While all the traveling, hotels, and restaurants are usually fun and enjoyable when attending conferences, the conversations are what truly makes the trips so worthwhile. That was more than the case while at the SHRM 2015 Conference and Exposition. Over the course of three days, various breakout sessions, and innumerable conversations with vendors, end-users, and other attendees, I got the complete HR experience, including a glimpse of the where the industry is headed. I explored how the spaces I’m fully entrenched in – recruitment, talent acquisition, employee engagement, employee appreciation and recognition, and more – are blossoming before our very eyes. What’s more, I explored areas of HR outside of my expertise, including compliance, telecommuting, the Affordable Care Act, absence and leave management, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and beyond.
It was a great opportunity to engage, interact, listen, and talk. But what truly stood out to me in regards to the conference and HR in general was the importance, more than ever before, of transparency. And by transparency I mean that it’s a necessity to be forward and up front however and whenever possible. Up-to-date information is available at our fingertips at a moment’s notice, and HR needs to be the same way. If an employee needs to take the day off, her position changes, or he is underperforming, there needs to be systems in place so all relevant parties are informed of said changes in real-time.
As an attendee at SHRM put it, ‘We live in a show me or tell me society now.’
It’s no longer good enough to be shown or told later – it has to be immediate and accurate. I found that no matter the section or focus of breakout sessions, ongoing conversations, or presentations in general, they all kept coming back to the fact that HR needs information faster than ever before. We certainly have the technology to do so, it’s more-so a problem of keeping up with it and keeping it up to date. Often times, many organizations allow HR to run its own course. But true business success is most often linked with a supported, capable, and even empowered HR department that works cohesively with the rest of the company, from hiring, to onboarding, to employee development, to workforce management, and beyond. With such cohesiveness at the helm, small or large companies can make leaps and bounds in regards to their direction and internal development.
There’s a plethora of opportunities ahead, it’s now a question of how to use such technologies and services to help grow the business overall.
