How is the HR profession needed now more than ever to improve the economy, revamp DE&I practices, shift workplace culture and prepare the future of work?

To help you find your place within the HR profession, we asked HR professionals and business leaders this question for their thoughts. From changing up the recruiting game to adjusting to a new reality, there are several reasons why the HR profession is so important.

Recruiting Reimagined

Now more than ever, recruiting needs to be reimagined. There are so many precious man hours wasted with screening candidates, going back and forth trying to schedule a time for an interview, and eventually overseeing onboarding paperwork. The recruiting process needs improvement. What if there was a tool that could do all that work for you? Imagine the time you could get back and the quality candidates you could get in your open positions. Conversational ai, like Olivia, is the future of recruiting and something we need now more than ever before.

Josh Zyien, Paradox

Champion of Change

Now more than ever, HR will be crucial in guiding change management exercises many companies are facing beyond the pandemic. Whether it’s getting back to work in person or shifting products and services, our HR teams will be the helping hand for successful change outcomes. As many employees are nervous about what the future holds and how the change will affect them, this role is bringing the human element into the task at hand.

Jenn Christie, Markitors
 

Now more than ever, HR is the gatekeeper to ensure companies take care of employees physically and mentally each and every day. (Photo: freepik.com)

Fuel Meaningful Connections

Now more than ever, HR pros are needed to help employees create and maintain the vital networks of connections that boost collaboration. Remote workers can so easily be isolated from their coworkers, as well as the public. Whether it's an organized Zoom cocktail hour or an informal Slack chit chat, HR is vital in building and maintaining bridges between colleagues.

Joni Holderman, Thrive! Resumes

Employee Needs First

Now more than ever, HR is the gatekeeper to ensure companies take care of employees physically and mentally each and every day. HR has a responsibility to put people first while balancing the business needs of the organization. HR is a business partner who holds leadership accountable to providing a diverse, inclusive, and hostile-free work culture where employees are engaged and can productively thrive.

LaShawn Davis, The HR Plug

Adjust to New Reality

Now more than ever, HR teams need to actively listen to their staff and adjust their benefits to the new reality of remote work. Employees have gotten used to flexibility, improved work-life balance, and time savings when working from home. It’s a new quality of work-life that companies need to respect to retain top talent.

Dorota Lysienia, LiveCareer

Be a Resource

Now more than ever, HR professionals have been given some big lifts for their organizations. We have been tasked with changing the way people work, accommodating many more remote workers, helping leaders to manage a more remote workforce, and managing employee needs through an unprecedented public health emergency and elevated social injustices. Long-term impacts of the pandemic are yet to be known, so HR will continue to be a vital resource to both employers and the employees who serve them.

Colleen McManus, Senior HR Executive and Consultant

Listen and Take Action

Now more than ever, HR professionals must make time to genuinely and effectively connect with others across the organizations they serve. As we go about our day-to-day work in HR, if we put human connection at the center of the work we do, we will be in a better position to listen, learn, and then create programs that make a positive impact, not only in the workplace but in our communities. How people connect varies—phone calls, text messages, video chats, in-person meetings. What we do when we have the opportunity to connect is more important: be an excellent listener, ask a lot of questions, learn what other people really need to feel good about work, find out what types of innovative ideas they might have, and then take small steps every single day to build a workplace that people love.

Niki Ramirez, HRAnswers.org

Positive ROI

Now more than ever, HR professionals must focus on measurably improving their company's Return-On-Investment. Key methods to produce positive ROI include hiring highly productive employees who increase profits and reducing turnover to decrease costs.

Michael Mercer, Mercer Systems

HR Taking Center Stage

Now more than ever is the perfect opportunity for HR to prove their worth. By connecting with all parts of the organization at every level and on every team, HR can prove that in times of crisis, they’re invaluable, and in times of plenty, they know how to maximize success.

Mark Christensen, LifeGuides

Measure, Evaluate, Address

Now more than ever, it is imperative that HR and corporate leaders listen to their employees. With a record number of employees projected to leave their current employers as COVID-19 winds down, employees' needs and concerns have changed greatly. We must measure, evaluate, and address their concerns or they will be gone and soon working for our competition.

Ronald Kubitz, Forms+Surfaces

CSR is the Key

Now more than ever, HR professionals need to leverage corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. Through CSR, the lofty expectations placed on HR professionals can more easily be accomplished. CSR serves to facilitate and promote a healthy and happy company culture through volunteerism, employee engagement, and employee resource groups. The work done through CSR enables more ethical hiring practices and encourages employee retention, increases productivity, and leads to greater workplace happiness. Through CSR, HR professionals can find solutions to create a better future for work.

Tyler Butler, 11Eleven Consulting