With the Fourth Industrial Revolution tightening its grip on the world of work, 2019 brought widespread change at an unprecedented pace. The rise of technologies such as AI and robotics, the multi-generational workforce, greater demand for flexible working, and people leaders’ foray into to the C-suite presented a new and compelling cocktail of challenges and opportunities for the future.
And though these trends were expected to continue developing at a steady rate, nothing could have prepared us for what came next. Needless to say, 2020 brought disruption and change to an almost immeasurable degree, serving to turn the workplace, its constituent parts, and the role of HR upside down.
But whilst this year has been largely punctuated by disruptive and challenging circumstances, it has also represented a new set of opportunities for the HR function. With a newfound need to maintain culture and engagement, execute transformation, refine leadership approach and ensure the wellbeing of employees, the role of HR has never been so intertwined with the success of an organization – both on a local and global scale.
In other words, the traditional contract between employer and employee has been nullified; this is the focus of HRD Connect’s latest People Leaders’ Survey. We asked 200 HR leaders to tell us exactly what COVID-19 means for their business, in terms of both challenges and opportunities. Their answers touch all aspects of the HR remit, and illustrate the appropriate course of action for people leaders henceforth.
In short, the results of the survey (gathered from a global talent pool spanning Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and North America) shed some light and clarity on what’s been a thoroughly disorienting year. Our respondents helped us to ascertain what the biggest challenges of 2020 have been, what the biggest opportunities of 2021 will be, how elements such as technology have influenced the situation, and much more.
What’s more, and as is customary for HRD reports, we have once again assembled an all-star panel of top HR practitioners and thought leaders, all weighing in with their analysis of the survey responses. This year, the prestigious lineup includes the likes of Dave Ulrich, management consultant and creator of the ‘Ulrich Model’, Daniel Gallo, executive director, people and culture, McLaren Racing (and formerly Liverpool FC), and Abigail Wilmore, chief people officer, Stella McCartney.
Whilst 2020 may have presented a complex and multi-faceted puzzle for people leaders around the globe, this report is our attempt to make sense of it all through breadth of data, depth of analysis, and some of the brightest minds in the world of HR today.
Sign up now to be among the first to read this year’s edition of the HRD People Leaders’ Report.
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