While some resolutions are meant to correct the past, others are made to mend the future. Ankita Shreeram profiles key HR trends that will pave the way ahead for 2013. on the edge of the December and 2012, Career News banked the issues of upcoming career and recruitment trends and its impact though social media.

2013, are WE READY? GREATER UTILIZATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA
"Companies started utilizing social media for branding and hiring.A lot of companies have now established social media guidelines.Customers are more tech-savvy and are exploring their options on-the-go before making a choice and employees too have to match up to this trend,"says HR manager- Courtyard by Marriott Chennai.
  
RECRUITMENT PROCESS OUTSOURCING
"In a number of sectors such as financial services, we have seen a growth in the demand-supply gap as banks increasingly offshore a number of their middle and back office functions to India.This has resulted in a need for a more focused, widespread and an aggressive talent attraction strategy.While traditionally a majority of recruitment was done in-house through referrals, etc, we are seeing more recruitment through offbeat sources and many BFSI organizations have also adopted an RPO model,"suggests MD, Michael Page (India).
  
ADOPTION OF E-LEARNING TECHNIQUES
"HR departments are now including e-Learning course-ware,consisting of videos, pod-casts and other learning resources,in their L&D mix.The lower cost, and a wider reach with less logistical challenges,of eLearning is forcing a major reshuffle in focus (and budgets) in corporate training,"says founder & director,Technology Solutions, Upside learning.

INCREASED SCARCITY OF TALENT
"An estimated 31 per cent of employers find it difficult to fill positions because of talent shortages in their respective markets/industries. Average attrition rate in India has increased by 25 per cent over the last year.Women employees are less prone to frequent job changes. For every 10 men changing their jobs, there are only two women doing so,"avers partner, KPMG India.
  
GREATER AWARENESS TOWARDS WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
"Most of the corporates are aware that diversity plays a key role considering the increasing number of educated women who are joining the workforce and therefore,it’s no longer a situation where the diversity agenda applies to select large companies or MNCs,but it's equally important and relevant for all organizations. I think awareness levels as well as intent are becoming clearer and HR continues to play a very important role in this regard,"opines Indrajit Chatterjee VP,HR,Nitco Ltd.

SMALL BUSINESSES ADOPT HR TECHNOLOGY"Looking at the rising technology,the small business firms introduced HR technology to their workplace and got rid of the manual methods of scheduling and payroll.It not only saved a lot of their time and money,but also reduced the scope for mistakes to a great extent," says Deepak Kaistha,managing partner, Planman Consulting.
  
ADVANCED ANALYTICS FOR ANDIDATE SELECTION
"This is an area, which is gaining foothold and bringing in value. With the resources available to collect and look through a large amount of personal data and those becoming easy,‘Big Data Analytics’ methods help recruiters derive concise insights into the candidates’ competencies based on the insights generated," says CEO and founder of Classle Knowledge Pvt Ltd.

CHANGING EMPLOYER BRAND
"International banks have struggled this year to manage the duality of information about the organization and its growth/hiring plans within India v/s the news regarding its downsizing globally.This required a number of organizations to relook at the way their employer brand is positioned. Also, in certain areas where sectors have seen a slowdown, smaller domestic firms had the advantage of being able to cherry-pick strong talent,"suggests Tripathi.

EMPHASIS ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
"With the Maruti incident that took place in mid-2012, companies are taking a harder look at their IR capability.We have also seen business schools invest in new IR specific courses to help HR professionals in developing a stronger understanding of the complexities of this area," says Tripathi.

REORGANIZATION OF THE HR FUNCTION
Many organizations are observing a transition from the strategic role of HR to a transactional one.'HR outsourcing' as a concept is increasingly gaining steam."For instance, many organizations have globally outsourced more than 80 per cent of their transactional HR activities. At home, many Indian conglomerates are housing most of the transactional HR activities into a separate organization called ‘Shared Services Organization’," says Shermon.

courtesy : ascent