DECEMBER 2020HR TECH OUTLOOK 19CXOInsightsTim Schigel, Partner, Refinery VenturesByThe U.S. workforce has never seen so much change over such a short period of time. In just the last decade-plus we've seen the onset of the gig economy, artificial intelligence coming to take many of our jobs and, in the middle of all of this, COVID-19 turning almost all of us into remote workers overnight.This rapid change is putting more pressure on human resources departments to adapt. Traditional HR was built for the post-World War II industrial era when mass standardization, process optimization and treating companies like machines were the keys to growth and scale. That approach doesn't work anymore.Workforce optimization is no longer only about efficiencies and numbers, but about becoming more people-oriented and less hung up on pre-determined processes that remove independent thought.Today's workers are different, which is something that Dr. Timothy Irwin makes clear in his book, "Extraordinary Influence: How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Others." In every company, people are aligned in terms of what he calls the "I" of their personal experience, the "We" of their relationships with coworkers and supervisors and the "It" of the company as a whole. Every worker's goals and aspirations are seen through that prism, including what's in it for them, their group and the company.But remote work, gig work and the other new paradigms are forcing companies to get creative in how they hire and manage people in their organizations. HR Must Emphasize the Human Connection Over Technology as The Workforce Changes
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