Special Report: Adapting Your HR Methods to Manage a Digital Workforce
We are increasingly realizing that AI-enabled digital labor will be, if not already, a significant part of any organization’s workforce. Aragon predicts that by 2027, 60% of Global 1000 organizations will have merged their HR department and IT department to support a hybrid (human and digital labor) workforce. While organizations have long supported well-defined business processes, governance, and resources for managing both people and technology, it has always been done independently. Traditionally, the tasks of HR leaders are employee-focused. They work to recruit and acquire employees that align with the business strategy and contribute to its goals. They also are in charge of training, developing, and monitoring these employees over time. They work towards creating smooth business operations, satisfied employees, a productive work environment, and meeting organizational goals.
Now, with the entrance of digital labor (the automation of tasks that are performed by computer applications, formerly performed by humans) into the workforce, the role of the HR leader is changing and expanding pretty drastically. HR departments must adjust how they leverage, manage, and support their workforce. It is now a hybrid workforce–one consisting of both humans and robots.
For HR leaders, the shift to a hybrid workforce means that it is no longer just about supporting human employees. They must learn how to manage a hybrid workforce using cohesive and integrated practices. This can be achieved by leaning into tried and true HR techniques, but applying them in a new way to prepare for the workforce of the future. For example, HR leaders can implement steps for managing digital labor that are similar to best practices for managing humans. This includes spending ample time training and onboarding digital labor and creating a system for reviewing and assessing it over time.
Unlike traditional technologies, AI-enabled digital labor learns based on models and algorithms and can respond to interactions based on information from past experiences and analysis. This means that digital labor can learn both valuable and damaging behavior–just like humans. Your digital labor must reflect your brand, and HR leaders will be a big factor in ensuring that it does. Your business, workforce, customers, and partners will be increasingly interacting and relying on your digital labor, so it’s important to recognize its impact and manage it effectively from the start.
It’s time to incorporate hybrid workforce management into your organizational strategy and include it as a valued role in your HR department. This shift will require a lot of learning, so implementing new training and guidelines for HR leaders is key. This special report consists of research and resources that will offer more insight into hybrid workforce management and how HR leaders can prepare.
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This research note provides in-depth background on the shift to digital labor and outlines best practices for managing your hybrid workforce in preparation for the increasing impact of digital labor.
This research note aims to help managers understand the relationship (similarities and differences) between managing humans, AI-enabled systems, and traditional IT systems in a hybrid workplace. It provides guidance on developing new training, supervisory, and collaboration skills to support a hybrid workforce.
This Visual Forecast, exclusive to Aragon Foresight, dives into the market for digital labor and why and at what rate it is growing—from now until 2026. The report offers a deep market overview and analysis, key assumptions and assertions, advisory, and a list of digital labor providers.