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What are the most notable trends in HR

you’ve seen over the last few years?

Jason: The one thing I notice straight away is

it’s not called HR anymore. There’s PeopleOps,

People and Culture, etc. but I think it’s healthy

we’re just talking about it. The other piece is

now these teams are getting their hands dirty

and using platforms and tools themselves

rather than contracting an outside service

provider.

Steve: One of the things I’ve noticed is the

real-time nature of business today. Everything

moves now. If we aren’t ready today and to

address everything we need to immediately,

we’re failing. There’s an expectation for

immediacy now.

Sheila: I think one change we’re seeing is

the lack of HR struggling to get a seat at the

table. It’s now a mentality from the rest of the

business telling HR to “Hurry up, get here, we

need you.”

David: I think Glassdoor is a huge change for

employers. The veil of what it’s like to work at

your company has been lifted and it’s all in one

place. Whereas previously it was somewhat

of a myth and a mystery, now it’s pretty

transparent.

How are HR teams using data now?

Will that change in the future? Any

benchmarks you anticipate?

Jason: There’s obviously some very

sophisticated measurements out there but I’ve

noticed most companies are really just trying

to get the basics in place. A lot of companies

just need a direction and to collect the data so

that it can be used to help guide decisions. In

terms of benchmarks, I think the goal should

be balance.

Steve: Whether you’re a small company or

a Fortune 100 brand, I’ll always ask this one

question: Does your data drive decisions? If

that isn’t the case, why are we doing this? I’ve

been at a lot of companies where they just

collect data because they can and don’t benefit

from it. Going beyond that though, you have to

think analytically. It’s not just taking some big

survey tool off the shelf and implementing it

but taking a step back, evaluating the problem,

and thinking through the entire process.

Sheila: I think that’s what will come out now

though. There’s so much data out there now

around things that were previously hard to

measure and now we can connect those dots

and find correlations we didn’t have before.

Exploring the Future of HRUdemy invited five industry leaders to discuss the trends and landscape of HR, People Analytics, and Talent Acquisition

HR Innovators Insights

HR Leaders

Shelby WolpaDirector of HRInstacart

Steve McElfreshVP of People Operations New Relic

Jason McPhersonChief ScientistCultureAmp

Sheila RyanVP of Global HRGlu Mobile

David HanrahanVP of HRZendesk

About Udemy for Business

Udemy for Business is the next-generation online learning platform that empowers you to solve the biggest challenge facing growing companies today: the skills gap. Built for companies striving to stay at the forefront of innovation, the Udemy for Business solution curates the latest, top-of-class course material taught by the world’s leading

experts. In addition to its extensive course library, UFB provides teams with easy-to-use course creation and distribution tools. Global brands like Mixpanel, Oracle, Pepsi, and Pitney Bowes rely on Udemy for Business to train their workforce and excel in the skills-driven economy.

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What’s your philosophy on performance reviews? What role

will they play in the future?

David: I have three bold predictions for the future of performance

reviews. Pay-for-performance is a philosophy that most companies

have adopted or at least say they do. But pay-for-performance

doesn’t make sense for cognitive roles where there isn’t a physical

transaction so I think we’re going to see that replaced by a pay-for-

engagement model. Number two, performance and engagement

tools will merge so that managers can track the data from their

engagement surveys and marry it to performance metrics.

Lastly, performance reviews will be centered on text analysis.

You have these 360-reviews, self-reviews, etc. but then you have

this mountain of text just sitting there. We’ll leverage cognitive

linguistics and machine-learning technology and bring them into

HR for a richer analysis.

What are your thoughts on the contingent workforce as

contractors and freelancers become much more prevalent?

How do you preserve culture?

Steve: I’ve been tempted to rename of our Talent Acquisition function

to Labor Supply Chain because we have a choice to either work with

just employees, a shrinking subset in most organizations, or we can

become experts in the supply of labor.

Sheila: I think I would define it differently because the paradigm is

shifting and it’s an old notion that employees are with you forever.

When we have contractors and temps, they’re still part of the

organization. Now how they get paid and how the government views

them is different but if I kept those employees at an arm’s length like

the Department of Labor wants, it wouldn’t help us reach our goals.

helping the larger workforce.

David: In a prior life we were trying to implement a parental leave

policy globally that simply didn’t discriminate at all. So we asked

ourselves what would happen if it also applied to all our contract

labor so we took the risk since we were relatively small at the time.

There was no impact on the overall business and it worked out great.

What do you think the future learning environment will look

like?

Steve: It seems so obvious but I’ll say it anyways. It’s this incredible

flexibility of building robust learning programs with tools like Udemy

in a day or two and then deliver the content to people in real time

when they need it. There’s still a purpose for the traditional classroom

but it’s just not the focal point for learning anymore.

Jason: Learning and development is so important that it’s probably

the most consistent driver of engagement and will never go away.

I can’t recall the last time I saw data that pointed to Learning &

Development not being a driver in an organization.

To close things out, I’d love it if each of you can share one

takeaway, tip, or tool that will impact HR in the next 3-5

years.

Steve: Not to pander to our sponsors but the absolute essential

message is to never stop learning. I believe there are two kinds of

people in the workforce: those who are in transition and those who

are in denial. If you aren’t constantly trying to develop, you’re lagging

behind.

Jason: I’d probably extend that further since I think in People and

Culture, you now have to get your hands dirty and learn how to use

tools and platforms instead of just outsourcing.

Sheila: In HR we have to be flexible because our workforce is

changing, the world around us is changing, and the only way to keep

up is by coming to these kinds of events and discussing techniques

with each other and to stay on top of these trends.

David: My favorite all-time stat comes from Saratoga Institute who

studied 19,000 exit interviews, asking why the person left and then

talking to the manager and asking why they think the person left.

89% of employers, i.e. the manager, said the employee left for more

money and the reality when you asked the person was only 12%

said it was for more money. The dominoes that fell ahead of that

were learning, liking the manager and team, growth, and belief in the

product. It’s not just salaries but also a focus on learning and growth.

HR Innovators Insights