Leverage HR Tech to be more interactive and less transactional

We are well in to the age of digital disruption. In fact, if you haven’t already made changes to your HR function through technology then you’re already behind.

While there are a number of business leading the way and jumping on board with technology trends, there are still some HR strategies that are falling behind and haven’t yet ventured in to what they believe is the unknown.

We keep talking about how HR departments need to be seen as less administrative and transactional and be a strategic and commercial force within business. But what are businesses (and more so, HR departments) actually doing about it?

When it comes to the role HR plays in technology there are a few basic steps you can follow to jump on the HR tech bus:

• HR needs to be “cosmopolitan” when it comes to HR Tech

That is, HR Professionals taking it on themselves to research what’s happening in the market and what options are available out there that will suit the needs of the business and resolve the current pain points. The key here being is that they understand what problems need to be solved, or what opportunities are there to leverage off technology – knowing this and exploring what’s out there goes hand in hand.

• Demonstrate and own the business case

Like with any function putting a case forward for resources, the same needs to go for HR tech. It needs to go beyond the standard metrics of “reduced administration” “increased productivity”. Think about answering how the proposed HR tech is going to align with the business strategy, what the benefits will come to fruition when it’s implemented, or better yet what will happen if we don’t embrace the technology.

• If you’re not leveraging social media in your HR strategy, you’re already behind

It wasn’t too long ago that a social media policy was about keeping employees off social media whereas now it’s about getting them on it (this is not to say you don’t need to have policies/rules of engagement). At the HR Tech Fest in November, in a room of 50 odd HR professionals not even a quarter raised their hand when asked who was actively using social media as part of their HR strategy.  Social media isn’t going away and it’s such a powerful tool when we can learn to embrace it.

• Forget the myth that HR tech reduces the human touch

By having more technology in place, you can in fact enhance the human experience. Think performance reviews – if you reduce the time and hassle about completing and chasing paperwork, you can focus on having more meaningful conversations. As the workforce moves to be more remote and flexibility in work hours increases, it’s going to be essential to adopt tools to increase communication and engagement between the team.

Remember, you don’t have to be a multi-million dollar business to start experimenting with HR tech – there are a lot of great solutions available for businesses any size. If your organisation hasn’t started to embrace HR tech it’s time to start considering it before your processes become totally archaic.