Sweden leading the way in human resource innovations

Group of professionally dressed people sitting against a white brick wall, smiling.

Human resources is the middle of a revolution, and Sweden is a global leader when it comes to innovations human resources. The country is the top 10 of hotspots for human resource specialists.

The world is changing faster than ever, and Sweden is in the epicenter of that change. On the European Innovation Scoreboard the country ranks 3^rd in Europe when it comes to innovation in the field of human resources. One of the HR experiment that drew a lot of international attention was the 6-hour workday, which was first introduced by the Toyota Center in Gothenburg. According to the CEO Martin Banck the 30-hour working week not only led to a higher productivity, but also to a higher output. Filimundus, an app developer based in the capital Stockholm, introduced the six-hour 2 years ago, also to satisfaction of management and the employees.

HR tech innovations

But Swedish companies are not just leaders in HR policies; they are also frontrunners when it comes to digital innovations in human resources. According to a Recent Digital Transformation Report, published by Microsoft, Sweden is considered to be one of the most prolific technology hubs in the world. One of the ways that companies are using new technologies is by creating digital tools to enable better communication, closer collaboration, and improved employee productivity and flexibility.

Digital start-ups in Sweden try to take their share of the new developments in HR. Especially The successful startup culture in Sweden can be partially put down to the fact that the country arguably has the ideal market to test new products in. Swedes are not only very open to innovation and change, but they also benefit from a well invested technical infrastructure, which ensures mobile and internet usage. Examples of successful HR tech start-ups are Henry, an intelligent chatbot designed to make sharing team feedback easy, and career eye, which rates employers.

Because of the innovative approach of the HR industry, Sweden is one of the hotspots in the world for human resource professionals. According to a survey by Michael Page the country ranks 10^th in the list of most popular career destinations for HR specialists.

HR innovations: decoding facial expressions

A broad overview of the top 10 hotspots is made up of European and North American market economies, all with buoyant economies following the 2008 world crisis and well-established rule of law and commerce – making them desirable destinations for a mid-career change, or indeed a preferred place to start a career in HR.

In Europe, Germany is one of the leading countries. It´s therefore maybe no surprise that the global Theta Award 2017, for best idea in the world to improve HR and recruitment, was won by a German innovation. Andreas Kopp, a German graduate from Nuremburg won worldwide competition with a master thesis on a so-called facial action coding system may help recruiters decode the facial expressions of job candidates, to make better selection decisions.

The Theta Award was founded in 2013 in Germany, to help companies with new HR technologies. With the booming economy there is a high demand for good job candidates, and therefore for new HR techniques and strategies. It makes Germany one of the global hotspots for international HR professionals. Especially multinationals are developing more mature HR organisations and are focusing on enhancing HR data analytics capabilities.

Global methods of learning

The UK leads the design of digital strategies, but the migration process lags behind, possibly due to the large number of service companies which have slower uptake of SaaS due to their nature (employee heavy companies, less used to new disruptive technologies). Germany is a late bloomer in readying its workforce for the future of work – but is gearing itself to become a leading force when digital strategy becomes the norm across businesses and sectors.

Interestingly, it is companies in Europe that are leading the pack in terms of building the workplace of the future. In France, their openness to cloud-based computing in the development, marketing and HR sectors specifically (of the SaaS ecosystem 49.5% of are for these three areas), is a significant advantage. However, when it comes to supporting remote working or SLA-based delivery, there is a long way to go.

A globally challenging sector

HR methods in different markets are changing around the world, and none more so than in Latin America, where exposure to international project and companies, new and challenging stakeholders, alongside new working environments and improved understanding of best practices, has brought about a revolution in the region.

There are strong and noticeable differences in the HR department focus and experience across the whole of Latin America. Brazil has enjoyed a long-term, strong relationship with unions and vast employee relations due to this, whereas in Argentina, HR directives have emphasised in-house talent management, learning programmes and talent acquisition.

What we saw in Asia a decade ago, will now happen in Latin America – the establishment of regional hubs, the emergence of key players with improved economic performance compared to regional competitors, and a refocus of hiring patterns and methodologies to ensure local talent takes up senior management roles.

Ranking global hotspots for HR professionals

For Trend Watch PageGroup surveyed 18352 job seekers worldwide, who applied on our Michael Page and Page Personnel websites during the 3rd quarter of 2017.

Of the 1195 HR professionals who participated in the study, more than 65% were willing to relocate, for job opportunities, a better salary or a different lifestyle.