HR Tech Things That Keep Me Up at Night
This one is inspired by a recent interview I did with Emily Yarrow about a research topic she is working on regarding unconscious bias in AI source codes (it's a super cool study; please reach out to her if you’re interested in chatting more about it).
The conversation started me down a reflective path of what the future could hold for HR, technology, and the workforce. As much as I am optimistic about future potential, here is what makes me queasy:
1. HR Leaders as Technologists
HR cloud tech has been around for over two decades. Yet, some HR leaders are still struggling to understand their technology landscape and how technology is integral to their overall strategy. So much so that I have heard the words, “We’ll just let the techies deal with this” in meeting rooms. If we can’t “get it” as a function in 20 years, do we stand a chance of fully understanding and utilizing tech in HR in the next five years?
The world of tech is becoming more complex every day, and I am not encouraged by the number of HR tech organizations that are now reporting to IT functions.
2. Buying/Selling Technology and Not Solutions
There are plenty of brilliant HR tech solutions in the market today. So much so that for every possible problem you can think of in HR, there are at least three different solutions out there that will address it. However, there is a fundamental mismatch between the two parties in a market where the vendors are selling technology and buyers are seeking a holistic solution to their problems (which will likely need 2+ tech solutions to solve). The results sound a lot like “We’ll just wait and see what happens,” with limited action and the HR team/workforce paying the ultimate price.
3. The Instant-Gratification-and-Zero-Followup Mentality
I don’t think it’s possible to be in a leadership position in HR today and not have experienced the joy/pain of at least one system deployment end to end. I believe we are all rational human beings who learn from our experiences. Yet somehow, HR tech lifecycles still look a lot like:
A business case written for a utopian organization with all possible efficiencies maximized and zero margin of error accounted for
An implementation plan that is 80% of the solution bought
An implementation process that wants to do 0% work for 100% benefits
A go-live timeline that is aggressive even for the best-case scenario with 100% project funding
A post-go-live support plan that’s nonexistent because we expect tech to magically work and update itself as new releases happen and as the organization changes
The logic has not logic’d my entire career and still is not logic-ing for me. You spring clean your house and take your car in for oil changes, so why is work tech different?
4. The Incomplete HR Education
I know there are exceptions, and I am not saying this applies to every HR-related educational program. Based on my experience and some experiences shared by my network, short of dedicated programs and degrees, most of the time, HR Tech and People Analytics are taught along the lines of: Technology is essential in HR now; you should know it and get comfortable with it. Data is vital for decision-making; you will likely be using data a lot in your future HR role. And then, you move on to the following chapters.
A fundamental change in the HR function needs to start with how we systematically educate the next generation of HR leaders. I am not certain that what we are doing today is sufficient for the future of HR.
5. The “I can kind of do numbers” Thing
I am grateful that after years of taking People Analytics to mainstream HR, we no longer hear the usual “I am a people person, not a numbers person” sentiment. However, it still surprises me to hear senior HR people say they “can kind of do numbers.”
Let me put it this way: when a business hires finance leaders, it typically ensures that 1) the person is an expert in their field and 2) they can lead and manage people. So, flipping this around, why are we setting different expectations in HR? People costs are typically 1/3 of an organization’s operating expenses. Wouldn’t you need HR leaders who can really do numbers to run that part of the business with you?
Is it just me?