Leverage on digital tools to unleash the potential of your workforce

Leverage on digital tools to unleash the potential of your workforce. FILE PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK 

By ELIZABETH BIAMAH More by this Author

Digital transformation is changing the world we live in and the exponential growth of technology has a massive impact on how human resource (HR)officers handle teams in various capacities in businesses.

Even as individuals are constantly embracing technology, HR is entrusted with the continuous responsibility to stimulate innovation and accelerate change in the workplace.

This, therefore, warrants the seamless integration of digital capabilities in the way we work, forcing us to adapt to digital technologies and tools to ensure cohesiveness and seamless management of teams, especially with hybrid/remote working becoming a norm.

There are a lot of dynamics that changed in the management and expectations of teams that can be effectively achieved through digitalisation as the traditional competitive edge disappears.

Traditionally, HR functions would entail face-to-face communication, transactional processes and lots of paperwork. However, with the digital evolution of these processes, most tasks have been automated.

The role of HR professionals has therefore evolved as they focus more on employee experience through recruitment tools, automated resume screening, evaluations and onboarding processes to enhance the candidate experience.

Employee performance and engagement are analysed using performance management tools which highlight areas of growth and develop personalised training and development plans for the team.

By leveraging machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the algorithms help analyse large amounts of employee data to predict patterns and design analytics practices to make more informed data-driven decisions with greater reliability, contributing to stakeholder value through human capability.

However, much as AI has the ability to automate repetitive tasks, streamline processes and offer digital assistance in several HR functions, it is essential to look at AI tools as productivity assistants.

The accuracy of AI models depends on the quality of data input which creates a system of intelligence with a focus on internal processes leading to better predictions that makes in-house machine learning models preferable as compared to off-shelf models that might be developed with a bias depending on the market niche and the data input.

HR automation unleashes the full potential of the workforce. To foster innovation in the workplace it’s important to reward innovation initiatives from the team and allow their exposure to different technologies to stay abreast with industry and marketplace trends.

Creating a safe environment that values creativity and encourages continuous learning allows employees to learn the relevant tools which contribute to an organisational competitive edge.

It’s equally important to encourage adaptability, collaboration and a growth mindset from the teams.

Transforming organisational culture to fully embrace digital intelligence can be quite a hustle.

Slowly sparking conversations with stakeholders, boards and management and setting out clear expectations and the impact of achieving digitalisation helps drive the re-culturing conversation.

Ms Biamah, is an HR expert with interest in tech talent management.