Decades ago, Human Resources used to be about hiring and firing staff. Today, HR has evolved into recruiting and retaining employees by prioritizing employee needs, offering individual professional development, and creating and maintaining a work culture that reflects organizational values. Therefore, it only makes sense that HR technology also evolves.
Although the public sector can be slow to adopt new technology due to regulatory restrictions, it’s crucial that public sector organizations at least review existing HR processes. This will allow these organizations to consider new tools that can improve workflow, attract top talent and contribute positively to organizational culture.
Outdated HR Technology vs. Modern HR Technology
For years, HR technology focused on the power users. Power users are the backend users who most likely were a part of the decision-making and implementation process of said technology and core HR functionality. Core HR technology focuses on administrative data that HR staff would use for day-to-day functions. For example, software to maintain an employee record, track time and attendance and manage benefits. This continues to be an integral part of any HR technology solution, but technology has evolved to offer solutions to attract, retain and grow employees.
With the focus shifting to retaining and growing employees, modern HR technology incorporates the core HR functions while emphasizing the user experience, to create an ecosystem of functionality such as tracking professional development or applying for open positions to grow your career within the organization. Modern HR technology is less focused on the backend and more about what will make the employee happy.
Employee Retention
Did you know that according to a 2022 report by Ceridian, over 60% of employees are at a flight risk? It’s not all about compensation either. Negative trends such as burnout and lack of flexibility are what cause many employees to leave their jobs or to start the job search. These negative trends in the workforce can greatly impact the public sector as they try to deliver essential services to their constituents while attracting and retaining key staff.
HR’s goal is to not only recruit but retain employees by finding creative ways to keep them happy and engaged. One way to keep employees satisfied is by having purpose-built, easy to use technology for everyday tasks. Organizations cannot afford for their employees to have a frustrating experience when accessing their personal data, work schedules, benefits, pay stubs, etc. By having easy to use, stress-free technology, organizations can focus on sharing and planning engaging employee events, recognizing talent, and nurturing personal career growth.
It’s important to also focus on managers, who essentially are employees with the added responsibility of managing teams. Managers need to know in real-time what is happening with their team and be able to focus their attention on problem-solving activities. HR spends considerable effort designing performance and goal-setting programs for managers to utilize with their teams. Interfacing with those programs needs to be intuitive and accessible for both the manager and the employee.
Finding the Right Technology for Your Organization
When looking to upgrade or replace business technology solutions, there are traditionally two main paths:
- An ERP (one solution, one database, meets most of your needs)
- Or go with best-in-class applications that meet your specific needs in certain core business functions
Each path has its advantages and disadvantages. In either case, a lot of time and effort is put into evaluating and selecting a system with strong core, back-office functionality, which your power users most likely have a great deal of influence on deciding. However, modern HR technology is advanced enough to cover the basic functionality while connecting add-on systems more easily.
Instead of focusing on the backend, we recommend focusing on the user experience first. Finding the right technology that makes the employee relationship with their managers and with the organization easier and run smoothly should also be a priority.
The Three E’s
There are three E’s to remember when you focus on the user experience:
Easy: Find software that allows employees to do quick simple tasks (requesting time off), and complex larger projects (professional development), with ease. The large investment in this technology can be wasted if the execution of the user experience is not clean and simple. Complaints against the software can lead to disengaged employees, furthering negative retention trends in the workforce.
Empower: Combating resignation starts with empowering employees. Choose software that allows employees to track their own hours, find the information they need without having to jump through hoops, and give them the resources to further their career paths.
Everyone: Make it accessible and simple for everyone. Not just for the power users and not just for the super users (those who are keen on learning the technology and integrating it into their workday as soon as possible). From the new hire on their first day, to the semi-retired team member who is used to the previous technology, the chosen software should be made simple for anyone and everyone to learn and pick up quickly.
OnActuate Gives You Choice
When you partner with OnActuate, you’re getting a global, gold-certified partner for Microsoft Dynamics as a Cloud Solution Provider and Value-Added Reseller with extensive public sector experience. We work with you on deciding on the right technology that will meet your goals and objectives, implementing the chosen technology within your timeframe, and training your staff to become confident in using it.
Explore our HR technology solutions:
Whichever technology solution you choose, OnActuate will be with you every step of the way and become a partner that truly cares about the success of your organization.
If you’re ready to empower your employees and ensure your HR team has the right technology to meet their goals, contact us and see how we can work with you!
