We have a workforce made up of Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives and a new term on the horizon, Mobile Natives. By 2025, not one member of the workforce will have grown up without a mobile device being their main form of interacting with a process.

Are you ready for this future of work?

Jason Averbook is acknowledged as one of the top three thought-leaders globally on the future of work. He is a leading analyst in HR, the future of work and the impact technology has on that future. Jason gave the keynote presentation at HR Innovation & Tech Fest in New Zealand.

Watch his full presentation below as he prepares us for the future of work, helping us get into the right mindset for growth, thinking digital first, and provides four key areas to focus on to prepare for the future of work.

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Key Takeaways

Here are some key takeaways from Jason's keynote presentation at HR Innovation & Tech Fest NZ.

Do you have a growth or fixed mindset?

Do you have a fixed mindset “I don't like change, we're going to stay the sameâ€', or a growth mindset “we're going to break the glassâ€'?  Frustratingly, many people have a growth mindset but work for an organisation with a fixed mindset. This change begins with us.

It's time we start communicating in the year we live in

In HR within our organisations, we disrespect the year we live in. It's 2018 outside of work and when we come into work its 1998. Think about everything you do in your organisation – does it live up to 2018 standard? If it doesn't, that's what you need to be changing. Mobile is not going away, the internet is not going away so you need to start thinking digital first.

Great vs Performing

We have to start asking ourselves: what do we (as a people function) want to be great at? And what's OK to be just performing at? This is the most important question for you to answer. A lot of us operate in silos, and each silo thinks their remit is the most important. But you can't be great at everything so you need to decide what to focus on being great at, and what is OK to be performing at. In most cases the thing you need to be great at is talent.

Every organisation has a unique DNA

Don't copy what other organisations are doing. You're competing against them for talent which means you need to leap past them. You need to understand your company's unique DNA and what sets you apart to help you do this.

Four key areas to focus on to prepare for the future of work

1. Foundation/Data

• You need to have an anti-fragile foundation: a foundation that is so solid that if something major hits it (such as acquiring a company, or letting go of 3000 people), it doesn't break.
• Remember that data is sexy. And it's your job as HR professionals to keep data sexy. The cleaner and solid our data foundation is, the more you can do with it.
• There are two types of data: structured and unstructured data. Structured data sits in your core HR system, unstructured data is everything else – the PDFs, the knowledge documents, and the tribal knowledge that sits in our heads. To create a successful people experience it takes 20% structured data and 80% unstructured data. So you have to think beyond what's in your core HR system.
• If you have good data, you have credibility. Which in turn leads to being able to deploy more capability, being able to personalise people experiences, and using cool technology like AI etc.
• If you don't have solid data foundation, and you buy a piece of fancy AI technology to sit on top of your sub-par data, all you will have is frosting on top of a moldy cake.

 

2. Workforce Experience

• HR Technology is mostly dead. It's now becoming “workforce technologyâ€' built around benefitting employees. And in the end that benefits HR because you are building your data.
• Think about creating a frictionless workforce experience. How many different channels do you have to get to your employees? Do you have a different brand for recruiting, a different brand for learning, and a different one for payroll? Employees don't care which department it is, they just want to get things done.
• Are you a high-touch-human or a high-touch-digital workplace? If most of your processes are high touch human, you need to figure out how to move these processes to digital. Why? Because the next generation of digital natives are coming through the workforce sooner than you can imagine and they are 100% digital.
• Don't mistake experience for user interface. Think about Uber: it's a great interface but if your car doesn't show up it's not a great experience. Technology is just the transaction, the experience is the interaction that comes with it. Transaction + Interaction = Experience

 

3.Automation / Digitisation

• There's a difference between automation which is just taking things online, and digitisation which is reimagination and creating new value.
• Our goal in HR is to move from adoption to addiction. Don't measure adoption (eg. Did they log in?), ask yourself “are they addicted?â€' Most of us are addicted to our devices but most people are not addicted to self-service. The only way you're going to make people addicted to HR technology is if there's value in using it.

4. Reskilling Roles

As HR and IT professionals, we need new skills and a new mindset for the new world of work:

• Agility
• Process / Conversation
• Proactive / Prescriptive
• Digital Mindset
• Storytelling
• Marketing
• Strategy

It's an exciting place to be in with AI, bots, designing experiences etc. In the future we're not going to be designing processes, we'll be designing conversations and interactions.

Conclusion

• Nothing will change unless you change. It's not going to come from the top. It has to start from us.
• People are ready. For the first time, people are ready to receive communication. There will always be people who talk about security concerns but for the most part people are open to it.
• Processes CAN be ready. Our processes are ready to be changed, but they're not going to change by themselves. They need you.
• Technology is ready. The technology is more than ready, in fact it has surpassed us. Remember it's 2018 outside of work, it's 1998 inside of work.
• The final question for the HR Innovation & Tech Fest community is… Are we ready? And what do we need to do as a team, and as a company, to get ready?

About the Speaker

Jason Averbook is acknowledged as one of the top three thought leaders globally on the future of work. He is a leading analyst and consultant in the area of HR, the future of work and the impact technology has on that future. With more than 20 years of experience in HR and technology, he has a deep understanding of how technology can be applied to common business problems, and how to help organisations realise the benefits of such solutions.