The talent strategies of the future are going be focused on one key determinant: Employee experience.

With a new generation of employees including Millennials and Gen Z taking over the modern workplace, HR departments need to enable employees with the tools they need to succeed in the workplace. This means having the capability to match technology driven convenience and comfort that employees are already used to, outside work.

In addition to these shifts, the new workplace must support behaviour change. It must help employees do their jobs better – whether that’s the production of high quality goods or offering great service. According to one survey, most Millennials believe businesses are under-delivering on the promise of enhancing employee experience. The changing nature of work has also raised concerns on future employment prospects. About 46% of Millennials surveyed, expressed concerns on jobs and 70% expressed that they might have only some or few of the skills required in the future, and would need to evolve their own capabilities to increase their value. 

Why UI/UX?

Considering the shifts in expectations, companies need to be able to attract, engage and retain employees – and they need to invest in the right technology that will boost employee engagement levels.  On the other hand, a well-thought out HR system with an intuitive user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) can be a game-changer. It can be useful in brand positioning, enable collaboration, and drive employee morale by creating a sense of ownership and belonging. 

The essential features: 

Here’s what you need to look for:

•    Intuitive: Easy-to-use functionalities with high usability, so employees do not need to be formally trained on the system.  

•    Simple to navigate: Simple, logical system flows that enable employees to find what they want, when they need it.  

•    Consistent: The design experience needs to be consistent across multiple devices.  

•    Interactive: Encouraging employees to interact and collaborate with colleagues can create a sense of belonging. Example: Chat applications built into the HRIS foster seamless conversation. 

•    Integrated: Multi-device access to enable employees switch between desktop, tablets, and mobiles, and also between different modules and platforms. 

Each HR module, Performance Management, Learning and Development, Rewards and Benefits, Payroll, Employee Records must be integrated. The goal of designing an effective UI/ UX is to create a workplace experience that will make the user´s life simpler. 

How can HR implement the ideal design

It is HR’s responsibility to design HR systems and process flows that reflect the needs of prospective candidates and employees. Thinking through the approach from a design perspective will need to place the individual at the centre of the entire process workflow.  

“Design thinking casts HR in a new role. It transforms HR from a “process developer” into an “experience architect, reimagining every aspect of the HR organization" – Josh Bersin

HR professionals need to empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test their technology tools throughout the employee lifecycle. By stepping into the shoes of prospective candidates and employees, they will be able to decode employee needs, which can then be supplemented with data and analytics to understand the specific pain points.  Thereafter, a systematic approach is needed to ideating solutions, and to test the effectiveness, in order to use technology with superior UI/UX design. This means working in close association with business functions, IT and involve employees in the design exercise.  Technology that boosts self-service, gives employees greater flexibility can not only increase adoption rates, it can also help ensure digital transformation success, and consequently ROI.