The future starts today – also for the HR function!

The graphic shows the change in the age structure and associated with this will also go hand in hand with a change in values ​​in companies. This change will change HR work. First examples of possible consequences due to the changes:

– The working life is extended
– Competition for qualified resources is increasing
– The average length of service decreases
– Knowledge and experience of employees are becoming more valuable
– Employee loyalty to the company is becoming more important
– Flexibility becomes a success factor

What do HR functions have to do now?

There are four core topics that can counteract these symptoms in the future. Firstly, procurement, secondly, empowerment, thirdly, commitment, and fourthly, the care of employees is becoming increasingly important and intensive.

Procurement is no longer about optimizing the selection process, but rather about finding a sufficiently large number of applicants. Active sourcing can be a solution. This process begins with the search procedure and runs through the social networks to companies where the young professionals can be found. Active addressing and poaching cannot be prevented by monetary incentives alone.

The empowerment of the employees includes ensuring the employability beyond the age of 60. To do this, both the workplaces and the employees must be put in a position through health measures. Qualification also means technical training, qualification and training. In particular, it also means active knowledge transfer. This transfer must be organized. The topic of knowledge management is largely neglected today, since many failed to implement it. This is because the introduction of a database for storing documents was mainly understood to mean this. The media are just a building block in a sustainable knowledge organization. In addition to appropriate media, other components are individual incentives, the ability of employees to prepare and impart knowledge for the transfer of knowledge, as well as structures that organize the transfer, check target achievement from the incentive systems and ensure quality.

The concept of employee retention is most affected by the change in values. The management of the employees becomes an essential binding instrument. This can partially counteract the emergence of a pay contest, since monetary commitment generally only has an effect in the very short term. Cafeteria systems can be used to create individual options and thus incentive systems that, due to their individuality and flexibility, lead to sustainability. Finally, the care of employees is the central task of human resources work. The topic of “care” only appears traditional at first glance. In the course of virtualization, individualization and decentralization, mobility needs to be increased. Mobility in personnel work runs through almost all processes and begins with mobile recruiters and ends with the care of the employee during maternity leave. From the HR perspective, one can only hope that the economy will not be too good in the next few years, because then there is still some time to prepare for the challenges. Until then, the future-oriented restructuring of HR functions should be addressed.

Digital Natives – What HR should know about generation y

What is important to young people today when choosing a career, what interests and needs do they have and what motivates them? The often unknown requirements of Generation Y on their training companies often unsettle the established decision-makers in companies and organizations.

This volume gives HR and recruiting managers a deeper insight into the current realities, interests, attitudes and habits of digital natives (Generation Y) and thus offers them more decision-making bases for the design of their concepts and processes.

The editors and authors concentrate on the living environments of the young people born between 1993 and 1999. A particular emphasis is placed on young people who are aiming for a simple or medium-level education, because they represent the central target group of personnel marketing for those who are particularly critical in the commercial and technical training professions from the point of view of recruiting young people.

The articles were written by experts from science, companies and youth work and are aimed primarily at practitioners in companies.

The content

  • Chimaera or real phenomenon? HR and digital natives
  • Digital natives and their living environments: youth cultures, real and virtual networks
  • Digital natives at the transition from school to work: performance, motives and maturity
  • The meaning of gender: interests, attitudes, social behavior, performance etc. of boys and girls
  • Promotion of specific target groups: social skills, migration and career entry as a second chance
  • Digital natives and new media: usage behavior and recruitment opportunities

Publisher: Springer Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2013

HR Service Management

Coming from the financial sector, the concept of the Human Resources Shared Service Center (= HR-SSC) has been established in Germany for a good five years. This includes the bundling of administrative HR tasks in an independent organizational unit.

With the massive use of technology, such as the databases from the call centers for customer relationship management, as well as a work-organizational separation of customer advice from process management, HR work in HR-SSC can be provided more cost-effectively. However, HR shared service centers require a change in the entire personnel structure of a company and are therefore quite complex projects. In the past, large companies in particular were interested in this concept.

The majority of DAX companies already have such a service center. Meanwhile, medium-sized companies with a size of 3,000 to 10,000 employees are also examining the suitability of this approach. The concept can be expected to become more widespread, which is also evident in the development of consulting capacities on this topic at various large consulting companies. However, it must also be seen that there are companies that clearly oppose the concept because it contradicts their basic understanding of closeness to employees. In this book the idea of ​​the HR Shared Service Center is comprehensively presented.

Based on the motivation, the basic idea, structures and processes of the HR-SSC are shown. The management, control and monitoring of an HR SSC has its place, as does the critical consideration of the advantages and disadvantages, but also the prospects.

Press
“A successful contribution to the topic of “Personalwirtschaft No. 07/2012”

Author and other contributors
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Appel has been Professor of Business Administration and Personnel Management at the Saarland University of Applied Sciences since October 1, 2007. Lecturing and consulting activities, in particular for the organization of the personnel function and for the establishment and operation of HR service centers. Born in Mainz in 1965.

Training in statutory accident insurance. From 1989 to 1993 studied business administration at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz with a focus on organization and journalism. There also assistant at the chair of organization. Research stay at Rockefeller College, New York State University. 1999 Doctorate on questions of computer-assisted group work.

With BASF Aktiengesellschaft in Human Resources since 1999. First there as a speaker for fundamental questions, then for HR-IT, especially for the introduction of employer and manager self-services. From 2003 he was commissioned to set up and manage the HR shared services of BASF AG, responsible for 110 employees and a budget volume of € 24 million. Lecturer at the Warsaw University of Applied Sciences.

Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute for Employment and Employability. Numerous publications and lectures.

Werner Felisiak is an independent consultant in the field of HR organizational development.

Editor: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Appel, Werner Felisiak, De Gruyter Oldenburg Verlag, Berlin 2015