Readiness to Manage More Diversity and Inclusion to Gain Competitive Advantage in Changing Landscape of the Workplace

Abstract

The increasing globalization of the world is bringing forward the research agenda that could help the top management to effectively deal with the more diverse workforce. Diversity brings potential competitive advantage and, at the same time, impedes challenges to equality and inclusion; however, its benefits are not ignorable. Therefore, a committed top management that is equipped enough to deal with a more diverse workforce in alignment with human resource management is a way forward to face the upcoming challenges that range from recruitment, retention, and performance management to downsizing in tomorrow’s workplace. This chapter covers the topic through the following two lenses: What does top management need to carry forward to deal with the upcoming challenges? What do human resource managers need to do in attracting, retaining, and developing a diverse workforce? We will continue through in-depth, open-ended interviews with 14-panel experts to dig down the topic and, thus, refine a roadmap to accomplish organizational goals.

1. Introduction

Today’s knowledge-based economy is dependent on strategic management of human resources and, in this way, on human capital, skills, knowledge, intellect and potential [1]. An organization’s sustainable competitive advantage and innovative progress depend on its assets, mainly human capital, which is largely comprised of the human skills of its workforce and management [2]. Human resources are the most complicated and unique resources to be assessed and researched as compared to tangible and financial resources [3]. In recent years, the focus of top management has been switched to human resources due to their significant role and overall share of the firm’s assets to gain a competitive advantage. In short, human resources are a cohesive collection of education, knowledge, skills, cultural values, and experience that are related to organizational efficiency. However, the game of human resource management has become ever more challenging due to globalization, digital transformation, political changes, income inequality, and job rotation, which have evolved quite steadily [4]. Alongside job restructuring, hybrid business models, environmental focus, global climate issues, diversity, inclusion, and justice perception have shifted traditional human resource management’s reactive responses to proactive strategies [5]. A successful business relies on market competition, finances, and interrelationships among its stakeholders, where stakeholders dominate in defining its destiny. Therefore, the workforce employed by a successful business has an enormous impact on its survival, which brings human-centric ethos as the mainstream challenge for HR. The over-reliance of a business on the human dimension demands the loop of all aspects to devise business strategies apart from business metrics, statistics, goals, profit, and loss [6, 7].

The increasing globalization of the world is bringing forward the research agenda to help the top management effectively deal with the more diverse workforce. Diversity brings potential competitive advantage and, at the same time, impediments challenges to inclusion [8]. Its benefits are not ignorable; therefore, committed top management that is equipped enough to deal with a more diverse workforce in alignment with human resource management is a way forward to face the upcoming challenges from the perspective of recruitment, retention, and performance management in a changing workplace [9]. The changing demographics of the existing workforce have become a global challenge due to the dramatic shift to diversity. The diverse workforce differs visibly or invisibly in many ways such as color, gender, marital status, age, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion [10]. Diversity brings about several issues despite competitive advantage, which puts an extra responsibility on the management to manage them at the workplace [11]. It starts from recruitment and selection to job performance and retention. Workforce diversity enjoys a remarkable position due to its benefits for organizational decision-making and the progress through innovation it brings [12]. In this regard, the literature highlights the prominent role of human resource management in managing a diverse workforce and puts this responsibility on HR managers to devise such strategies and policies that cater for the needs of the diverse workforce without compromising a firm’s performance. Diversity management is distinct from Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action (AA), being a positive approach towards individual differences and harnessing their true potential for mutual gains solely based on business motives. In short, it is about acknowledging individual differences [13, 14].

Western countries like New Zealand, Australia and EU countries hold the most prominent diverse workforce due to an enormous number of migrants having diverse cultural backgrounds, which has become a significant thread of Western economies [15]. However, a diverse workforce neither brings quality in managerial decisions nor competitive advantage. This puts the responsibility on management to take necessary initiatives for inclusion by actively managing and valuing diversity. It demands people-centred policies and strategic thinking in integration with effective HRM strategies [16].

In recent years, the uncertain work context, political and economic crises, pandemics and wars have become the question mark of HR practices and, at the same time, posing challenges for business owners/managers regarding business survival and performance [17]. Nevertheless, organizations take proactive measures rather than becoming passive recipients of surprises that come along with uncertainty. These issues become more pressing when it comes to the human resource management of the organization. The globalized world which is interconnected too is vulnerable to the unpredicted scenarios of workplace challenges and its changing landscape [18]. The discussion entails that although the workplace has been facing a constant change since then, the role of HRM is also unfolding contextually. In a similar vein, literature on HRM is exceptionally bundled with a long list of variables that play a crucial role in the strategic management of human resources. However, contextual and cultural differences sometimes bring unforeseen challenges and demand practitioners to take necessary actions to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Therefore, the main motive of the current study was to identify the factors that can assist top management and human resource managers in dealing with unanticipated difficulties associated with changing workplace. At the same time, the study intends to provide a practical solution to what is achievable and more workable while dealing with known and unknown challenges by making swift decisions. In this way, predicting what could be done with existing tools for the unpredictable future to remain competitive is the biggest challenge for top management; for example, the use of social media and technology in a post-COVID context has its benefits and disadvantages [19].

In short, a firm’s response to a crisis or an opportunity depends on its strengths and weaknesses along with the strategic choices of its manager, which at times intensify the complexities in the decision-making process [20]. At the same time, such challenges demand managers to think out of the box with a focus on dealing with exceptional workplace threats rather than just keep doing day-to-day business [21]. Every firm, whether small or large, multinational, or local encounters challenges to some extent due to dramatic shifts in the international market, sociopolitical changes, crises, and wars. What is in control of the firms is their capacity to manage and prepare their workforce due to their reliance on them [22]. Similarly, in hard times, while adopting a low-road strategy [23] due to financial pressure amid economic crisis, firms cut costs by reducing short-term spending on training and development of their human resource [24]. However, their reliance on human capital dominates the human resource management aspect as well. The discussion sets the stage to perceive that organizations should be prepared to adapt to the changing workplace scenario by keeping the trust, commitment, performance, and motivation of their workforce high [25].

To conclude, the bar is raised on HRM practitioners to inculcate such practices that help gain a competitive advantage due to employing inimitable resources in a constantly changing work environment [26]. However, due to the prevailing vacuum in the HRM literature guidance is lacking regarding strategic choices and induction and retention of employees. Literature usually suggests three distinct HRM streams due to crises, namely natural, economic and political [17] with different sets of solutions to deal with every type of disaster, which seems impossible due to its practicality. Therefore, this study sought to provide a comprehensive set of tools to deal with expected and unexpected challenges posed by different crises by providing managers with a way forward with upcoming surprises. In a similar vein, diversity management in an ever-changing workplace is the most controversial issue that demands thought-provoking discussion regarding the ability of organizations to respond [27].

Therefore, we have tried to present an extended overview that can guide in choosing the right options among many to be multiculturally inclusive by utilizing the best potential of the worker, thus enhancing the ability to compete. To elaborate, this chapter attempts to answer two broad research questions, followed by details on data collection and methodology. The later section of this chapter includes results, discussion, and conclusion. We continue through in-depth, open-ended interviews with 14 HR panel experts to have a deep understanding of the topic and, thus, refine a roadmap to accomplish organizational goals.

1.1 Research questions and methodology

1. What qualities/power skills are needed by top management to carry forward in the new era of changing workplaces to deal with workplace diversity?

2. What necessary measures should the HR managers take to make things work?

2. Sample and data collection

We conducted open-ended, in-depth, face-to-face interviews of HR professionals and executives across Pakistan to collect qualitative data, thus employing a key informant approach. The key informant approach is advantageous to gather information from experts. In this way, we engendered an in-depth understanding by gathering extensive but relevant information [28]. We started with the pilot study with two HR professionals to ensure the appropriateness and content validity of the interview guide. Additionally, the study’s advisory committee, comprising three professors in HRM agreed to the study data and methodology for collection fit to meet the study objectives.

We prepared a list of 25 workplace diversity HR experts based on the criterion that their names appeared repeatedly in the diversity management literature, involved in diversity work and consultation through public and private platforms such as communities of practice.

Out of 25, 14 experts agreed to take part in the interview after formal approval, date and time adjustments and complying with the formal arrangements. We sent an introductory email to every participant explaining the purpose and questionnaire of the study 2 weeks before the interview. The actual interviews were conducted from June to July 2023. Extensive notes were taken, and with the permission of the participants, we tape-recorded the interviews. The average time of the interview was one and a half hours.

The collected data was content analyzed manually and computer-assisted to systematically examine the content of communications, thus independently putting it together as quotations and arranging fields per topic addressed. We analyzed the responses through thematic analysis and categorized the emerging themes by their frequency. This provided quantitative support to the qualitative data [29].

2.1 Demographics

We collected demographic data on age, gender, educational background, work experience, present position, race, and ethnicity. Of the 14 participants, eight (57%) were women and six (43%) were men. All had graduate degrees, five (35%) were university professors, seven (50%) were professional HR managers of well-known international firms including Coca-Cola, ICI, Habib Bank Ltd., Siemens and Engro Corp, and two (15%) were independent HR consultants. The average age of participants was 48.21, and 12 (85%) were local, whereas 2 (15%) were foreigners with an average work experience of 29.18 years.

3. Results

The results are comprised of two sections as per the research questions. We invited two of the diversity managers to review the data from two interviews to establish its reliability. The consensus between researchers and reviewers regarding identified factors from the text ensured the credibility of the study findings. Figure 1 summarizes the results of the thematic analysis containing a list of the factors essential for diversity management in a changing workplace.

Figure 1.

Thematic analysis results.

3.1 Top management

3.1.1 Power skills

All the participants (100%) agreed that a company’s financial success directly depends on its managerial practices dealing with employees as assets. The way management manages its people defines the culture and competencies of the business, leading to competitive advantage. According to experts, putting people first requires a shift in leadership style as human abilities are becoming increasingly in demand and important. In previous years, recruiters and executives remained ignorant of this fact, which will also be a component of the future workforce and a new way of thinking about leadership. Interviewee No. 6, “It’s all about the human abilities of leading, empathizing, caring, organizing, and motivating, no matter what sector or organization you work in”. The emphasis on human capabilities has a long-term dimension that adds to the overall sustainability of the firm. Experts endorsed the fact that business executives should hire people with abilities, competencies, teamwork, flexibility, adaptability, knowledge absorptive capacity and job resourcefulness.

Referring to Interviewee No. 5 about changing demographics: “A country’s population determines its long-term economic, social and political future due to its size, composition and growth, demography is destiny, which suggests that societies face intricate problems and opportunities shaped by demographics of their population, thus, playing a tremendous role in its societal development and economic growth”. According to the opinion of nine (65%) experts, the changing demographics scenario suggests that the millennials, who are about to take on significant leadership roles in the upcoming era, shall have to deal with remote workers. The predicted challenges could be organizational commitment, productivity, and job satisfaction. The good thing about millennials is that they favor collaboration and prefer a healthy work-life balance. Managers with excellent communication and interpersonal skills could serve better by upholding trust, fostering effective mentoring, a strong organizational culture, and ensuring effective delegation and conflict resolution. Interviewee No. 3, “It is also noteworthy that active listening and empathy boost social support at the workplace leading to enhanced productivity and well-being”.

The power skills identified by the HR experts for executives are as follows: optimism, learning, time management, followership, empathy, ethics, curiosity, patience, kindness, forgiveness, flexibility, integrity, and humility.

3.1.2 Organizational culture

Referring to Interviewee No. 2 (an international HR consultant): “A successful organization’s culture depends on the broad set of beliefs supported by structure and strategy and in this way inculcate: mutual trust among employees and on top management’s policies and procedures, upholding values with expected outcomes and rewards and expectations of top management”. Eight (58%) experts supported that it is now time for organizations to concentrate on developing a culture that captures their unique personalities and distinguishes them from competitors. However, why culture, you ask? Consider culture as a bottom-up strategy that begins with the individual at its core, moves to team levels, and then reaches the entire organization. The experts advocate that culture has long been a corporate buzzword, but recent advancements in digitization have made it clear how crucial a role culture plays in the success of businesses. Beyond the fundamentals, many businesses make the error of neglecting to listen to their staff. The organic value of culture results from putting into practice and upholding the principles that a business claims to uphold and from realizing the importance of dialog in creating a culture. Ten (71%) participants favored that in a successful organization, cultural shifts typically occur in response to both internal and external changes, and most of the time, it takes tricky situations to remind both large and small businesses of just how ingrained a company’s culture is. Interviewee No. 1, “We must realize that building a strong culture is a continuous process that enriches learning and development at every step rather than an attempt to hit the bullseye in one shot”.

All experts agree that the effectiveness of an organization’s culture depends on its capacity to give meaning to what is written down and to transform the immaterial into something. HR leaders are juggling several challenges as the world recovers from the pandemic, including the emergence of a hybrid workforce and the requirement to put employee well-being first. In hindsight, the nature of work is changing, and HR professionals need to stay on top of developments to stay competitive. The role of HR professionals is constantly changing along with the workplace. Understanding and incorporating the most recent HR trends into HR strategies helps organizations stay competitive in the labour market as we gradually transition ourselves into accepting the new challenges of the workplace. Referring to Interviewee No. 11, “A company’s culture upheld its overall performance by offering a strategic competitive advantage. A strong culture steadfastly and widely nurtures increased cooperation, reduction in conflicts, effective decision making, informal control mechanism and a strong sense of identification, in short, it is an essence of what is needed by employees”.

3.1.3 Social responsibility

Among 14 participants, nine (64%) were proponents of corporate social responsibility (also known as CSR) and favored the implementation of CSR strategies for business success. From a strategic angle, it can be viewed as top management’s vision which helps organizations to stand out from the competition as a strategic initiative. Referring to interviewee No. 4 (HR professor), “Businesses success is bound on incorporating social responsibility in their strategies along with high-quality goods and services to gain competitive advantage in a market”. Experts endorsed that strategic CSR enables organizations to do anything not as an expense but as a strategic move to improve their business for their stakeholders. Stakeholders could be the direct or indirect beneficiaries of such actions taken under top management’s umbrella of strategic CSR. It is a need and demand of time that organizations should pay attention to the strategic issues related to CSR, which can have a robust association with diversity initiatives, thus playing a significant role in reducing firms’ risks. Referring to interviewee No. 12 (HR consultant), “A company’s responsible attitude towards society and environment makes it distinguished among competitors and open ways for collaboration. The idea of CSR is recognized by the business world, as a result, it is an important strategic initiative for sustained competitive edge and a great opportunity to attract and retain loyal customers and potential employees”.

3.1.4 Diversity

All experts (100%) agreed that it should be management’s ulterior motive to create and implement policies that favor disadvantaged groups (such as racial/ethnic minorities and women) to combat social inequality. Given their impact, control groups (the ones who are the direct beneficiaries of the inequality) can hinder their implementation, leading to continued inequalities, wasted resources and potential conflicts within the organization. It happens due to the perceived threat of losing control over resource distribution, change in organizational culture or values and power delegation to the new members. Therefore, it is the utmost responsibility of the top management to take care of this issue by implementing a fair merit system based on justice for all. In this regard, the control group focus should be switched to the broader and collective interests of all the stakeholders, this will help reduce the perceived threats associated with diversity initiatives. Nurturing multiculturalism with inclusion and a positive focus on underprivileged groups is also a solution that can be implemented with confidence. As one of the interviewees (No. 8) and diversity expert says, “Diversity paves the path for new contacts in new communities, expanding business networks, drawing in people who were not previously a part of the company’s ecosystem. The company appeals to non-minority employees who want to work for a diverse company, as well as to women, minorities, and women in general”.

3.1.5 Equity

All (100%) experts favor equity as an integral part of any business and the key to success. However, it is an equal responsibility of both HR managers and business leaders to inculcate it in organizational culture. Organizations with equity fabricated in their practices and procedures gain a competitive edge over their competitors. Active listening and paying attention to the voices of the workers help support them to be their authentic selves. In this regard, mutual efforts by HR managers, business leaders and partners can help invest and motivate equity. Ranging from supply chains to overall organizational learning and leadership programmes should be focused on equity. Five (35%) HR experts supported the notion that anonymous resumes, looking for talent away from top schools, use of technology to monitor equity in recruitment, selection, pay and performance, and recognition of HR for hiring and appraising minorities will help inculcate it.

Interviewee No. 2, “The strategic business imperatives of diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental to every facet of our operations, including interactions with clients, suppliers, and the communities in which we operate. Companies that prioritize DEI enjoy higher profits, increased sales, greater innovation and better employee job satisfaction, which is quite a clear business case”.

3.1.6 Inclusion

All experts (100%) agreed that inclusion depends on the strategic initiatives of the firm to provide equal opportunities and access to organizational resources to marginalized groups. It is crucial to comprehend where they are getting their opposition from. Everything must be done inclusively; we must look for underrepresented or underprivileged people in an equal way to everyone else. Interviewee No. 5 “Inclusion efforts run the risk of losing priority in strategy as international leaders continue to face a tangle of problems. However, we have learned from previous crises that diversity and inclusion are essential elements of any economic strategy aimed at resilience and recovery and that a company’s ability to perform well financially is correlated with its level of diversity and inclusion”. However, the focus should be towards the control group’s opposition to the DEI policies and the marginalized group to help them regarding perceived threats, which may affect their well-being and may prevent them from joining such an organization. Interviewee No. 1 “I feel comfortable with my team, and I feel like people listen to me, that’s really about inclusion”. In this regard, top management needs to focus on certain factors including personal characteristics, such as political ideology, prejudice, education, social context such as organizational environment and leadership qualities, and strategy itself such as group membership. A considerable amount of attention is required to find out factors that shape threatful attitudes towards DEI policies.

3.1.7 Strategic risk

It was a common consensus among all experts (100%) that the most important aspect of a successful business highly depends on the strategic decisions of top management regarding diversity. Management considering financial constraints, competitive markets and operational efficiencies while ignoring strategic risk (which is attributed as a misfit of business strategy with goals) may face trouble at any stage. However, this risk can be minimized with structured decision-making. In this regard, SWOT analysis, scenario planning, and balanced scorecard approaches are helpful to make structured decisions. However, big data analytics helps broaden the knowledge base by expanding the human capabilities to make optimum decisions in uncertain and complex situations. Interviewee No. 9, “In the organizational paradigm, every business takes risks. They must do it, or they won’t understand the market’s direction and how they must improvise to keep their ship afloat in this vast, constantly shifting ocean”. Interviewee No. 11, “A company’s financial performance highly depends on its diversity initiative, it is a profitable investment with greater returns. Additionally, while interacting with like-minded individuals might help a person’s social life, it can cause businesses and investors to lose a lot of money. Similarly, different viewpoints, skill sets, and life experiences of their personnel are the fuel that propels successful organizations”.

3.2 HRM

3.2.1 Technology and AI

According to six experts (43%), companies have invested a lot of time in HR technology and will continue to put more effort into this red area. Today’s HR should be aimed at making the systems more user-friendly, intelligent, and capable of voice or chatbot interaction, as well as increasing the number of recommendations the system makes for what you should do. They all agreed that what might create trouble for HR executives and can make them up at night are the dreadful issues related to employee mental health, economic crisis and downsizing, social unrest, and layoffs. The abrupt changes in the new normal due to switching to remote work have placed HR professionals to effectively manage and implement fair and consistent procedures from recruitment to performance management, appraisals, and layoffs. According to nine (64%) experts, HR executives need to conduct behavioral assessment tests to examine skills and cultural fits to be able to evaluate employees’ job-relevant skills. This will help organizations to create an equitable and transparent process for attracting and retaining potential applicants. Not only this, but the skill-based assessment approach will provide a legal cushion to downsizing in an objective and quantifiable manner. All agreed that recent advancements in DEI initiatives are urging firms to step ahead of mere promises to actual strategic moves by cultivating each action they take in this regard to be coherent.

Interviewee No. 14, “To make employees feel safe at the workplace, provide them with needed support, and autonomy is an HR’s job that leads to their workplace safety and outstanding performance. Today HR practices are benefiting from cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence that have resulted in a greater scope of strategic implementation. It helps process greater volumes of data, so we can say, AI has revolutionized the HR duties from talent management, recruitment, and performance appraisals”.

A consensus was found among all 14 experts that HR leaders must consider the use of tech-driven HR tools such as pre-employment testing and behavioral assessment tests to create an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace to manifest to promote DEI. This dream can come true by combining human-centric strategy with tech-powered solutions, all possible due to today’s rapid digital transformation. By doing so, they will move forward with an unbiased objective procedure of talent attraction and selection. This will also help to avoid subjective job-fit criteria as data-drive insights accelerate innovation, decision-making and implementation of resilient and sustainable processes leading to operational efficiencies. These technology-driven steps help accelerate the HR professionals ride the wave of radical changes by creating procedures of equal deployment of organizational resources for internally verified talent.

3.2.2 Remote work

Interviewee No. 13, “Remote work, whether it be fully remote or a hybrid model, is here to stay as we enter a new era”. Among 14 participants, four (28%) were of the view that although many businesses made technology investments to allow employees to work and collaborate remotely, there are still difficulties. As we transition into the “next normal” and beyond, HR leaders must now promote social cohesiveness and regularly update remote working policies. However, a global health crisis, social unrest, and economic downturn that abruptly shifted to remote work and resulted in a mental health crisis have changed how HR functions. The future of work must be strategically planned by HR leaders, who must shift from reaction to resilience.

Interviewee No. 5, “While the move to remote working gave professionals the freedom they needed, it also had drawbacks, including isolation, decreased teamwork, and fatigue. According to research, remote workers are working longer hours, attending more meetings, and managing more communication channels”.

3.2.3 Employee well-being

All the participants emphasized the importance of employee well-being in the workplace. The evolution of employee well-being from health to what is referred to as “overall performance” is another notable change that future organizations will carry forward. Health and well-being are going to be the most important aspects of future jobs that millennials will take over. What matters most is what encourages greater productivity among individuals. Healthy employees are a huge plus for businesses due to reductions in insurance and medical costs. Job performance, which includes task and contextual performance, is directly impacted by well-being. Happiness and well-being are used synonymously. Employee well-being improves decision-making and gives workers strong interpersonal skills, more optimism, and greater resilience. They are therefore more adept at fulfilling.

Interviewee No. 10, “In the workplace, maintaining one’s health is crucial for both managers and businesses as well as for specific individuals. This is due to the relationship that exists between employee satisfaction and business performance”.

3.2.4 Psychological safety

All participants agreed that organizations working in a post-pandemic context are facing a complex and uncertain environment with unpredictable business opportunities. This situation is quite challenging from a strategic point of view to be able to survive and compete by relying on human capital. Similarly, it is threatful for the employees to find a candid way to contribute their knowledge with uncertain job security and job loss threats. The problem can be addressed by maintaining psychological safety. Employees perceiving positive psychological safety have a positive relation to their context which helps reduce conflicts and helps reduce burnout, stress and feelings of loneliness and detachment. Interpersonal communication strategies can play a vital role in building employee confidence and connection with the organization.

Interviewee No. 13, “However, fostering psychological safety involves more than just urging others to speak up. It also covers the employer’s perspective on work-life balance. Making people feel safe allows them to focus on their task without worrying about their survival, which is the goal of great leadership”.

3.2.5 Employee engagement

Interviewee No. 6, “The number-one driver of employee engagement is belonging”. The work environment plays a significant role in influencing employee engagement, which in turn leads to productivity, innovative work behavior and well-being. In this regard, the human resource practices of the firm play a significant role by having a positive association with employee engagement. In the new normal, remote work has become so common it requires more engagement. Communication, diversity and inclusion and quality of work life are important determinants that can be improved through artificial intelligence (AI). Experts agree that AI can improve the work conditions and thus the perception of workers by providing a healthy work environment, fair compensation, equal use of firm resources and access to opportunities, working of human skills and capacities, assessing, and enhancing employee work engagement, thus, their well-being and productivity.

3.2.6 Resilience

Nine (64%) out of 14 experts proposed that one thing is certain as organizations fight the effects of the global pandemic: this storm has permanently altered us all. The way we do business, how we organize our workforce, and how we build cultures are all drastically changing. Organizations now need to adapt and change a variety of things to build a sustainable model that can withstand crises like this one in the future. The necessity and significance of placing people at the “heart” of digitization have become abundantly clear over the past few months. Without any test cases or reference points, organizations must respond to a variety of complex and rapidly changing needs of their most valuable business assets.

Interviewee No. 13, “The good news is that while some people appear to have higher levels of resilience than others, those who have lower levels may acquire strategies to increase their capacity to survive, thrive, and flourish in trying times. Resilience can therefore be improved”.

Twelve (85%) experts highlighted that the real drivers of any change, particularly in the digital sphere, are people because they are resilient and adaptable by nature. All aspects of business operations, including value creation, are determined by them. Organizational strategies are determined by how people, or more specifically customers, engage and interact with one another. People hold the keys to any business’s ability to expand and thrive, both internally and externally. Both customers and employees contribute to the creation of the parameters that map the company’s trajectory and orientation. And it has been demonstrated that employees play a bigger role in this regard.

3.2.7 Skilling

Interviewee No. 9, “Key abilities obtained in an academic context are quickly becoming obsolete as our jobs change more quickly than ever. More and more companies are no longer requiring college degrees. Retraining and upskilling are more than just the newest buzzwords in learning and development and “nice to have“ advantages. They are now essential for a company to succeed. Future-focused businesses predict their skill gaps and integrate them into their succession plans. They are starting to realize how beneficial internal upskilling and reskilling projects can be”.

Two (14%) HR experts suggested that HR professionals need to find ways to embrace it to stay relevant in the business. Despite challenges like the difficulty in creating a sense of community and the limited access to resources, this trend is here to stay. Opportunities for skill development and reskilling have undergone a remarkable evolution, becoming a significant HR trend in recent years. The need to adjust to a constantly changing work environment has resulted in a significant shift in the emphasis on continuous learning and development when compared to previous years. Interviewee No. 8, “HR professionals have been at the forefront of driving creative skilling and reskilling programmes during the changing times”. To make the process more dynamic and engaging, they are utilizing online platforms, virtual classrooms, and AI-driven learning tools. This trend will keep developing, assisting businesses that adopt it early to stay ahead of the curve. Organizations now understand the significance of building more inclusive workplaces while addressing inequalities, which has caused a noticeable shift in the trend of embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

4. Discussion and conclusion

In recent years, jobs and the workforce have shifted dramatically from conventional workplace and classical management strategies to technology-driven, information-based decisions [30]. Globalization, flexible work arrangements, telecommuting and hybrid business models have surprisingly taken the forefront while generating huge challenges for HR professionals to plan for the drastic changes coming [31, 32, 33]. Since everyone will have uniquely reacted to the pandemic, the meaning of diversity and inclusion and what it means to an organization have also changed. The findings of the qualitative study are compatible with previous similar studies that direct that businesses that have strong diversity and inclusion policies can navigate through the storm [34]. So, what exactly constitutes a diverse and inclusive organization in the modern era? Consider diversity in the workplace as honoring and valuing the differences among people, such as those based on age, gender, ethnicity, religion, education, and/or origin [35, 36]. On the other hand, inclusion refers to a company’s efforts to treat all its employees fairly and with respect. The findings suggest that HR managers must begin creating settings that make people feel comfortable no matter where they are, it is in accordance with the recent trends in HRM research [37].

A diverse team can promote innovation, provide a variety of viewpoints and ideas, enhance worker productivity, and bring out a range of skills across the organization. As a result, an organization must promote diversity and inclusion. Habits, attitudes, and behaviors have changed somewhat because of digitization, but society is now acknowledging newer challenges, which are introducing a new set of communities. Being inclusive and diverse is increasingly important in the modern world [38].

Similarly, the findings of the study indicate that it is time for employees and organizations to be resilient, inventive, and responsive to the new world in these times when change is accelerating [39, 40, 41]. All the practices have been made possible by the pandemic and the enormous changes it has brought about. Therefore, if you have not given them much thought in the past, do so right away. Therefore, working on employee resilience by enhancing it to harness its benefits in times of crisis is an important implication and relatable to HRM, which demands to initiate it as an essential component of HR practice [42].

Employee engagement, retention, and general satisfaction have all increased because of the evolution of DEI because employees feeling inclusion display more trust in organizational diversity practices, resulting in enhanced well-being and work engagement [43, 44]. Additionally, it has improved brand recognition and helped organizations attract a diverse talent pool. By encouraging diverse hiring practices, offering unconscious bias training, and fostering an inclusive culture through ongoing education and awareness programmes, HR professionals are the ones who launch comprehensive DEI strategies. A thorough DEI strategy will assist businesses in developing workplaces that embrace diversity and spur technological advancements in the coming years [45].

Similarly, the findings highlight the role of artificial intelligence. As AI has transformed how businesses approach their HR management, it is a prominent HR trend [46, 47, 48]. By enabling tasks like automated resume screening, the introduction of chatbots for candidate interactions, and AI-driven performance evaluations, AI is increasingly transforming different areas of HR operations. It has aided HR departments in the present by streamlining operations, reducing manual errors, and improving data-driven decision-making abilities. Additionally, AI-powered tools assist HR in data analysis for long-term workforce planning. So, in the upcoming year, AI will aid businesses in gaining new efficiencies and maintaining an edge in the constantly changing HR landscape. The potential of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) to improve various HR operations is also being recognized by HR professionals. It can assist with conducting online job fairs, offering interactive training stimulators, and providing remote onboarding experiences, for example [49, 50].

To conclude, despite being in its initial stages, this debate holds a lot of ambitious potential. HR professionals must keep up with the most recent developments in the industry and assess how they might affect HR practices as they navigate challenges like data privacy and security. Impactful rewards and recognition programmes will become much more prominent in the coming years in the HR landscape. Organizations are starting to understand how important this is for increasing motivation and engagement. As a result, the traditional one-size-fits-all strategy has been given away.

By creating and managing a strong talent ecosystem, businesses can access a wider talent pool that includes gig workers, freelancers, and remote workers. While HR specialists use technology to speed up the hiring and management of talent, they play a critical role in fostering a culture of collaboration. Organizations must embrace partnerships with educational institutions, use data to inform decisions and foster a culture of ongoing learning and development if they hope to move in the right direction. Therefore, in the constantly shifting business environment of 2023 and beyond, organizations can create a work environment that attracts and retains top talent by utilizing the true potential of interconnected talent networks.