Archive of News
HR predictions for 2014: Part two
On Monday, I revealed three of the six HR social media trends to watch out for this year. In part two, I divulge the final three HR trend predictions for 2014 and how these will benefit the business world.
1. Mobile social learning
Social learning is not a new concept. Since the human race began, people have shared knowledge and learned from each other. However, the dawn of social media has taken social learning to the next level, a fact organisations can no longer ignore.
This development has prompted organisations to embrace the social media age by incorporating social into their corporate cultures. They are using social platforms - such as Google Hangouts, Socialcast and Zyncro - to make knowledge exchange and teamwork more efficient.
According to Forbes, this has led to impressive results, ranging from increased employee collaboration to the transformation of face-to-face learning programmes. Company Nationwide Insurance, for example, now has nearly all of its 36 000 employees active on its internal social platform. This makes it easier for employees to find subject experts and solve business problems, instead of sending numerous e-mails or searching through hard drives.
2. Open online courses
Open online courses were feared to be a danger to higher education institutions; however, it seems these courses have made a larger impact on the domain of corporate training, which is a US$150 billion (nearly R1.6 trillion) industry.
In 2014, more companies will create their own internal versions of these open online courses. These will train current employees and prospective candidates in the skills they need to be considered for succession into senior positions.
3. Klout for organisations
Klout is a tool used to measure a person’s online influence. The Klout score is a mark between 1 and 100. The score is derived from data such as how many people you reach through social media and how much they trust you.
In the past, it has mainly been used by individuals to find out their personal online influence. According to Forbes, 2014’s focus will be on Klout for business because in June 2013, Yammer and Klout announced a partnership that allows Klout to factor Yammer users’ data and activity into its social ranking algorithm, and also enables Yammer users display their Klout scores on their Yammer profiles.
Forbes explains that:
- For employees, these data points could lead to them getting a raise or promotion.
- For employers, the ability to assess individual employee expertise at this scale enables companies to take a more strategic approach to what needs to be outsourced and what can be managed internally, based on the identification of a company’s collective expertise.
Frew Murdoch is the assistant editor of HR Pulse. She is currently completing the last semester of her BA degree in Communications and English. "I stumbled across your review of our Ethics Guide published 28 June 2012 and wish to thank you for the positive and complimentary comments made – this was a lovely surprise and most rewarding. I will certainly pass this on to all co-authors of the Guide."
Christine Botha, co-author of 'Ethics in HR Management: A guide for HR professionals and line managers', had this to say:
