2020 Predictions: Reinventing Work, Reinventing HR, Reinventing Ourselves

2020 will be a year of reinvention. As we enter the thirteenth year since the global economic meltdown, businesses are seeing slowing but continued growth, uncertainty about politics and global migration, and tremendous stresses in the workforce.

Not only is unemployment historically low, the birth rate has declined, creating a world where companies need to focus on trust and brand, building a more meaningful, developmental relationship with employees.

As LinkedIn described this new world,

Employees don’t work for you, you work for them.

In other words, we have to reinvent the way we work, the way we run HR, and the way we manage ourselves. 

You can no longer run HR without a serious focus on technology, and the options for HR Tech are more confusing than ever. We are now more than ten years into the “cloud HCM revolution” and the shift from process-based systems to Systems of Experience has been disruptive. Most HR departments are looking at new tools and many are becoming disenchanted with the cloud systems they purchased less than a decade ago.

The HR function is now in a state of continuous transformation. In other words, we now live in a world of continuous change – so just get used to it. HR professionals need to become “full stack” experts, and we need to reorganize HR into agile pools of problem solvers, designers, and service delivery consultants.

Finally, we have to seriously focus on making work easier, simpler, and more human.  Workers are under a lot of stress, so we have to declutter our digital work environment and make teams and individuals more productive. And we have to make work kinder, more growth-oriented, and more fun.

Lots to think about.  You can read all about it here – please send me your thoughts and remember the Josh Bersin Academy is here to help you learn and keep up on all that’s new this year.