This will lead to many unhappy peo-plewhich will in turn spur more employment litigation of all types, not merely wage and hour claims.

To prepare for the coming changes, focus on these three priorities:

Assess the scope of the issue for your organization. Identify all exempt workers with a salary below $50,440. Then, to the extent that your company relies on the highly compensated employee exemption, do the same for everyone earning between $100,000 and $122,148 per year.

Develop a strategy for managing conversions to nonexempt status. For workers who earn close to the new minimum salary, it may make sense to raise their salaries to $50,440. If thats not feasible, work with your operations team to plan on paying them as nonexempts. Start by asking these questions: How many hours do these employees currently work? If you dont know, consider tracking their time. Will post-conversion pay and working hours replicate an employees current situation, or will you need to restrict schedules at or near 40 hours? Will you base the new hourly rate on annual salary divided by 2,080 (40 hours a week 52 weeks) and just eat the overtime expenses? Will the hourly rate assume an

employee will work a certain amount of overtime? Will you need to reassign certain tasks to other workers?

Ensure that your approach is con-sistent across the organization. These decisions should not be one-off calls made by managers.

Communicate with employees. Your workforce is probably already abuzz about this issue. Those in the reclassification zone may feel anxious about what they perceive as a demotion. Reassure employees that no final rules are out yet and that you will continue to monitor these developments. That will go a long way toward alleviating their concerns and maintaining positive morale in 2016 and beyond.

Paul DeCamp is a shareholder in the Washington, D.C., region office of Jackson Lewis P.C. and previously served as administrator of the U.S. Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division.





As this years headlines proved, there is no short-age of criticisms of HR. Whether the reproaches came from the popular or business press, it seemed everyone wanted to share why they think HR is

hated, unnecessary or ill-equipped for the challenges ahead. But wouldnt you rather hear about the future of our profession from the people who are actually leading it?

Thats what Project CHREATE (The Global Consortium to Reimagine HR, Employment Alternatives, Talent, and the Enterprisechreate.net) sought to do when it began in 2013. Through interviews, focus groups and research reviews, more than two dozen top HR executives revealed this year how they think HR should evolve over the next decade. The group included CHROs representing many industries in the public and private sectors, including Disney, Gap, LinkedIn, Shutter-fly, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Starbucks and others.

As it turns out, HRs toughest critics may be themselves. Our own leaders often rated HRs effectiveness lower than those outside the field. Even some of the worlds most accom-plished CHROs indicated an urgent need for HR to improve its ability to keep up with the demands of a rapidly changing world. The project team identified five forces shaping the future of workand how HR leaders must address them.

Exponential technological change. The rapid adoption of sen-sors, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence will trigger a fundamental rethinking of work. HR leaders must be equipped to manage flexible and tran-sient workforces that can adapt to con-tinual change, including frequent job loss and obsolescence of skills.

Social and organizational recon-figuration. The democratization of work will shift power away from tradi-tional hierarchies toward more-balanced organizations. As work relationships become less employment-based and more project-based, HR will need to source

and engage talent in diverse work arrangements that include more part-time, freelance and crowdsourced workers.

A truly connected world. The world will be increasingly linked through mobile devices and the cloud, allowing work to be done anywhere, anytime. It will be up to HR to manage newly defined talent systems that support a distributed global workforce.

An all-inclusive global talent market. Work will be seamlessly distributed around the globe, and women and non-white ethnicities will become talent majorities. Moreover, as people live longer and healthier lives, their work lives will extend as well. In response, CHROs must lead organizations in segmenting their workforces and directing tasks to the best tal-ent, whether inside or outside the company. Theyll also need to address cultural preferences in policies, work design, pay and benefits.

Human/machine collaboration. Advances in analyt-ics, algorithms and automation will improve productivity and decision-making. The challenge for our leaders? To success-fully migrate tasks from people to machines or robots and use big data to find the optimal human/machine balance.

These are not roles traditionally asso-ciated with HR, yet its critical that our leaders take them on by 2025. The SHRM Competency Model represents substantial progress toward preparing HR leaders to succeed. At the same time, we must keep thinking beyond our conventional notions of HRs goals and responsibilities. Thats the only way to ensure that our leaders are poised to tackle the demands of tomor-rows world as well.

John Boudreau is a professor at the Marshall School of Business, and a professor and research director at the Center for Effective Organizations, at the University of Southern California. This article was adapted from an essay that appeared in the fall 2015 issue of People + Strategy, published by HR People + Strategy, titled HR at the Tipping Point: The Paradoxical Future of Our Profession.

HR Expertise: Facing the Future of Work

By John Boudreau

A look at tomorrows HR today.


Metrics and big data have transformed many business functions, from marketing to opera-tions. As a result, business leaders have high (but thus far largely unmet) expectations for how

analytics should revolutionize HR as well. In 2016 and beyond, rising to the challenge will require HR professionals to develop their own quantitative skills and to work collaboratively with data scientists, IT staff and technology vendors. Indeed, forg-ing strong partnerships will be key to adopting a data-driven approach to HR management.

Many HR depart-ments have taken small steps in the right direc-tion by buying more data, purchasing soft-ware, hiring quantita-tive analysts, incor-porating social media into recruiting efforts, piloting big-data proj-ects or sending a few people to seminars. While those actions can be a good start, they are just thata beginning from which HR professionals must build in order to truly develop their analytic capability. Analyt-ics is a muscle we build, says Elpida Ormanidou, vice president of global people analytics at Wal-Mart. You cannot buy your-self into an analytics capability.

Of course, the companies that lead in HR analytics, includ-ing Google and Wal-Mart, do make healthy investments in ana-lytical technology and hire teams that have the specialized skills required to understand it. But theyve also invested the time and effort required to craft sound long-term strategies around their data. Heres what HR should do in 2016 to help their organizations get real value from HR analytics:

Develop your companys analytical literacy. Hiring for specialized skills can help bridge a short-term need. But HR practitioners and business deci-sion-makers need training to become both data-lit-eratethat is, able to find, manipulate, manage and

interpret relevant dataand numerate, or conversant in a range of quantitative disciplines. These skills are the prerequisite to asking smart questions and evaluating possible answers.

Use diverse teams to solve major talent challenges. Ana-lysts love an audacious challenge, so charge them with attaining bold outcomes rather than posing narrow questionsand encour-age them to work with others to realize those outcomes. Contrary to the stereotype of an analyst working alone, leaders at British Airways, Monster, Wal-Mart and other enterprises have found that teams with diverse skills and backgrounds tend to generate

better, more-innova-tive solutions. Bringing together analysts from several quantitative dis-ciplines with business decision-makers and HR practitioners has the added benefit of gener-ating useful knowledge transfer for both analysts and HR.

Focus on big results, not analysis. Reports and even new insights dont solve problems. HR needs to go more than halfway to bring insights, ideas and solutions to the business, Ormanidou advises. Getting the insights is the easy part. Our biggest challenges are how to communicate and operationalize those insights. HR professionals must be accountable for out-comes, working alongside business managers to craft innovative strategies that put insights into action.

Buying a new software solution is easy, but it is time for HR to forget about quick fixes. Only by building a real analytic capabil-

ity can HR professionals become the proactive, data-driven critical thinkers and business leaders that their organizations need.

Jeanne G. Harris is on the faculty of Columbia University and co-author of Analytics at Work (Harvard Business School Press, 2010) and Competing on Analytics (Harvard Business School Press, 2007). She is former global managing director of IT and analytics research at the Accenture Institute for High Performance.

Critical Evaluation: Put Your Analytics into Action

By Jeanne G. Harris

In 2016 and beyond, rising to the challenge will require HR professionals to develop their own quantitative skills and to work collaboratively with data

scientists, IT staff and technology vendors.

Forget the quick fix and focus on building HRs analytic capability.


JOB OF THE FUTURE:

Data, Talent & Technology

INTEGRATORForecaster of skills, driven by technology.

Adopter of productivity technology.

Talent data and analytics modeler and decision-maker.

Coder who can adjust algorithms.

Connector who joins technology, automation and human contributions.


Prediction is very difficult, especially if its

about the future. Niels Bohr

With this quote as a caveat, lets look at what global people trends lie ahead in 2016namely, the rise of social and mobile recruiting worldwide and the clarion call to build global

talent pools for highly skilled labor. Understanding these devel-opments is critical to cultivating ones competency in global and cultural effectiveness.

Mobile recruiting is poised to become a primary global recruiting strategy. For years, weve been hearing about the importance of building recruiting tools that have full mobile capability, but this has not yet become main-stream. According to data from Jobsite, Beyond and others, roughly three-quarters of job seekers are now using smart-phones and other devices to research companies, review career resources and apply to jobs. Moreover, Pricewater-houseCoopers estimates that the tech-savvy Millennial gen-eration will make up half the workforce by 2018, driving demand even higher.

Even setting aside the Millennial demographic explosion, the groundswell for mobile recruiting tools is here. For example, the use of such devices to research and apply for jobs is becoming popular among midcareer professionals in such emerging markets as India, China and Vietnam. Thus, 2016 may be the year when mobile job-apply capability evolves from nice-to-have to must-have around the world. Are you ready?

Continued globalization and a widen-ing skills gap will require global talent acquisition strategies. U.S. companies have been using this approach for hiring senior technologists for some time, and now India

and China are marshaling their own troops in the war for tal-entby aggressively recruiting Indian and Chinese returnees as well as foreign nationals.

To compete, more companies are hiring skilled workers wherever the talent resides, even if it means dealing with com-plex immigration and taxation laws. I predict this practice will become even more critical in 2016, as tech innovations lead to more new job types and roles and as expertise may not be read-ily available in the country where a company is headquartered.

Social professional networks will become a signifi-cant source of hire. As candidates around the world become immensely more findableand more comfortable being foundrecruiters will begin deploying social-centric search strategies.

Meanwhile, job seekers are quickly learning that social monitoring can go two ways. Many are using social tools to learn more about the reputation of a companyor even a man-agerby reaching out to their networks or perusing rating sites such as Glassdoor. The days when people blindly applied to open positions (the so-called spray and pray method) may be coming to an end.

Social recruiting is quickly taking hold throughout North America and Asia and in India, the United King-dom and Germany. More companies will be creating social recruiting teams within both their HR and market-ing functions, and these teams will be focused on having timely, authentic and targeted interactions with potential

candidates.While many companies still shy away

from creating a cohesive social recruiting strategy, mainly out of fear of the unknown, this is a trend with legs. If your company is not willing to engage with what job seekers of the future want, prepare to be left behind.

Danielle Monaghan is head of talent acquisition-consumer at Amazon in Seattle and a member of the Society for Human Resource Managements Global Special Expertise Panel. Originally from South Africa, she worked in China for many years in HR positions with Microsoft and Cisco Systems.

Global and Cultural Effectiveness: Recruiting Is Social and Talent Is Local

By Danielle Monaghan

The world is changingand HR needs to change with it.



JOB OF THE FUTURE:

Global Talent SCOUT, CONVENER AND COACH

Talent scout and talent matcher.

Life coach.

Talent developer.

Expert in new work models (free agents, contractors, etc.).

Optimizer of relationships among workers, work and the organization.


As employers struggle to compete in a global econ-omy, many are experiencing new pressures that make it harder to consistently do the right thing. An August New York Times expos described a crush-

ing work environment at Amazon, spurring controversy about how far a company canand shouldpush its employees to meet its goals. And while some recent headlines have touted some companies unlimited vacation policies, others have depicted an epidemic of overworked employees rarely in a posi-tion to take any time off at all, let alone unlimited time.

Meanwhile, straight-up corporate malfeasance is also alive and well, as demonstrated by the recent Volkswagen emissions scandal. Global CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned after the companys employees were found to have deliber-ately installed software to give falsely low emissions readings on diesel cars.

Were these employees entirely devoid of any sense of right and wrong? How much can we blame indi-viduals vs. a cutthroat business environment?

While there are no easy answers, its clear that HR can play a crucial role in creating and maintaining a culture that encourages people to do the right thing.

As HR professionals know, a culture is a shared set of beliefs, practices and traditions that gives employees a sense of how things are done around here. But what sets an ethical culture apart? There are four key characteristics: An ethical culture embodies a clear set of values that are embedded in the way business gets done and that are repeated, explicitly, as often as possible. Ethical issues are always open for discussion. Through training and open communication, an ethical cul-ture prepares employees for making good decisions. It empowers employees to have the courage to act ethically.

HR teams often are already in charge of ethics training and writing key policies, including the organizations code of ethics and conflict-of-interest policy. Even HR decisions and practices that dont bear the label of ethics can set a tone for principled behavior.

Every HR decision is an opportunity for the company to do the right thing as well as to be seen doing the right thing. This starts, of course, with equity in hiring. When a senior managers son gets the job instead of the best-qualified candidate, it sends a powerful signal. Ethics in HR also extends to the details of benefits programs, to the openness of employee communica-tions, and ultimately to fairness in discipline and firing. Its up to HR professionals to ensure that all employees are treated in a humane manner, whether that means protecting them from bullying supervisors or ensuring that they arent working around the clock. HR must balance organizational success with employee advocacy.

HRs greatest impact may be in determining the ethical char-

acter of the individuals who are hired and retained. Putting the right individuals on the teamthat is, hiring those with the val-ues we wantis crucial. So is getting rid of the bad apples, even if they happen to be star performers.

As scandal after scandal suggestsand dont expect there to be fewer such episodes in 2016ethical breaches can often evolve into legal troubles, resulting in lawsuits, loss of stock value and even jail time. Yet as executives engage in their short-term pursuit of quarterly profits, they often lose sight of the role culture can play in keeping the company out of hot water. It is up to HR professionals to remind them.

Chris MacDonald is an associate professor and director of the Jim Pattison Ethical Leadership Program at Ryerson Universitys Ted Rogers School of Management in Toronto. He teaches courses on ethics and critical thinking.

Ethical Practice: HR Must Champion a Principled Culture

By Chris MacDonald

HRs greatest impact may be in determining the

ethical character of the individuals who are hired

and retained.

An ethical culture makes it easier for employees to do the right thing.



JOB OF THE FUTURE:

Social Policy and Community

ACTIVISTTalent and community engager.

Corporate social responsibility leader.

Producer of synergy among various social goals of the organization.

Influencer beyond the organization who shapes policies, regulations and laws that support the new world.


In the past year, weve seen articles proclaiming that its time to blow up HR in order to rebuild the field to be more focused on the bottom line. HR is in part unpopu-lar because it makes people behave and enforces policies

about how every employee, including executives, must interact with others.

Nevertheless, its hard to deny that HR is often perceived by corporate leaders as being out of step with the rest of the business. Indeed, according to an article in the fall 2015 issue of People + Strategy, business leaders both inside and outside the field consis-tently rate HR as moderately satis-factory at best in terms of skills and effectiveness.

The most fre-quent and persis-tent criticism is that HR cant connect to the language of finance, which defines how business operates. Every HR profes-sional can ensure that this doesnt hold true for himself or herself by developing business acumen. Whats the best way to do that?

Here are three tips for sharpening your strategic skills in 2016:

Recognize that good HR is about making choices. There is no single best-practice model. Rather, your policies should be predicated on what works well for your particular business. It makes sense for some companies to outsource their hiring, for oth-ers to avoid the use of incentive pay and for still others to refrain from using employees at all for certain tasks. Knowing what to do when is the keyand that requires under-standing business strategy. This is the first step to figuring out the different ways com-panies can compete and succeed.

Learn enough finance to understand the factors that drive shareholder value. It isnt enough to understand how to calculate a rate of return on investment. You must be able to articulate arguments in terms of return on investment. Learn enough cost accounting to grasp how the metrics you collectabout engagement, retention, benefits, etc.lead to improved organizational performance and a stronger bottom line. Become fluent in the language of numbers and balance sheets.

Choose your continuing education options wisely. Many courses in HR dont reflect the issues of today. Some classes are

based on 30-year-old texts. While books and curri-cula have all been updated, the old corporate model, in which employ-ees were hired for life, remains at their core. Many

are disproportionately focused on compli-ance, job analysis and training programs. While those topics still have a place in HR, todays professionals must also learn how to partner effectively with vendors, manage organizational change, shape corporate cul-ture and navigate the conflicting demands around executive compensation.

So instead of detonating HR, lets embrace the evolution of its mandate. Its growing just like all the other functions of business in our rapidly changing world. And that cant happen without a little pain along the way. But the investment of time and effort will be well worth it in the long run.

Peter Cappelli is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Director of Whartons Center for Human Resources.

Business Acumen: Building a Better HR

By Peter Cappelli

Embrace HRs evolution by learning the language of finance.

Instead of detonating HR, lets embrace the evolution of its mandate. Its growing just like

all the other functions of business in our rapidly changing world.



JOB OF THE FUTURE:

Organizational

ENGINEER Expert in new ways of working.Facilitator of virtual team effectiveness.

Developer of all types of leadership.

Expert at talent transitions.

Master of task optimization and organization principles such as agility, networks, power and trust.


Its increasingly difficult for many organizations to retain their best and brightest employees as the economy strength-ens and millions of new jobs are being created. In fact, according to a recent Towers Watson survey, more than

half of employers reported difficulty holding on to skilled work-ers. With low wage growth expected again in 2016Worldat-Work expects an average salary increase of 3.1 percentsmart employers are emphasizing the value of benefits as a means of getting their talent to stay put. By learning how to share informa-tion about benefits clearly and effectively, you can cultivate your competency as a strong communicator.

Thats not always easy. The past five years have brought per-haps our biggest chal-lenge, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is possibly the most complex benefits legis-lation ever passed. As if that wasnt enough, retirement plans are also evolving to build in automation and encourage lifetime participation.

Meanwhile, HR leaders are managing the most diverse workforce in U.S. history while considering new ideas about the nature of work. Its understandable that benefits communication has not been at the top of HRs priority list.

Yet now more than ever, your employees need that help. As an issue brief from the Employee Benefit Research Institute states, There is strong evi-dence workers simply lack the ability to navi-gate the complex and technical nature of health care. The data backs that up: Aflac finds that 54 percent of employees dont want more con-trol over their health insurance options because those decisions are too daunting.

At the same time, U.S. employees are in financial distress. The majority are living pay-check to paycheck, and the average retirement account balance wont even cover a years expenses.

Something must change. In 2016, its time

to develop creative and even aspirational strategies for informing our workforces about their benefits.

Many savvy employersparticularly those in industries competing for top talentare already making strides in creat-ing plain-language, personalized, visually engaging messages. The result? Happy, informed workers; higher productivity; and a stronger bottom line.

I see a not-too-distant future where companies of all sizes make substantial investments in year-round multichannel ben-efits education that can help all of their workers build lifelong health and financial security. Although this work wont be easy, it can transform organizations and the people who drive them.

The great news is that we can all learn from the employers that are communicating effectively. The formula is remarkably simple: Build engaging chan-nels that support fre-

quent communication. For most, that means creating a dynamic, branded, user-friendly, mobile-optimized website outside the corporate firewall. My work in guiding organizations toward better benefits communication has shown time and again that this is the single most important investment organizations can make. It provides easy access to benefits information for employ-ees and family members, 24/7, in the palms of their hands.

Once you have that in place, use all of the other channels available to youe-mail, post-ers, print materials, webinars and meetingsto push people to that site and remind them about the valuable programs and resources available to them.

With HR leading the charge, we can realize a future that includes employee-focused communication that rivals consumer marketing.

Jennifer Benz is founder and CEO at Benz Communications in San Francisco.

Communication: Spreading the Word About Benefits

By Jennifer Benz

Its time to develop creative and even aspirational strategies for informing our

workforces about benefits.

In light of stagnant wage growth, benefits have become a crucial retention tool.



2016HRTrends-SHRM

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