Digital era posing challenges for HR, say practitioners

The digital era has become a transformational force across various sectors and industries, requiring human resource (HR) to go back to the drawing board.

Human resources directors who participated in a two-day conference in Nairobi on Thursday said technological advancements have posed a great challenge to HR departments as they try to identify and retain talent in the new context.

“Managing change is a skill that we need to have. We have to be innovative as it is key to managing change, and be in a position to adopt technology to implement change,” said Nation Media Group #ticker:NMG human resources director David Kiambi.

Mr Kiambi was speaking on how to nurture successful leaders in an organisation. He said the line management has the responsibility of identifying and shaping future leaders and the role of HR department is only to facilitate.

Participants noted that while the rapid change has been precipitated by technological advancement, human resources directors must be versatile and innovative to identify and retain talent.

During the event participants discussed how to manage talent, engage their employees, cyber security and how to elevate women in business.

In the meanwhile nine out of 10 Kenyan workers (89 per cent) go the extra mile at work for better output, exceeding the global average of 83 per cent and Africa’s 87 per cent according to a new study.

The revelations from a study on employer attractiveness and talent attraction conducted by Global Career Company and Willis Towers Watson.