Today, dramatic shifts are reshaping the workplace as old boundaries collapse, according to a study on Global Human Capital Trends 2024 by Deloitte. The study, covering over 14,000 respondents from 95 countries, explored insights into how remote work is exploding and traditional rigid roles are transitioning to fluid ones comprising both traditional and non-traditional talent. Likewise, HR is also evolving beyond siloed functions.

Here are the key trends unlocking human potential in 2024

#1 A focus on human sustainability

The concept necessitates organisations to shift their focus from how much people benefit their organisation to how much the organisation benefits people. Some organisations are already making this transition. Gabriel Sander, Head of HR at Cuervo, said, “Companies can’t offer you employment forever, but they should make you employable forever.” Adopting this is crucial for organisations so they can establish a beneficial cycle: one in which improving human outcomes enhances organisational outcomes and vice versa, contributing to a better future for all.

The HR leaders also need to look for constant threats towards Human Sustainability which include work burnouts, concerns about AI eliminating jobs, skills shortage, lack of support for gig workers and contractual workers, lack of effective DEI efforts, poor conditions of frontline workers, as well as global climate change.

A focus on human sustainability can assist organisations in developing even more robust measures than evolving government policies related to people issues, which typically lag behind the pace and necessary scope of change.

#2 Measuring human performance beyond productivity

For moving beyond productivity, organisations need to invest in creating a work culture that fosters well-being, growth, and a sense of purpose. They should encourage innovation through digital playgrounds, which give workers the psychological safety to explore intentionally. Traditional methods of measuring worker productivity, focusing solely on inputs and outputs, reflect only the organisation's perspective. Organisations need to consider well-being, development, and broader business goals when measuring performance.

What else should organisations measure to assess human performance meaningfully? The new equation involves balancing business and human sustainability, creating shared, mutually reinforcing outcomes for both the organisation and the worker.

#3 Building trust by balancing privacy with transparency

Today, technology provides unprecedented transparency into how organisations function. While this can be a powerful tool, concerns about privacy and data misuse loom large. On one hand, if managed responsibly, it offers opportunities to measure and enhance human performance. On the other hand, there is a significant risk of misuse, such as privacy breaches, AI-driven surveillance, and attempts to excessively control workers' actions. The report emphasises the need for a careful balance, ensuring that transparency fosters trust rather than erodes it.

While conventional wisdom suggests that greater transparency leads to greater trust, the reality is more nuanced. Many organisations are discovering that effectively navigating the balance between transparency and privacy is crucial for fostering trust today, and mishandling it can severely undermine trust.

#4 Imagination deficit: Bridging the gap

The rapid pace of technological change can overwhelm our ability to envision new ways of working. Organisations fostering a culture of curiosity, empathy, and creativity can harness the power of human imagination will be better positioned to innovate and thrive. They should give workers and teams the autonomy to use these capabilities to shape the kinds of work they do.

Just as importantly, individual workers will likely need these capabilities to imagine their own futures, as AI and other disruptive technologies take on ever more prominent roles in their working lives.

#5 Shifting towards boundaryless HR

Work increasingly demands agility, innovation, and collaboration to achieve outcomes. A new HR operating model is not the only solution to respond to these shifts. Rather, a new mindset, along with a new set of practices, metrics, technologies, and more, can transform HR from a specialised function that owns all workforce responsibility to a boundaryless discipline, co-created and integrated with the people, business, and community it serves. A boundaryless HR will ensure a more collaborative and human-centric approach to managing the workforce in the boundaryless world.

The shift to boundaryless HR will require a new vision of HR, a new mindset, new skills, a new way of leading, and potentially new roles and organisational structures. But the payoff from moving from knowing to doing can be tremendous. HR can help create more compelling worker value propositions, improve workforce effectiveness, and move talent management closer to serving as a strategic function of the business, rather than one that is primarily operational or reactive. In addition, the work of HR professionals can be more creative and meaningful. As human performance is unlocked and measured, organisations can thrive, along with the workers, partners, and communities they serve.