A Look into Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trend Report

Deloitte’s 5th annual Global Human Capital Trend report covers input from more than 10,400 business and HR leaders across 140 countries. I think it is by far one of the most legitimate reads for all HR practitioners and business leaders who are interested in gaining insights on driving business results through their people.

Deloitte’s 2017 Global Human Capital Trend Report - survey demographics.
*2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends – Figure 10 Survey demographics

Uncertainty in defining new human capital strategies

It is extremely common for the marketing function of a company to utilise analytics, such as tracking the number of unique visitors to the website, analysing the number of click/open rates of emails, or analysing their prospects’ preferences, etc. However, for many years now, people analytics are still a novelty to the majority of businesses…

That’s the uncertainty and irony of it.

Asia Pacific – A very different world

The Deloitte report did provide a lot of brilliant insights on trends, challenges and opportunities for 2017 and beyond for HR and business leaders at a global level. However, if I am to be picky, I would prefer a more in-depth survey by respective region only. I believe the results would be very different, but I understand that the intention for Deloitte has always been from a more global perspective.  

The Human Capital strategy for one works very differently, especially in Asia Pacific, largely due to a very even mixture of a number of emerging and mature markets, diversity in languages, cultures and compliance requirements.

China alone, for instance, is already a big power house and has a very unique business culture that might define other priorities for human capital management strategy and priority.

Shift of mind-set

What Deloitte reported at the beginning is the key takeaway for me.

Deloitte’s 2017 Global Human Capital Trend Report - the growing gap among technology, individuals, businesses and public policy.
*2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends – Figure 2. What is really happening

“The growing gap among technology, individuals, businesses and public policy, is now essential to effectively navigate the world of human capital. HR has a unique role to play: It can help leaders and organizations adapt to technology, help people adapt to new models of work and careers, and help the company as a whole adapt to and encourage changes in society, regulation, and public policy.”

It would take more than just HR to reimagine processes, talent and organisation practices. A shift of mind-set is required both internally within the organisation (i.e. business leaders and the current workforce population) and also externally (i.e. policy makers to act as a supporting role for organisations to successfully transit to the new era of the digital age).

Alongside our payroll outsourcing services, Links also offers HR Analytics as a Service, to help HR professionals in Asia improve their HR reporting and predict HR trends. To speak to us about outsourcing your payroll in Asia and setting up HR Analytics as a Service, please do not hesitate to contact us.