Workology: The Study of Work

In order to truly understand something, we must start at the beginning. It’s the reason that anthropologists focus their life’s work on different fields like culture, archaeology, biology and linguistics when it comes the history of the human being. The past, our history, gives us insight into our thoughts, desires, mistakes and successes.

I see myself as an HR or workplace anthropologist of sorts. In a very short time homo sapiens sapiens has slingshot forward mainly because of technology. Think about the use of computers, mobile phones and other essential resources we cannot even think of living without. When it comes to the field of human resources and recruiting, our worlds are changing, evolving and traveling at the speed of light as we work to enhance our employee population’s productivity, their quality of life and the business results of the company’s we support. This is where the story of human capital begins with workology.

Workology is the intersection and study of art, science, culture, work and technology, specifically when it relates to our workforce and employees. It also happens to be the name of my new blog where I discuss senior level human capital trends. Here are three trends shaping the future of HR and the future of workology.

Leading Technology. The marketer’s shouldn’t get all the fun. HR and workplace technology like SmartRecruiters is truly revolutionary. The technology we use now is shaping how our manager’s and leaders engage and respond to our employee’s in real time. Let’s starting leading the way in trends, tools and resources available to our employees.
Moving Faster & Forward. Long gone are the days where we discuss policy and procedure behind closed doors. In the new workplace, we must act quickly to respond to the viral marketplace and the internet. The conversations of employees and customers often take place on social networks and the world wide web. Are you listening?
Employee Centric Workplace. Once upon a time employees and employers were loyal like a marriage that lasted nearly an employee’s lifetime. Things changed and employers had options treating their workforce like day old casserole. The war for talent is real and employers that engage, develop and show their employee’s a little love make for longer tenured relationships and more productive employees.

The key to this movement and change happening in HR doesn’t start with me. Like you, I’m just a cog in the wheel of work. It starts with practitioners, technologists and employees, working to shape the history of our future workplace. It starts with workology.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She’s an author who writes at Workology, Huffington Post and SmartBrief.