The future of HR: How the people imperative is changing human resources
Win/win: Companies that embrace digital technologies to truly focus on the employee experience see better business results.
Modern workforces need modern solutions, which is why so many companies were already moving to HR cloud solutions and processes, even before the pandemic. And the limitations of on-premise technologies for delivering information quickly and safely across geographies came into sharp focus with the remote and hybrid working models developed during the lockdown.
With a workforce suddenly challenged in new ways to remain engaged and productive, it’s especially important to bring people to the center of everything we do in HR with human experience management (HXM). So how do we bring the methods and tools for HXM to an HR cloud?
In this fourth and final episode of our series “The Rise of HXM,” my cohost Lars Schmidt of Amplify and our guest Joey Price of Jumpstart: HR addresses this crucial question.
HR cloud computing benefits to organizations
Some primary benefits of HR cloud solutions:
- It opens HR solutions to everyone, no matter where they are
- Easier analytics and realized revenue
- Security and safety is increased
Joey Price is the founder of Jumpstart:HR, which provides HR outsourcing for small businesses across the U.S. and has operated remotely since it opened its virtual doors a decade ago. He illustrates the power of HR cloud computing with this example:
“Let’s say we have one central, on-premise, paper calendar. That makes it extremely difficult to manage a schedule for a family or company in which many people need to add appointments and see what everybody else is doing. But with a digital calendar in the cloud, sequential updates can come in through any authorized user and be viewed immediately by all others in the organization. The calendar is a living document.”
Joey identifies capabilities for harnessing analytics that drives revenue growth as one of the principal benefits of cloud computing. He continues, “We’re all in business to realize revenue. When the pandemic forced us into new territory, we needed to see clearly and quickly how decisions were being made and how they affected the bottom line. Particularly in businesses with low margins, up-to-the-minute data was essential for reacting cost-effectively to a volatile market.”
Another benefit of the cloud is safety and security. A cloud-based infrastructure moves computing to independent data centers for whom a core purpose is information security.
Internal IT organizations no longer need to design and maintain security protocols for the data and physical assets of the organization. Joey stresses that cloud computing also helped securely collect and deliver all kinds of resources for people as they worked remotely.
Joey reminds us that “the pandemic may have closed doors, but it also opened windows.” As a third benefit of cloud computing, recruiters can extend their search for candidates to a much wider area, tracking down the best talent across the globe. Onboarding and management processes can be made accessible anywhere in the world, as well. He underscores that “you can’t implement that reach very easily if all your systems and tools are stuck in one room of an office.”
Limitations of on-premise computing
Joey remembers many challenges with on-premise systems from his early days in HR and freely admits, “Swapping out tapes and backing up C drives was not for me.” He points out an in-office server’s vulnerability to power outages and natural disasters and the massive amount of local administrative work to manage the related on-premise infrastructure.
Additional problems arise, for example, when hardware and middleware age and are no longer supported.
And the enormous amounts of power required to fuel a local corporate data center for every business takes a toll on the environment.
Joey explains, “The key purpose of moving to the cloud is to architect an environment that lets remote, and hybrid workers play nicely and productively, quickly get what they need to accomplish their goals and help keep the organization profitable.” He stresses the importance of a long-term view, suggesting that companies think about what that individual and organizational success will look like 5 or 10 years from now, as well as today.
Some of the tools available for enhancing the employee experience in the cloud have embedded intelligence for monitoring and improving performance and retention and modernizing HR processes across the board. And with the advent of digital notebooks, nobody has to face an important interaction clueless because of a lost set of physical bullet points.
Joey summarizes the overall impact of the pandemic on cloud computing this way: “When a government authority tells you it’s literally illegal to bring your staff together in an office, the best and brightest minds are going to come up with innovative ideas to foster business continuity. If you’re looking for a sign to motivate the move to the cloud, this is it.”
And Lars points out the effect of the pandemic on careers in HR. He explains, “If we’re not really plugged into social media and finding people who can help increase our knowledge of the latest tools, technologies, and trends, we’re missing a good chance to advance our own careers. We’ll get left behind pretty quickly in this era of accelerating change.”
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Make life easier for employees: HR cloud solutions make for a happier workforce
Joey identifies a number of immediate pain points that may persuade companies to move to HR cloud, including rising administrative costs and departing employees who mention lack of modernization as a reason for leaving.
However, the importance of anywhere, anytime collaboration continues to grow in a workforce that grew up with computing. He recommends thinking about the entire employee lifecycle at the outset, focusing on creating a whole ecosystem to meet employee needs at every stage. He says,
“You should ask where things are slower than you expect, for instance. Are you losing candidates to other organizations because your time to hire is too long? If so, you can begin to hunt for a cloud solution that helps speed up recruiting processes. Are your employees complaining about the lag time for getting paid for their work? Look for cloud payroll solutions. If you’re starting the cloud journey, you’ll be surprised at the wide array of cloud HR tools that are already out there.”
Businesses that are successful in the transition to HXM in the cloud typically use an agile approach to the transformation. Businesses planning larger projects should look for incremental successes that build on one another and encourage employees to think creatively.
Another key element of successful transformation is asking the right questions in the planning stages. Joey suggests tuning into social media and involving key stakeholders early, including day-to-day users at all levels. In closing, he reminds companies to “just ask employees what they really want” and promises, “When you lead with HXM, everybody wins.”