The best of 2021: What HR leaders read this year

2021 is almost over, and you made it! It’s been a year of growth for everyone, whether you’ve been navigating The Great Resignation, exploring how to re-skill your workforce, or have been supporting your employees’ mental health needs. While all of these remain top priorities for 2022, check out what was top of mind for HR leaders this year. 

10. Three keys to creating the irresistible organization

Amid The Great Resignation, HR leaders are asking what it takes to create an organization that attracts and retains talent. Michelle Shapiro, Product Marketing Director at Oracle, explores how people analytics, employee experience, and skills management can help in the efforts to create an engaged workforce. 

9. Constellation Research highlights Oracle as a top global HCM suite 

It’s always a privilege to be recognized as an industry leader. One of our many honors in 2021 was being recognized by Constellation Research, a Silicon Valley research and advisory firm, on their ShortList™ of HCM Suites. Our inclusion among five vendors was decided based on a rigorous process, including customer base, geographic coverage, and product breadth.

8. Pivoting to a lifelong learning culture: Make it real

Traditional learning programs no longer work as a talent development strategy, especially with organizations needing to refresh skillsets quickly to compete with a fast-moving market. Joe Farrell, Managing Director at KPMG, explains why emerging technologies, including virtual reality and micro-learning, are better alternatives to help identify learning gaps and accelerate learning mastery.

7. Ready your organization for the digital age with a dynamic skills strategy 

We know that growing and maintaining skills are necessary for company and career growth, but how can HR leaders take control of the process? Yvette Cameron, SVP HCM Cloud Strategy at Oracle, explores how pairing a traditional skills framework with emerging technologies helps match employees to applicable opportunities, identify career gaps, and more. 

6. Seven steps to stave off employee burnout 

As workforces shifted remotely, they blended home and professional lives. One result of that change was lengthening the workweek by 10%, resulting in greater potential for stress and burnout. Jason Richmond, Founder and CEO of Ideal Outcomes, shares some tips that leaders can use to help workers stave off burnout, including promoting flexibility and celebrating workplace accomplishments.

5. A positive employee experience impacts more than the workforce: It’s a competitive advantage

Long a nebulous term, ‘employee experience’ has gained even more traction among HR leaders trying to navigate the Great Resignation in their organizations. As the workforce keeps changing, it is critical to understand how a positive employee experience benefits every aspect of your organization. There’s a new definition of employee experience, and we share how embracing and understanding the term leads to a competitive advantage.  

4. Top skills your workforce should have post-pandemic 

With the pandemic transforming work, many organizations are exploring how to remain relevant and avoid employee attrition. Chief among those initiatives is upskilling and re-skilling their workforce, a blog topic that appears three times in our top 10 list in 2021. If that isn’t a clear indicator of how critical skills are to the organization, we don’t know what is. Liz Hogan of Find My Profession shares what she believes are the top skills the workforce should have post-pandemic and steps leaders should take to instill them.

3. Decoding the difference between HRIS, HRMS, and HCM

HR has evolved from traditional pen and paper to on-premises HR management systems (HRMS), and now into cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) platforms, which support traditional recruiting and payroll functions and talent management, analytics, skills development. Yet, all these new platforms, use cases, and acronyms can spark confusion—even in the most experienced professionals. So, what are the distinctions between all these acronyms? This blog explains it all. 

2. Approach work like a champion cyclist

The past 21 months have been some of the most stressful for people worldwide. 78% of respondents in our 2020 AI@Work study said that the COVID-19 pandemic’s first full year was the most stressful ever. With many continuing to feel stress and burnout, we turned to Kirk Carlsen, Product Marketing Manager at Oracle, and former champion cycler, for advice. In his opinion, managers need to find ways to keep their staff mentally fresh and motivated instead of pushing and working harder—especially with the blending of personal and professional lives. 

1. How Oracle is helping vaccinated workers return to the office

The emergence of a COVID-19 vaccine was the first major step in returning to our pre-pandemic lifestyles. To support the transition, we launched a vaccine management solution with Oracle Journeys that operates similar to a vaccine passport and aligns with local regulations. Employees can upload and manage their vaccine status on a secure portal to ensure a safe workplace while providing visibility to HR. This solution is essential, giving workers the peace of mind needed to return to the office and safely collaborate with colleagues.

And there you have it, our top ten blogs of 2021! With the pandemic and The Great Resignation continuing to shape the future of work, we expect many of these topics to remain top of mind for HR leaders. Stay tuned for more blog articles in 2022 as we continue to tell the story of the changing workplace emerging trends and thank you for being a part of the HCM blog community. 

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