Software vendors have published thousands of articles over the years talking about the extent to which HR technologies can reduce admin, promote employee engagement, and liberate the strategic thinking capabilities of HR professionals.
The market has certainly advanced as product developments and innovations have continued at pace – particularly throughout the Covid-19 crisis. But are some fundamental areas of HR still being overlooked? Is there untapped potential when it comes to the people-led benefits that this departmental software can achieve? And where does the answer to greater leadership empowerment lie? Our CEO Pete Byrne explains more…
During recent times there has been even more reliance placed upon the adoption of sophisticated technology to streamline processes and increase productivity. There are countless examples of businesses swiftly adopting cloud-based tools in a bid to ensure the mass move to working from home overnight, was as seamless as possible.
HR software has long been a ‘go-to’ solution for many organisations looking to impact their teams more positively – and this has been no different throughout the global crisis. That is because, for years professionals have self-created service programmes to tackle mounting employee relations (ER) caseloads, typically via an HR helpline for basic day-to-day advice alongside an online portal of downloadable documents and a law firm to escalate complex queries to.
However, for a modern-day organisation to truly transform the way in which they work beyond the pandemic, it is no longer about simply logging into outdated HR systems to manage admin, monitor budgets, and compile reports – especially if they are striving for efficiency and cost-effective processes. It is about so much more than that, and organisational leaders must keep up.
Integrating ER technology to make HR teams work smarter – not harder
Yes, all the above responsibilities are still a fundamental part of an HR leader’s overall role. However, forward-thinking professionals are adding more sophisticated approaches to their day-to-day duties and are switching their mindsets to tackle how they can:
- Make most of their Software-as-a-Service solutions to drive meaningful change
- Develop their HR team’s ER capabilities
- Drive key process and productivity improvements and;
- Resolve in-house ER matters effectively.
Throughout the pandemic, organisations and their HR teams have been overwhelmed with existing ER caseloads and have had to swiftly get to grips with new, Covid-based guidance such as furlough and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme updates. Trying to tackle these fresh matters, while also handling their daily pressures can therefore be simply unachievable for many professionals.
Savvy technology should be there to enable HR leaders to do their jobs more effectively and keep on top of their cases, not hinder their progress as they battle with insufficient legacy systems and spreadsheets that simply cannot cope with modern-day issues.
Many forward-thinking HR professionals want to be seen as the drivers of organisational change and are therefore eager to move away from compiling old-fashioned, manually intensive reports that make their jobs even more pressurised.
They know what it means to place ER first on the strategic agenda – and which intuitive tools they require to help get them there. It is about understanding how ER can drive positive transformation throughout the business which will ultimately develop their in-house skills so they can become better leaders.
What that means is providing professionals with a sophisticated ER case management solution that allows them to track, analyse, and report every single issue as swiftly as it is raised. HR teams need secure, easy-to-use tools that help them to manage all ER cases, assign tasks to colleagues, interrogate data, and escalate matters to their personal legal advisory team – before these issues result in culture-damaging, costly, and time-consuming Employment Tribunal claims.
With these capabilities to extract critical data and make sense of it at their fingertips, HR teams are provided with a complete picture of how their organisation is operating. Armed with intuitive technology, leaders can work smarter, not harder, and act swiftly to impact organisational change, drive productivity, motivate and upskill colleagues, learn and develop, and strengthen the crucial relationship with their employment law advisors – all of which empowers true leadership throughout the workforce.
