Skip to main content

Technology advances too fast for some, but not fast enough for others (shouldn’t we all be in flying cars by now?).

Whichever way you look at it, to keep pace with changing demands, HR professionals will need to utilize new technologies to their advantage.

Use these HR technology trends of 2024 and beyond to help you discover what’s possible today and where the market is headed.

  1. The AI evolution gathers pace
  2. Tools to better enable hybrid/remote working
  3. Transitioning to a skills-based organization
  4. Cybersecurity a growing concern
  5. New era of employee experience platforms
  6. Diversity, equity and inclusion
  7. New compensation solutions
  8. Coaching and mentoring platform resurgence 
  9. Blockchain technology
  10. Internal talent marketplace

1. The AI Evolution Gathers Pace

Artificial intelligence is gradually moving from sci-fi novels into everyone’s daily lives, including HR professionals. 

It seems one can’t browse a news site or open a newsletter without AI being mentioned at least once.

So, how can this rapidly developing branch of technology help HR professionals?

Hyperautomation

Hyperautomation is the idea that if a task can be automated, then it should be. You’ll likely be aware of automation in payroll software and data entry. As AI gets ‘smarter’, the breadth of tasks that can be automated will increase.

AI chatbots, for example, can greatly enhance employee experience by immediately providing workers with the information they need and delivering relevant data to the HR team.

AI can also be trained to look through CVs and parse candidates based on their education and experience, although we recommend exercising caution here.

As AI technology continues to evolve, it's crucial to choose the right HR software equipped with advanced AI capabilities to stay ahead of the curve.

Enhanced decision-making

The power of AI also comes from machine learning, or its capability to analyze and interpret large data sets.

The more data you can collect about employees the better it is for the AI, so many enterprise-level human resource management systems (HRMS) in particular have been beefing up their AI technology to help with people analytics.

For human resource teams and business leaders, machine learning can help you figure out how team members can best be utilized, which initiatives are most effective, and even if someone’s about to quit.

Write better job descriptions and outreach emails

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard about Chat GPT and other natural language processing tools. 

They’re fun to play around with and are particularly useful for creating the first drafts of job descriptions (note first drafts) or copy for your recruitment marketing.

Related to recruitment, they can also be useful for starting an interview question bank or helping you write Boolean searches!

Stay up-to-date on all things HR & leadership.

Stay up-to-date on all things HR & leadership.

2. Tools To Better Enable Hybrid/Remote Working

According to research by Zippia, 74% of companies use a hybrid model or are working on it. Remote/hybrid work is here to stay and has improved the lives of a lot of people.

However, as we all know, remote or hybrid workforces present their own unique challenges. For example, many organizations are seeking out hot desk booking software and other tools to help reduce and maximize their office space.

HR is now tasked with managing people across multiple locations, time zones, and jurisdictions and ensuring remote workers are healthy, engaged, and can access HR products and services.

In many ways, remote/hybrid can represent a new opportunity for human resources to redefine its role within organizations.

Here’s how technology can help with this endeavor.

Employee well-being is going virtual

The circumstances of the pandemic brought employee well-being, particularly mental health, further into the spotlight.

As a result, a survey by the Business Group Health showed that, in the US, the number of large employers providing online resources to support mental health will increase to 88% this year.

According to the same survey, at least half of employers plan on “lowering or waiving costs” for remote mental health services and nearly one in five respondents plan to provide managers with additional training to recognize and support an employee who may experience a mental health issue. 

Telehealth mental health services—like Talkspace and BetterHelp—bring trained professionals right into the homes of remote workers. 

Start-up Oliva aims to provide customized, personal video therapy sessions and workshops for managers. Some employees are even open to AI therapy because a non-human is easier to open up to.

Technology to monitor employees

Remote work has changed the rules of communication. Remote workers can’t pop into a neighbor’s office to collaborate or have serendipitous chats with colleagues in the kitchen. 

From a manager and HR perspective, it’s harder to gauge what people are working on and how engaged they are when you’re not sharing a space with them.

This is why, increasingly, organizations in 2023 are relying on methods such as regular pulse surveys, using tools like TinyPulse, to continuously gather feedback from employees and use it to improve their experience. 

In addition to this, some organizations are now using increasingly advanced employee monitoring tools that track how engaged employees are when working from home. 

These gather metrics such as time tracking, application and website usage, and productivity, in addition to random screen screenshots and sentiment analysis (studying dialogue).

The data from these remote employee monitoring systems can then be used to track healthy habits and avoid burnout, suggest improvements for productivity, and designate training and coaching.

Tools to help build connections remotely

While many enjoy the flexibility of working remotely, people also say they miss the in-office connections and it can get lonely.

A number of apps have been developed to counter this and help teams build crucial relationships.

Many integrate with instant messaging apps like Slack or Teams, some common ones being Donut, Know Your Team, HeyTaco!, and Gatheround.

Global payroll technology and employer of record (EOR)

Now that many organizations have realized they can still grow with teams party or fully remotely, they’re looking beyond their nation's border and hiring globally.

Enter the proliferation of global payroll software and employer or record technology to help HR teams handle a distributed workforce.  

Both will help you manage global employee data, compile payroll and assist with recruiting, onboarding, and compliance. 

Indeed, HR technology tools such as Oyster help you to create locally compliant contracts, communicate your employment terms and keep documentation centralized, safe, and accessible.

Compliance cannot be fully automated, but hybrid services combining humans and technology can help absorb new changes in an expanding regulatory landscape.

3. Transitioning To A Skills-based Organization

Many experts we talk to are investing time and resources in building out skills libraries/taxonomies with the aim of becoming skills-based organizations.

Essentially this means getting granular about the skills required for each role and making the information accessible to everyone internally.

Managers can then use this information to resource projects and team members can use it to help guide their learning and development and facilitate internal mobility.

Of course, building out these libraries is a lot of work, so many organizations are using increasingly advanced forms of business intelligence software to get a head start and help with the skill-matching aspect.

Microsoft just announced Skills in Viva, an exciting addition to this space as it leverages LinkedIn’s extensive skills library.

4. Cybersecurity A Growing Concern

As the world becomes increasingly digital and remote work becomes more widespread, cybersecurity is unfortunately becoming an ever-growing concern.

According to a study by IBM, the average cost of data breaches in the United States rose to $4.45 million in 2023 and remote work was a direct contributor to the increase.  

Despite the increasing risk of data breaches, most HR professionals in a recent survey suggested that data security is not a “serious issue.” 

However, HR should be at the forefront of ensuring employee and company data is as secure as possible. Identity theft through leaked personal data can result in real losses for employees and can also hamper talent acquisition and employee retention. 

HR, working with their organization’s information technology leadership, should lay out a clear set of policies for data security (use these example HR policies to help).

HR leaders should also ensure their teams receive proper cybersecurity training and facilitate training for the organization as a whole too.

Finally, HR departments should be involved in planning a response to a data breach. Employees who lose their personal information to a cyberattack will need clear communication from the organization and support going forward to minimize harm.

5. New Era Of Employee Experience Platforms

According to a recent report from Josh Bersin, there’s been an emergence of a new kind of employee experience software to meet the demands of the modern workforce and how people approach their careers.

These platforms seek to solve the challenges of employees having to use multiple platforms from different departments to access routine services by replacing them with an intuitive, mobile-friendly portal.

From an organizational perspective, they’ll make it easier to track individual journeys, for example onboarding, and access data to track and manage performance analytics.

They’ll also incorporate chatbots and virtual agents and be able to “nudge” employees to remind them about important tasks.

In short, a kind of “one HR platform to rule them all” that enhances the employee experience and gives access to richer employee data.

6. Diversity, Equity And Inclusion

While 2023 was considered by many in the space to have been a tough year for DEI, changing workforce demographics, including an aging workforce, means that successful organizations will be ones adept at recruiting, retaining, and leveraging diverse talent.

Recognizing this, many organizations are using diversity recruiting software to help them source more diverse talent and minimize bias in their hiring process.

These systems utilize special algorithms designed to source more diverse candidates, and other features such as skill matching and blind hiring (where candidate details are anonymized until you invite them to an interview).

7. New Compensation Management Solutions

With new laws coming in around pay transparency and more conversations happening around important topics such as pay transparency and equity, platforms such as Pave have gotten a lot of investment in recent times.

Compensation management software helps HR and business leaders get to grips with their compensation management and tackle projects like job leveling, benchmarking, and salary banding.

8. Coaching And Mentoring Platforms Resurgence

The best employers help enable their employees' development and there are a number of technologies that can help with this.

Learning management systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated, adapting to trends like in-the-flow learning, microlearning, personalization, and gamification. 

Something we’re noticing is that they’re also getting beefed up on the reporting side of things as learning and development becomes increasingly operationalized.

But, what’s been getting a lot of investment recently is coaching and mentorship software

These admittedly quite basic apps help you quickly spin up new coaching and mentoring programs to connect people across your organizations and share knowledge and skills.

Sometimes it’s not the shiniest or sexiest stuff that’s actually needed!

9. Blockchain Technology

Blockchain, the underlying technology that supports cryptocurrencies, can also be utilized by businesses and HR teams.

No, we’re not advocating the creation of an HR coin that can be awarded to employees to incentivize them to fill out their performance reviews or complete compliance training (although there’s an idea).

Beyond somewhat fanciful ideas, there are several ways HR teams can utilize blockchain to improve operations.

  • Credential verification: Blockchain can be used to verify the authenticity of candidates' educational qualifications and work history. This technology provides a secure and unchangeable record of a candidate's credentials, reducing the risk of fraudulent claims and speeding up the recruitment process.
  • Background checks: Blockchain can streamline the background check process by providing a transparent and immutable record of a candidate's employment history, criminal record, and other pertinent information. This can help HR professionals make more informed hiring decisions.
  • Employee data management: Blockchain can be used to securely store employee data, including personal information, performance reviews, and employment history. The decentralized nature of blockchain ensures that this data is secure and tamper-proof.
  • Payroll processing: Blockchain can simplify and secure the payroll process, particularly for international employees. By using cryptocurrencies or tokens, HR teams can reduce transaction costs and processing times for cross-border payments.

10. Internal Talent Marketplaces

Attrition is a perennial issue for organizations, as is skill development. But, what do you know, upskilling also helps with talent retention.

Recognizing this, organizations are utilizing advanced talent management systems to create internal talent marketplaces.

These highly connected, intelligent, and transparent systems help connect employees to new growth opportunities based on their skill sets, interests, and the needs of the business.

These new opportunities could be their next role, gig, stretch assignment, or mentor. You can think of them as almost like an internal LinkedIn specifically your organization.

Beyond talent development and retention, internal talent marketplaces can also boost your DEI efforts by ensuring everyone has equal access to opportunities.

While HR tech is always evolving, the core function of the HR department remains the same: empowering people to make fulfilling contributions to their organizations.

HR technology is a means to an end and can’t be treated as a magic bullet. Some AI solutions, for example, won’t work unless you have the requisite levels of data management in place.

For further reading, try our article Is Your Organization Ready for HR Technology? covering key considerations when choosing HR software and how to balance the costs vs benefits of new technologies.

Key takeaways

  • HR teams will continue to experiment with new AI technologies to help streamline processes, write communications, generate content, and reduce bias.
  • To meet the demands of the modern workforce, integrated employee experience platforms focused on user (employees) experience will combine HR software with services from other departments in one central, easy-access system.
  • An increasing number of organizations are moving to become skills-based, aided by increasingly integrated business intelligence software.

Keep up to date with the latest developments in HR technology by subscribing to the People Managing People Newsletter, delivered to your inbox weekly.

By Finn Bartram

Finn is an editor at People Managing People. He's passionate about growing organizations where people are empowered to continuously improve and genuinely enjoy coming to work. If not at his desk, you can find him playing sports or enjoying the great outdoors.