When it comes to globalizing human resource processes, organizations require considering different ways of hiring, training, retaining, and supporting their workforce spread across different countries, and to do that effectively, companies need to consider various practices and strategies that help overcome the challenges arising due to cultural differences, technological developments, and international rules & regulations.
As modern organizations these days place a high priority on having a talent pool that is both varied geographically and highly mobile, HR is frequently at the forefront of the globalization mission. The global business setting is experiencing exceptional change, and human resources should develop new capabilities to gain success in empowering their workforce, leading to better productivity and growth of the business. Basic HR functionalities, such as efficient service delivery, integrated HR software, employee self-service, and prompt access to reliable workforce data, are as important as ever.
Moreover, HR can enable business growth by creating standard systems and processes that make it easy for the organization to enter new geographic markets and integrate new acquisitions. In this entire process of globalizing HR processes, stability and agility play an important role.
Organizational agility is the ability to adapt and develop people and processes at the pace of accelerating and unpredictable changes. Stability is about developing an environment where the workforce is able to count on some basic things, such as role clarity, timely feedback, sufficient resource allocation, and a predictable work schedule.
In this article, we will have a look at the drivers of HR globalization, the challenges of managing a global workforce, how stability and agility stand as the top factors to globalize HR processes, and their importance in HR globalization.
Let us begin by understanding the actual context behind the globalization of human resource processes.
What is "Globalizing Human Resource Processes?"
When a business expands its operations across multiple countries, there are many obstacles arising due to different languages, culture, laws & regulations, availability of resources, technology, etc. The goal of globally spread companies is to not only reduce the adverse impacts of these differences but also gain advantage from them and capitalize on commonalities.
Finding your company's position on the spectrum is a crucial first step in defining what globalization of HR means to the firm. This may also assist in establishing the mandate and support needed to advance the initiative. In order to further the globalization agenda, firms frequently need to expand into growing markets and successfully find and redistribute talent. This is done by pursuing a global view of the data.
It might be useful to have a set of unbiased standards or guiding ideas that take into consideration the real business drivers. The criteria may, for instance, be geography, population size, kind of role, or complexity of the workforce mix. The global solution may not benefit all areas or nations equally, or perhaps at all, according to the parameters that have been selected.
Finally, with all of these decisions made, the HR team should create a strategic road map for deploying the global HR ecosystem in a manner that meets different countries' demographics and implement it in accordance with a schedule that fits the business requirements. Multiple systems, such as tracking software, reporting software, payroll software, etc., need to be fed and interfaced into a centralized database for fundamental reporting and analytics.
As the business is still dealing with a heterogeneous IT infrastructure, investments should be made to ensure that data standards are followed, and that governance is in place to monitor and lead changes to the applications.
The impact of globalization may be seen in many economic, social, cultural, political, financial, and technical perspectives across the world, both conceptually and practically. Let us have a look at some impacts of globalization on HR processes.
The impact of globalization on human resource processes is driven by the following factors:
Impacts of Globalization on HR Processes
#1 Global Competitiveness
Competition has risen as a result of globalization, and a connection has been found between globalization and employment relations from a competitive standpoint. In order to be successful globally, HR professionals must adapt and adopt a global business perspective that enables them to support business strategy on a country-to-country basis. Additionally, they must create plans that strike a balance between domestic and foreign operations and represent the corporate culture.
#2 Innovation
Under the strain of competition and increasing consumer demands, one of the most significant developments is workplace innovation, and as a result, businesses are becoming more devoted to achieving a productive work organization.
A parent company will need to innovate to survive as businesses get increasingly involved in the globalization process. International companies will ultimately opt for high-performance HR procedures intended to motivate employees to come up with new ideas and strategies.
#3 Talent Mobility
A talent mobility strategy allows the business the freedom to respond to opportunities and employ cross-cultural experience to promote the mission and culture of the organization. Having a leadership group aware of the variations across nations helps emphasize a global employee development plan and international assignment policy.
#4 Global Workforce
The term global workforce refers to the pool of individuals who work internationally, including those who are employed by multinational corporations, immigrants, transitory migrant workers, telecommuters, and those in export-oriented, contingent, or other precarious employment.
Cross-border trade in commodities, services, technology, and money, as well as other variables affecting the global economy, are altering how people view the composition of the workforce in the modern day.
#5 Speed of Expansion
The pace with which many businesses are expanding is one of the key elements influencing global human resource management. Businesses adapt swiftly to stay afloat in the market when competitors enter economies that are rapidly developing. In doing so, they impose human resource planning, recruitment and selection, preparation and execution of HR-related operations, etc., including developing recruiting and selection tactics, sourcing personnel, and establishing regional and corporate organizational structures.
#6 Availability of Human Resources in Developing Countries
The chance for global corporations to draw elite talent from emerging nations has never been better. The pay scales can vary depending on the availability of skilled human resources, population growth, and industrial development in different countries.
A large number of MNCs are expanding to developing nations for production. They often employ cloud-based recruiting software that can gather, compile, and store candidates’ information from various sources in a centralized location that is easily accessible from anywhere at any time.
#7 Technological Progress
The creation of affordable, influential technologies, enterprise resource planning systems, data warehouses, data marts, and data analytics enable globalization. A whole slew of technological developments, such as the introduction of 5G, artificial intelligence, modern video conferencing and video conferencing systems, development of the Internet, the spread of the Windows operating system, the development of a worldwide fiber-optic network, etc., has made it very simple for people all over the globe to work together. Technology has built a worldwide platform that allows people to interact and play, compete and cooperate, and exchange knowledge and experience on a level that had never been possible before.
While creating a global human resource process, an organization faces a lot of challenges. Today, companies not only need to recruit, sustain, and retain a workforce, but they also need to be flexible to set up where the best talent is available at the best price. Below are some challenges that HR faces in this global village and some ways to overcome them.
Managing Global Workforce: Challenges and Solutions
To cope with the factors affecting the globalization of HR processes and the challenges that managing the global workforce brings, agility and stability in HR processes are essential. Let's now have a look at what agility and stability in global human resource processes mean and the importance of these two factors in this context.
What does Agility in Global HR Processes Mean?
To HR, agility means being able to drive employee engagement and retention in sync with the business goals. HR agility comprises three components: the ability to quickly find issues that need to be solved, the ability to reduce the time taken to develop and implement a response, and the ability to use analytics to design and target programs with the highest possibility of being successful.
Agility in the workplace refers to the capability to make use of speed and data-driven innovation to provide a competitive advantage to the organization. HR agility also results in increased productivity, improved employee engagement, and higher capability to adapt to external market conditions.
How to Improve Agility in Globalized HR Processes?
1. Focus on Speed and Work Effectiveness
In the workplace, employees’ ability to solve problems quickly is one factor that truly determines their level of agility. A focus on procedural simplicity, decentralized decision-making, and employee empowerment are all related to speed. Although it is advised to promote productivity and speed above perfectionism, leaders should take into account the possibility of trade-offs between speed and quality.
2. Take Feedback from Employees
In the workplace, agility necessitates a consistent rhythm of employee communications. Create a management culture that values brief, regular encounters with employees; focused on what the business needs presently as opposed to an annual employee feedback survey.
3. Develop a Learning Culture
According to a study by Gallup, only 21% of employees feel engaged at their work, which is why HR departments should work on inculcating a learning culture in the organization. This helps in improving employee engagement, which adds significant value to HR departments. A great method to show agility is integrating business values into a multigenerational and varied workforce.
4. Use Data and Analytics
The greatest method for an HR function to become agile may be through the use of analytics, which allows for thoughtful decision-making. Data and analytics reduce the need for uncertain guessing, which frequently has disastrous results.
5. Workplace Digitization
HR professionals must concentrate on streamlining their procedures in order to digitize workplace procedures because the current workforce is digital. There is greater pressure on HR to promote a more positive digital culture as corporate culture, employee engagement, and staff retention emerge as critical business concerns. To be agile, HR must also use new technology and platforms to build a more productive and adaptive workplace that will propel the organization forward.
The Importance of Agility in Globalizing HR Processes
1. Identifying and Recruiting Top Talent
While finding new talent is still a top HR goal, future success depends on identifying and nurturing potential within the current workforce. Improved preparedness and reactivity on the part of HR are required to engage the workforce and motivate them to develop and optimize their talents. This will help HR make the most of the skills of current employees.
2. Career Optimization
Agile practices may help HR positively respond to employee goals and ambitions while assisting them in developing their skill sets. For instance, HR may use the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify worker talents and set up agile procedures to create career optimization programs. As per the WTF survey report, 50% of employers surveyed are planning to take action toward optimizing work and job design to retain talent.
3. Ensures Employee Satisfaction
Workplace agility promotes quick iterations that encourage teams to concentrate on fewer, more important tasks. Teams identify and work on more crucial tasks as a result, optimizing processes and eliminating unnecessary tasks. This increases the organization’s efficiency, along with creating a better employee experience.
4. Boosts Profit Margin
Agile mentalities place a higher value on the human aspect of work, enhancing morale and boosting employee motivation and engagement. This results in higher-quality work and greater outcomes for the business. Employees are more likely to think that their organization is ahead of the competition, its financial structure is safe, and that their employers are successful and expanding if they consider their organization’s culture to be agile.
5. Encourages Innovation
By prioritizing flexibility and cutting down on wasted time, an agile methodology can transform an organization. The success of your organization will depend on how quickly you innovate. The amount of time required to bring a product or service to market is known as the Time to Market (TTM). It also covers the process of coming up with concepts for the product and its development and launch. The more agile your organization is, the more quickly these innovations can reach the market.
Apart from agility, the stability of HR processes is also critical to an organization’s success. Having stability in organizational processes provides a psychologically safe environment for employees and helps them perform better in their jobs. Let's have a look at what it means to have stabilized the human resource process within a globalized organization and its significance.
What Does Stability in the Global Human Resource Process Mean?
Creating stability in the human resource processes might be difficult, but it is necessary for the success of an organization. In order to feel safe and engaged at work, employees require trust, stability, compassion, and hope. HRs who can address these requirements will be able to keep their employees engaged while navigating change with clarity and purpose.
There are two main elements of organizational stability - physical and psychological. Physical stability involves offering the necessary tools and resources employees need to do their work safely and effectively. The sense of wellness, confidence in the direction of the business, and general optimism and resilience are all impacted by psychological security.
There are steps you can do to increase trust and confidence in your company. This will enable them to perform at their best, even in the face of uncertainty, because they will feel confident and powerful. Some tips that can help stimulate engagement and bring stability in human resource processes are listed below.
How to Implement Stability Amidst Global Work Culture?
1. Attract and Retain Talent
According to a recent study, around 20% of the current workforce is ready to shift their jobs for job stability and other non-monetary benefits. People are more likely to stay longer with a firm if they feel more secure and stable in their work. Companies may demonstrate to their staff that they can handle change by addressing economic developments in a way that keeps staff members safe. When such employees inform others about their job stability, others may seek a secure position at the firm.
2. Communicate Honestly
It can be tempting for managers to only emphasize the good during times of change in an effort to increase morale and comfort their staff. Although positivity is crucial, honest communication sometimes entails facing challenging subjects and conversations. To develop trust and safety within your team, be present and transparent, keep your employees informed, and provide context for the problems so that your team members may understand how the situation came to be and why you (or other leaders) took particular actions.
3. Create a Plan of Action
Change and instability frequently inspire fear and apprehension about the future. By communicating a strategy and carrying it through, you can reduce team members' tension and provide them with a sense of security. Plans provide people with a sense of control and help them concentrate on things they can manage, which is crucial since many things may be beyond their control. A plan of action also outlines your objectives and top priorities, giving your group and team direction.
4. Lead with Optimism
The psychological capital of your employees includes hope and optimism, which significantly affects engagement and productivity. As uncertainty and change can promote pessimism and demotivation, it is crucial that leaders inspire hope by setting a positive example. While honesty is crucial, leading with optimism can still generate hope and positivity among your staff.
The Importance of Stability in Globalizing HR Processes
1. Reduces Employee Stress
A recent report revealed that 80% of the global workforce experiences stress at their workplace. Their overall stress can be decreased when they feel stable in their jobs due to a consistent schedule and income. Rather than being concerned about finding new opportunities, the employees can concentrate on their job and efficiently complete their tasks. When employees are at ease in their employment, they are more likely to be happy and satisfied.
2. Improves Employee Engagement
Job insecurity and instability negatively impact employee engagement. However, employee engagement rises when workers feel respected, protected, and secure. A motivated workforce has advantageous spillover effects. This entails increased staff retention, less employee turnover, and improved corporate performance in general. Furthermore, how secure a position is has a big impact on how connected individuals feel to their company.
3. Increases Skill Development Opportunities
People with steady employment frequently stay in their roles for a long time. Through everyday activities or training given by employers, these occupations present a wealth of possibilities to acquire new skills and hone old ones. They benefit the firm as a whole, as well as make their employees feel more appreciated and perhaps even more content by enhancing their skill sets. Depending on their requirements, employers may provide training opportunities for both technical and soft skills.
4. Maintain a Productive Workforce
Employee productivity can increase with better employment stability. This stability may enable better attention and drive, while less secure professions might make individuals feel more distracted or nervous. Feeling stable might also motivate employees to advance in their jobs or careers with an organization.
Now that we have talked about how stability and agility are the top factors for globalizing human resource processes, below is a quick rundown of how these factors affect an organization's different aspects.
Stability and Agility are the Top Factors to Globalize HR
1. Building Global Presence
Stability - While building a global presence, there are many changes going on within the organization in terms of location, culture, etc. In this scenario, stability usually takes a back seat, and employees can start feeling insecure. It becomes important for leaders to ensure the physical and psychological safety of the employees under such conditions and make sure they are equipped with all the tools and resources required to work effectively. Maintaining stability in such conditions enables employees to deliver their best performance.
Agility - Creating a global presence requires the human resource department to adapt and rapidly evolve people and processes. Organizational agility, which is the ability to respond quickly and effectively to changes in business requirements, will help establish a global workforce and maintain the same appropriately.
2. Functional Alignment
Stability - Functional alignment is the ability to align every HR function with the business strategy. Having stability in HR processes will help establish a strong relationship between HRM and strategic management of the organization. This alignment across teams ensures that organizational goals are always achievable.
Agility - The association of business goals with HR improves business performance and develops organizational culture. Organizational agility will promote high-performance workplaces and human capital management while nurturing innovation, flexibility, and competitive advantage.
3. Sharing Information
Stability - Circulating information across a global workforce can be a challenge for the HR department. However, stability in work processes, such as using remote work software, ensures that your contingent workforce and multi-functional departments execute, operate, streamline, and manage their work efficiently from anywhere.
Agility - As the information required to be circulated gets updated in small timeframes, agile processes ensure that there is no interdepartmental friction and that teams remain productive.
4. Knowledge Management
Stability - Knowledge management in HR is the practice of centralizing all HR documents, policies, information, and knowledge in a unified place. When the HR processes are stable, it becomes easy for anyone in the company to access all the vital information from a single place.
Agility - The ability to make updates quickly anytime makes sure that correct and up to date information is available to everyone. It reduces the bottleneck and provides employees with the required information without having to wait for longer periods of time.
5. Managing Global Teams
Stability - Managing global remote teams refers to the ability of HR departments to administer and coordinate a group of individuals effectively. Stable HR processes will help create a series of steps and coordinated activities performed by leaders or managers along with the team members to perform given tasks in a decided time period.
Agility - As globalization implies continuously recruiting talent from different geographical locations and changes in overall work procedures, agility in the HR processes ensures that the entire team stays up to date with the changes occurring in the workflows and schedules.
6. Developing Capabilities
Stability - Organizations need to inculcate a learning culture to be successful. This helps in improving employee capabilities, which adds significant value to HR departments. Stable work practices may help HR positively respond to employee goals and ambitions while assisting them in developing their skill sets.
Agility - The HR department needs to be agile in order to come up with relevant training and development programs as the employees move ahead in their learning path. Organizational agility ensures that the knowledge and skills of employees are enhanced whenever necessary.
7. Talent Management
Stability - Getting the right people on board is quite important while dealing with a global remote workforce. Stable HR processes are required to methodically organize the process of getting the right talent on board.
Agility - The HR department should be able to identify talent gaps from time to time, source for vacant positions, and make employees grow within the organization. Agility ensures that they grow to their optimal capabilities while keeping organizational objectives in mind.
8. Fostering Diversity
Stability - Fostering diversity in a workplace leads to better work performance and drives innovation. 76% of job seekers say that diversity in an organization is an important factor while evaluating job offers. Stable and established hiring practices enable you to hire employees based on their qualifications and skills and remove bias related to their personal characteristics unrelated to their job duties, and create an environment where the workforce can thrive and feel valued.
Agility - Organizational agility provides the ability to understand and work with people from many different cultures while building an inclusive workplace. It makes way to create internal communities that allow meaningful and robust opportunities for professional connection, development, and mentorship, and analyze promotion processes from time to time to understand where gaps may exist for certain groups of employees.
9. Measuring Performance
Stability - Practicing stability in human resource metrics helps organizations track their human capital and measure how effective their human resources initiatives are. Measuring information such as what is working well, what needs modifications, and what trends to expect in the future using applicant tracking software on a regular basis helps organizations to figure out their HR strategy.
Agility - Agile human resource processes make room for quick changes in benchmarks and measurable OKRs as and when required. Agile methodologies help break down big objectives into smaller measurable tasks to help employees work towards goals more effectively.
10. Audits
Stability - The examination of an organization’s HR policies and practices becomes smooth when there are stable processes in place. It helps look for problem areas and identify ways of improvement.
Agility - While stability ensures that issues are identified on time, agility makes sure that solutions to those issues are found and implemented promptly. It helps ensure that you are on the right track as you increase payroll, develop handbooks, create job descriptions, and set duties for your new employees.
Conclusion
In the age of globalization, businesses have the opportunity to enter new markets, recruit talent from across the world, and develop a multicultural work environment. Also, the challenges are equally numerous. Companies must attract and retain top talent, integrate multicultural employment pools, and maintain business practices in order to be successful.
From using the right onboarding software for welcoming remote employees to conducting virtual team meetings and hosting development programs, the HR department must develop a cohesive and holistic plan to manage its global human capital.
And while establishing a tailored global human resource strategy, businesses can benefit greatly by adopting agility and stability while globalizing their human resource processes. When done the right way, the HR strategies for global organizations become a pivotal player in the overall growth and strength of the company.
