Posts

The human element in HR digitalization

Digitalization, in essence, describes transformation of functions to computer-based systems and programs, particularly utilization of robotics and AI (Viitala 2021.) Digitalization is not just part of the future, but very much part of today -  escalated by the global pandemic. All of a sudden many of us were forced to work remotely and the majority of communication was transferred online as well. Some companies were better prepared than others, but this sort of "forced digitalization" was a shared experience to many. In the context of HR digitalization means primarely more data-driven decision-making and using human recourses analytics as a tool to further this. Many of the HR processes can be automated via robotics and HR systems and this has entirely changed the HR as work. (Verma, Rana & Meher 2023.) According to Murugesan, Subramanian, Srivastava and Dwivedi (2023), robotics can be seen to encompass both the use of AI and ItO (Internet of Things), all of which open up...

Workforce is ageing rapidly - are we ready?

One can attempt to forecast the future in many ways, but looking at the so called megatrends would be among the best. Megatrends represent the global trend or way of development (Viitala 2021). Viitala in her book lists a number of megatrends expected to effect the working life now and in the future, such as digitalization, aging population, urbanization, globalization and ecological thinking. I have picked one of these to go through in this post. Aging population , along with the digitalization, is more a current trend than merely a future one. European Foundation for Improving Living and Working Conditions Eurofound (2023) has in its website listed articles, case studies and inquiries about phenomenae such as ageing population and working life. It states that one of the signs of this particular megatrends is that people postpone retiring from work. There are more and more of those who are not willing to retire even when the official retirement age has been reached. This requires chan...

First steps to working in HR - How to get into HR and stay there?

 Few years after I myself wandered from nursing work to HR it suddenly seems that everybody wants to work in HR, including my former nurse colleagues! Large number of job opportunities seem to appear constantly, and HR attracts employees of a great variety of backgrounds. Particularly jobs related to recruitment are those that benefit from the worker’s expertise and understanding of the particular field as well as their ability in sales and marketing, even more than their previous background in HR, or the lack of it. There are also a great number of different, HR related job titles, both in Finnish and in English. I have personally been intrigued by the role of a HR partner (or HR business partner) and how, if at all, it differs from the role of a HR specialist or a HR manager. However, in this blog post I have chosen to look into more entry level positions in spirit of this course.  As job postings are only valid for few weeks at a time, I have chosen not to include links to ...