From adopting remote working solutions to migrating to the cloud, during the last two years many organisations have done everything they needed, to maintain some form of ‘business as usual’.

For several HR leaders and their teams – who are continuously battling overwhelming workloads while firefighting numerous operational and employee relations (ER) matters – this has meant working even more unsociable hours, at break-neck speed, to help pull their businesses through the most challenging of climates.

The festive period may have provided a chance for several workforces to take a breath and look forward to attacking 2022 with more opportunity and optimism – which was perhaps a very different feeling compared to last year in light of the ongoing economic and health crisis.

Additionally, those strategic plans that were forced to be put on hold throughout 2021, are likely to be revamped and kickstarted this year. So, throughout the next 12 months there will be an even greater focus on empowering and safeguarding employees, streamlining processes, and integrating solutions-rich technology that help the HR department drive truly transformational change.

The rise of the Worker 2.0 – and what that means for the industry

For too long now, HR teams have battled with manually-intensive spreadsheets to record critical data, they’ve had no other option but to outsource ER matters to expensive, on-the-clock employment law firms, and with that felt compelled to turn the same operational handle that little bit faster just to get through their mounting workloads.

However, that way of coping should no longer be considered ‘the norm’. Attempting to work with clunky legacy systems and ineffective, unfit-for-purpose tools is not what the modern-day HR professional wants to be shackled with – they want solutions, not problems. For the organisations that don’t tackle this side of things, they’ll soon begin to fall behind the curve as the more agile brands come to the fore.

And this is where data will prove to be most critical.

That’s because, for the businesses that are able to challenge the way things have ‘always been done’ and understand exactly how to unlock the millions of pieces of insight their firms are currently sat on, they’re effectively arming themselves with the greatest chance to grow and improve their entire operations.

Having access to information doesn’t mean employee ‘monitoring’

However, access to data doesn’t instantly mean that ‘Big Brother’ will be watching their workforce’s every move, or monitoring each second of their day. Instead, what this critical insight can provide is a single version of the truth for HR leaders to be able to use and contexualise the information in a way that’s specific to their particular business.

For example, if a pattern begins to emerge showing that an organisation is haemorrhaging money because employee matters aren’t being dealt with effectively and therefore heading straight for an Employment Tribunal. Using this information, an HR leader can identify the trend at the earliest opportunity and instead work on how their organisation can improve its ER procedures.

This not only provides context and a bigger picture, it also allows more of a chance for the team to stop similar incidents at the source before they manifest into something that damages both brand reputation and internal culture.

The organisations that view ER as a strategic ‘must-have’ within their firm – and no longer a tactical, fire-fighting unit, a necessary evil or paragraphs of text buried deep within HR policies – will put themselves in a strong position to be able to create, and develop, a data-driven culture with ER at its core.

When ER and data is combined, organisations are able to work smarter

Forward-thinking HR leaders should know what type of intelligence they want to see and manage it in a way that encourages their teams to make commercially-focused, business-critical decisions. Additionally, this will also help to dynamically upskill colleagues to handle ER matters – saving time and budget, providing productivity gains, and offering learning and development opportunities that will go a long way towards retain and attract top talent too.

Today, every facet of a company produces data. And throughout 2022, this information-rich approach can go a long way towards organisational transparency and ensuring the right insight is put into the hands of the right people.

And the result? Real-time, evidence-rich reports for the board, the alleviation of overwhelming colleagues’ workloads, a better understanding of current employee capacity, and knowledge of exactly how each ER case is progressing.

We were delighted to be featured in this month’s issue of theHRDIRECTOR, the independent, thought-led publication for Senior HR Practitioners. We hope you enjoy our article on page 37 by Pete Byrne and if you find value in their content and would like to receive each month, we can offer you a £50 discount when you Subscribe in print by using the  promotional code CONTRIBUTOR. Digital Subscription is also available.