Having the right people, to do the right things, at the right time, has never been more important (or more challenging). Even under normal circumstances finding the right balance requires careful planning and execution, but what happens when the future is so uncertain that by the time you put one set of changes in place, you need to change things again? The speed and agility with which your business navigates any organisational restructure now, will have a direct impact on your ability to survive and thrive going forward. Which tools does your organisation need to ensure that your business is agile enough to restructure effectively (no matter how many times you have to do so)? In this week's HR Blog we explore how you can find efficiencies through HR automation to make every structural change within your organisation a success.

Even under normal circumstances, we're all looking for ways to improve our outcomes in business. In uncertain times, it is even more important to find ways to use what you have available to find (and deliver) opportunities to improve business outcomes. In a recent blog, we shared the highlights of the Sierra-Cedar HR Systems Survey Report for 2020. In this week's HR blog, we're going to unpack it a little further. Their detailed research offers some essential insight into the factors that enable the top-performing businesses to continuously improve talent, HR and business outcomes by 15%. Every. Single. Year. The best thing about this blog is - there are lots of pictures (aka charts). And if a picture is worth a thousand words, these ones tell a pretty compelling story about what HR Professionals everywhere can do to win the golden ticket of being perceived by leadership as a 'strategic business partner.'

Every year, Sierra-Cedar publish their HR Systems Survey Report. For their 2020 report, they surveyed 1,892 unique organisations representing a total workforce of 22.2 million employees and contingent workers across the globe. They've been conducting this research for over 20 years now, and they've used that data to chart the course of the impact of HR software's use by businesses globally. This year's survey covers HR software adoption, trends for applications, deployment options, vendor feedback, expenditures, and value achieved for the categories of different applications used. If your organisation hasn't yet embarked on a digital transformation journey and you're looking for intel, then this report sets an industry benchmark. Let's take a look at what 20 years of HR Software has done for business.

If you missed our recent HR Blog, you might not be aware of the critical role that workforce shaping is playing (and will continue to play) in a world of work in flux. For optimal workforce shaping, you need tools that enable multiple stakeholders to quickly and efficiently examine different scenarios under a range of different circumstances. HR Professionals need the capacity to produce a real-time snapshot of HR metrics and operational performance. This data is essential for collaboration with Finance and Leadership to chart a successful future course for the business. In this week's blog we explore HR best practice and the essential workforce shaping tools every HR Professional needs.

To all the HR Professionals out there - hands up which ones of you have had to make changes to your ways of working and employee cohort since the start of 2020? For those of you who didn't put your hand up, you're in the minority. If the events that ushered in this decade have taught us anything, it's that businesses needs systems and processes in place that enable it to bend and flex under duress. If the art of workforce shaping isn't on your radar yet, it should be. In this week's blog we explore what KPMG has nominated as being the 'defining challenge' of 2020 and beyond. This is the future of HR best practice.

Deloitte recently published a fantastic article about the increasing importance of applying your company’s values in relation to people, processes and technology. The take-away: "In a time of perpetual technological disruption, earning (and keeping) the trust of all your stakeholders is a 360 degree challenge as well as being a massive opportunity." Ensuring that you apply and use technology in an ethical manner, especially if you're an NFP, NGO or charity, is a trend that is predicted to increase in relevance (and necessity). As we discussed in our last Blog about Edelman's 2020 Trust Barometer report, trust is hard to gain and easy to lose, so let's take a look at what this evolving trend around technology means for HR best practice in your business.

Edelman has been publishing their annual Trust Barometer Report for 20 years now, and the 2020 report illustrates what you might call an 'epic fail' in trust across the board. No institutions are seen as being both competent AND ethical. Only business is seen as being competent and only NGOs are seen as ethical. Add to that the fact that 56% percent of respondents believe that capitalism as it currently operates today is doing more harm than good and you can see that there is both a significant need for change as well as a tremendous opportunity for transformation. It shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that trust and transparency are more critical to success than ever, especially given current circumstances. So let's take a look at the highlights from the 2020 Trust Barometer Report and how they matter to you.

Every year, Deloitte conducts an extensive study on the emerging and prevailing trends in human capital and the future of work. Each year, the post we write on our HR blog about that report is always one of the most popular. In 2020, the Human Capital Trends Report highlights an intensifying combination of economic, social, and political issues impacting HR and business leaders. These factors continue to put pressure on businesses to operate in a more socially oriented manner (a continuation of 2019's trend, which we covered in a previous HR blog post), and to reinvent their organisations around a more ethical and human focus. Let's take a look at the highlights of this year's report and discover the HR metrics that matter in 2020 and beyond.