A combination of technology and new thinking is giving the human resources function a more dynamic, and effective role in organisations says Mark Dorgan of PA Consulting Group.
The first thought on many HR practitioners' minds when you mention e-HR is technology, but the real revolution taking place is in the philosophy of human resources as a service. Companies are approaching their employees as customers for the first time, understanding them, segmenting them and tailoring the HR offer to the employees' needs.
HR practitioners are talking about employee segmentation, internal branding and employee insights. They have borrowed the language and tools of marketing. And yes, technology does make them uniquely able to deliver new services in ways that were never before possible.
When an employee at petroleum giant BP logs on to the intranet, he does not worry about finding HR services and opportunities located at multiple places on the intranet. The employee can relax knowing that an intelligent agent is scouring the myHR portal for relevant items, reporting back to the employee and prompting responses, in line with the employee's profile and needs. There is no need to contact HR or a line manager in order to have access to the information.
So what is different?
For many companies BP's myHR represents an e-HR nirvana that seems remote from the current day-to-day of HR activities. It can be created, but the first step is rethinking the role of your HR function. Instead of perceiving HR as the owners of policy and the policemen of policy compliance, HR must be seen as a provider of Human Resources services, a facilitator of HR processes.
When you think of HR as a service, you think about the customers of that service - the company, managers and employees. Segment your customers. Ask them what they currently have and what they want. Ask HR staff what makes their job difficult.
Tesco is an example of a forward-thinking company that has applied Customer Relationship Management (CRM) principles to employees. The company not only invests a lot of time and effort in understanding the demography and characteristics of its employees, but regularly polls their opinions. This allows the company to identify what is going well, what needs attention and how this differs by store or employee group across the company.
The benefits of change
When you look at the HR function in this way you notice that there are three things in the old HR that detract from value:
- Direct costs - Large amounts of routine activity and query handling take up most of the time and the cost. Direct costs can be reduced through simplification, elimination or outsourcing.
- Indirect costs - Much of the time spent by employees and managers on HR issues involves gathering information and seeking out answers. Indirect costs can be reduced through organising information and making it more accessible.
- Value add - Criticisms by employees of HR services focus on the 'one size fits all' nature of policies and on the barriers to accessing HR services. Employees want choice, flexibility and access. Technology can deliver this, making it easier to grow the talent pool, build employee accountability and deliver learning.
How to manage the changes
Transforming your HR function to a technology-enabled Human Resources service needs careful management. Based on the insights you have about the needs of the company and the users, you can design scenarios of the new service. Assume the technology can deliver whatever you want. Form a high level view of the new processes and what needs to be in place to support these - if you want learning resources on-line, these need to be sourced or created.
Consider the technology available. Shared Service Centres allow you to store and access standardised information which is easy to analyse. A portal allows you to brand your service in a way that energises and encourages employees. The Co-op created a people portal that communicates the look and feel of the new HR product in line with the company brand.
At PA Consulting Group we have developed applications that use core HR packages like PeopleSoft to enable e-management of performance and talent. We are able to offer web-based psychometric solutions for selection, development, performance management and reward. There are few HR services today that cannot be provided on-line in ways that are more transparent, accessible and value adding than the current channels. This frees HR professionals to be creators of content and facilitators of the people management process.
Where next? - The delivery challenges for retailers
The biggest challenge facing retailers who implement this new approach to HR is providing system access to large numbers of people in stores or distribution centres where there is little or no access to PCs. While it is possible to link e-HR systems to tills and PDAs and through back-office kiosks, access remains a significant challenge.
Perhaps the real answer for retailers is that implementing e-HR is a process. First you provide the service to the headquarters and management, then roll it out to other staff as the technological challenges of in-store access can be cost-effectively addressed. This is the philosophy being followed by Tesco - a step-by-step approach to increasing service levels and employee reach.
The real answer is that the thinking and processes of 'e-HR' can be implemented to a certain level without computer technology, because this philosophy is about being close to the customer (the employee), about providing customised services and creating maximum access, based on a real understanding of your employees. There are a number of ways this can be done without technology, such as targeted mail shots, but it is with technology that e-HR really comes to life.
HR will never be the same again. A new philosophy is transforming our ways of working, realised through e-technology. E-HR is here to stay.
A 10 step approach to achieving change:
- Mobilise HR - get staff involved from the outset
- Understand the need - study and understand staff demographics and needs
- Vision the future - scenario planning and evaluation
- Evaluate the alternatives - understand current costs and value; explore alternative services, costs and value; evaluate outsource service providers
- Evaluate software and applications options - assess current HR system or a new one and other software applications
- Achieve business sign-off - create a clear business case; gain approval
- Re-engineer processes - ensure this is done with software packages in mind, to eliminate rework later, involving key staff
- Prepare managers and staff - branding and communication, which should go on throughout the process
- Implement - usually phased; measures agreed
- Evaluate - ongoing evaluation, optimisation and reporting.
