HR has a huge role to play in the next few years “as important, if not more important, than salespeople right now,” according to Vijay Swaminathan, CEO and co-founder of Draup. The data collected at Draup, an AI-driven reskilling and talent-intelligence platform, reveals the difficult trends ahead in hiring and retention. “Meeting these challenges can give HR staff a voice in executive-level decisions if they can put data into action,” Swaminathan said in a presentation at From Day One’s Austin conference in October. Among the highlights:

Understanding Frontline Workers

Knowledge workers are always on the rise, but business and society learned the hard way during the pandemic how important our “frontline” workers are–the ones who make our food, deliver our packages, work in call centers, and others who cannot work from home. There is a lingering 16% to 17% shortage of frontline workers since the pandemic due to a displaced workforce. The challenge for HR staff is determining why they’re not coming back–is it Covid concerns, a desire for more autonomy, flexibility, or benefits–or is it due in part to the fact that we have not created new roles for frontline workers to return to? HR professionals must sort these issues out and address them.

In the ’90s we assumed that automation would replace frontline workers, but that has happened more slowly than expected. The trucking industry is a great example, as it’s clear we haven’t come very far with self-driving vehicles. The dawning realization, Swaminathan said, is that AI is no longer “a race against machines, it’s a race with machines,” in which both the employee and the technology are essential for increasing efficiency and productivity incrementally.

Meeting Worker Expectations

Employee expectations, including the desire for more flexibility, have changed dramatically since the arrival Covid. As many companies work as globalized organizations, employees even where the cost of living may be lower are looking for more benefits, wellness considerations, and work-life balance. Making sure that employers are treating everyone equally regardless of their location, and finding ways to measure that, will be essential over the next few years.

The desires for more work-life balance led to the explosive growth of freelancers: up by 17 million in the U.S., to an estimated 60 million. Swaminathan said that Draup “spoke to 15 companies recently and only two or three of them had an effective strategy for working with freelancers.” This strategy must include quick onboarding, taking deliverables in an integrated way, determining intellectual-property assignments, handling security aspects, and then offboarding. Juggling an array of workers–freelancers, fully remote, hybrid, and onsite staffers– also require HR leaders to reevaluate Covid policies to determine if they are hindering the hiring process or if they need to prioritize remote and contract workers.

Embracing Augmented Reality

The prospect of introducing the metaverse into HR is a thrilling opportunity and “the sooner we figure it out, the more career opportunities will be available to HR professionals.” Let’s say you have a recording of an entire transcript of an interview with a hiring prospect, and you want to share one small piece with your leaders. “You’ll have full control of listening and dropping it into your HR metaverse to get feedback quickly in a more collaborative way,” said Swaminathan. You can reduce bottlenecks in learning and development by enabling employees to skip past modules they already know.

Instead of putting learners in front of videos, answering questions and clicking boxes, the metaverse is immersive and interactive the same way flight simulators are enabling leaders to see if employees are ready for the next level. HR leaders need to understand these technologies and present leaders with a plan for the rules and processes to ensure success. The metaverse presents a “double-edged sword” as well, according to Swaminathan as “there is a huge amount of data privacy, risk of mistrust and misuse, that need to be analyzed and documented.”

Evolving Job Roles and Soft Skills

As Steve Jobs demonstrated, Swaminathan said, “you may have all kinds of scientific and technical skills, but if you don’t have empathy, you can’t design a product.” The European Commission has done a superb  job of documenting the soft skills that are important for different job families on a global basis. A large data-driven course teaching such skills will have an impact across many departments including finance, HR, and marketing. New roles are emerging requiring soft skills and discernment, including gig-work tracking analysts, AI-bias managers, and global cultural analysts to “work as one culture spread across multiple cultures,” Swaminathan said. HR professionals will be the ones to champion institutionalizing soft skills into the culture, determining effective processes and strategies for all types of workers, and making sure that good data is used to see what is “truly connecting well with employees and amplifying that.”

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Draup, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.

Gail Gonzales is a writer, brand strategist and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her boutique agency, Evolve Your Brand, helps business owners who care about the positive evolution of people or the planet amplify their message.