Richa Gupta, CHRO at Globalization Partners.
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It’s mesmerizing to witness the rapid adoption of emerging technologies across industries, especially in the HR industry. The adoption of AI, advanced collaboration tools and SaaS-based workforce management software continues to be on the rise. This evolution is enabling companies to build new playbooks on how to attract and engage the best talent across borders.
But even as innovative technologies become increasingly important to HR operations, there are still significant benefits to keeping a sense of humanity when deploying digital tools. As the lockdowns of the past few years have proven, our craving for human interaction isn’t going away—ever. That means HR teams looking to grow and take advantage of technologies need to continue prioritizing the human aspect of the employee experience to be successful. So how do we balance cutting-edge technologies and the value of human insights?
Balancing Human Connection And Technology
The HR experience will never be defined purely by human or technology interaction; the two will continually need to work together to improve the employee experience. I'm a strong proponent of the ethos of “human when you want, digital when you need.” When HR leaders work from this approach, we can create more understanding and effective work cultures. This will empower our teams to use technology for its best functions and to support their efforts.
To create the best outcome for candidates and employees, HR teams and leaders have to get comfortable redesigning the concept of work and what it means to realize both human and technological potential. By using technology for manual or repetitive tasks, team members can focus on more value-adding strategic work. For the ultimate HR experience, teams must find ways to use tech innovations to support human connection. As workforces become even more distributed and global, achieving the perfect balance to keep teams connected, engaged and productive will be crucial.
Designing A Holistic Global Hiring And Employee Experience
Thanks to technology, geographical boundaries no longer confine businesses' hiring decisions. But when building global teams, it's important for HR leaders to note that every country and market has its own requirements, laws and standards for hiring. For example, an organization may need to set up a legal entity in a new market so it can do business there. Or it might make more sense to engage with new technology alternatives, like the employer of record model, to remove entity requirements and enable onboarding in new markets in minutes.
Through a combination of customizable growth technology and human interaction, HR teams can more easily ensure that new global hires have all the tools necessary to succeed from the beginning. It’s also a win for HR because it helps cut down on the amount of complex backend work that goes into maintaining entities and regional hiring, supporting seamless employee onboarding and offboarding and adhering to complex labor laws.
Evolving Through Human-Led HR
Choosing the right technology to build and manage a global workforce can be daunting. There are a lot of solutions on the market that make big promises. It’s important to remember that frictionless digital experiences, robust insights and tools for hiring will take you far, but underpinning that with real-world expertise will ensure your team is on a future-fit path forward.
By focusing equally on efficiency and human connection in hiring efforts, companies will be better positioned to meet the needs of their new and existing workforce. As human insight and digital capabilities become more easily intertwined, HR will help cultivate more fulfilled employees and drive new benefits for companies and individual workers. This is how we continue our evolution into the new era of borderless business and new global launch pads and expansions.
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