Modern HR and Workforce Management with IoT

Employee monitoring systems, surveys, manager evaluations, and feedback have typically been the main ways for HR to manage workforces. However, in a changing world, these methods may no longer be as relevant as they once were. How do you account for a remote employee enjoying premium channels on their Spectrum One plans during company time? How do you keep track of employee motivation levels? Most importantly, how do you streamline hiring and improve employee retention in the modern world? IoT or the Internet of Things could hold the answer.

Read on to discover more about how IoT technology can help modern Human Resources professionals and business workforce managers.

Track Employee Wellbeing

Businesses want productive employees, and healthy employees tend to be the most productive. Employee well-being is, therefore, an important factor for HR to focus on. IoT can improve how businesses track and support employee well-being in several ways. For example, the use of wearable tech can help businesses gain insights into how much exercise an employee gets, their vitals, and whether they seem to be struggling. With this information, human resource professionals can address issues with employee well-being and help boost productivity.

Improve Employee Productivity

Well-being is an important driver when it comes to employee productivity in the workplace. But it is not the only factor. Especially with remote workforces, businesses still need to keep an eye on employee activity and measure it against their KPIs. Again, this is where IoT can make the job a lot easier. From equipment that tracks movement and activity in the workplace to detecting plumbing issues that could disrupt work, IoT can do it all. It can even help businesses monitor employee activity and ensure they are spending the bulk of their time working on their tasks.

Boost Recruitment Success

Recruitment is an essential business process that lets firms hire the right people for a job. It lets them meet important skill gaps and fill talent needs that can contribute to business growth and sustainability. Successful recruitment is key to a successful business. And IoT can help boost the success that you see in your recruitment efforts. For example, IoT devices can monitor and track applicant/candidate behavior throughout the recruitment process. It can operate in virtual interview environments, which is likely to increase in the future as Meta and similar platforms take off. AI-driven IoT can even help identify instances of bias and opportunities to increase diversity or inclusivity in the workforce.

Offer Targeted Health Support

Employee burnout is one of the biggest problems among modern workforces. Businesses may onboard the best talent, but even experienced professionals aren’t immune to feeling overwhelmed. The constant stress can quickly lead to health problems, both mental and physical. However, IoT may help employees to identify budding health issues before they become problems and address them as efficiently as possible. Thanks to technology like facial recognition and machine learning, IoT devices can monitor things like facial expressions, body language, and behavioral patterns. These can easily be configured for comparison against known symptoms of, say, depression or anxiety.

The information that IoT devices gather can also be compared to an employee’s performance stats and historical behavior in the workplace. If anything is off, it could be a fairly reliable indicator that the employee is in need of help and support. HR and workforce managers can then step in to address the matter, offering the necessary resources that can help the employee to cope and heal from their current state.

Takeaway

The Internet of Things is one of the most exciting technologies in the 21st Century. They’re proving useful everywhere, from healthcare services to smart home management. And in the business world, it also offers serious potential for human resource management. Of course, IoT is still relatively new, so employers can reasonably expect it to keep improving. As time goes on, IoT may become a more dominant technology in the workplace, and open up new business trends and opportunities along the way.