What’s holding HR back?Is it technology?

The CIPD’s latest HR Outlook report offers a great insight into what’s on the mind ofyour average HR practitioner. Surprisingly, the latest edition suggests that HRtechnology (and in particular employee self-service) isn’t currently featuring highly.

Only 30% of HR practitioners reported implementing HR software that allowsmanager and employee self-service, while just 28% were using HR portals. The figureswere even less for SMEs (companies employing up to 250 staff).

These findings wouldn’t have been surprising even a couple of years ago, when HRsystems were often costly and complex to implement. But technology has moved onapace, and thanks to the advent of the Cloud, sophisticated and time-saving solutionsare now within reach of businesses of all sizes.

So why should HR solutions with employee self service be on HR’s radar for 2015?

It’s about progress

HR people are never going to get the voice they both desire and deserve if they don’tput measures in place to give themselves space. Automating processes such as annualleave and sickness absence, and giving managers and their teams the ability to keepinformation up-to-date themselves can drastically reduce the administrative burdenhanging around HR’s neck.

Even simple actions like sharing HR policies and documents on an internal portal cancut down on unnecessary emails and phone calls, saving a significant amount of time.Employee self-service makes sense because it frees HR up from much of the mundaneday-to-day stuff, and allows them to concentrate on activities that add real value tothe business.

Research has shown that when HR increases the amount of time it spends on record-keeping, compliance and administration, its impact on organisational effectiveness isreduced, and it is less likely to be perceived as strategic. When strategic level worktakes priority, however, the effectiveness of both the HR function and the organisationimproves. In other words, how HR people spend their time does make a difference –and of course if the profession is seen to be core to business efficiency, its overallinfluence will increase.

It improves HR influence

The internal social portals that come as an integral part of modern HR systems have ahuge role to play in building employee engagement. Employees are much more likely tofeel personally invested in the successes of the company and committed to their workand peers if they can read the latest company news on an HR portal, connect withcolleagues outside their immediate department, and get real-time answers to theirquestions.

It drives employee engagement

Many organisations are also successfully using internal portals to drive collaborationand creativity, and as a forum for ongoing feedback from employees, as well as forlight-hearted initiatives such as joke of the day, World Cup predications, or ideas for thecompany/department away day. HR practitioners say that engagement is top of theiragenda right now – so supporting their engagement initiatives with tools like HRportals is a bit of a no-brainer.

Generation Y largely prefer to be able to manage their own personal information,connect with colleagues online, and access company information via their own device –while at home or on the move. If HR wants to build productive relationships withemployees, it needs to communicate with them in the way they prefer, and viamethods that are familiar to them. Internal social media can also help withrelationship building in a multi-generational workforce.

It’s what employees expect

The latest generation HR systems don’t just cut down on the admin, they also producevaluable people-related data that can be used to help improve productivity andinform key business decisions. Managers can get an overview of performance in theirteam, for example, so they can pick up on any worrying trends and nip problems in thebud.

It supports business growth

Up-to-date information about head-count, skills gaps or retention rates can be pulledfrom the system at the click of a mouse and used to support decisions aboutrecruitment, talent management, and development. New joiners can be added quicklyand easily, and will be able to access all the information they need to get up andrunning quickly.

When the arguments are so compelling, it is difficult to understand why more HRfunctions aren’t running self-service HR systems. The problem may well be thatalthough HR itself is convinced of the benefit, it is struggling to secure buy-in at seniorlevel. In the Outlook survey, almost one in three HR professionals cited ‘budget’ as oneof their top three HR-related technology challenges, along with ability to integratesystems and meet specific business needs…

But this doesn’t need to be the case. Today’s HR software is cost-effective, rich infunctionality and considerably easier to implement than in the past. Most systems evencome with smart on-boarding tools that allow data to be uploaded quickly andefficiently. Many businesses have found they can get up and running with a new systemin just a couple of weeks.

Maybe HR has a job to do in bringing managerial understanding of HR technologyup-to-date?