Aligning Technology-driven HR with business objectives

Friday 28 January 2022 08:48
Throughout the pandemic every business function has been challenged, but perhaps none more so than the human resource management department. From building understanding about how different workspaces can operate, such as working from home (WFH) and practical physical distancing in the workplace, to the looming spectre of 'the great resignation' or even managing downsizing, complex and challenging circumstances have become the 'new normal' for human resource practitioners. This is all while trying to maintain a sense of stability for employees that are often looking to human resources for support.
Aligning Technology-driven HR with business objectives

The last two years may have felt like an eternity at times, but for many companies the situation has resulted in a major shift in thinking about the importance of human capital management. The crisis has meant senior leaders now see the value of having the right people in place when challenges are presented, and the HR role has been elevated and places at the top table are now reserved for this function.

Talent mobility, capability academies, skills models, recruiting, and leadership development are not new issues, but they play more important role nowadays. As professional human capital practitioners we need to develop new ways of managing these challenges, particularly as our new elevated position will also come with additional scrutiny. How do we continue to add value to our business?

Rethinking the HR organisation with a digital mindset is the first step to a successful transformation. HR leaders need to begin thinking of the department as a professional services organization, fully equipped with consultants, product managers, service delivery, and technology all in one. This is done by analyzing the skills and capabilities of your HR team and looking where each member is at in terms of their development. This includes the HR business partners, the domain specialists, the consultants, the designers, the tech people, and the staff.

This will help you identify where HR technology can support your organization to address the changing business needs by providing more enhanced and sophisticated solutions, more optimized processes and increasing automation. This means leveraging technology to increase employee experience and engagement, increased cross domain collaboration and increased data insights.

Traditionally, people analytics tools have focused on tasks like maintaining headcount and open roles, but they have often failed to add value beyond the administrative level. Today, HR leaders are being asked to collect and analyze more people information than ever, and this means they need systems that are proactive and leverage reliable data to surface useful insights that can give better guidance on the predictive of future workforce so leaders can prepare for all possibilities in order to serve the needs of a dynamic workplace.

Effective people analytics tools compile and transform all important details about an organization's people, teams, and work-related behavior into actionable insights that can significantly improve business outcomes and goals. When generated properly and delivered directly in the flow of work, this information can revolutionize the way leaders build teams, allocate pay resources, improve diversity and inclusion efforts, and more.

A recent Gartner Survey revealed that HR leaders' is number one priority in 2022 will be building critical skills and competencies in order to be able to meet current and future challenges, and utilizing data will be key to the success of the HR function overcoming this challenge.

In addition, there needs to be a renewed focus on deepening C-suite reliance on and trust in the HR function, and to do this HR needs to be able to provide valuable insights and analysis to the business. This is how it can prove its value, and demonstrate how HR is fully aligned with overall business objectives and is working collaboratively to achieve them.

There is no doubt that new technologies are shifting workplace dynamics, but it will also play a critical role in attracting the right people (Talent acquisition management), upskilling or reskilling people (L&D), and helping people engage with company

Finding the right solution, and enabling the right data, will improve decision making at all levels. And implementing comprehensive employee management apps will help enhance engagement and productivity, offer transparency, and supply real-time data so it's easier to make informed business decisions, and even improve the employer brand.

The era of technology-driven human capital management is here. It's time to grasp it and create new opportunities.

Source: Spark Communications