As wholesale changes to the world of work continue, HR is under the spotlight like never before. The virus poses a myriad of challenges to HR around issues such as reconstructing workplaces, managing staff, onboarding, employee wellness, and much more.

However, while COVID is the greatest test HR has faced in decades – it also presents a once in a generation opportunity for innovation. In April 2020, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella commented that ‘we’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.’ As 2021 progresses, it’s clear that this has not ceased. So, how has HR reimagined the future of work, and how can it best use technology going forward?

Safeguarding the workplace
One of HR’s major tasks today is securing the safety of the workforce. While HR teams have a role to play in physical changes such as creating secure meeting spaces, hygienic surfaces, and touch-free appliances, designing safety procedures without the help of technology will only take them so far. In order to successfully safeguard the workplace, data plays a key role.

With organisations composed of several disparate data sources, HR has had to increasingly collaborate with IT and facilities and operations in order to integrate data in a way that helps them safeguard the workforce. For instance, combining emerging technologies such as thermal vision and facial recognition cameras with existing systems such as security gates, swipe card readers, and employee health data to monitor the arrival and departure of employees and assist track and trace when required.

HR will also need to have action plans in case of local outbreaks, and a plan for scenarios where tiered lockdowns continue with regularity. Employers are likely to have significantly more access to employee health data, so plans must be in place to ensure this data is used ethically. In all these cases, the importance of data cannot be understated, and without a deep view into their data, HR teams will not be able to strike the right balance between employee wellbeing, privacy, and business performance.

Ensuring employee wellbeing
In all instances, HR plays a key role in employee wellbeing – a challenge augmented in a fragmented workplace. For all the benefits of remote working, it has increased the risk of isolation among workers. Therefore, many HR teams have started providing online mental health resources, such as centralised repositories of documents and services that employees can access at any time. This is particularly helpful if employees feel anxious about discussing their struggles with a team member or manager.

However, once again – without accurate use of data, putting together and maintaining a plan to supplement employee mental health will be nigh on impossible. HR not only has to have the capability to create easy-to-access mental health resources for those that are struggling, but also to ensure that they create an employee experience that limits the chances of further problems occurring.

Making remote onboarding easy
Onboarding can be difficult at the best of times – with silos and manual handoffs adding unnecessary friction, expenses, and potentially frustrating employee experience from day one. This fraught process, in the current climate, has become increasingly complex. New starters need to be able to access all company systems remotely, be added to the payroll, trained, and introduced to team members all without face-to-face interaction.

Therefore, a holistic, centralised view of data is key to making sure all these things can happen in harmony. With automated workflows, the onboarding process can be managed remotely, streamlining the set-up of the new entrant, minimising manual data entry, and greatly reducing human error. Onboarding teams will be able to collaborate efficiently and consistently in order to reduce turnaround time and boost engagement.

Data, data, data: the IPaaS
For HR, accurate and efficient use of information lies at the heart of almost every solution. With the mass of data sources that need to be tracked, such as demographics, performance, payroll, and employee engagement – integrating this in a seamless way is crucial. Unfortunately for many businesses, HR teams do not have the means to bring these sources together.

Even for companies with the best individual processes, without a singular view of data across the organisation, success will prove difficult. Therefore, many firms are looking at integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) to underpin this process. iPaaS solutions are a suite of cloud services that enable the development, execution, and governance of data, connecting all on-premises and cloud-based processes within an organisation.

This cuts the time from data entry to business intelligence so that HR can monitor real-time data and make meaningful, accurate decisions. Because iPaaS runs in the cloud, decision-makers can access all the information they need from a range of devices and locations. New applications and data can also be added to the platform, while successful technologies can be expanded as demand increases.

For new employees, this means a seamless experience from hiring and onboarding to training. And for HR itself, this represents a massive opportunity to increase influence by improving employee wellbeing, retention, and productivity.

Digital transformation: the time is now
Ultimately, accurate, integrated use of data had long been a business imperative and a key part of digital transformation. The current crisis has only served to bring this to the fore. Successful digital transformation is only effective when the data is clean, consolidated, and available. However, as the sources of data increase, the ability to bring together disparate information is more crucial than ever. For HR to truly fulfill its potential as a people and business driver, the holistic integration of data is something that must be tackled as soon as possible.