The Imperative of Evolving HR Operations

HR operations provide the essential structures and processes that organizations depend on daily, including payroll,  compliance, and change management. But with fast-moving workplace disruption, just keeping core functions running no longer satisfies talent demands. Modern operations must also actively improve experiences and culture to attract skilled professionals who expect more.

As innovations reshape work almost continually, companies struggle to adapt rigid frameworks fast enough to support employees through so much change. Those who fail to retain and reskill talent lose out to more responsive competitors. Organizations must become more agile in empowering people toward shared success.

As exponential change compounds with rising generational differences, only 32% of employees reported individual change capability considerations in development plans and a mere 43% praised organizational change management—down from 60% in 2019. This gap highlights the pivotal need for HR systems with embedded dexterity capable of keeping pace with the unprecedented shifts transforming work.

The Expert Perspective

SHRM Labs’ Better Workplaces Challenge Cup Fireside Chat series offers a platform to distill wisdom from leaders guiding HR innovation. Our latest guest, Dawn Sharifan, shared hard-won insights from streamlining operations at pioneering companies Slack and Salesforce. Sharifan detailed building efficient systems to empower employees amid emerging challenges as workplace transformations accelerated.

About 85% of HR leaders were planning to increase or maintain HR tech budgets in 2024, partly thanks to remote trends. Nearly half of the companies surveyed have modernized their talent management infrastructure, which was once seen as a luxury. As an authority on significant transitions, Sharifan provided a practical playbook for leaders still struggling to update rigid frameworks that are inhibiting their agility.

Sharifan’s expertise has proven invaluable in an era of unprecedented disruption that is realigning the employer-employee relationship. Without dexterous systems attuned to rising expectations around experience, companies risk losing out on critical human potential that can power competitive differentiation. Though transformation journeys vary, responsive operations can unlock the capabilities and culture vital for growth.

Enhancing the Employee Experience

For Sharifan, efficient processes establish a platform for strategic culture building: “You have to have efficient processes so that you can then create the space for all those human moments, community building, creativity, and innovation.”

Streamlined operations enrich the culture and experiences that attract top talent by liberating bandwidth for more strategic priorities. However, most legacy HR systems remain siloed by department and disjointed in capabilities.

Careful diagnoses of existing tools against talent needs and desired outcomes are foundational to meaningful upgrades. Defining success clarifies what change investments are required. In addition, cross-departmental coordination prevents disjointed efforts when transitioning entrenched systems, which allows for holistic transformations.

Spearheading Change Management

Charting meaningful organizational change is no small feat. Transformations require strategic transparency on expected timelines, outcomes, and responsibilities at the outset to inform stakeholders and prevent confusion. Progress relies on compassionate, persistent communications across multiple platforms to sustain alignment.

However, research on global workplace culture has revealed that when change efforts sideline employee perspectives, over 1 in 5 workers (22%) reported feeling that their organization does not care about them personally. Strikingly, among those with poor culture perceptions, a staggering 87% said they believe their organization does not care about them, versus just 8% of those with positive views of workplace culture.

Leaders must actively solicit input to refine upgrades that reflect authentic needs, not merely top-down assumptions. This empathetic co-creation can cement sustainable improvements that are resilient to disruption. With employment lawsuits soaring 400% over 20 years, soliciting ongoing user feedback can further refine upgrades that reflect real needs rather than merely top-down assumptions. This empathetic co-creation cements sustainable improvements that are resilient to disruption.

SHRM data showed that over 1 in 5 workers (22%) feel their organization does not care about them personally when change efforts neglect employee perspectives. Even more strikingly, among those rating their workplace culture as poor, 87% indicated that their organization does not care about them, compared to only 8% of those viewing their workplace culture as good.

Ultimately, leaders must spearhead structured change management that upholds accountability while gathering continuous feedback. Failing to actively incorporate these perspectives risks miscalibration to talent desires, jeopardizing the adoption of changes deemed inadequate. Research found that change management capabilities rank eighth in importance yet only 20th in current capabilities, indicating significant room for improvement in this area. In an increasingly litigious environment, change risks invite legal exposure that organizations can ill afford. However, companies that involve stakeholders through upgrades can evolve fluidly in step with accelerating workplace innovation.

Ongoing Compliance Progress

Only 36% of HR respondents reported full confidence in managing ever-evolving regulations, indicating a difficulty in integrating compliance alongside daily operations. The immense and intensifying burden of multifaceted compliance leaves most departments overstretched by complexity, relying on disjointed manual monitoring capabilities that are unable to govern risk holistically. Organizations that dedicate focused personnel avoid piecemeal visibility and dated legal understandings that could invite severe violations.

As regulations accelerate across jurisdictions, compliance should no longer be dispersed but should instead be centralized under invested leadership. Configurable platforms integrating legal updates can provide systematic guardrails, easing this encumbrance through proactive alerts and controls.

Informing Decisions via Data

Rather than assumptions, workforce insights should direct planning aligned to skills needs, present and projected performance, and trends like automation disruption, as Sharifan described. Extensive employee life cycle data further evidences opportunities surrounding:

• Data-driven headcount planning grounded in performance metrics.
• Proactive skills gap identification guiding development priorities.
• Workforce future-proofing to recognize how roles may redistribute.

About 70% of data-driven executives reported that such people analytics delivers essential talent strategy impacts, including empowering recruiting and sustaining engagement and retention. They prove more likely to report adequate change readiness—an indispensable capability amid disruption.

Learning Fuels Innovation

Employees relaying external innovations back into operations prevent stagnation by continually enhancing approaches with fresh concepts integrated into internal goals. Such shared growth mindsets signal a reciprocal leadership commitment to mutual advancement rather than isolated upskilling.

SHRM research on emerging professionals revealed that almost 90% of employers seek adaptability and willingness to learn in early talent, which are strengths that over two-thirds exhibit. Meanwhile, over 80% of organizations agreed that learning cultures enhance resilience and employee experiences. Additional data showed that over 75% are more likely to stay amid continuous training, which attracted almost half of employee respondents to their current employer.

Fostering cultures hungry for constant improvement unlocks immense synergies. Employees conveying external best practices manifest collective advancement. However, growth must remain inclusive, not exclusive, with upskilling reaching across all levels. Ultimately, building reciprocal growth cultures cements organizational resilience amid accelerating workplace change.

With the half-lives of skills shrinking rapidly, organizations must champion continuous learning and adopt best practices to avoid lagging behind. A SHRM study on emerging professionals revealed that while only about one-third expected to stay at their next role for four or more years, double that proportion—nearly two-thirds—said they would commit to four or more years if they were given consistent upskilling to build in-demand competencies. Companies that are able to distill insights companywide and respond accordingly are better equipped to retain coveted adaptable talent.

Best Practices for Evolving HR Operations

Integrating People Analytics for Informed Decision-Making

People analytics utilizes workforce data to guide planning, enhancing program efficacy. However, 56% of users said they focus analytics on retention and turnover specifically—broader applications remain untapped. Still, an evidence-based approach has proven to boost productivity and inclusion. Organizations leveraging analytics outperformed peers 3.1 times more often in overall talent outcomes. Urgent risks also warrant rapid responses informed by available data instead of awaiting perfect models—71% of companies now prioritize analytics even when they lack perfection.

For example, a retail chain noticing rising turnover among store managers could analyze performance metrics to reveal unrealistic expectations from new customer conversion rate targets. Simply tweaking the targets and providing additional training might quickly improve retention within months. Without analysis, changes that are expensive and broader would have taken longer to yield results.

Analytics should integrate inputs from staff surveys, inclusion and diversity metrics, learning platform usage rates, and leading indicators such as engagement alongside lagging outcome data. Layering qualitative insights will help explain figures and test assumptions. Though technology consolidates information, human context guides effective solutions.

Fostering a Continuous Learning Culture

With skills rapidly evolving, continuous learning is crucial for organizations to keep pace with innovation. Business leaders at all levels should champion development opportunities, preventing stagnation. However, hierarchies often inhibit the bottom-up sharing of insights from customer-facing staff, detecting emerging preference shifts. Facilitating inclusive, multidirectional knowledge flows builds the capacity to navigate unpredictable futures. Three-fourths of employees (76%) said additional skills training makes a company more appealing, with 74% of employees saying they are willing to retrain. Those with strong learning cultures are 92% more likely to develop innovative products and processes.

Developing curiosity beyond formal training cultivates the agility to pivot amid volatility. Managers should encourage experimentation through stretch assignments. Mentorship and job rotation can also supplement role-specific mastery with cross-functional literacy. Most importantly, growth mindsets acknowledging inevitable knowledge gaps reduce complacency. Lifelong learning is critical for both individual and organizational resilience.

Implementing Effective Change Management

Before implementation, communicating objectives, outcomes, and indicators facilitates adoption by directly articulating expected benefits. Persistent, compassionate messaging then reinforces changes. However, research showed that only 34% of initiatives succeed outright, with 16% reporting mixed results—emphasizing the need for improvement. Strong practices boost performance 3.5 times more than peers. Collaboration and continuous feedback further drive adoption. Still, 70% of programs failed to achieve goals due to employee resistance and lack of management support, so overcoming these barriers remains critical.

For example, an HR manager championing a cloud-based system must first align stakeholders on challenges and progress indicators to accelerate results. Periodically reassessing against the initial outcomes framework upholds continuity.

Beyond initial rollouts, continuity planning maintains momentum. Celebrating quick wins preserves energy, and troubleshooting issues transparently models responsiveness. Ultimately, change sticks when it is ingrained in updated workflows and processes—one-off interventions alone rarely transform mindsets or operations long term. Sustaining change requires persistence and patience.

Centralizing and Streamlining Compliance

Dedicated personnel integrate legal updates into systematic governance guardrails to enhance compliance visibility. Configurable platforms automatically flag outdated policies to boost responsiveness. In fact, 61% of HR professionals cited rapidly evolving regulations as their biggest compliance challenge. Technology solutions can help manage requirements—57% of organizations said they utilize them. Centralized data facilitates efficient audit responses, earning higher shareholder returns.

Smaller organizations should digitize manuals for easier updating, utilize external advisory support, and automate essential monitoring. Working groups also enable holistic input on interpreting updates. Above all, compliance should become an organizational capability, not just an HR function—cross-functional collaboration embeds responsiveness at all levels.

Standard operating procedures codifying policy interpretations will boost consistency companywide. FAQs answering common questions can supplement formal documentation. Ultimately, compliance is strengthened through transparency—obscurity and overcomplexity invite issues. Streamlining while involving stakeholders minimizes risks.

Modernizing Talent Management Infrastructure

Modern infrastructure enhances HR’s agility to address emerging challenges—almost 50% have adopted cloud-based platforms that support remote work. Still, 59% of digital transformation efforts prioritized elevating broader employee experiences—not just tools. Integrated systems directly boost productivity 2.5 times over siloed ones. Thus, coordination ensuring continuity with finance or communication systems remains essential. Diagnosing needs against desired talent outcomes should inform platform modernization.

For example, replacing annual reviews with continuous performance conversations better supports agile goal-setting. Some overhaul entire talent management philosophies beforehand. Cross-departmental alignment on community building and culture also minimizes disruptions.

Platform decisions require balancing specialization with integration—niche point solutions can better address specific functions, yet they also complicate broader workflows. Regardless of architecture, seamless mobile access and consumer-grade interfaces matching external digital experiences should be mandated. Though a significant investment initially, modernization enhances responsiveness to new workplace dynamics.

The Future of Operations

Emerging dynamics around automation, remote work, and next-generation talent present fresh challenges. As Sharifan noted, accessible automation allows for the smoothing of repetitive tasks. However, maintaining human connection and developmental support remains vital even in dispersed environments—especially for historically social Generation Z professionals, who are increasingly constituting more of the workforce.

Leaders must continually balance emerging preferences like flexibility with productivity imperatives, cultural implications, and automation opportunities to retain top talent while upholding output. Even dispersed teams require inclusion, developmental support, and community.

Concluding Thoughts

Crucial frameworks certainly enable success, but only continuous learning and adaptation allow HR operations to evolve smoothly amid escalating expectations and relentless change. Conferences, podcasts, and academic programs will accelerate this capability evolution, but leaders must champion modernization to empower rather than inhibit talent throughout ongoing transformations.

FAQs

What constitutes HR operations?

HR operations encompass the essential daily activities enabling enterprise success—the workflows, processes, and change management mechanisms that organizations rely on. This includes core functions such as payroll, compliance, data management, and process execution. However, amid rising expectations, solely foundational capabilities no longer suffice. Leading operations must also actively enrich culture and the employee experience.

How can organizations guide meaningful change management?

Successful transformations first require clarity on objectives, expected outcomes, and success indicators before implementation. To inform stakeholders, changes should be communicated through persistent, compassionate messaging across multiple platforms. Cross-functional collaboration is essential, with clear owners empowered to drive accountability and gather continuous feedback for recurring enhancements. This empathetic co-creation sustains upgrades that reflect actual user needs.

What role does compliance play in modern operations?

With regulations multiplying across global jurisdictions, compliance is no longer just a back-office function but is now a strategic imperative—the risk of noncompliance is severe fines or lawsuits, given intensifying enforcement and penalties. Leading operations centralize compliance under specialized personnel instead of leaving it dispersed and siloed. Core platforms also integrate real-time legal updates to ease monitoring burdens through proactive controls and alerts. Despite having constrained resources, smaller organizations should utilize automation, digitization, and working groups to govern critical measures systematically.

How do people analytics improve talent decisions?

Rather than assumptions, people analytics leverages workforce data spanning the employee life cycle to guide planning around engagement, recruiting, roles, and skills. This shift from conjecture to evidence-based vision powered by analytics enhances the efficacy of programs, boosting retention, productivity, and inclusion. Leaders can balance the urgent risks that accompany innovation periods without experiencing needless delays while awaiting perfect data.

Sources

• The Use of People Analytics in Human Resources: Current State and Best Practices Moving Forward, SHRM.
• Expectations and Realities: Preparing the Next Generation of Talent for the World of Work, SHRM.
• How AI Is Changing HR Jobs and Tasks, SHRM.
• 2022 Workplace Learning & Development Trends, SHRM.
• The State of Global Workplace Culture in 2023: An International Model for Building Better Workplaces, SHRM.
• Set the Right People Priorities for Challenging Times, 2023, BCG.
• Three Reasons Behind Those Change Management Failure Statistics, Change Synergy.
• HR Compliance: Everything You Need to Know, UpCounsel.
• The Business Case for Change Management When Driving Organization Transformation, WTW.
• HR Professionals Lack Confidence in Their Compliance Status, Benefits Pro.
• 2024 HR Technology Imperatives, Gartner.