Journal number 2 ∘ Anna Chechel ∘ Maryna Zelinska ∘ Kateryna Zmytrovych ∘
Analysis of current trends in the personnel management systems development in the world and Ukraine

10.36172/EKONOMISTI.2021.XVII.02.CHECHEL.ZELINSKA.ZMYTROVYCH

Annotation. The article investigates the main modern trends in personnel management systems development. It analyses the foreign experience of using the latest management practices and their application in Ukraine. The interrelation between HR trends, their dependence on a social and economic situation, and their influence on the enterprises have been determined. The authors identify the global trends seen as the most promising for implementation at Ukrainian enterprises to improve their performance.

Key words: personnel management, trends, technology, human resources, development. 

Introduction. Due to various objective and subjective reasons, such as economic development, globalisation, culture, competition, instability, etc., there is no unified approach to human resources management in global management practice. At the same time, the current society tendencies determine the emergence of specific trends in this sphere. These trends can be both positive and negative and can have different impacts on business processes. Analysis of such movements is crucial to understand their significance, necessity of application and consequences. Identification of advanced world HR technologies and the results of their implementation will be helpful for particular domestic enterprises. The relevance of the research stems from the need to find new effective ways of HR management to ensure maximum productivity of work processes during the crisis phenomena in social and economic spheres.

Current trends in human resource management are described in a significant number of studies by both foreign and domestic scientists. In particular, the papers of N. Thilaya, E. Brown, S. Muscudiani, V. Milicevich, A. Safronievich, V. Kuchinskyi, I. Kichko, T. Pohorelova, A. Havrysh, I. Romanets, M. Vedernikov. The studies reveal individual contemporary aspects of human resource management. However, there is no benchmarking and comparative analysis of the most relevant management trends.

The purpose of the article is to consider current global and domestic trends in human resource management systems, identifying patterns between them, their impact on the company's performance, as well as possible ways of Ukrainian enterprises development taking into account foreign practices.

Statement of basic materials. Deloitte analytical company, in its annual report "Global Human Capital Trends", provided 5 HR trends worth considering in 2021:

- work-life balance;

- unlocking human potential;

- teamwork;

- strategically identifying new work areas and personnel requirements;

- shift of working paradigms because of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic [1, pp. 12-35].

The challenges as mentioned earlier, become the most significant and require a successful solution in each company to ensure its sustainable development.

This study proposes looking at the most relevant trends in global human resource policies compared to domestic ones.

1. Using different technologies to lessen the load on employees.

The current crisis conditions and global digitalisation and automation of processes are causing the need to make employees freer, becoming a common global trend. This process can take place using various models, the most relevant of which currently are:

1) Downsizing, which involves reducing production capacity and the number of employees at all levels to match the market demand. This, in turn, leads to a reduction in fixed costs and production costs. Reducing individual employees or staff categories aims to improve the employees' efficiency and productivity and the company's competitiveness in the market. The model includes redundancies and measures to optimise operations, without which downsizing would be ineffective.

2) A somewhat similar but broader method is re-engineering, which involves a fundamental, radical change in business processes. In addition to more efficient use of human resources, measures are taken to save material goods, improve production processes, and restructure the management system, particularly its automation [2, pp. 414-430].

Thus, present market conditions make it necessary to optimise the production processes due to reducing full-time employees. The driving force behind a company development appears to increase the efficiency of the existing human resources, reducing the number of people involved. Staff reductions create a competitive environment in the labour market and have negative consequences for the companies concerned.

3) Large-scale staff reductions make it necessary to minimise the adverse effects of these processes on organisations. For this reason, outplacement, which provides comprehensive support for laid-off employees, has recently become widespread. By engaging a third-party organisation, the company can help redundant employees adapt to new conditions and develop a strategy for finding a new job.

In many foreign countries, this method of dismissal is considered the most effective because, in addition to assistance to the downsized employee, it includes measures designed to preserve the company's reputation and business secrets. For example, up to 90% of UK companies provide support to redundant staff. Some Italian enterprises practice providing the redundant employee with a separate office equipped with a personal computer, fax machine, Internet, etc., to make it easier to find a new job. The employee comes to "work" in this office every morning and can also use the services of an in-house psychologist until they find a new job placement.

Currently, in Ukraine, outplacement is hardly applied due to economic, social, cultural and other factors. Employees' dismissal might have a negative impact on the company's image and may become a reason for the dissemination of confidential information or lawsuits. A dismissed employee may lose self-confidence and his/her social importance, and a negative emotional state can cause a decrease in professional qualification level and lead to more severe consequences, such as depression [2, pp. 430-435].

Based on those mentioned above, taking measures to help adapt a downsized employee is crucial to enhancing the company's image and reducing human resources loss. It is the second factor that makes it necessary to implement the method described in this article in Ukraine. Ensuring early employment of the laid-off person will contribute to the country's labour market development, where there is a significant outflow of professional staff and the general ageing of the nation.

2. Finding ways to attract staff.

Recently, in international companies, the critical success factor is the competent use of outsourcing of labour resources, which ensures certain functions or processes at the enterprise at the expense of employees of a third-party organisation. The advantages that such staff involvement provides are:

- the ability to regulate the number of staff, depending on various factors and actual needs;

- increase in the efficiency of resource use due to cost optimisation;

- competent focusing on the issue;

- the company flexibility to changes in internal processes and the market;

- reduction of costs associated with additional personnel training.

Outstaffing is becoming more and more popular in foreign companies, that is, removing personnel from the employed list. Domestic companies are also interested in this management method, which allows them to respond to crisis challenges more flexibly. This method provides for the registration of company personnel or hiring employees in a separate specialised agency. Thus, it is possible to quickly change the actual number of employees involved without changing the employee's composition [2, p. 443-453].

It ought to be noted that there is an interconnection between this and the previous trend. The dismissal of personnel caused by certain relevant factors may cause the need to attract additional labour resources in the future. At the same time, there is no need to get other employees, since there is a possibility of their temporary involvement to perform particular tasks.

A topical service provided by recruiting agencies is the search for specialists using the headhunting method. People are selected who are valuable qualified specialists and professionals in the field, for example, representatives of the legal, financial, management spheres [4, p. 9].

The most common recruitment form is leasing, i.e., the temporary employment of employees in a specialised firm. The main advantage of staff leasing is the possibility of urgently recruiting additional technical staff for specific tasks or projects. The client company is buying a service and not labour; namely, there are no further obligations under labour law to motivate and professionally develop the "leased" personnel. The contract may provide for the replacement of a temporary employee who, for instance, falls ill with another colleague. It helps offset the downtime and costs of finding and select an appropriate specialist [2, pp. 453-455; 3, p. 103].

Leasing is a tendency that will become most relevant in today's pandemic environment. The financial losses associated with it and quarantine in some cases make it impossible to expand job placement levels with skilled or highly specialised professionals. The rapid resolution of complex business processes can be ensured by the temporary deployment of appropriate expertise for specific tasks. In this case, the office work, accounting, tax and operational issues are a company responsibility, which provides the employees. The possibility to terminate the temporary employment relationship at any time ensures the avoidance of potential financial, legal and image risks associated with the dismissal of full-time employees.

In Ukraine, specific categories of workers, such as cleaners/janitors, are already employed by companies on a lease basis. However, the practice of leasing labour has not yet become widespread. The development of this trend will lead to a reduction of unemployment by bringing freelancers to work, on the one hand, and to an increase in the capacity of companies, which will use additional labour capacity to perform large-scale tasks, on the other hand.

3. Use of innovative technologies in human resources management.

Driven by modern technology development, the trend of human resource management is digitalisation using social, analytical, mobile, cloud and other technologies. Paper-based, time-consuming, and labour-intensive HR functions are transformed into a streamlined, operational, digital one [5, p. 56].

The formation of the digital technologies sphere in HR management is carried out according to such trends:

1) HR-automation of all possible processes [6, p. 56].

Accordingly, the principle of modern human resource management systems is the virtualisation of social and labour relations. The results of using artificial intelligence, in particular, the creation of programmes that can reproduce and replace human activities in certain areas, are becoming important [7, p. 342].

2) HR analytics using modern technologies.

3) HR marketing, including, in particular, the creation of corporate culture and the use of non-standard ways of brand promotion.

4) Smart-recruiting, involving new channels of personnel attraction.

5) E-learning: individual, adaptive, mobile, virtual professional development [6, p. 56].

Modern technology is increasingly penetrating into various spheres of activity, including adjusting the processes of organising work with personnel. Digital technologies make it possible to keep personnel records, working time and rest time, monitor the employee's efficiency, evaluate performance, share information and experience, create and update document and knowledge bases, improve the employee's professionalism, use social networks to perform certain tasks, strengthen the confidential information protection and create other promising opportunities.

4. The growing importance of the individual among the company's priorities.

The 21st century is characterised by a change in value orientations and the prevalence of a humanistic concept of personnel management, when not a person is adjusted to the organisation, but the organisation functions for the person. The digitalisation of production processes shifts priorities from physical work to the need to use intellectual work achievements. Personnel management under this concept becomes qualitative and implies the need to develop the full potential of each employee. To this end, the company creates the ideal conditions for employees to perform their job duties and training and development.

Moreover, employees themselves also become more demanding towards the employer: in addition to the desired remuneration, they expect harmonisation of the working atmosphere and recognition of personal achievements [10, p. 31].

Proceeding from the fact that human capital is a strategic value, humanistic approach to human resource management creates the enterprise performance dependence at the level of employees' motivation, teamwork, common aspirations of team members and compliance of the workplace with values adoption [11, p. 51; 12, p. 24].

The modern development of human resource management has led to an increase in the individual role of each employee. Enterprises, including a small number of domestic ones, which use the concept of "people management", are characterised by increased efficiency, a better motivation system, low employee turnover and high customer satisfaction. The approach to employees as the most critical company asset, their most effective use and continuous training provides a company's competitive advantage on the market [13, p. 67].

Thus, there is a certain correlation between artificial intelligence capabilities development and the active use of the humanistic approach in personnel management. Therefore, typical basic processes can be automated, which frees up human resources. At the same time, the importance of intellectual activity, the ability to create new things that the human mind can only realise, is constantly increasing. In other words, automation allows more time for creative tasks. However, to produce a qualitatively new product, employees must fulfil themselves, be developed and motivated, which is why many world companies are reorienting towards managing people, not human resources as a whole. This approach is not widely used in Ukraine, so it is proposed to consider a gradual transition of domestic companies to the concept of "human resource management", which is the most promising direction of human resources policy today.

5. Capacity development of human resources.

Employee's professional training and development is an essential principle of human resource management system formation. The increasing role of the human factor leads to the fact that investing appropriate funds in personnel development becomes the main task of HR specialists [12, p. 25].

Personnel coaching promotes employees' professional and personal development and mobilisation of potential and disclosure of intellectual abilities, self-awareness, and innovativeness. In addition, competently chosen coaching technologies can serve as a tool to motivate staff and ensure a team creative atmosphere [3, p. 103].

In Ukraine, many enterprises, including structural units of public authorities, take measures to train employees to improve their competence and professional skills. However, coaching is hardly ever used as a means of encouragement. It is suggested that training courses of interest to all staff or specific professionals, to improve their job duties performance, have to be considered a way of motivation and a reason to pursue a career in the respective enterprise. Alternatively, it can be learning a foreign language, taking self-defence courses, training in relationship psychology and others.

6. Team building.

Teams are becoming a crucial modern group phenomenon in organisations. The trend towards integrated quality management has led to a shift in focus from individual managers and employees to organising multifunctional management groups focused on solving complex problems. Summarising the various definitions, it can be concluded that a team is a group of interacting individuals whose coordination is aimed at achieving a specific common goal.

To be an effective member of a team, the following aspects must be ensured:

- the knowledge and skills of the team members should be complementary;

- each team member's activity is directed towards an ultimate goal which is defined and specific;

- a shared responsibility and commitment to the result;

- establishing clear rules and team values;

- personal compatibility and trust between team members;

- identification of different leaders for individual tasks;

- effective conflict management;

- strong motivation [2, p. 68-92].

Accordingly, the more broadly these aspects are represented in a particular team, the more productive cooperation between its members can be. Effective teamwork, in its turn, contributes to higher productivity and achievement of better results in the short run. The ability to build and work in a team becomes a vital competence for employee recruitment and appraisal and is included in development programmes as part of staff training.

7. Developing emotional competence (EQ).

Crises of various kinds, globalisation processes, the accelerated pace of life and the fast-paced introduction of changes in production make emotional intelligence increasingly relevant. The ability to handle conflict, promote trust, inspire and motivate is now a real advantage for leaders and employees at all levels. Developing the emotional intelligence of team members directly impacts the atmosphere within teams, their motivation and productivity.

The components of emotional intelligence, according to D. Goleman, are awareness, self-discipline, motivation, empathy and social skills. A company may be classified as emotionally intelligent if it meets the following criteria:

- a high level of emotional intelligence among most key employees, as well as in formal and informal leaders;

- mutual respect and tolerance in the team;

- flexibility in communication between team members;

- effective communication between structural units;

- the ability to train and develop the skills of specialists, to retain and motivate them,

- successful management of conflicts, crises and changes;

- cooperation within the team, a joint focus on results achievement;

- high level of teamwork [2, p. 120-132].

Thus, there is a definite link between team building and the organisation's emotional intelligence as a whole: an effective team is an important component of an organisation's EQ. A comfortable, tolerant and peaceful work environment positively impacts an individual's personal life and society as a whole. Increasing the level of emotional intelligence of the organisation as a whole and each employee in a contemporary, constantly stressful environment seems to be a significant trend.

8. Employee performance appraisal.

The substantiation for performance appraisal is driven by the individual assessment of employee competence, which is the most common trend in human resource management systems development today. There are various systems and classifications of human resources assessment, important components of which are:

- employee self-assessment;

- meeting with the supervisor to obtain feedback;

- recognition of achievements and results;

- identification of weaknesses, development pillars;

- a specific plan for enhancing and improving the employee's performance [2, p. 137-156].

Various methods and criteria can be used to carry out a personal appraisal of an employee based on the nature of the work and the requirements set. However, appraisal and feedback should undoubtedly be an essential part of any modern enterprise's human resources management system.

Conclusion. Considering the leading current trends in personnel management systems development globally and their application in Ukraine, the authors conclude.

Improving enterprise efficiency can occur in various ways. In particular, it is possible by reducing the number of staff and optimising the distribution of labour, attracting additional specialists to work on specific projects, enhancing existing specialists' professional capabilities, and the use of modern technologies.

The excessively fast pace of life, crises, economic, political and social issues make the concept of emotional intelligence relevant. It is becoming an international trend to take this competence into account when recruiting people, appointing to higher and more responsible positions, assigning responsible tasks, determining development trajectories, assessing an employee and making dismissal decisions. A high level of emotional intelligence becomes a significant advantage for the employee, and for the company, it becomes the key to success. Ukrainian organisations generally support this global trend.

The world pandemic situation has made staff optimisation a major trend for most companies in all industries. Advanced foreign organisations prefer leasing to employing a staff member, with all the consequences. Developing workforce resources is seen as a significant opportunity for improving the HR management systems of domestic companies.

The trend of outplacement, i.e., adaptation of released personnel, remains understudied regarding the necessity and possibility of its implementation in the Ukrainian market. Possible ways and consequences of introducing this practice in Ukraine are seen as a prospect for further research.

A socially significant trend in managerial activity is the transition from the administration of human resources to human management, i.e., creating working conditions when employees have the opportunity to develop, self-actualise and realise their potential. This trend is manifested in a company atmosphere, motivation methods, performance evaluation, encouragement, training, and innovative technologies. In Ukraine, this approach is still not widespread due to several reasons. Therefore, the study of the humanistic concept in terms of readiness and ability of the Ukrainian market to implement it is a promising area for scientific activity. 

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