Human Resources (HR) technology trends for 2022 reveal shifts from traditional workspaces to hybrid environments. HR departments will require a more strategic approach to stay on top of that change and avoid losing talent.

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The Covid-19 pandemic has altered how employers and employees view the world of work. With the widespread adoption of remote and hybrid workspaces, HR departments have had no choice but to embrace technological advancements.  

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With employee retention at an all-time low, it is more crucial than ever for HR managers to stay ahead of the curve.

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Talent is now in short supply, and skilled employees are looking for better pay, growth, and flexibility. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average employee tenure is 4.1 years. In the 25- to 35-year age group, this drops to just 2.8 years.

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For HR departments, 2022 will be all about adapting beyond the pre-existing boundaries.

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What Is HR Technology? 

Human resources technology or HR tech refers to the tools used to automate and support multiple HR functions. These functions include automating employee onboarding and recruitment processes, performance management, payroll, and benefits. 

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Automating these processes reduces the opportunities for human error, limits liability, and provides analytical tools to drive more data-driven decision-making.

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Why Is HR Tech Important?

HR technology can help: 

• Boost efficiency: By providing one central platform for many different HR functions, organizational tasks are streamlined. This saves time in submitting requests and entering data.

• Informed decision-making: Improved data can provide valuable insights into the day-to-day operations of an organization, including employee absenteeism and productivity. This helps HR managers make better employee promotion and rewards decisions.

• Prioritize tasks: Technology can help HR managers prioritize tasks according to deadlines and urgency levels. 

• Improved transparency and accountability: Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides feedback mechanisms that make performance evaluation more employee-centered and transparent. 

• Talent attraction: Gen Z, will soon be the largest cohort in the workplace. Raised by the Internet, this tech-savvy generation is rarely seen without smartphones and relies heavily on technological solutions. They prefer employers to use up-to-date tech to manage time and records. Organizations that have not taken a serious look at upgrades can be at a disadvantage when attracting talent.

• Inclusive and diverse hiring: Automated recruitment in the hiring process reduces human bias and facilitates inclusive practices that ensure equal opportunity for people from diverse backgrounds. 

• Builds trust: Blockchain ledgers are considered tamper-proof. Businesses can ensure that only trusted people have HR data access.

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HR Technology Trends for 2022

Staying on top of the latest HR technology trends 2022 will be more important than ever for HR and C-Suite professionals who want their processes to remain relevant.

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In this guide, we break down 16 key 2022 HR technology trends.

1. HR Digital Transformation

2022 will see an increasing shift toward digital solutions and methods to improve company policy and culture. Gen Z is pushing HR departments and managers to redefine their roles. 

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The digital transformation has increased reliance on automated tools for communication, management, and accounting. This trend means a rise in self-service tools to automate employee onboarding. 

2. Employee Self-Service Tools 

HR managers are often the link between upper management and employees. The HR department has also historically been overloaded with tasks and assignments. 

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For more efficiency, companies are moving towards integrating self-service platforms. Self-service platforms facilitate fast and effective updates without managers needing to engage with each employee individually.

3. Artificial Intelligence In Recruiting 

AI is changing how employers find talent by offering insight into applicants from multiple sources. IBM uses AI to analyze social media accounts, specifically the posts, comments, and facial expressions of applicants. 

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AI algorithms are also used to reduce discrimination in hiring and create a more diverse workforce. AI is gaining momentum in screening processes, significantly increasing their efficiency. AI-driven systems can reduce a pool of hundreds of applicants to a shortlist of a few individuals with the highest potential. 

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Recruitment is complex and time-consuming. Recruiting tools will become increasingly sophisticated in answer to the intricacies of staffing on a global scale. 

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Most monitoring tasks will be automated going forward. This will give managers more time to plan, strategize, and train employees.

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We see a definite trend among firms opting for data-driven skills testing. Educational history becomes less relevant as people’s work experience increases.

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Identifying relevant skills and how they’re developed helps companies allocate people to roles best suited to their capabilities when the insights are put into practice.

Related: Hiring Trends To Get Ahead Of In 2022

4. Chatbots

In addition to a recruiter's typical screening activities and other routine work, high-volume recruitment necessitates contacting and coordinating with hundreds of candidates. 

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This is where chatbots or conversational user interfaces (CUIs) come in. This trending tool can act as an HR assistant and first point of contact for applicants. CUIs can handle candidate screening and pre-qualifications. 

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Although more commonly used internally, companies can deploy chatbots across multiple channels to engage job hunters and speed up application processes. 

5. Digital Training And Development

Professional skills used to have a half-life of 10 to 15 years, but that is no longer true. 

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The average half-life of skills is now five years, with more technical skills at under three years. 

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Therefore, professional development and advanced skill-building are key HR trends in 2022.

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Organizations will continue to use training modules more to help employees adjust to remote work. Investing in educating employees is a newer trend that is crucial for mitigating skill gaps and retaining talent.

6. HR Technology Trends For Remote Work 

Hybrid work models and the remote work trend was already on the up before the pandemic. But the work-from-home culture has since exploded and remote work looks set to continue. 

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Remote HR digitization platforms have an abundance of tools for employee management. As demand grows, 2022 should see further upgrades to HR tech with access anywhere in the world. 

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Organizations must ensure remote employees from different locations have access to equal learning opportunities. Working in different locations across time zones requires careful scheduling.

7. Performance Reviews With HR Tech 

Annual performance reviews are now a thing of the past. In 2022, it is important to instead check-in with employees regularly.

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Project management methodologies like Agile are feedback-driven systems offering real-time insight into team performance. People managers need to be able to identify individuals facing roadblocks and develop more effective strategies to integrate them into the workplace.

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Expect to see real-time performance management in 2022 as a continuous and integrated process. 

8. HR Technology Trends And Data Protection

Countries worldwide are passing data privacy laws, and it is paramount that employee data is kept safe. HR managers need to be on top of this trend and maintain centralized networks to protect sensitive information. 

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Enter blockchains, the tamper-proof technology for data security. Blockchains can verify candidate credentials, reducing the chances of fraud.

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Successful implementation of better data management and security platforms, like blockchains, requires HR professionals to prepare the workforce for the transition. 

9. Employee Analytics Platforms

The most critical factor in job satisfaction is appreciation and respect, followed by opportunity for growth and development. 

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Without a platform to measure employee sentiments, it is almost impossible to gauge how happy employees are. Employee satisfaction incorporates numerous elements. If companies neglect these, they run the risk of a disgruntled team.

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HR technology trends in 2022 see subjective annual employee reviews make way for real-time performance management tools that offer more insight. Managers will be able to establish which employees are underperforming and support them accordingly.

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Employee analytics tools can help leaders and employees leverage AI to research and process employee data. Analytics tools can be used in various stages of HR management: 

• Employability: Optimizing an in-house workforce to avoid hiring new employees.

• Training: Encouraging team members to sharpen their skills to reach their goals.

• Engagement: Determining employee engagement levels and factors contributing to changes in employee satisfaction. 

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10. HR Tools Migrate To The Cloud

Because of the disparities between the many aspects of HR management, multiple solutions are often required to automate recruitment, organizational socialization, and employee appraisal.

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HR technology accessibility is a must for team members. Cloud-based HR tools will accommodate this. The growing HR technology trend in 2022 of using cloud talent management solutions in HR management has multiple benefits:

• Employers have a broader outlook on the state of the workplace when using people analytics tools

• Collaboration within the team encourages interdependence among colleagues

• Decrease task expenses and reduce business overhead

• Cloud-based HR tools can be updated with great ease and are more adaptable than dispersed toolkits

Cloud HR is still making advances, but centralized and more accessible HR data can be at the forefront of improving employee engagement. 

11. Employee Wellness Management With A Focus On Mental Health

An increasing emphasis has been placed on wellness in the workplace. According to the World Health Organization, a global study found that working long hours may lead to a significant increase in risk of heart disease. 

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Extended work hours are connected with a drop in productivity and increased anxiety and depression. 

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In 2022, expect to see employee health and wellness become more central in how HR technology is used. For example, HR software that helps set realistic productivity expectations.

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Certain milestones and achievements on an HR platform can encourage staff to take breaks, exercise, and provide feedback on their wellbeing.

Related: Step-By-Step Guide To Creating An Employee Engagement Survey

12. Biometric Time Tracking

Employee tracking is becoming more popular thanks to biometric scanners. For effective workplace control, employee attendance management is critical. However, most businesses still rely on old-fashioned methods, such as spreadsheets and paper trails.

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Biometric tracking tools are hacker-proof. They store data in secure vaults and make it difficult to falsify. Fingerprint scanners are simple to integrate with smartphones, and companies can use the technology for remote workforce management.

13. Connected Platforms In The Workplace

The growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the key digital transformation technology trends. It’s not just one technology but is rather a vast series of technological components.

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The IoT has become an important aspect of the workplace digital revolution. Leading tech-driven managers use linked tools to track employee productivity and harness relevant health data to ensure employees are not putting themselves at risk. 

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Talent managers can promote a healthy lifestyle and facilitate discussions with health insurance providers using IoT activity trackers.

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The IoT opens a world of possibilities for training and education, allowing employees to access learning materials on-demand without disrupting their work.

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Mobile devices have revolutionized learning, not just by making information more accessible, but also by allowing micro-learning and making learning less linear.

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Connected wearable trackers create more opportunities for improving workplace security and assessing safety. A people manager can follow employees whereabouts in real time, allowing for faster and more effective communication with teams.

14. Harassment-Reporting Tools

New trends in the HR industry are seeing managers motivated to devise faster, less intrusive, and more efficient methods of reporting harassment. 

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Thanks to technological improvements, employees no longer need to plan in-person meetings with management to report abusive behavior.

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There are accessible yet private digital platforms for discrimination reporting with anonymity tools and messenger chats.

15. Employer Branding Tools

Brands are central to the hiring process since they often influence the kind of candidates interested in the organization, their skill cap, and cost-per-hire.

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As a result, one of the most significant HR technology trends for 2022 is specific social media branding tools, integrating HR management software with social media, and incorporating advertisements into HR practices. 

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Encouraging employee brand advocacy is a top HR technology trend worth highlighting.

16. Using Gender-Neutral Language In Digital Platforms

One of the most important HR trends in the workplace is the rising number of people who identify as non-binary. Besides removing gender-related prejudice from the decision-making process, managers must ensure they are not forcing gender-related ideals onto staff.

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All software must be adapted to various gender identities to boost retention. One way to do this is to have employees provide their pronouns on personal profiles.

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During recruitment efforts or on software interfaces, HR professionals and business owners are urged to avoid gender-related pronouns. Social awareness in HR management will continue with the goal of making employees feel comfortable and accepted. 

Summary

Key HR technology trends of 2022 focus on digital transformations affecting all aspects of HR.

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A shift to digitalization in HR will boost overall efficiency of business operations and increase talent attraction and staff retention. 

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The global workplace is forced to become more adaptable and robust. As business climates change, companies must adopt responsive tactics to stay competitive. 

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This will not be possible unless HR systems become more adaptable with ongoing openness to adopting digital solutions.

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HR technology trends of 2022 are introducing a slew of digital solutions to handle new and longstanding difficulties. But one certainty is that companies aiming to attract and retain skilled workers will need to offer workplace flexibility and motivation. 

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If you are looking for HR practices that drive employee engagement, take a look at this meal incentive for your people.