Are you a “technology refugee”? HR evangelist Enrique Rubio stopped by this week’s Geeks Geezers Googlization show to chat about his article “Do humans have room in the future of work?” We wasted no time diving into a conversation about the future of HR, how we must bring HR up to speed, and how technology is racing forward faster than we can keep up. Enrique shared his vision for Hacking HR: to build a global community where HR, business, and technology leaders help make HR better than ever.

 

From Engineering To Hacking HR… a strange transition?

 

Originally an electronic engineer, Enrique transitioned to HR a little over ten years ago. While this may seem like a strange and sudden trajectory to take, Enrique knew that he liked working with people and for people in a way that brings about results and helps them achieve greatness. With this realization, he decided that a career in HR was for him.

Over the past 5 years, Enrique started noticing how huge the disconnect is and continues to be between the use of advanced technology in HR versus its use in all of the other departments within a company that exist to push business forward. Seeing how this gap has only continued to grow larger within the past 3 years, Enrique knew that he needed to do something. Combining his background as an engineer and his HR experience, he started “Hacking HR”, a company “passionate about the intersection of HR and tech, and the future of work”

Hacking HR brings together professionals from both sides of the fence for innovative discussion and brainstorming on how the two can become one when it comes to HR.

 

A seat at the table?

 

As anyone who has been involved in HR knows, HR departments are constantly behind when it comes to technology. Recently, there has been talk of HR getting their seat at the table, but as we say in this episode, “it’s not about having a seat at the table, it’s about having a voice at the table”.  

So where does this voice come from?

The answer is analytics.

Automation and tech by themselves won’t bridge the gap between HR and the rest of the company, but the results that come from combining the two will. Consider it this way, if HR walks into a board meeting and says “If we do this, we might increase our performance over the next X amount of time, which will bring in X amount of dollars and X amount of impact.”

Being able to deliver this type of data, plans, and results will give HR such value that they’ll be invited to the table without even having to ask. On the flipside, as long as HR continues to not create or deliver value, they will continue to not have a voice.

 

Understanding how HR can give value

 

One of the first and most important ways that HR can begin to offer value is by understanding their company. They need to understand the lingo of the employees and the goals of the business, and then they need to align themselves with these things. If Human Resources continues to stay on its outdated and distant island, it will never be able to offer value that makes them indispensable to the rest of their workforce community.

To surmise, HR needs to go back to the basics to truly advance forward. Combining tech, analytics, and understanding how the people in their organization think is the first and most vital step. Whether or not machines and tech take over in the future of work, the thing they cannot do is to imagine and come up with innovative and new ideas that push companies forward. If HR can take on this role, then the future of work will still include them.

Enrique’s advice to those in the HR field or looking to disrupt?

“Open your mind and see what other things you need to start learning to expand your abilities across the board. Learn fast, quick, and have an open mind.”

There are endless free and affordable ways across the internet to educate and propel yourself forward. Learn tech, know your analytics, and become a high-valued asset that’s not in danger of unemployment once and if technology becomes the dominant position in the workforce.

 

Connect with Enrique

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubioenrique/

Twitter @erubio_p

Hacking HR  https://hackinghr.io/