“Every story has a beginning and an end, but what matters is the ‘amazing’ way each story evolves over several generations”, says Tara Wolckenhauer, Vice President - HR Strategy, ADP. The daughter of a retired HR leader, they often had dinner table discussions on how ‘Human Resource’ as a function has evolved over all these years. However, the fundamental principle remained the same in all these years; the human connect: how to make every experience good for your employees.
The opportunity to evolve
Technology is the tool which has given HR the opportunity to evolve. From the era of personnel management to Human Resources and now known as Business and Human Transformation Partners, technology has amicably helped HR to grow to its full potential in many ways. With technology, the one view and one experience mission has helped to transform these seven sets:-
- Manual to digital
- National to global
- Restricted to mobile
- Delayed to instant
- Transactional to strategic
- Detached to engaged
- Inaccurate to precise
Change is pertinent
ADP Global HR has gone through a cycle of change management to keep pace with the dynamism and volatility of the industry. An internal team of brilliant minds came together to make a new culture more globally focused by enabling tech with ‘One View and One Experience’ approach. Processes, systems, and strategies were restructured in the year 2016. They believed in transforming internally to support clients externally. Here are some of the internal initiatives taken up by them to keep synch with the changing internal and external ecosystem.
- Creating a 'pay for performance' culture
- Promoting a culture of sharing ideas by best internal human capital through Global HR Jam Sessions
- Using technology to aid advancements
- Organizing yearly global HR summit
- Aligning HR senior leadership reporting structure
Beware of trendspotting
Identification of new industry trends is imperative for any organization’s growth. However, along with the same, it is actually more important to take actions based on what suits your current organization’s culture.
Ask yourself questions about your organizations challenging issues and try to resolve them simplistically keeping the culture and technology fit in mind.
Tara does not equate employee flexibility with rolling out policies on work from home. She tells her team “Tell us how you want to work?” And she finds the right solution tailored around specific problems of each member of her team instead of giving a one-size-fits-all approach.
To conclude, Tara emphasizes on organization’s readiness for a tech enabled workspace. The hardest thing is simplicity, and making one's processes and systems simple. Technology will help make all experiences simpler by making businesses effective and more efficient with transparent and connected human touch.