This article is part of our new State of Employee Feedback Series which will interview a diverse mix of HR experts and thought leaders with a goal of better understanding their perspectives on the current state of and future of HR.

The following is an interview we recently had with Kayla Bartel, Co-founder and Consultant, Humanity HR Consulting.

What is the state of the human resources industry today? 

I like to call it the People Operations industry because HR has become so much more than just the narrow focus it used to be. HR Professionals today have to ensure they have incredible business acumen to understand the landscape of the businesses that they work within. Getting to know what the vision of the company is and what strategic operational goals a business owner or even functional departmental leader has in mind are critical for an HR person's success.  

What are the most common challenges you face when managing employee feedback and reporting?

1) Getting employees to feel safe in providing honest feedback. 

2) Having buy-in from upper management to understand that once the feedback is received and reported, action needs to be taken. 

3) Being able to easily have reporting back to the employee's to show them how their feedback was taken in and how it impacted positive change.

What are 3-5 pieces of advice for organizations in your industry looking to improve their employee feedback culture? 

Make the tools for collecting the feedback easy and quick. Employees are busy and they need this access at their fingertips. Act quickly on the feedback. If you aren't going to act, don't ask in the first place. It's worse to give the impression that you are interested in change, but then do nothing.

What’s the future of HR?  

Remote work has continued to evolve. Covid-19 took what was already becoming a fast moving trend and made it a necessity. This will continue and company's that we're not willing to adapt will have to. Emerging technologies are going to continue to assist in HR and companies that don't want to learn new ways of managing their HR will struggle to keep up.

How do you see your role evolving over the next 3-5 years? 

I'm a Managing Partner of an HR Consulting firm. As such I get the pleasure of playing a key role in being a strategic partner with my clients. This is the best place for me because I get to help them see the problems that may face their People Operations before they even arrive and assist them in overcoming these obstacles. I don't know that my role will change necessarily other than I will continue to adapt to the tools and resources that continue to make HR easier.