Earlier this year, IBM shocked everyone by calling their remote workers back to the office. Yahoo undertook a similar move a few years ago and recent studies have shown that in some cases, remote workforces can result in up to 25% less productivity for businesses. Yet many other companies have started to move towards remote and work-from-home style arrangements.
The truth is, the need for all aspects of business to become more adaptable is just part and parcel of work in the 21st Century. This includes human resources departments.
Once upon a time, a HR manager’s work might have been dedicated to the “hire, fire, and retire” mantra. But those days are gone. The shift towards agile management has changed the way that businesses do hiring, the way we view talent has changed, and technology has also permeated daily life, creating a desire into employees for richer, more connected and adaptive experiences in their work, social and home life. Changes in the way we view talent today have also enabled HR managers opportunity to contribute more to executive level and business-wide strategies. We’ve even seen the language and terminology start changing, with many positions switching titles for more friendly, approachable names like ‘Chief People Officer’ instead of the formal and impersonal ‘Senior HR Leader’.
The way we work is changing. Over the last few years there has been an increasing push for a healthy work-life balance, and experience. Even the idea of promotion is changing, as modern employees focus more on the ability to make personal choices at work and commit to meaningful growth, like additional training. Rather than the idea of climbing a corporate ladder.
Every individual’s understanding of growth is subjective. For some people, it means further training, upskilling and moving into a versatile or specialist position, for other it may mean taking on a leadership role. An agile style of human resource management respects employee individuality. Striving to make a connection between individual employees and their aspirations, and corporate demands. The result of implementing agility into human resources are fluid pathways to promotions and individualized careers.
Courses like Certified Scrum Product Owner Training offer the knowledge necessary to upskill to current human resource managers into more agile style roles and key members of a scrum team, such as the product owner – whose role involves both leading projects and collaborating with employees, external stakeholders and customers. It’s a role that involves communication daily and strong understanding of processes to aid other roles if the need should arise.
HR leaders, like those at IBM, Google and Yahoo, are leading the way in driving cultural change, proving that by improving flexible and tailored initiatives across the business, and keeping top level executives available to support staff throughout the organization.
21st century workplaces need an 21st century approach. That’s why the agile management system is working so well for so many organizations, allowing them to be incredibly nimble, strategic and adaptive.
