Technology has continued to change every facet of how our businesses operate, and never before has that change happened so rapidly. Brands in Africa are now working in an era where having a strong digital presence is a vital necessity; digital is a differentiator and a game-changer for your business, not only for success but often simply for survival in the highly competitive space. 

The focus here is to show why progressive Human Resources (HR) leaders in Africa need to strengthen their skills and capacity to develop a digital mindset and put themselves on the path to becoming effective change agents in organizations. There’s a massive need for Africa’s HR sector to go extremely digital and stay at the forefront of the digital revolution, as this will help them increase productivity, reduce costs, and offer a better experience to organizations.

Changing to digital HR is a game-changer for you, your business, and your people. In today’s market, having a digital strategy and mindset is a business differentiator, and it will certainly help your organization in the long run. The digital world has become a game of the first to ‘get digital’ the fastest – and I believe that HR has the full potential – but only if HR can try to think and ‘get digital’ first! 

The right HR technology brings simple and standard processes from the outside so your people and organization can focus on what makes a difference and work at its peak. Going digital enables HR leaders to deliver excellent employee experiences and better business outcomes – helping human resources become a strategic, value-adding function within any organization.

Enablement of Remote Working

Although the concept of remote work has been with us for more than a decade, the pandemic forced organizations not already promoting a remote work environment ‌and culture to make the transition more quickly than expected, and it seems that this trend will remain with us for some time to come. Africa has not been left behind: remote working in Africa is rising, with Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa leading the pack.

These countries have highly skilled talents with a global outlook. Not only has this helped to make attracting and retaining talent easier, but it’s also increased productivity. More people than ever work remotely, with estimates that over 80 million African citizens now have a remote work arrangement. We need to raise awareness, foster culture change, learn how to learn, and become lean and agile in Africa.

Digital HR professionals must focus on facilitating a culture to help teams better communicate, coordinate, and collaborate remotely daily using their online tools. Document all the key learnings. This will lead to more focus on these insights by everyone in the organization that can be applied to daily work for overall improvements.

The recruitment Process Has Changed

Online job platforms have rendered newspaper job listings outdated, with applications sent via social networks and job sites. Today, the ‌most recent disruptor is LinkedIn. It is a social network for professionals.” LinkedIn has been steadily boosting its capabilities to identify connections between users, skills, companies, and jobs.

LinkedIn also has customized features for HR professionals, such as the Recruiter tool, which allows users to make advanced searches on member profiles.

Reimagine, reimagine, reimagine

The biggest mistake that HR can make in this age of digitization is maintaining “the way things are normally done.” This roadmap to digital HR will need to be significantly reimagined. It’s not about trying to maintain the status quo but changing the status quo.

Never stop learning

Technology and competition are changing faster than ever. Creating that hunger for knowledge and adaptability within HR and across the organization is essential.

Being prepared to be digital

As transformative change evolves, business leaders – especially those in HR – must adopt new practices for recruiting, leading, organizing, motivating, managing, and engaging a workforce for the 21st century.

Digitizing a sector begins with a single step.

Since digital transformation has no end-state, creating a roadmap to digital innovation must be gradual. When these pillars are well-connected, the recruitment industry puts itself in the best possible position to achieve its desired business outcomes.