The New Role Of HR At Work

How HR technology is transforming HR

I remember the first time I realized that most people did not like HR. I was an HR Generalist at a promotional products company, and while I was walking down the hall to go to a meeting I noticed that when I passed by, people would stop their conversations and often look at me sideways. I even heard one person “shush” his colleague and whisper “here comes HR”. I quickly understood that I would be expected to delicately balance the need to protect and promote both my employer and my employees at the same time. And that few would appreciate it. 

While much has changed in the last few decades, there is a coming shift that has the potential to truly transform the HR discipline for the better: the emergence of new HR technology. In particular, hyper-automation and generative AI are poised to reinvent the profession of HR as we advance from the role of referee to the capacity of coach. And the counter-intuitive reality is that advancements in technology are what will enable HR to bring more humanity to the workplace. 

The path forward involves shifting our focus from compliance and control to an emphasis on empowerment and enablement. Robotic process automation (RPI) will monitor and take action on administrative tasks without any direct involvement from HR or line managers. Vacation requests will be approved, schedules created, compensation adjustments processed and career paths cultivated with little-to-no human involvement. And the possibilities associated with tools like Chat GPT are almost endless, as 90% of all questions and requests from the workforce will be addressed with astonishing speed and accuracy.  Eventually, transactional operations like payroll will be processed by AI, and we will find ourselves free to finally focus on what most of us wanted to do, to begin with helping people. 

But we no longer have to rely on our intuition in this endeavor, as we now have access to data. We are all becoming data analysts whether we realize it or not, as today we have access to anything and everything related to our people. Instead of reacting to inquiries and notifications, we will aggregate and analyze this information to proactively identify insights. Workforce-related needs and opportunities will be addressed before they become a problematic trend, while front-line managers learn to rely on HR as a trusted advisor versus an avoided arbitrator. We will have the time and ability to concentrate on what really matters, and in doing so, we may be able to elevate the impression of HR.

Marcus Mossberger is the Future of Work Strategist at Infor.