HR Metanoia – do or die
The HR function in 2023 is inundated with administrative processes to the detriment of other value-adding processes.
Where spreadsheets and hard-copy files act as sources of HR reporting, the first thing that suffers is traceability of information.
Senior Executives interrogate the HR report with the same vigour used when analysing financial statements.
It may seem unfair to compare a financial- with a human resource report, but such is the language of management. HR must step up to this challenge and empower itself with the right tools for the job.
The solution:
HR needs to automate primary compliance-driven processes with built-in reporting metrics to create the much-needed space as authentic human behaviour experts.
This requires radical HR change – a metanoia (meaning to change one’s mind and to expand it in such a way as to have a new perspective on the world or oneself).
If HR can shift from struggling with primary data to interpreting the human behaviour implications derived from data, it will fill the void that is currently plaguing the HR function.
How to begin
The first step in the right direction is to get a robust HR Information Management system that has a strong focus on workflow automation.
Next, you must pick the right team – comprising fewer administrators and admin controllers and more business and data analysts.
Motivation
People Resolutions has been designing HR Management systems for the past 23 years. They give the following advice to their prospective clients:
- Balance between no-code and custom solutions.
Learn how to automate business processes and keep them current on a continuous basis.
People Resolutions has identified and developed 20 standardised “HR workflow templates” that can support and automate almost the entire HR function.
- Avoid dependency on reporting hierarchy.
Automation of decisions and approvals requires a reporting hierarchy. However, the reality is that there are many organisations where this information is simply not available or unreliable.
To overcome a fixed hierarchy as a pre-condition for workflow automation, People Resolutions had to find an alternative solution.
Its workflows are now capable of literally changing sign-offs and approvals based on in-workflow rules in the absence of a reporting hierarchy.
- The interconnectedness of everything.
Workflows provide ideal solutions where the process is predictable with a high frequency of use.
Does this mean the more complex a business with less predictability, the less there is to gain from automation?
People Resolutions can overcome this with its ability to cross-reference between workflows and even start secondary workflows within existing ones.
- Digitise at source.
Normally, onboarding a new employee can require handling up to 12 different documents by an average of 3 staff members.
The digitisation of data points from these documents traditionally implied that an administrator first had to get hold of all these documents, then capture data elements, and finally file a hard copy somewhere in a cabinet.
People Resolutions revolutionised this process through its “handle once, digitise at source” principle.
Conclusion
Where does this leave the HR Department who wants to engage on the metanoia road?
Start with the end in mind. The most difficult part of this journey is the first few steps. Get a technology partner that understands your challenges and the journey will be the teacher.
Click here to begin your metanoia road with People Resolutions.