Gretchen Alarcon

By Mike Vilimek



As 2013 winds to a close, we’ve compiled a list of the most important topics and trends we hear HR leader want to focus on in the upcoming year. Here are the top 10 New Year’s resolutions for HR departments in 2014: 



10. Provide a good candidate experience

Just like customer experience is important in driving sales and revenues, candidate experience is important to attracting and hiring the best and brightest talent. More than ever, individuals, both customers and candidates will broadcast their experiences, good or bad, out to their social connections. Individuals now hold the power. Treat them well.



9. Leverage our employee’s connections for referrals



In Survey.com research commissioned by SelectMinds, referrals were found to be the top choice for external sourcing for quality, speed and cost. Better candidates, faster, and cheaper; can you really afford not to take advantage of referrals in 2014?





8. Figure out this whole “Big Data” thing


Surprisingly, 18% of those surveyed in the CedarCrestone 2013 HR Systems Survey said they were completely unaware of the concept and application of Big Data in HR. The term Big Data is one of the most confusing trends in HR technology. It’s debatable whether this is because vendors are purposely muddying the waters with mislabeled offerings or because the term is intentionally subjective and incorporates a moving definition of how big a data set needs to be and how many data sets are required to be considered big data. Regardless, the potential of Big Data to provide predictive insights into our world at a level never seen before will continue to drive the popularity of Big Data in 2014.





7. Provide a better employee experience



Shifts in consumer experience have led to shifts in workplace expectations. Outside work, people are constantly immersed in consumer experiences designed to be simple, personalized and engaging. When at work, they don’t forget how they were treated as consumers. Employees now expect a modern experience, mirroring the one they get as empowered consumers. Expectations are now that completing work transactions or collaborating with colleagues should be as easy as buying a book on Amazon or posting messages to Facebook. 

6. Integrate social collaboration capabilities for our employees
According CEB’s 2013 Breakthrough Performance in the New Work Environment research, 67% of employees report an increase in work requiring active collaboration. As organizations have become more matrixed, employees across the organization share formal responsibilities, authority, and accountability for more work outcomes. While informal working relationships and networks have always been important, getting work done today requires more collaboration among a broader and more diverse set of people who are performing new tasks and working across more geographic locations. Collaborating today is harder than it was yesterday, but even more critical.





5. Align organizational goals to individual goals


Joseph Cabral, SVP, Chief of Human Resources at North Shore LIJ, an Oracle HCM Cloud customer, recently said, “Aligning organizational goals to individual goals is the one key component to the success of any organization.” Organizations that can effectively cascade the goals from the top throughout the organization ensuring that each team member is clear on the expectations and the goals of the organization will have a competitive advantage in 2014.





4. Get early warning on retention risks through predictive analytics



It’s hard enough to find great talent. Once you have them, try not to lose them. Modern HR applications now have embedded predictive analytics to better analyze and forecast worker performance and risk of attrition. For every great talent you retain, that’s hundreds of less candidates you need to screen. 





3. Make all systems available on mobile devices


The CedarCrestone 2013 HR Systems Survey also notes that mobile-enabled process adoption grew 67% since last year and is expected to double again in 2014. Providing access to your HR application via mobile devices will no longer be a “nice-to-have” in 2014. It will be a “must-have.”






2. Move all (or some) of our systems to the cloud


The future of enterprise software in 2014 and beyond is in the cloud. The benefits of cloud computing are well documented, however most of the actions taken by companies in the market so far have been tactical at best – because they could only focus on a single application or function. Oracle HCM allows organizations to move all or some of their HR applications to a secure, enterprise-grade cloud that spans all of HCM – not just pieces of it.

1. Have fun and make a difference
In a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, 80% of CEOs and CFOs said they wanted the head of HR to be a key player in their company’s strategic planning. Leaders have realized you don’t build a business, you build people, and then people build the business. In 2014, more than any year before, HR departments will be poised to contribute to the strategic growth of their organizations. So have fun and make a difference.


For all of us at the Oracle HCM team, have a safe and happy New Year!





Mike Vilimek is an experienced technology professional and an active blogger, presenter, and thought leader on topics including recruiting and HR technology. As the Director, HCM Product Marketing at Oracle, Mike is responsible for defining global positioning and messaging for Oracle HCM solutions. Prior to joining Oracle, Mike led the product marketing teams at Talemetry, a recruiting technology provider and Oracle Platinum Partner, and data analytics provider ACL Services. Mike has been a frequent presenter at HR Technology and HCM conferences, events, and webinars and has most recently presented at Oracle Open World 2013, the Oracle HCM Users Group (OHUG) Annual Conference, Collaborate, and at multiple Oracle Regional User Groups across North America.

Mike graduated from Simon Fraser University with a business degree in Marketing and International Business and was a member of the SFU Football team. Following graduation, Mike had a 7-year professional football career in the Canadian Football League (CFL).

https://blogs.oracle.com/OracleHCM/entry/top_10_hr_resolutions_for