Written by Drew Simmons
At some point, your company has implemented a new HR or Payroll technology product. During this process, your leadership team and Finance executives have visions of the amount of administrative costs that will be saved and how they will maximize their return-on-investment due to this massive, yet necessary expenditure. Meanwhile, your team finds it easier to hold onto its current processes rather than explore the use of new, automated functionality because “that’s the way ‘we’ have always done it.” Imagine how these executives would feel to learn that you are not finding new and innovative ways to put this costly piece of technology to good use. In some environments, this behavior could potentially cost some people their jobs.
When selecting and implementing new HR and payroll applications, it is important to explore new functionality that will make the lives of your employees at all levels much easier. Here are some points of consideration on how you can use your new software to accomplish this undertaking.
- Understanding Corporate Culture and Change Communication
The key to a successful implementation go-live is the planning and execution of a strategic change management A new software system can be implemented flawlessly, but if an organization does not understand how to best communicate with its employees about how the new system benefits them, users won’t adopt the new system, making the efforts of implementing a new system pointless. A thorough communication plan is essential to ensure the successful use of the product. Consider the content and timing of the messages. What do you want your employees to learn or know about the system that will help them to realize its value? The most important question to answer in all communications is, “What’s in it for me?” This is the question that your employees will want to have answered in all your communications regarding the new software.
- Employee and Manager Self-Service
Much of today’s HCM technology offers self-service functionality that is invaluable to employees and the administrative teams that service them. Self-service is significant in saving money for organizations because it eliminates the need for paper-based processes, such as creating and approving HR and payroll transactions such as new hire documentation, terminations, status, salary and job changes. It expedites approval processes for more real-time responses in handling transactions. This is a huge benefit for organizations that operate with vertical team members in multiple locations. Imagine the use of interoffice envelopes to deliver these transactions in 2019. Sounds crazy, right? There are plenty of organizations that still use paper-based processes because they most likely have not implemented self-service workflow functions in their existing HR technology systems.
- Automated Reporting and Analytics
HR and Payroll practitioners have many demands on their time with a multitude of tasks to be completed for the employees they support. Creating reports is one of those duties that can take lots of time to plan, create, and revise. Automatic reporting can help to remove the task from their daily to-do lists by “setting and forgetting” these reports. Scheduled reporting empowers senior leadership to receive critical, summarized analytics to help formulate and shape business strategy. It also supports practitioners with critical data to understand demographic and organizational trends that may shift the way they conduct business.
- Periodic Process Optimization
The world of technology is always evolving. It is safe to say that once you go-live with new software, it can be considered outdated in approximately three months (or even sooner). For this reason, it is vital to occasionally revisit your business processes. Be vigilant in looking for new ways to improve existing processes. Always look for opportunities to do business “better and faster”. While directing these efforts, be sure to include employee input. Their inclusion will translate to employee engagement, which in turn will help to drive user adoption of new processes and technology use. These fundamental stakeholders know the processes because they are closest to them. Their input will assist in efforts to optimize business practices. Their inclusion will also help to decrease the probability of attrition. Involving employees in the continuous process optimization is a “win-win” for everyone.
The process to deploy HR and payroll software is a time-consuming and costly undertaking. After all the effort, it is critical to make sure that your organization is maximizing its return-on-investment. A system optimization project will alleviate the efforts of your staff by eliminating manual processes of your practitioners. Many of these projects involve looking for opportunities to employ automated functionality of HR and payroll software, creating change management strategies, and process optimization.
If you need assistance with any of these kinds of projects, HRchitect can help. Over the past two decades, HRchitect has helped thousands of organizations across the globe align their HCM technology initiatives with business objectives to achieve extraordinary results. HRchitect is a name you can trust, and your one-stop shop for all your HCM technology needs from strategy, evaluation/selection, implementation, change management, ongoing support, and everything in between.
About Drew Simmons
Drew Simmons, HCM Implementation Services Consultant, has over 25 years of experience in the field of Human Resources. Drew began his career as an HRIS practitioner but has also worked in the areas of Recruiting, Benefits, Compensation, Diversity and Inclusion, and HR Management. Drew has worked in a multitude of industries that include banking and finance, healthcare, public relations, marketing and communications, and advertising. Drew’s experience has given him a proven record of accomplishment in project management, system implementation, conflict resolution, and troubleshooting critical business issues.