The majority, or 90%, of the human resources job roles in Singapore will be impacted by technology in three to five years’ time, according to a study from Willis Towers Watson.

The study, commissioned by the Institute for Human Resource Professionals and Ministry of Manpower in Singapore found that as technology trends become more prevalent, the HR function across industries and organisations of different sizes and stages of growth will be impacted.

According to the study, the magnitude and pace of change depends on the complexity of each organisation’s operations including, size, number of countries that the organisation operates in and so on, as well as the maturity of its HR function. At the same time, the adoption of HR technology will also enable the HR function to deliver more seamless and cutting-edge employee-centric services and experiences, as well as high strategic value to businesses.

“With the pandemic affecting business operations and profitability, more organisations are beginning to adopt technology to reinvent jobs and tasks, as well as use a wider talent ecosystem to deliver work in a cost-effective way,” Vidisha Mehta, Managing Director and Head of Talent & Rewards, Singapore, Willis Towers Watson, said. “Jobs are being redesigned to deliver higher value-add to manage economic pressures, demographic shifts and workforce expectation for purposeful work. To deliver on these expectations, the HR function in an organisation plays an important role and will need to embrace technology on a large scale to enable businesses to transform.”

Mayank Parekh, CEO of Institute for Human Resource Professionals, said, “This study confirms a seismic shift in the HR landscape as we know it today. HR professionals need to acquire the skills to grasp technologies that will enable them to develop and implement innovative people practices for their organisations. Digital acumen will also enable HR to understand how technical skills fit into the workplace and therefore better support organisations that embark on digitalisation to unlock greater business value.”

“HR can lead the way to evaluate the many emerging options for getting work done both within and outside HR, and determine how best to combine human talent and automation,” Parekh added.

The study identifies three key trends driving HR technology transformation and will significantly change the expectations that business stakeholders have from HR. These include the advent of intelligent automation, rising expectations of employees for consumer-grade applications, and the shift from basic data analytics and reporting towards predictive analytics and modelling to provide insights for talent decisions.