Work is evolving. HR is evolving. Worker demands are evolving.
In a world of labor where nothing seems static, the whole lot is latest, and everyone seems to be exhausted, HR technology can feel like one too many plates to maintain spinning.
That might explain why the info around HR tech says that practitioners are adopting an attitude of “don’t fix what isn’t broken” while the gap widens between capability and expectation.
Let’s explain what we mean.
In a four-year study, the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) found the pandemic accelerated digital HR maturity by not less than seven years. Their report says that before the pandemic, 49% of organizations agreed digital was a key objective of their people strategy. By the top of 2022, that had increased to 63%.
On the flip side, Gartner’s survey of 500+ HR leaders found that 60% were uncertain what impact evolving trends like generative AI would have, while 56% felt their current tech solutions and strategy weren’t meeting the mark.
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Why HR technology is evolving at a rapid rate
It’s inconceivable to separate HR tech from the evolution of the role and the worldwide shift to hybrid work. Inside the subsequent 12 months, we expect to see the function evolve from process-driven to people-focused and strategic.
A part of that evolution is “HR” restyling to “People and Culture”. Read our latest blog on 2024 HR trends to seek out out what’s in a reputation and what else to expect.
We’ll use each names interchangeably when referring to technology, because most persons are acquainted with “HR tech”.
This evolution brings latest opportunities in worker engagement, productivity and reporting. Latest technologies – and the inevitable transition to hybrid working – also present challenges for People and Culture teams, resembling generating responsible use guidelines, maintaining cultural connections in hybrid workplaces, and managing machines alongside people.
Granted, lots of the advantages of technology (and the risks of misuse) apply to employees, C-suites and profit margins. We’re only taking a look at the impact of technology designed for HR functions and owned by HR teams.
HR technology in practice: Finding, hiring and supporting one of the best people
If it looks as if good persons are hard to seek out, it’s because they’re. Randstad, a reputation any People and Culture skilled will know, called the current labor shortage “certainly one of the most important challenges in modern history”.
As much as 59% of the workforce is disengaged, and more than half (51%) are searching for a brand new role.
As thousands and thousands of lucrative positions remain unfilled and expert people job-hop greater than ever, People and Culture managers are turning to latest technologies for help finding candidates, engaging employees and stopping turnover.
Talent acquisition
1. Applicant tracking systems (ATS)
ATS software scales recruiting and hiring capabilities, coordinating job postings and applications across multiple platforms. The system will organize candidate data, making it searchable to extend efficiency and find one of the best people.
2. AI-powered sourcing
Algorithms scour the worldwide talent pool, analyzing LinkedIn profiles and resumes to discover candidates with the appropriate skills. There are also automated outreach tools to draw more people, and chatbots that answer candidate questions.
3. Video interviews
Virtual interview platforms save time by automating distant screening and evaluation. There’s a giant trend towards asynchronous video interviewing, with the subsequent logical step being AI features that summarize and analyze interviewee responses.
Worker engagement
1. Feedback tools
Pulse surveys are improving, enabling People and Culture to conduct multi-dimensional mood checks. Nonetheless, formal feedback is fraught; most employees don’t trust that anonymous surveys are literally anonymous.
2. People analytics
For instance, our Work-Life Balance widget alerts administrators and managers to potential burnout issues before they go boom. As well as, you may track engagement signals like unscheduled breaks, distractions, and schedule adherence to discover and re-engage frustrated employees.
3. Mobile apps
Worker apps provide self-service features to access work-related information, request break day, receive updates and manage schedules, enhancing experience while reducing HR’s admin load.
4. Recognition platforms
Lower than one in three US employees receives recognition for a job well done. Recognition and rewards platforms aim to reverse this trend through peer-to-peer recognition and manager rewards systems.
We expect to see more integrations between people analytics and recognition platforms in the longer term, enabling micro-rewards programs, automated alerts for managers, and a swathe of engagement-boosting initiatives to motivate hybrid teams.
5. Learning Management Systems (LMS)
LMS platforms offer a wide selection of courses and resources for self-guided skill development, giving employees agency and boosting engagement. It’s also possible to use an LMS to gamify mandatory training, making it more engaging for workers.
Retention and turnover
1. Predictive analytics
Cutting-edge HR tech can predict attrition risks by analyzing workday data and identifying patterns of employees more likely to leave. This permits People and Culture to proactively address retention issues, in lots of cases even before the worker knows they need to quit.
2. Performance management
Feedback systems tied into people analytics software allow employees to self-manage performance and productivity, encouraging accountability and enabling hybrid schedules. When just 32% of US managers are proactive about progress, it’s easy for workers to feel stuck in a rut. Giving employees tools to evaluate and monitor their growth has also been shown to boost engagement.
3. Worker well-being
Anywhere from 25% to 75% of employees are experiencing burnout symptoms. Monitoring well-being data, resembling unscheduled time beyond regulation, weekend work, late hours and long days, helps managers work with HR to intervene early and support employees liable to exhaustion.
Why technology is a strategic priority, not only one other HR trend
HR technology touches virtually every a part of the evolved role, offering rather more than process improvements.
- Efficiency: Automating administrative tasks saves time and resources.
- Data-driven decisions: Technology provides insights for workforce planning and strategy.
- Improved recruitment: AI and analytics help discover and attract top talent more effectively.
- Hybrid work: HR tech like people analytics removes the barriers and blind spots that hold organizations back from embracing hybrid working.
- Proving effectiveness: Workday data helps People and Culture generate reports and track KPIs for C-suites under pressure to deliver growth.
- Enhanced worker experience: Tools like self-service portals and mobile apps give employees agency.
- Compliance and security: Technology helps maintain accurate, secure records and ensures compliance with regulations.
- Talent development: Learning platforms support skills development and help HR discover capability gaps.
- Engagement and retention: Data analytics can pinpoint issues and support retention strategies.
- Global reach: HR tech facilitates international talent acquisition.
The underside line is that technology plays a pivotal role in attracting, retaining and upskilling good people. Exactly how relies on matching your needs with the appropriate solutions and making targeted investments that move the needle on organizational KPIs.
Making a strategic digital vision
In our recent in-depth guide to HR trends and priorities, we discussed the necessity for a brand new strategic vision that reflects HR’s evolution into People and Culture. As we leave process-driven HR up to now and move towards people-focused People and Culture, this strategic vision defines how the function sees itself and is seen by the organization.
Get the brand new guide, Breaking down HR’s top priorities in 2024, to learn more about emerging HR trends, plus access resources to rework your team’s capabilities.
Technology is a giant a part of that latest vision. Firstly, inside People and Culture as a productivity enabler, insight deliverer and engagement enhancer – that is the world we’re focused on.
Secondly, there may be also People and Culture’s remit in adopting technology like generative AI and automation tools. This can be a (very big and really dense) topic for one more time.
HR technology comes into the vision in supporting People and Culture to attain redefined strategic goals. This may look different for each organization, so there is no such thing as a hard and fast rule about which technology to adopt first.
For instance, People and Culture in a BPO struggling to rent enough high-performing call center agents might prioritize an applicant tracking system paired with people analytics to make sure current employees have the support they need.
On the other hand, a growing eCommerce brand would definitely need to prioritize people analytics to keep up oversight of a growing (and increasingly globally diverse) workforce.
Overlaying all that is the seemingly countless sprawl of the People and Culture tech landscape. There are dozens of standalone solutions in each category, in addition to integrated platforms that perform multiple functions.
To assist plan and prioritize your 2024 evolution, we’ve developed a framework for evaluating HR tech.
Discover
Start by defining your team’s specific needs, challenges and opportunities. You’ll find these on the intersection of organizational growth goals and People and Culture strategic priorities.
Don’t worry if the goals are vague at this stage. You’ll have a possibility later to distill them into measurable KPIs. For now, you’re translating your latest strategic vision into aspirations.
Investigate
Do your research. Once you might have identified your needs, research different solutions to see which sort of tool most closely fits your organization each now and within the aspirational future state.
Consider all of the mixtures: standalone solutions, integrated platforms, cross-platform integrations and the latent capability in existing technology. After analyzing existing platforms, you may find the leap from here to there may be shorter than you’d first thought.
Together with your longlist of platforms whittled to a shortlist, reach out to vendors for an illustration. That is one of the best solution to assess the fit, features and future growth capability.
Incentivize
Get buy-in from key stakeholders before implementing any latest technology. Ideally, this could appear like consultation with managers, executives and employees to design a tech stack that suits everyone.
Communicating the aim for technology change early, often and consistently helps make sure the technology is adopted and used effectively.
Implement
Once you might have implemented a brand new HR technology platform, it’s essential to supply training and support to people in your team and any employees who will interact with it.
Proceed communicating throughout this process. Be transparent about use cases, successes and challenges, all the time remembering to border your journey within the context of organizational momentum.
Why HR technology adoption has fallen behind
It will be unfair to say that an absence of strategic vision is the one reason People and Culture tech adoption goes awry. There’s lots more to it.
AIHR data shows that enterprise businesses with over 10k employees are adopting HR tech at nearly double the speed of medium businesses (250-999 people) and a pair of.1x the speed of enormous firms (1k to 10k).
Medium and huge firms haven’t fallen behind resulting from lack of agility, vision or desire. It’s more likely that HR technology transformation fell down the priority list in the course of the pandemic. A series of budgetary and bureaucratic barriers at the moment are in the best way.
1. Compliance and data privacy
People and Culture handles sensitive worker data. Compliance with data protection laws generally is a significant hurdle when implementing latest technologies.
Solution: Blockchain technology is becoming a preferred solution to store and manage data, because of the baked-in security.
2. Change management
Resistance to alter is common. Communication, training and support will help construct organizational support.
Solution: Use our framework to prioritize HR tech adoption in alignment with organizational goals. Involve stakeholders at every level and communicate the goals clearly from day one.
3. Budget constraints
Acquiring and implementing latest HR technologies might be expensive. In addition to subscription and repair charges, there’s the time and training investment to contemplate.
Solution: Assess existing systems to see in the event you can remove barriers and access latent capability. Before investing in latest technology, construct a rock-solid business case that links worker outcomes to organizational targets.
4. Integration with legacy systems
Many People and Culture departments inherit old systems or work in strict IT environments, making it difficult to integrate latest technologies seamlessly.
Solution: Search for upgrades, extensions and integrations. Failing that, make a plan to roll old processes into latest streamlined systems.
5. Skills gap
As HR evolves into People and Culture, there could also be a learning curve to leverage emerging technologies effectively. This goes for workers, managers and C-suites as well.
Solution: Construct in time for training and transition. Work with software vendors to implement the tech regularly, ensuring key users turn out to be champions.
As a cornerstone of the HR technology landscape, people analytics is commonly the primary priority for technological transformation.
Andy is a technology & marketing leader who has delivered award-winning and world-first experiences.