A balanced approach is needed when implementing new technologies - the pace of the implementation must match end-users' ability to effectively deal with the introduction of new technology. The time and effort to successfully achieve this should never be underestimated.
With the statement "Our people are our biggest asset" appearing more and more in organisations' marketing and corporate paraphernalia, companies need to apply the acid test to see if this is statement is in fact true. Do their employees carry the premium with which they are purported, or are they seen as a nebulous group of bodies coming to work on a daily basis to assist in achieving the bottom line?
There can be many tests to start validating this statement. These can include the evaluation of the investment made in each employee regarding their training and development plans, the priority the organisation places on the concept of promoting from within, and the efforts the company is prepared to invest to retain skilled staff.
An additional test can be a look at the investment the organisation has made in the technology and solutions that would support all the relevant HR processes, to enable the most optimal management of the employees, and ensure the HR data is open to all the relevant parties, including line management and employees.
Growing potential
When an organisation acquires an HR system to assist in growing employees' potential, or to manage the human capital component, it is the employees that carry the value component in the company. Managing this would be one of the prime motivators in the implementation of a comprehensive HR solution.
HR departments are faced with a plethora of technologies and products that are available to assist them in achieving this.
With the Global Village concept firmly entrenched, the HR department is now able to source the most relevant HR solution from any of the international providers supplying their products and services locally.
New technologies
Compared to the more traditional HR systems, many of the new HR solutions have the new technologies firmly embedded, and HR departments should ensure any HR solution chosen for their organisation includes technologies such as:
* Employee self-service
* Manager self-service
* Cellular self-service to ensure accessibility to employees without Internet or PC access
* Workflow enablement
* Automated electronic communications (e-mail, SMS)
* Web-based applications
* Graphical interfaces for simplified report presentation (dashboards)
* Ability to interact with business intelligence tools to enable true decision support capabilities
Technologies need to be selected based on what they can do for the organisation as opposed to their marketed benefits. Rob Bothma is a divisional manager at Q Data DynamiQue, Business Connexion.
Be realistic
The above list is not complete, but does highlight those technologies that are fairly common in most HR/payroll solutions today. In addition, the Internet is bringing advanced technologies into our homes, which in turn, creates pressure in the business environment. Employers now expect employees to be able to communicate with them whenever or wherever they are.
Because of the speed at which new technologies are being made available to both the business environment and the PC user at home, an organisation needs to carefully plan the introduction of any new technology with care. Technologies need to be selected based on what they can do for the organisation as opposed to their marketed benefits. For any self-service implementation, companies are no longer dealing with a select few employees as during a standard system's implementation.
To ensure the success of the project, a comprehensive, well laid out plan, including a full change management component, needs to be set up and strictly followed during the entire project's implementation.
Employee solutions
For a company implementing an employee self-service solution, care must be taken to not only manage employees' expectations, but to ensure the functionality roll-out matches the pace that all employees can effectively deal with. The ultimate goal is to have all employees utilising the technology, as opposed to a select few.
However, once employees become part of the process, through involvement and constant communication, a trust relationship is built, ensuring early buy-in by all. With employees becoming part of the process, the system becomes a "living system" as opposed to being seen as part of corporate administration being forced on all employees.
No technology can replace the human touch; there will always be times where an employee and/or a manager requires face to face interaction. To assist in this process, self-service technologies need to remove the mundane tasks from our day-to-day activities, ensuring we have the time for these personal interactions. Technology must be seen as the enabler of personal interaction, and not as its alternative.
* Rob Bothma is a divisional manager at Q Data DynamiQue, Business Connexion.
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