Do We Still Need HR Teams? When We Have Robots And AI…

A few years ago, I wrote an article questioning whether we still needed HR departments. It was intended to provoke debate, and boy did it do that. Thousands of people commented, some suggesting I was out of my mind! However, since then, the debate hasn't gone away, and I’ve seen numerous articles questioning whether HR will soon be extinct.

With the unstoppable wave of new technologies and increasing automation (of HR tasks, and other roles in the business), there’s no doubt that many traditional HR functions are changing rapidly. But does this mean HR teams are really on course for extinction? Let’s find out.

Ensuring HR is fit for purpose

In my earlier article on the topic, my point was not that HR should cease to exist. Instead, I argued that HR teams should be reorganized to deliver greater value to the businesses they serve. I suggested restructuring HR into two separate teams: a people support team and a people analytics team.

The people support team would, as the name suggests, be charged with supporting employees in the organization, from frontline staff to the senior leadership team. This would involve helping people with their development, monitoring and boosting staff engagement, identifying issues with company culture, and generally looking after employee wellbeing.

The people analytics team, on the other hand, would step back from the softer aspects of people management and look at people in a more scientific, analytical way, identifying critical insights that would help improve the company’s performance. The role of the people analytics team would be to find answers – answers rooted in data – to key questions like:

·        What are our talent gaps?

·        What makes a good employee in our company?

·        How do we best recruit those people?

·        How can we predict staff turnover?

Now, a few years down the line, I think there’s an even stronger case for splitting HR teams in this way, as it provides a clear path to using data more consistently – a foundation for more intelligent, data-driven HR, if you like. As the way we do business is changing rapidly, there’s a clear case for HR teams to deliver more value. Data provides a way to do that.

The rise of automation and Industry 4.0

To understand why HR teams need to deliver more value than ever before, we need to understand how industry has evolved. In the first industrial revolution, steam and the early machines mechanized industry. Then the second industrial revolution came with the invention of electricity. Computers and early automation brought us the third industrial revolution. And now we’re entering the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, in which computers and automation join forces in exciting new ways, with robotics and AI systems that can learn, control functions and make decisions with very little input from human operators.

As automation increases, computers and machines will replace workers across a vast spectrum of industries, from drivers and accountants to estate agents and insurance agents. Automation is going to impact many, many different areas of how we work in the future. And some of these changes will be huge, especially in industries like manufacturing.

HR professionals, therefore, need to develop a deep understanding of what automation may mean for their business – as well as what it may mean for the HR team and its role in the organization. As the nature of business continues to change, HR teams will be central to answering business-critical questions like ‘What types of skills and capabilities do we need to attract in order to work with these automated systems?' The HR team's expertise, and the wealth of data HR teams have, can help answer such questions and prepare the organization for changes that may come about. For me, that is a critical part of intelligent or data-driven HR – supporting the business as its needs change and evolve.

Why HR should embrace greater automation

I firmly believe the increase in automation and advances like chatbots are a great thing for the HR profession as a whole. At present, a lot of HR’s time and resources are swallowed up by day-to-day administrative tasks. When such everyday, mundane or administrative tasks can be automated, it frees up HR to focus on more strategic activities that are essential to the business's success. HR can then shift its focus to adding greater value to the organization. 

Therefore, HR teams need to not only be aware of and prepared for the rise in automation –I’d argue they should embrace it. Even when that means certain parts of the HR role are being automated.

No one can predict with absolute certainty how the technology will evolve, on what scale and on what timelines, but it’s absolutely clear that all this technology is only going to go in one direction: forwards. We’re only going to have more data, more intelligent algorithms, more sensors, greater automation, and so on. Not less, more. HR teams need to be ready for this transformation.

Where does this leave the HR teams of the future?

So, given the unstoppable rise of technology and automation, do I think machines will replace HR professionals, managers, and directors? No, I don't. I believe it's inevitable that machines and algorithms will take certain tasks away from HR teams, just as they will across all areas of business over the coming years, but I don't believe HR teams will cease to exist altogether. They will simply adapt and refocus.

The way HR teams deliver their service will change over the next few years, as the more repetitive tasks can be fulfilled by computers. From sourcing and hiring talent, to supporting employees as they learn and develop, automation will help save time, increase efficiency and improve decision making. As HR moves away from the more mundane and time-consuming tasks associated with day-to-day people management to focus on wider strategic issues, the HR team itself becomes more valuable to the organization, and more critical to its success. For me, that’s the central pillar of intelligent or data-driven HR.

If you would like to read more about how data and analytics are transforming HR then have a look at my latest book Data-Driven HR. It’s packed with real-life examples and practical ways HR teams can deliver maximum value in our increasingly data-driven world.

Thank you for reading my post. Here at LinkedIn and at Forbes I regularly write about management and technology trends. To read my future posts simply join my network here or click 'Follow'. Also feel free to join me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Slideshare, or YouTube.

About Bernard Marr

Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things.

LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that reaches millions of readers.