Learning platforms that look like Netflix seem to be the way to go: Mcgrath

Interview with Sean Mcgrath, Vice-president, human resources, World Bank Group

The increased focus on career development and meaningful utilisation of internal talent will increase job satisfaction in the medium to long term, Sean Mcgrath tells Ritwik Sharma.

How can human resources (HR) assume a leadership role in digital initiatives required at the workplace, given the rapid changes in technology?

Technology is indeed changing rapidly and the workplace is no exception. HR has an important role to play, both with regards to its own use of technology and as facilitator and change agent when large-scale and transformational digital initiatives are happening. HR’s first concern is to ensure that the HR technology the organisation uses to manage its most valuable resource, its employees, is state-of-the-art and easy to use. Employees (and in particular younger and tech-savvy employees) expect to find tools similar to what they are using privately (Facebook, Amazon, Google etc.) at the workplace. This trend is also referred to as the “consumerisation of IT”. Catching up to meet these expectations when it comes to HR processes like performance management, internal and external hiring, rotations, promotions, benefits enrollment etc. can be a challenge for many organisations.

In a digital age, what kind of strategic support can HR personnel provide to help companies with digitalisation?

HR has many strategic opportunities to shape and support the organisation in a world where technology/digitalisation plays an ever-increasing role in the workplace.

First, there is the impact of technology on employee well-being and work-life balance. Mobile and messaging technologies can certainly contribute to a better work-life balance but at the same time, the implicit expectation of near 24/7 availability and the constant barrage of emails, notifications, text messages, social media interaction also take a toll on employees and their ability to get much needed rest. HR’s role in this context is to work with management on creating guiding principles for a work environment that promotes a healthy and reasonable balance between these competing priorities. This can also include provision of staff wellness and stress management programmes.

Second, if the workplace becomes more inundated with technology, HR has responsibility to provide the right approach and tools to attract, develop, evaluate, and retain the workforce for such an environment. In practice, this means developing job profiles and employees that are “fit” for what is called the “Future of Work”. For example, as technology advancements push artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and natural language understanding further into the organisation to support client service and administrative tasks, while some jobs will be lost, new jobs are emerging. “Bots” need to be set up, trained, supervised — a new type of hybrid, techno-functional jobs that provide a higher value add over purely transactional jobs is growing.

Third, this new workplace requires both employees and managers to be trained differently. Managers must be ready to lead in an organisation that is less hierarchical and much more connected than ever, consisting of multiple, often virtual teams. Training employees on the other hand gets more and more difficult, as they way we learn and consume information as well as our attention span change. Learning platforms that look more like Netflix and offer “micro-learning” (in units as short as 90 seconds) appear to be the way to go.

Could you elaborate on your proposition of HR evolving from a transactional to an interactive practice? Also, how far can an interactive process help employees in terms of job satisfaction?

Traditionally, HR’s first and foremost role was to ensure all personnel transactions are properly recorded, which indeed is a necessary foundation for managing human resources in an organisation. Greater standardisation of HR practices and processes allows for increased use of technology and automation, which in turn can free up capacity in HR to provide more strategic, personalised and interactive services to its clients. For example, HR business partners can use this additional capacity to play a greater role partnering with the managers of the organisation and advise them on specific workforce analytics, workforce planning and talent management strategies. 

Ultimately, the goal of talent management strategies and interventions is to have the right talent with the right qualification available at the right time. This increased focus on the career development and meaningful utilisation of internal talent will also increase job satisfaction in the medium to long term. By the same token, job satisfaction should also increase when HR professionals now have more time available to advise staff on their individual situation. Lastly, technology itself can also play a crucial role in promoting a more interactive relationship between HR and its clients. A few examples are a more responsive HR help desk, interactive content on HR’s portal and easy-to-use and/or mobile accessible employee and managers’ self-service offerings. All these taken together will result in faster, more accurate processing of transactions and contribute significantly to improving the overall employee experience.