Company culture has in many ways becoming the defining aspect that impacts employee satisfaction, engagement, turnover and talent management. This becomes especially tricky to develop when a large percentage of the workforce involves remote workers, as has become the norm these days. Thus the management must make sure that all employee- full time or freelance- must understand and then embrace thecorporate strategy. Communication must flow freely without hierarchical hindrances. A support system must exist around all employees who must similarly understand that for each task there is a team to aid in case of requirement.

Source:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-to-build-a-company-cu_b_9404150.html?section=india

Business research conducted by the Forbes publication has provided us a list of steps which must be followed in order to create the ideal work team. Technology must be used to assemble the best of people together. The specific apps will not only analyze conventional aspects such as experience or qualifications, but will instead track behavioral patterns. Teams for specific activities must never be too large as that impacts cohesion. Communication channels must remain transparent and not get muddied by several layers of hierarchies. Finally it is also important that teams are empowered to take decisions on their style of work.

Source:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/alisoncoleman/2016/03/06/how-to-build-a-game-changing-team-for-your-business/#266d2b1229b6

It has usually been thought that employee turnover is a bad thing. Studies have been conducted to measure the effect. However, in some cases employee attrition may actually end up saving a company a lot of money. If the employee is disgruntled or possesses outdated skill sets, it is better for the organization to move on. New processes or business innovations cannot be implemented effectively with such employees. It inhibits the creation of an agile workforce. And that is why Zappos recently announced exit payments to those who felt they did not fit in.

Source:-  http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardlawler/2015/07/21/rethinking-employee-turnover/

Iconic management thinker Peter Drucker more than four decades back spoke about the rise of the knowledge worker who as opposed to the manual worker provided value to organizations using knowledge. He argued that over the decades knowledge would top land or labour in terms of economic importance. Now even Google’s Eric Schmidt has laid down in his book the term, ‘smart creative’ as someone who is the knowledge worker of today. This person is independent, results oriented and creates business innovations. Source:-  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rise-knowledge-worker-20-alexandra-levit

The candidate recruitment experience is undergoing certain changes across organizations which would have positive impacts. As per business research conducted by Talent Board, firms can solve their gaps in recruitment by delivering a stellar experience to candidates at this stage. Usually recruiters are prompt in acknowledging job applications but they aren’t equally receptive to informing the aspirants about the stage their form has reached and next steps to be taken. The transparency has been missing. If this aspect improves then even employee referrals will go up. Employers are now targeting job agents and microsites to increase visibility about their offers. The online experience is getting enhanced. Also the tricky part of informing the aspirants about their final selection or not needs major improvement from the respective human resource departments and hiring managers. This will eventually aid the onboarding process.

Human resource management as a discipline seems to be forever shrouded in mystery. This is probably due to the massive complexity in wide ranging operations from talent recruiting and onboarding to employee engagement and compensation planning. However, some feel that businesses will be better served through greater levels of transparency. Some organizations such as Zappos and Valve have gone to the extent of publishing their employee handbooks but that was mainly about rule and regulations. What is even more critical is detailed understanding of aspects such as human ways of terminating employees or how to bring about greater workforce diversity in the organization.

 Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rawnshah/2015/11/27/will-open-source-hr-make-life-easier-for-companies/

As the debacle at Volkswagen regarding its carbon emissions cheating indicates, single acts can tarnish the reputations of organizations built over years, maybe decades. Reputation and talent management will be major concerns for HR leaders this year. This will also be dictated by the fact that demographics across the world are changing. Average age of the population is 46 in Japan and Germany, 36 in USA, 25 in South Africa and 15 in Uganda. Several organizations are also grappling with shortage of talent in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The Confederation of British Industries (CBI) in fact says that skill gaps are worsening. Automation is being used at places to bridge this gap.

 Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/karenhigginbottom/2015/12/30/challenges-for-hr-directors-in-2016/