The top HR tech trends of the year

A recent survey identified the top HR tech trends that organisations should keep an eye out for this year.

The Gartner Survey Identifies Top Strategic Imperatives for HR Technology in 2023 report identified the top three areas of focus are skills management, learning experience platforms, and internal talent marketplaces. According to Gartner, investing in the right technology is the best way to promote these key areas.

“With a tumultuous global economy, HR technology leaders face a balancing act in 2023 … Leaders must anticipate greater levels of accountability and demand for measurable outcomes to justify new technology investments,” said Gartner HR practice director Sam Grinter.

According to the survey, the top HR tech transformation priority for 44 per cent of respondents is driving better business outcomes. This is followed by growth in headcount and skills at 26 per cent and cost optimisation at 17 per cent.

“Right now, many organisations are taking a proactive approach to business transformation in order to safeguard critical areas of operations … Delivering on revenue growth and profitability is imperative for HR technology leaders, particularly during times of social, technology and economic changes,” Mr Grinter said.

The three top HR tech investments for leaders this year are:

• Skills management (51 per cent)
• Learning experience platforms (41 per cent)
• Internal talent marketplaces (32 per cent)

Josie Xing, director at Gartner HR practice, commented: “Organisations continue to face a troubling skills gap … This problem has compounded as the pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies in all industries as well as today’s fierce competition for talent.”

When handling HR tech implementation, there are some barriers being felt across businesses.

The top three hurdles were:

• Ensuring ongoing adoption of HR technology (57 per cent)
• Justifying HR technology investments (46 per cent)
• Developing and maintaining a strategic roadmap for HR technology transformation (43 per cent)

Mr Grinter continued: “Without adoption, technology is worse than dead weight – it provides zero value while incurring ongoing costs … Lack of adoption also impacts productivity as employees waste time finding workarounds, creating more unnecessary work friction.”

According to Gartner, just 43 per cent of HR leaders believe their employees are happy with the state of HR tech at their company.

“This dissatisfaction most often stems from suboptimal end-user experiences that can be due to several causes, including lack of digital maturity, inadequate change management and insufficient communication about the value of the technology,” explained Ms Xing.

Employers can do their part to make the implementation of new tech as streamlined as possible by providing adequate support and training for staff who need to use these systems. Bringing the IT department into this process may be beneficial.

“Leveraging IT expertise and support is necessary … While many HR organisations try to fully own the HR technology strategy, the HR team is unlikely to have all the skills needed to define a holistic HR technology strategy. IT and HR must work in lockstep to bring together both the business process insight and technical expertise of their respective functions,” Ms Xing said.