Are your HR processes truly fit for purpose?

As digital transformation programmes begin to make an impact, new IT service delivery models, such as cloud, will increasingly be the norm. Yet while employees themselves enjoy a highly connected life outside work, too often their expectations for a connected digital experience in the workplace are not being met.

This word ‘experience’ is key. It’s how employers can gain competitive advantage with a more engaged, energised and productive workforce. But in a recent research project conducted for Sopra Steria and Management Today, 51% of respondents said their organisations cared less about employee experience than the quality of service they gave to their customers.

This is so wrong. As the white paper discussing the survey findings (‘Engaging Generation Me: creating competitive advantage through excellent employee experience’) points out, “ With the economic uncertainty of Brexit and possible talent crunches and skill shortages ahead, employers ignore at their peril Generation Me: employees who demand the same quality of experience as customers.”

20th century thinking for a 21 century business

I believe that part of the problem lies in the failure of HR processes to keep up with the demands of the modern workplace. In a recently published Opinion Paper, I describe the missed opportunity for HR to review and update its processes some 30 years ago. At that time – and driven by the CIO – there was a shift of legacy IT estates to on-premise ERP and other big corporate IT systems. And while HR’s IT was migrated across, its entrenched processes didn’t follow suit. There was simply a ‘lift and shift’ of existing, largely paper-based practices onto the new system.

Fast forward three decades and HR faces a big problem. While there has been a growth in HR operations, this failure to update processes and ways of engaging with employees has become a barrier to HR becoming a true business partner. But I believe digital has now put us (as HR professionals) in a position to transform this situation altogether. How? By using all the latest workplace tools, systems and approaches needed to give employees a truly differentiating workplace experience.

From chatbots to RPA

Of course, there must be an understanding of what processes might be enabled by new technology. In my paper I describe some of these enablers, such as digital engagement tools like chatbots that help to speed and facilitate employee interaction with HR services, for example booking holidays. Or the use of artificial intelligence to monitor employee behaviour and better predict their career or wellbeing needs. Then there is robotic process automation (RPA) that takes over repetitive tasks requiring minimal human intervention. This frees up HR professionals for more strategic value-added activity, such as succession planning, which can be further enhanced with the very latest data and analytics tools.

All of this makes today an exciting time to be an HR professional. With processes and technologies that are fit for purpose in a modern digital enterprise, HR can play a crucial role in attracting, nurturing and retaining the very best talent around.

For more on this, read my opinion paper ‘How can HR stay relevant in the 21st century?’ – download here.