We are just a few days away from welcoming 2020 and what better time to think of human resource trends for the coming year than now! The year 2019 in India can best be termed as a year of comfort; by that, I mean having half your body in deep-freezer and rest of it on a hot frying pan … on an average it was most comfortable!
For the Indian airline industry, the year began exactly this way with Jet Airways shutting down in April and others trying to fill-in the void! Among those employees who lost their jobs, several were fortunate to find equal or better opportunities even as a small group is still wondering what they did wrong. While the workforce was busily engaged in what future held for them, HR Leaders were busy figuring out how best to utilize the available talent. As they say, pilots are the oil for the airline industry and no wonder this oil got consumed rather quickly.
Let me now take a shot at what trends hold for 2020. In doing so, I am trying to weigh in not just the industry that I currently work at but the various ones that I have been fortunate to be involved in till now.
Freelancing
I would safely say that Year 2020 and beyond will be years of Freelancers. This said, let me emphasize that there is a difference between freelancers and gigsters! Freelancers bring in a certain amount of flexibility that organizations need by way of on-demand talent that is cost-efficient and yet, skill efficient.
Collaboration
Not so much a ‘workforce trend’ as much as a ‘workplace trend’. The gig economy has stimulated an explosion of collaborative workspaces: office environments for non-permanent workers to collaborate, or simply work in a more social setting. It’s human nature to crave social contact and collaborative workspaces achieve that for many working in the gig economy. These spaces are not just a place to ‘go to work’. They stimulate networking, partnering up with other experts in the industry, producing outputs and ‘teams’ that would otherwise never have united. And the result is significant: more expertise for in-demand projects, with often faster and more cost-effective results.
Diversity & Inclusion
The days of quotas (gender, cultural) are sadly not behind us, but increasingly, the business has realized the value of a diverse workforce from both productivity and profitability standpoints. So, facilitating diversity will be on the rise in 2020. For example, better daycare facilities (in or near workplaces), greater flexibility for parental leave, referral initiatives for boosting worker involvement in finding new talent. Add to these engagement strategies that drive cultural diversity in the workplace which is known to boost profitability and shareholder returns.
Training beyond just On-Boarding
Training should never be a one-and-done process. Employees at all levels expect continual learning opportunities from employers. In fact, millennials rank quality training and development programs as the most desirable quality in the workplace — yes, even higher than the salary.
There are several more trends like developing collaborative teams, the value of people analytics, employee engagement, etc., that would compete for the Top 5 trends but I would think of the above four as the most significant ones.
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