She’s female. She’s on-call 24/7 via your smartphone. She’ll respond to any request. She knows all your secrets, like what’s in your email, what you surfed for, and how you spend your time. She can even plan a party.
HR generalist or the latest iPhone innovation from Apple? True, many HR generalists can gain access to employee email and web history, and are available to their business leaders at all hours of the day and night. Hopefully the days of being in charge of the holiday party (remember those?) are long gone.
While Siri makes news for recording duets with musicians, connecting lonely users with escort services, and sending reminders of Grandma’s birthday, the only real similarity should be responsiveness.
When people are the competitive advantage, business moves, changes, flexes and shifts in unpredictable ways. Some great planning can account for a few of those possibilities, and true talent managers have great plans. When the plan fails, or fails to predict, the best practitioners have a unique resource to fall back on: their own human capital.
Looking for ways to increase your own understanding of leading edge practices and people? Check out one of HCI’s upcoming webcasts from the world of talent strategy, or explore more on hci.org.
One way to increase your role, strategically, is to fold contract talent into your purview. Quinn Thompson, Director of Global Talent Acquisition at International Paper, asks: Who Should Manage Contract Talent Acquisition?
Franz Deitering and Jim Erickson of SAP discuss the role of technology in increasing HR’s impact on global strategy.
HCI would like to hear from you on how your organization uses, and shares, workforce metrics. Take our fast online survey now, and join our survey panel to earn credit towards an HCI Executive Membership.
Image: NobleArc
