Gone are the days when Human Resources had nothing to do with IT or technology. Digital transformation is creating a paradigm shift internally as well. The global pandemic that none of us were prepared for has further accelerated the cause of infusing digital technology to reimagine human resources management.
As per a survey, more than 50% of the companies in India did not have the required technology or resources to immediately transition to a “work from home” model for all employees. The companies on the cloud could realize a distinct advantage and the colossal surge in demand for the cloud was not surprising.
The HR departments had to undergo a transition from managing interviews to on-boarding and induction, to exit interviews etc. online. They also had to take care of monitoring the attendance of employees, leaves etc. as well as conducting training and skill enhancement to cater to the demand for adoption of new-age technologies.
Let us look at the areas where the infusion of digital and technology has empowered human resources:
1. The Cloud-native Human Resources Management Systems
Today, Human Capital Management Systems such as Oracle HCM can be directly implemented onto the cloud. While this helps to ensure a safe, secure, and consolidated repository of human resources data, it also sets the stage for providing tremendous insights into employee experience, engagement, and skilling needs.
2. Mobile-based On-boarding, activities management and exits
With cloud and mobility, the entire lifecycle of human capital management from on-boarding to exit can be managed through mobile interfaces. If the HR and Digital teams can collaborate to create a seamless digital interface for the new employees and the existing ones, the entire process of onboarding, attendance management, performance reviews, announcements and exit can be managed seamlessly and cost-effectively.
3. Ease of Reporting and Insights through Automation
Depending on the sector that the company operates in, the HR team can work closely with IT to ensure that rule-based and redundant processes can be automated. It can also ensure that alerts and notifications are received by relevant personnel from the company when some critical parameters or warning signs are encountered.
This enables the HR teams to proactively manage warning signs such as the likelihood of absconding, resignations etc. Lastly, the HR department in some sectors that are regulated need to send daily or periodic reports on key parameters such as attrition to the regulatory bodies. In such cases, the digitally-enabled HR teams can automate the generation and sending of such reports as and when required.
4. Insights driven HR teams to maximize efficiency
HR teams empowered with data analytics are better placed to derive insights, predict trends, and take preventive measures if required. They can derive patterns across key parameters such as employee productivity, attrition, skilling needs etc.
This would help the team to plan their training calendar, productivity improvement and job rotation plans, attrition management etc. better. The result is a more productive and employee-friendly organization.
A technology-enabled HR department can work wonders. It can help the department to address human capital needs better, and work towards making the organization a preferred choice for employees. This would give a huge fillip to the brand in terms of keeping employee costs and attrition in check. It translates to a noteworthy impact on the top-line of the company
