No Tags Found!


Dear Professional Associates,

This is the most amazing article I've come across in

recent times. Mind you the author has penned this in

1998 and was at that time looking at ten years ahead

to explain the scenario. At this point of time we are

just three years away from the time stated and how

true it is till now.

One can only look at this piece in awe and salute

Floyd Kemske for what a wonderful visionary he is.

Sit back read and enjoy, while you prepare yourself

for the future...

60 HR Predictions for 2008

By Floyd Kemske

The top 10 predictions in Workplace Flexibility,

Global Business, Work and Society, Workforce

Development, Definition of Jobs, and Strategic Role of

HR.

Workplace Flexibility

Collaborative cultures will be the workplace model.

Creative employment contracts will support more time

off, flexibility in hours and work location,

technological job aids and more pay at risk with

significant upside potential.

Company intranets will become a major tool for

communication, training and benefits administration;

HR will play a leading role in developing this

important tool.

Intelligence through knowledge transfer capability

will separate the best employees from the rest.

Employees will have more and more choices about work

arrangements, allowing them to meet their individual

needs.

Work hours scheduling will become less important as

organizations focus on performance and results.

Company facilities will become "virtual" through

work-at-home, telecommuting and outsourcing.

The workweek will be less structured—employees will

still work 40-plus hours, but at varied times and

places other than the office.

Legislation will lead to greater portability of

health, welfare and retirement benefits.

Free-lance teams of generic problem solvers will

market themselves as alternatives to permanent workers

or individual temps.

Global Business

The role of corporate HR will change to that of

creator of overall values and direction, and will be

implemented by local HR departments in different

countries.

Technology, especially the Internet, will enable more

businesses to enter the global marketplace.

HR professionals will have advanced acumen in

international business practices, international labor

laws, multicultural sensitivities and multiple

languages.

HR professionals will need to be knowledgeable of

other cultures, languages and business practices to

help their companies find and enter more markets.

HR people will have to understand other cultures and

help people work with, and transfer among, various

cultures.

Megaglobal business alliances will grow in number and

scope, requiring great finesse on the part of the HR

professional.

There will be an explosive growth of companies doing

business across borders, and it will be the most

significant change for the economy in modern times.

Cultural understanding and sensitivity will become

much more important for the HR professional of the

future, whereas multiple language ability isn't going

to become a necessary competency.

The continued emergence of a world marketplace will

require development of an international workforce.

Small teams of HR professionals will focus on

providing performance improvement consulting services

to a variety of locations around the world.

Work and Society

Family and life interests will play a more prevalent

role in people's lives and a greater factor in

people's choices about work—there will be more of a

"work to live" than a "live to work" mentality.

Employees will demand increases in workplace

flexibility to pursue life interests.

Dual-career couples will refuse to make the sacrifices

required today in their family lives and more people

(not just women) will opt out of traditional careers.

Families will return to the center of society; work

will serve as a source of cultural connections and

peripheral friendships.

Workers will continue to struggle with their need for

work/ life balance, and it will get worse.

Integration of work with quality-of-life initiatives

will create solutions to problems formerly seen as the

responsibility of government.

Community involvement and social responsibility will

become part of an organization's business vision.

"Cocooning" will become more popular as workers look

to their homes for refuge from the pressures of a more

competitive workplace and depersonalized society.

Just as defined-contribution plans have begun to take

over from Social Security, companies will take on

responsibility for elder care, long-term care and

other social needs through cafeteria-style benefits

programs.

Those people who refuse or are unable to adapt to new

technologies will find they're working harder and

accomplishing less.

Workforce Development

Lifelong learning will be a requirement.

The focus of training/learning activities will be on

performance improvement and not just on skill

building.

Employees with varied skills and competencies will be

valued more highly than those with a depth of

expertise in a single area.

Problem solving and decision making will become a

required curriculum with practical work problems as

the training medium.

Training will be delivered "just in time," wherever

people need it, using a variety of technologies.

Companies will demand constant personal growth, and

employees will respond positively to higher

expectations.

It will not be possible to survive in the workplace

without basic computer skills.

People who can learn new skills/competencies quickly

will be highly valued in a faster changing world.

Team projects and special assignments will be a major

factor in personal development.

As the computer-savvy generation is more assimilated

into the workforce, employees will become much more

productive in complex tasks and less dependent on

other people and departments.

Definition of Jobs

Organizations won't pay for the value of the job but

for the value of the person.

Versatility will be the key factor in determining

employee value with strategic thinking, leadership,

problem solving, technology and people skills close

behind.

Compensation systems will be linked to business

outcomes.

All jobs will require higher levels of computer

skills.

Positions will be organized in teams focused on a

task, not organized around a hierarchy.

Positions will be defined by the competencies needed

to be performed.

Employees will be more independent, moving from

project to project within their organizations.

Many jobs will be redesigned to be much broader in

scope, especially in management positions, resulting

in leaner head counts.

Employees will be increasingly measured by how much

value they contribute to the business, not by whether

they fulfilled predetermined objectives.

Work will be more challenging, and jobs will become

increasingly complex.

Strategic Role of HR

Successful HR departments will focus on organizational

performance.

HR's value will be to have the right people ready at

the right time: recruiting leaders to join the

company's mix of talent and keeping the "bench" full

of enabled, competent workers.

The focus of the HR function will be human capital

development and organizational productivity; HR may be

renamed to reflect this.

HR will evolve from strategic business partnership to

strategic business leadership (driving change and

results, not just monitoring them).

A key HR role in the future will be multidisciplinary

consulting around individual, team, business unit and

corporate performance.

Managers will grow to depend more and more on HR

professionals as they realize that good people

management can be the strategic advantage in the next

decade.

Leading change will become HR's greatest contribution

to the corporation.

More and more businesses will use HR as a strategic

partner.

HR will have a "seat at the table" as part of the top

management team and report directly to the CEO in most

companies.

A key HR role will be managing increasingly scarce

human and intellectual capital.

Workforce, January 1998, Vol. 77, No. 1, pp. 50-51.

Cheers,

Rajat

From India, Pune
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Hi Rekha,

Yes, you are right. These are coming true in today's scenario. It also means that we have to perk up to meet these challenges in donning the role of strategic HR in real terms and contribute to the company's bottom line.

Cheers,
Rajat

From India, Pune
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Hi Rajat, It’s really a nice informative article which fills in lot of energy for the aspirants in HR like us.Thanx for ur info. Regards, Badari.

Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Good Morning Rajatji, I found this post very benificial to implement & size up the HR dept properly in any company. Regards, Mona
From India, Mumbai
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Dear Mr. Rajat,

It is indeed a very good posting. All that is said by the thinker is happening in the current situation. I wonder, what will be the scene after 6-7 years. If we come to know now, like this, we all HRs will be prepared in advance for the same, isn't it?

Regards,
Moushmi

From India, Mumbai
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

hi rajat!! thanks for this great article!am working on my summer internship right now...and am experiencing most of what is mentioned there!so much for 2008...! regards maria
From India
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

hi very nice posting Mr Rajat , for people like me who are just entering in HR field . Knowing how Hr will likely to be in future we can upgrade ourself . r`egards Aman
From India, Delhi
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Dear all,

Thank you for overwhelming response..yes 2008 predictions are becoming a reality than before..

A colleague forwarded me this piece on his views about HR & today's scenario and it's future..

In many organizations, existing HR systems are major impediments to creating agile workforces. For the most part, HR systems are designed to reduce variability and to standardize behavior, not to promote flexibility and adaptive behavior.”

How often we are told that the particular employee's performance is not upto the mark and he becomes a star performer when he joins the other company..

HR organizations will become smaller. “Hiring criteria and processes will be altered to reflect agile attributes…Job descriptions will be eliminated and compensation systems redesigned to pay relatively more for enterprise-wide results and relatively less for individual outcomes.” As an HR professional, your job is to create an organization that constantly builds its capacity through building the capacity of the people you employ.

I wonder if this is possible to lay less emphasis on individual outcomes..frankly it has to be a mixed balanced of the two.

The contribution of the HR function to the hiring and development of agile, nimble, resilient people is critical. You design or administer most organizational systems that contribute to agility.

Create selection, testing and hiring criteria that identify diverse, resilient, agile people.

Provide orientation that emphasizes the organization vision and expectations for agility.

Assist and coach leaders to communicate the vision, and design a work environment that removes barriers, de-emphasizes hierarchical control, emphasizes empowerment, and puts people directly into contact with customers and suppliers.

Create flexible job descriptions that change regularly to meet organization needs.

Any ideas or thoughts as how this can be done or implemented?..would appreciate if members can share their experience..

Provide opportunities for people to work on crossfunctional, even virtual, teams that solve a problem or approach a new opportunity.

Create an environment in which diverse ideas, training and education that develop individual capacity, and reading are the norm.

Push decision making throughout the organization so people are not waiting for decisions before taking action.

Design a feedback system that provides ongoing, daily feedback so people always know how they are doing. Invest the time to create a competency-based, individually planned and negotiated, results-based feedback system. Eliminate the traditional performance review.

Reward people who produce results that have wide-ranging impact in the organization. Reward results and impact, not longevity or seniority. Reward, at least, quarterly. Consider sharing profits.

Base promotions on contribution and impact.

Encourage intelligent risk taking and open discussion, and even some conflict over diverse ideas and viewpoints. Avoid “group think” to maintain relationships.

Coach managers to handle their own “people” issues, instead of handling them for them. You build their capability and thus that of your organization as a whole.

How does HR Manager benefits from all this ?..

You directly impact the organization's bottom line and can expect to influence the overall strategic vision.

You are valued on a par with the people who manage line functions. The HR world is changing.

Recently, I read a job description for an HR Director in US and It basically stated that HR traditionalists who viewed their work as administration and policy making need not apply as the company wanted applications only from candidates willing and able to advise the corporation at the highest, most important strategic level.

Cheers,

Rajat

From India, Pune
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Hi Rajat,

That's a lot of valuable contribution from you. The fact that you find it relevant tells us a lot about you as an HR. Yes, all that you have posted is 110% true, relevant, and important.

HRs are now not the people who will make policies and see that they are followed and refer to the employee manual every time.

Today we have more dynamic things to do, and our performance will largely depend on our skills of man management.

People will drive the companies, and companies will need people who can shape the company career along with their own. It's most important that every employee feels ownership of the company, and this is what HR needs to do, make employees feel one with the company.

It's a hard task to accomplish; HR is going to face the most challenges that it has ever faced. New technologies will take birth to solve and facilitate new problems, but no technology can give us people management solutions; this will have to be done by us (HR) as a person.

To achieve the golden mean between people management and performance and company goals is what we need to do.

The best solution is to take people that suit your company as people and not just as technology providers. Technologies can be taught at any age and time, but the basic attitudes, values, customs, and beliefs of a person cannot be changed.

We need to see if attitudes, values, beliefs of a person are suitable, in line with what the company wants it to be as to the person's role in the company.

The right attitude at the right place is what is going to take the company forward.

Companies and HR need to remember its Human Capital is its future, to get the best out of your employees, give them the best.

It's important that all of us discuss on this forum what tools we can devise to manage our people like people and not like resources.

Looking forward to a lot of interaction on this.

Regards,

Rakhi

From India, Pune
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Hello Rajat,

Congratulations!

Great.

Let me tell you that when I started working way back in 1988, I also acquired a diploma in PM & LL from Bahwans.

The place where I was, that is Jamnagar, nobody at that time knew what kind of work a person in administration would be doing. Usually, companies like Digjam and others would hire people from Delhi for such posts. At that time, everyone questioned the usefulness of my course.

Slowly, time passed, and that same city now has the world's largest refinery, Reliance, where I have also worked.

I introduced the concept of Flexi-time working during the 1990s. Initially, nobody accepted it, and it was challenging for me as a woman and mother to work. However, now this concept is widely accepted both globally and in India.

All this indicates that we are currently implementing what you had predicted.

Once you start working on something, don't be afraid of failure, and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.

Again, thanks.

Rima

From India, New Delhi
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Hello Mr. Rajat,

Firstly, this site is amazing. It's only after visiting this site that I came to know there are so many people in the field of HR. In India, unlike Finance and Marketing, HR is still undervalued and not given much credit. Thus, even if I had a liking to specialize in this field, I thought about who would appoint me in the future. Will I get an HR job? If yes, how much will I be paid? But after going through this site, my attitude towards HR changed. Thanks to this site and thanks to all the members.

The article that you have posted was an eye-opener for me. I got to know the future of HR, and I can even share it with my other colleagues. The article is so true; it enlightens one's mind. This will also prepare others for the future.

Great post.

From China, Qinhuangdao
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

Hi there,

That was really nice. I also remember in one of the programs Mr. Bimal Rath, a leading HR professional, talking about the same thing some 5-6 years ago. Although these scenarios seem inevitable, a huge and daunting task for HR professionals like us is to make our management truly understand the importance of this and also to show our fellow employees how to take the best possible advantage of it and achieve a great balance between work and personal life.

Regards,
Kusumadhar Pandey

From India, Delhi
Acknowledge(0)
Amend(0)

CiteHR is an AI-augmented HR knowledge and collaboration platform, enabling HR professionals to solve real-world challenges, validate decisions, and stay ahead through collective intelligence and machine-enhanced guidance. Join Our Platform.







Contact Us Privacy Policy Disclaimer Terms Of Service

All rights reserved @ 2025 CiteHR ®

All Copyright And Trademarks in Posts Held By Respective Owners.