Technology in HR is evolving – people are increasingly relying on their mobile phones to manage their day-to-day lives. So much so, suchtechnology will be needed for businesses to be able to run employee self-service functions and similar HR activities. The world sees software as a service now, usable in a browser window with everything just a click away, and accessible all the time.
HR executives will need to align IT opportunities with HR and business strategies to gain the maximum value out of any IT investments. Teams should always put end-user experience first and any HR solution should be intuitive to use and easy to integrate into the HR process. End-user adoption of HR systems can be a critical issue for achieving significant return on any technology investment.
Human resources can be both an organisation’s biggest asset and its biggest expense – hence the growing use of the term “human capital”. The department charged with overseeing human capital operations (HR) is increasingly being seen as executive rather than administrative and a profit centre rather than a cost centre. Central to this movement has been an effort aimed at putting the administration of HR data into the hands of those closest to it – the employees – via self-service (ESS) applications. The growing demand for home and flexible working is also pushing the need to connect directly with employees.
Self service remains a critical pillar of HR service delivery and continues to grow in use and sophistication. Self service has emerged as the workhorse of HR service delivery – a staple that’s helping businesses achieve their basic needs. Research has shown the more a business deploys self service, the more effectively and efficiently HR services are delivered to employees. Also, manager self service (MSS) has joined employee self service as a key part of a business approach to delivering HR, benefit and reward programmes for everything from traditional core benefits to performance management services.
ESS/MSS will become the main conduit enabling employees to communicate with the business, both by sending and receiving data. This data can be anything from requesting time off to logging sickness days to training requirements.
The emphasis will shift to the employee as it will be their responsibility to input the information correctly. The manager’s role will be simpler as they will only need to approve or decline any request.
Challenges to perform, and save money, could also mean an unsure future for the HR function. Although it is a continuing evolution and will improve as the relationships between business and software companies develop, handing the power to employees will undoubtedly lessen any business HR burden. Have insight. No jobs are at risk due to technology, as people are individuals with their own unique ways, particularly when it comes to the recruitment side of the business. When recruiting, an algorithm will never have the final word on who gets the job – that will always be a final decision made by a human being. No amount of technology can cope with that, let alone actually do it.
What a business also needs is to make sure when looking at future technology is that they have the data that they can rely on for decision making. Insights into employee behaviour, reporting and understanding of the key efficiency metrics, is what can drive most value. Business analytics tools that collect, aggregate and interpret numerous types of data in order to drive more substantiated HR decisions will be the ones that add the most value across the whole HR technology spectrum. These solutions help HR professionals demonstrate and measure the impact talent and people-related decisions have on businesses – something that can throw up problems for the HR function.
Software and hardware companies know what can be achieved by providing the technology that is required to do the HR role. This is done with the support and guidance from HR professionals to deliver that future vision for the benefit of employees as much as for the benefit of employers.
