Article: Technology across the HR value chain

Technology

Technology across the HR value chain

How can HR use technology to drive a performance culture?
Technology across the HR value chain

A quick look around on any business floor or a general catchup in the corridor - and you realize how fast the veritable explosion of the Internet and communication technology has caught up. The millennials generation has moved way beyond the traditional paper-pen approach. Automation, flexibility and increased efficiencies have become the only recipe for a successful organization.

To keep pace with the rapidly evolving business environment and exponentially higher people expectations – Human Resource (HR) teams around the globe are facing an urgent need to re-orient and re-invent themselves and most importantly shift to a new paradigm: Marrying HR with Technology. Today, technological advancements across HR functions have changed the way people communicate, learn, access and expand capabilities. Today, diversity at the workplace, competitive workforces, uniformity of standards and demand for leadership development is driving performance management systems. The answer is –Technology. Of course, it doesn’t completely replace good quality conversation between managers and theirs teams. But it can help organizations take the practice of performance management up a notch, overcome practical issues, and help people work together towards achieving business objectives.

So how can technology really help access competencies, skills and drive a performance culture?

· Open communication: It facilitates easy communication of goals and makes expectations more visible. With the use of technology, feedback discussions are transparent and documented. This helps people understand on a real-time basis how their performance goals fit into the objectives of the organization.

· Automation is the way to go: Technology helps bring in layers of automation which leads to saving many man-hours as well as turn-around time. This enables people to focus on critical tasks and save time on administrative linked activities.

· Real-time feedback: its 24/7 easy access helps share real-time feedback. Managers don’t need to wait for the launch of a year-end process to have a discussion or share feedback. Technology pushes people to share feedback in a timely manner. Live performance data helps managers have constructive feedback discussion with their teams, identify their areas of strength and work on the areas of development. They can check progress and address potential issues early on. Everyone knows where they stand today, and there are no year-end surprise.

· Resource Management: With the availability of advanced workforce management tools, identifying the right resource for the right role is a much easier job. The system helps identify the right resource set by evaluating multiple areas- competencies, capabilities, utilization and availability for internal resourcing.

· Regression Analysis: While this technique is used by many analytics industries, the technologies of today enables managers and their teams to use this technique for performance improvement. The entire record of an employee is now available at a click of a button. This enables people to introspect on their past performance, look at key development areas and leverage on identified strengths. This acts as a powerful tool to align expectations and drive a high performance culture.

· Creating the right training interventions: Given that the required data is centrally captured, identifying skills gaps and planning for relevant training interventions is much easier. Better aligned training has a positive knock-on effect on employee engagement, motivation and retention – leading to a better work environment.

· Easy accessibility: This simple method of creating a To-do list has reached new heights with technology. People and their managers can simply log on to the system and input or access performance related information from anywhere. Rather than having forms, documents, notes on multiple sheets of paper and emails – all relevant information is available online at one click.

· Understanding Trends: It is easier for business leaders to identify trends in the performance of individuals and teams and take corrective actions on an immediate basis. Tackling challenges on a real time basis helps overall performance in an optimum manner and respond to changing business needs. It also helps organizations understand how workforces evolve, identify focus areas and develop necessary programs –rewards and engagement models to name a few.

· Goals & Targets: As both data and process is managed in a single system, it’s easier for everyone involved to see where they are in the review cycle. Organisations adopt a more agile and connected approach to achieving organizational and individual objectives and making mid-course corrections as and when required.

And as evident from the above, Technology is permeating across the HR value chain with the aim of simplifying work, 24/7 access, faster turnaround time, ease of use – leading to higher efficiencies & productivity and building a more engaged, empowered people-centric workplace.

Disclaimer: This is a contributed post. The statements, opinions and data contained are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of People Matters and the editor(s).

 

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Topics: Technology, Strategic HR, #TechHR2015

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