With all the technological advancements and shifts in work environments over recent years, it becomes hard not to wonder what the future of work will look like. Will you sit in an office surrounded by colleagues, and if you do what will inter-office communication look like and how will it be monitored?
The Human Resources division of Solomon Page sought to provide insight to some of these questions in a recent speaker series we hosted on March 23rd. The event, SHIFT: The Future of Human Capital, dove into the effect of People Analytics, Data, and Technology on the future of work itself.
For this intimate gathering, we assembled a panel of experts to reveal what these advancements mean for organizations and human resources professionals today and advise on best practices for how to prepare for the not-so-distant future. Moderated by Vivian Garcia-Tunon, Founder of VGT Consulting Group, the panel included Stela Lupushor, Founder of Reframe.Work, and Dave Winsborough, Vice President of Innovation at HoganX.
Companies are currently leaning on analytics and reporting to provide insight on their team members and employee interactions in ways that to many may seem too “futuristic” to be plausible. Through advanced algorithms and reporting mechanisms, organizations can interpret employee behavioral patterns to predict signals of distress before conflicts arise. Therein allowing leadership time to devise a plan of attack to either address or resolve conflicts before any potential damage ensues.
While it may not be realistic to think that within the next couple of years all organizations will operate with high-functioning data and analytics capabilities (such as, tracking employee behavioral reaction through sensors), Lupushor and Winsborough divulged practical implementations that those of us working on less “futuristic” levels can incorporate into our daily lives.
Their advice: “keep it simple.” By taking a step back and evaluating the tools you are currently working with, you may be surprised to learn just how innovative their algorithms and reporting capabilities are. Take LinkedIn for example, a resource we all have access to. Through their advanced search options, you can construct an extremely targeted search to uncover individuals you may never have found otherwise, and then follow the progression of their career to pinpoint the best time to approach them for a career move.
With a rise of many consulting firms offering the secret of how to catch employees before they decide to leave your company, the notion to outsource similar employee tracking can be tempting. However, history shows that trends come and go, and our experts suggest the same. Rather than being swayed by something that appears “bright and shiny,” you can often uncover the answers yourself, if you ask the right questions.
So, while the future may not be quite as far away as we all think, it does not need to have ultramodern bells and whistles on it to be effective. With the information gained and advice imparted from Shift, no matter your degree of access to high-tech equipment each of us can incorporate the ideas behind the use of people analytics, data, and technology to inform us of trends in our workspace that we may not have recognized otherwise.
For more information on how you can best equip yourself and your team for this not-so-distant future, get in touch with our Human Resources division at humanresources@solomonpage.com.