HR is one of the most dynamic industries in today's business world. Depending on the nature of the business, the needs and responsibilities of HR can vary. Each industry may also see different HR trends that can affect the way work is performed.
The higher education industry is no different.
Education, specifically higher education, has seen some unique trends in recent years that HR departments should be aware of and possibly leverage.
Recent HR trends in higher education include:
Many higher education establishments have a large number of employees, from the most experienced professor to the newest custodian. As such, it is important for HR departments in higher education to leverage modern HR tools, such as modern HR software, to make their lives easier.
Social media has completely evolved the way businesses operated and represent themselves. Whether someone is looking to find an answer to a general question, an answer to a question about the company's products or services, or simply learn more about the company and its culture, there's a good chance that they'll give social media a look.
This is even more true when it comes to Gen Z and the younger members of today's workforce.
As such, it's crucial that higher education organizations create and maintain a strong social media presence. This presence should not only help answer questions about the educational organization but also make the institute more appealing to both potential future students AND faculty.
It's important to take this two-prong approach because many organizations end up focusing too much on the students. While that should certainly be a core focus, organizations need to remember that they are still just that, and they need to operate their social media presence just like any other business would as well. For instance, much of a company’s recruiting and brand is based on social media presence.
As a result of living in a post-COVID world, a new major trend in all levels of education is online learning.
For HR, the methods used by teachers to teach and instruct students can impact the resources needed for success.
For instance, when recruiting new teachers and staff, HR needs to consider a potential employee's ability to communicate digitally with students as well as other faculty and staff.
And at the end of the day, you can't guarantee that everyone hired will be proficient in such skills. As a result, HR must tailor their approach for onboarding, culture implementation, and potential training to revolve around the possible use of digital learning technology.
For any type of business or organization, DEI is a major HR trend in addition to a challenge.
According to one study, only one-fifth of professors in the U.S. are people of color (POC). While this may be a considerable step forward over previous decades, it's certainly not a near-equivalent ratio. As such, it's even more important that educational organizations continue to prioritize DEI initiatives.
Not only is proper DEI an essential part of building a positive organizational culture, for higher education it also plays a part in attracting new students.
In another study, it was found that diversity is important to 84% of students.
Even though many higher education organizations already have an existing HR department, they may not have the tools they need to succeed. Our HR solution allows higher education professionals to automate core HR functions, including onboarding, while providing a single database that stores and tracks all employee information in one place.
On the other hand, there are many higher education organizations that don't have enough hands to take on every responsibility given to HR. Even more so with some of these recently emerging trends in the industry.
Our team of SHRM Certified HR Professionals specializes in all areas of HR, service ranging from employee relations, compliance complexities, talent acquisition, pandemic consequences, and more.
To learn more about how dozens of higher education organizations are already benefiting from our HR services, contact us today.