Three New Roles Of The Modern Human Resources Professionals in 2022

Human Resources (HR) is responsible for administering an organisation’s most valuable assets. The roles of HR have undergone a shift from hiring, firing, and payroll to more diversified roles. Let us look into the new roles of modern HR professionals.

Today, in the new corporate culture, modern HR personnel are compelled to have in-depth knowledge about the company’s significant strengths.

The human resources profession has changed a lot over the years.

As a result, HR professionals are expected to be more than just human resources representatives in today’s competitive work environment. They have been tasked with new jobs and new responsibilities to keep up with the fast pace of change.

They are expected to take on new responsibilities, including talent acquisition, workplace diversity and inclusion initiatives, and organisational development. In this blog post, we will discuss three new roles that modern-day HR professionals need to fill.

What are Human Resources?

Human resources (HR) are the people who manage an organisation. They make sure to have a healthy working environment where everyone is comfortable with each other’s presence while also supporting one another towards achieving company goals together and the set targets of the organisation.

Today’s work scenario has changed drastically due to technological evolution. It has led to the emergence of new job profiles that turned out to be a crucial part of any successful business venture.

HR professionals not only help to manage employee issues but also impact organisational strategy and cultural development. They work on the more significant picture tasks that ensure employees fit into the company mission and vision successfully while staying engaged or motivated at all times. If you are an aspirant who wants to know how to begin a career in Human Resources, you must develop several skills to become a people person.

Employee demographics will change over time, allowing them to continue to meet their needs and preferences. However, HR Professionals need different human resource management skills to do their work well.

Three new roles of human resource professionals

The future of HR depends on how it aligns with forward-thinking practises. All the executive HR professionals must see that the department transforms itself into a dynamic environment and contribute to modern thinking.

Human resource professionals have multiple job titles with roles and responsibilities such as hiring, recruiting, training, development, and managing employees. The three new job roles in the human resource department include:

  1. Human Resource Data Detective
  2. Strategic HR Business Continuity Director
  3. Workplace Environmental Architect

 

  1. Human resource data detective

Through the functions of providing functions and analysis, the Human Resource Data Detective performs their role of gathering, compiling and ensuring quality data is made available for the whole business.

With excellent discipline, the HR data detective investigates people’s data from multiple sources, including HR information system data, employee surveys, time-tracking and learning management systems. They also possess the skill to transcribe unstructured information into usable data sources. Relentless, diplomatic and curious candidates who can carry out technology in HR trends are well-suited for this role.

An HR data detective requires a minimum of five years of experience with people’s analytics or enterprise-level HR and a four-year degree in maths, physical science, philosophy, economics, law or accountancy, and a technical understanding of data architecture. You can take up the HR data detective role and carry out the following responsibilities:

  • Investigating trends and inconsistencies in the provided data
  • Integrating and streamlining all HR data to improve data reliability, efficiency, and quality
  • Being accessible and guiding the business through the data
  • Supports other employees ethical use of data
  • Collaborating with HR specialists with recruiting and learning

Other than five years of experience and a four-year degree in a particular subject. the skills and qualifications required to be an HR data detective include:

  • A background data engineering or data sciences
  • Knowledge in SQL, Cloud and Python
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
  • Ability to transfer technical findings into accessible data
  • Good people’s skills
  1. Strategic hr business continuity director

As the leader of implementation, maintenance, and development of HR-based business programs, Strategic HR Business Continuity Director protects the workforce and ensures its productivity.

In addition, the roles are responsible for taking care of the business continuity planning leads and establishing strategies for employees to function without the risk of endangerment.

Business firms require this modern human resource professional to lead these interlocked initiatives. They are also required to mitigate incidents and perform cross-functional partnerships such as supporting Work From Home (WFH) Facilitators.

Furthermore, you will have to organise educational programs that cover the whole company and establish procedures for emergency planning. Such programs focus on employee safety and preparedness, organisational actions taken on behalf of personnel and partners working in impacted areas, and the health and well-being of all workers.

The key responsibilities that you as a Strategic HR Business Continuity Director must perform include:

  • Partnering with corporate IT and CHRO (Chief Human Resource Officer) to ensure the strategy is in play.
  • Collaborating data from business continuity leads to examining current situational analysis.
  • Verifying the workers and the managers receive training for remote work from WFH facilitators.
  • Reviewing Paid Time Off (PTO), sick leave and usage of paid vacation with CHRO.
  • Identifying cross-training opportunities for employees to take up more significant roles in the absence of other employees.
  • Reaching out with other Strategic HR Business Continuity Directors to discuss and share employee best practises.

The skills and qualifications required to perform this role include:

  • Undergraduate degree in IT, audit, or HR, or and equivalent work experience
  • An understanding of incident response, particularly concerning training local and global crisis response teams for business continuity and resiliency
  • Excellent training, communication, presentation and coaching skills
  • Ability to engage, train and persuade at all levels
  • Experience in organising and operating organisation-wide programs and cross-functional teams
  • Solid analytical, organisational and problem-solving skills
  • Capacity to manage resources to meet deadlines
  • Excellent decision-making and interpersonal skills
  1. Workplace environmental architect

Another human resource professional role is Workplace Environmental Architect, who facilitates management, corporate real estate, and HR teams. Business firms reacquire this personnel to ensure the office is designed through the health and wellness of the employees and customers.

With expertise in real estate acquisition, facilities management, and human-centred design, a workplace environmental architect is hired to bring the company’s vision to life. In addition, they are given the responsibility of the company’s aggregated approach to health and wellness.

By designing strategies for the wellness of the workers, a workplace environmental architect creates a healthy and positive workplace culture. They need to be up-to-date on the ecological and public health, emotional, physical and spiritual well being of the atmosphere. Through such ideologies, they see that all the products in the building will not harm the employees and benefit the company’s real estate holdings.

A candidate with expertise in human-centred architecture and the ability to carry out the company’s mandate to create a nurturing workplace will be appropriate for this role. They should also be able to monitor the market’s innovative trends and wellness solutions.

Other responsibilities of a workplace environmental architect include:

  • Optimise and facilitates a salutary workplace
  • Keeps track of innovative health solutions like temperature sensing
  • Incorporates nature connecting interior designing
  • A business partner from HR to real estate teams
  • Frequently review and analyse scientific literature
  • Guides the purchase of healthy products

 

The skills and qualifications required for this role are:

  • Education or work experience in architecture and design, including health wellness
  • Knowledge of building certification programs, such as LEED and WELL
  • Passion for understanding anthropology, sustainability, and wellness
  • Teamwork and successful work relationships
  • Adaptability to different client needs
  • Innovative and balanced thinking capability with commercial awareness

Functions and roles of the HR department

More than ever, modern HR professionals require a complete, in-depth understanding of their organisation’s core competencies to precisely recruit individuals that match the job requirements and company culture.

Regardless of the new job roles and requirements, the essential function of the HR department stands the same. From agile compensation strategies to hiring and firing of employees, the functions of these roles include:

  • Hiring and recruiting: HR managers monitor open jobs and ensure that they are filled on time.
  • Training and development: Create training for new and exciting employees to speed up and improve their skill set. They also collaborate with department heads to understand the current training needs of the employee.
  • Remuneration management: The responsibility of payroll generally falls to the HR department. It is also in charge of administering the business’s compensation programs.
  • Employee relations: Maintain company management and employee relationship to dissolve disputes between them. The HR department mediates and handles everything,
  • Onboarding: Dynamic onboarding experience will help new hires to join the existing employee seamlessly. It helps them catch up to their speed and understand the office culture in a better manner.
  • Time-tracking: By automating the entire process, HR makes it simple to handle staff timesheets and leave requests. Employees may submit their timesheets through the HR system, and leave requests are immediately delivered to their department heads and human resources managers.
  • Performance appraisal: A performance appraisal or a performance review is a technique of evaluating an employee’s job performance. It is a standard practice in most businesses.
  • Employee benefits management: It is critical to provide appropriate incentives to employees to retain top talent. Employees do more than receive a salary. It is better to ask the employee to choose the best benefits possible,
  • Promotions: Promotions are usually based on competence and seniority. They are an essential component of a successful succession plan and an excellent method to keep top performers learning and getting better.
  • Problem-solving: Quality circles are a type of problem-solving group that can include any number of individuals to solve problems innovatively
  • Total quality management: It is a company-wide endeavour to develop a culture in which workers constantly improve their capacity to offer items and services that consumers will value.
  • Information sharing: HR acts as a central place for sharing information for the employees. It works through a newsletter that entails safety procedures, layoff announcements, acquisitions, and impactful events that are relevant for the workforce.
  • Organisational development: Focus on making the organisation more effective through job analysis and job design. HR performs macro-level activities to initiate organisational change and design processes.
  • Data and analytics management: It involves the capacity to make data-driven decisions, in which you can read, comprehend, generate, and communicate data and information while also influencing decision making.

In summary

The above mentioned are the three avant-garde roles that every HR must adorn. The operational responsibilities of HR executives in the modern era are shifting to align with forward-thinking practises. They must lead organisations in advancing corporate objectives and work in parallel with their new corporate policies.

Successful HR professionals are becoming successful planners, adaptive to technology, quick to accommodate change and employee-centred. With the emergence of new roles of the modern human resource professionals, drastic healthy changes in culture will be introduced in the workplace, enabling the employees to enjoy their careers.

About the author

Shahista Tabassum is a senior IT Technical Trainer at Time Training Center.  She has extensive work experience of 11 years working in various roles as a software developer, It Consultant and Technical Trainer. She spends her free time learning new things that will enhance productivity and in volunteering activities that help kids to learn new things.

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