First of all, thank you for your interest in our newsletter that we published in English last week. We received wonderful responses and feedback from you. We are also implementing the Turkish publication of the newsletter, which was one of the feedback we received. We will continue to publish our newsletters in the following months in both English and Turkish.
Welcome to HR Trends & Insights, your go-to resource for the latest trends, strategies, and news in the field of human resources. As human resources continues to evolve, this newsletter will keep you informed about the most impactful innovations shaping the industry, particularly in HR technologies, talent management, employee experience and development, as well as legal updates from Turkey and other countries.
Globally, there is a significant shift towards AI-powered recruitment processes (which we will address in a separate section with an expert) and advanced people analytics that provide deeper insights into employee dynamics. With the rise of hybrid work models, new challenges and opportunities have emerged in maintaining company culture and employee engagement. In Turkey, alongside economic challenges for both employers and employees, companies are increasing their focus on employee wellbeing and flexible work arrangements to align with global trends.
Additionally, compliance with the latest regulatory updates in Turkey and adjusting HR policies accordingly is of great importance. These changes are not just regulations; they are efforts to create fair, inclusive, and productive work environments for both employees and employers.
Our goal is to provide you with actionable insights, expert opinions, and industry developments so you can stay ahead with innovation in HR.
The Future of Work: Innovations Shaping HR
AI-powered technologies are transforming HR professionals' daily activities, repetitive tasks, and routines. Particularly in recruitment, onboarding, data analytics, and employee experience, new technologies and initiatives have helped increase HR effectiveness. By leveraging AI, HR departments can save time to make more informed decisions, create strategies, and connect more with people to improve the overall employee experience. Although the role of AI in HR technologies is a hot topic, according to the Korn Ferry Talent Trends 2025 Report, HR leaders experience that AI cannot solve HR challenges alone and requires human oversight for real impact. In our monthly HR newsletter, we will continue to provide insights about new technologies and solutions in HR.
SORWE is a next-generation employee experience and analytics platform. It understands how important increasing employee engagement is in creating a productive and positive work environment. With their mobile-first platform, they make it easy for organizations to interact with employees on a personal level, listen to their feedback, share announcements, and celebrate achievements all in one place.
Greenhouse Software provides software services for the recruitment process. Greenhouse consolidates job seekers' applications from different sources, such as job posting sites, into a single dashboard and integrates with many other SaaS solutions. It brings together candidates' resumes and interview feedback to compare them with job requirements.
oNabu, an AI-based Agile Coach, was founded to provide custom learning and coaching journeys for different agile roles. Available in both web and mobile versions, this product offers personalized learning experiences with an AI-centered infrastructure.
Hirize.AI, an AI-based resume analysis and matching platform, was founded to automate criteria such as employee-employer fit, technical skills and qualifications, work style, predicted average tenure, and interview process considered in recruitment processes.
Luvu, a gift card marketplace focused on managing all employee benefits from a single platform, offers well-designed reward, advantage, and benefit programs to increase employee wellbeing and engagement.
More is on the way; we know there are many brands and initiatives actively providing innovative technologies and tools to HR, solving both local and global HR challenges. You can suggest other companies to highlight in this newsletter and help us introduce these companies.
Evolving Talent Strategies: Managing Tomorrow's Workforce
In this section, we want to summarize two different reports related to research findings and outputs. The insights from Deloitte's 2024 Global Human Capital Trends report closely align with McKinsey's views on the importance of employee experience. Both sources emphasize the increasing need to prioritize the human side of work to achieve business outcomes and highlight many overlapping themes.
1. Human Performance and Employee Experience
Deloitte's emphasis on "human performance" reveals the importance of blending human and business outcomes, and McKinsey supports this view by seeing positive employee experience as the key to company success. McKinsey states that companies with strong employee experience are 122% more financially successful than their competitors.
2. Focus on Wellbeing and Human Sustainability
Deloitte's emphasis on human sustainability aligns with McKinsey's view of wellbeing as an important component of employee experience. McKinsey's research shows that companies investing in employee wellbeing achieve a 20% increase in productivity.
3. Trust, Transparency, and Purpose-Driven Work
While Deloitte addresses the "transparency paradox" emphasizing the need to balance visibility and privacy to build trust, McKinsey also highlights trust as a fundamental element of positive employee experience. McKinsey's data shows that 50% of employees are willing to change jobs to find work that better aligns with their values.
4. Redefining Culture and Flexibility
Deloitte's suggestion to embrace micro-cultures and create "boundaryless HR" parallels McKinsey's emphasis on adaptable cultures reflecting the diverse needs of the modern workforce. McKinsey notes that companies with a culture of flexibility and autonomy achieve higher levels of innovation and employee satisfaction.
5. Leadership Alignment and Measurement
Deloitte's emphasis on the gap between "knowing" and "doing" aligns with McKinsey's discussion of the need for leadership to be aligned with employee priorities. According to McKinsey, 70% of transformation initiatives fail because employees don't buy into the projects.
Conclusion
Deloitte and McKinsey's reports emphasize that focusing on employee experience and prioritizing human-centered approaches is essential for modern organizations to succeed. For a deeper look at the importance of employee experience, you can access McKinsey's full article here and Deloitte's report here.
Regulatory Updates: Latest Employment Regulations
The following changes have been made to the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510 with the Omnibus Law No. 7524.
1-) Regulations Concerning Employers: Article 4;
a) Effective from 01.09.2024; the short-term (occupational accident and disease, sickness and maternity) insurance branches premium rate of 2% in Article 81 of Law No. 5510 has been increased to 2.25%.
b) Effective from 01.09.2024; the 5 percentage point EYT premium incentive (Law No. 15510) provided to employers for continuing to work subject to social security support premium (SGDP) at the workplace where they retired under Law No. 5510 as of 01.03.2023 (inclusive) has been abolished.
HR Events You Shouldn't Miss
CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition | November 6-7, 2024 | Manchester, UK
HR Vision London | November 19-20, 2024 | London, UK
Human Resources Summit 2024 | November 18-22, 2024 | Online
HR Week 2024 | November 25-29, 2024 | Online
HR Dergi / Performance, Compensation and Benefits | November 21, 2024 | Istanbul
Let's Keep the Conversation Going
To summarize the key takeaways from this newsletter:
AI-powered recruitment and analytics technologies are rapidly evolving, but hybrid work models create some challenges for employee engagement. Turkish companies are also prioritizing employee wellbeing and flexible work arrangements.
- Evaluate your current recruitment and analytics tools for AI integration
- Implement policies supporting employee wellbeing, flexible work, and employee engagement strategies
- Review regulatory and labor law updates to ensure compliance and adjust HR policies accordingly
According to the Korn Ferry Talent Trends 2025 Report, 32% of respondents plan to focus on upskilling to close the skills gap of current employees, and 30% plan to create career paths for long-term growth. We honestly find these rates low.
Prioritize Learning; To achieve this, companies need to build a culture that prioritizes learning. Here are some tips to get started:
- Fill vacant positions from internal sources to encourage continuous development
- Offer personalized training that aligns professional goals with business growth
- Highlight your L&D (Learning and Development) programs in job postings or interviews during the recruitment process
- Provide leadership training that encourages trust, transparency, and purpose-driven work
Adding these tactics to HR strategies can increase employee engagement, retention, and agility.
We would love to hear your views and comments about the content of this newsletter. You can also share your suggestions for topics you would like to see in next month's issue.