Technology aids the human touch

Will increasing automation cost departments their 'human' element? Computer says no.

When the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) recently asked its Special Expertise Panel on Technology and HR Management to report on technology trends in the sector, its overall conclusion was unsurprising – IT is being leveraged by HR to benefit almost every aspect of its day-to-day operations. With HR technology constantly improving and costs continuing to decline in many instances, it is inevitable that implementation of these applications will continue to rise.

But the devil is in the details. As HR – by its very nature the ‘human’ element of any organization – becomes more automated, is it losing its very essence? Increasing concerns over labor and knowledge shortages, as well as compliance requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley, have pushed firms to examine HR management more closely than ever before. And in turn HR departments have increasingly turned to their CIOs to tackle strategic issues such as performance management, compliance-oriented training and succession planning. But is there a danger that HR will leave its ‘human’ element behind as it relies on the aid of technology?

Certainly there is a greater willingness by the HR sector to embrace technology, as demonstrated by the SHRM study. The report’s panel of experts identified “expanded use of the web for delivery and utilization of HR applications on a service basis” as a common trend, but the deployment of HR technology runs far deeper. One particular area that has been highlighted is the increasing deployment of self-service components built into HR technology systems. “Employee self-service is giving employees access to details about their payroll and pension information from any web-based location along with the ability to change information,” explains Steve Joyce, HR practice leader at The Hackett Group. “Self-service for job-related functions allows employees to see what jobs are on offer and can be extended to external applicants who can identify open positions and send in their CV online. The CVs are then forwarded to a centralized pool for the recruiters to evaluate.”

Elsewhere, software is being deployed to manage areas such as internal mobility, appraisal management, succession planning, package review and personal development. E-recruitment and performance management software are also helping to dramatically improve HR’s ability to carry out effective people relationship management (PRM), and improve their organization’s employer brand. “PRM allows organizations to form one-to-one relationships with potential and current employees, enabling companies to better attract, develop and retain the right people and realize their full potential,” suggests Patrice Barbedette, Founder of Jobpartners. “With such solutions, organizations are able to treat their candidates and employees as they would treat their customers. It also enables them to move away from subjective people management to objective and efficient people management to the great benefit of the employee/candidate.”

Felix Stroud-Allen, Head of Sales for Recruiternet, has also witnessed applicant tracking and hiring managements systems increasingly make their mark in human resources. “Organizations are realizing that finally there is technology which does not limit the ability to match and improve a firm’s workflow process,” he explains. “Organizations are constantly facing a daily challenge of fierce competition for skilled resources whilst having to balance that with reductions in recruitment budgets and diminishing numbers of resources to administer the recruitment process. Applicant tracking systems provide a cost-effective answer to these common problems.”

Integration and employee buy-in
With the rise in HR technology rollouts, integration issues have also reared their heads, prompting more focus on IT matters. Unable to risk a costly integration problem, some departments are turning to application service providers. Applicant tracking systems in particular are a popular application to be delivered by ASPs, according to Stroud-Allen. “Organizations can then have a seamlessly integrated application without having the need to over burden their IT department with having to buy additional hardware and invest time in supporting it,” he continues.

For the businesses looking to keep their operations in-house, however, there are other options – and fortunately, the technology is maturing sufficiently to help untie the Gordian knot that is integration. “We have witnessed the growth in popularity of business process management (BPM) as HR departments strive to become more effective and efficient,” says Joyce. “This layer of technology sits on top of an organization’s ERP application and helps to connect different types of applications to each other. So if a company has an ERP system where new employees are added, but a separate recruiting application, then the BPM software can apply a workflow across both of them and integrate the two as well as identifying bottlenecks. It is becoming easier to integrate new applications with existing ERP HR functions as vendors are moving more to a plug-and-play ERP model.”

BPM or not, however, securing employee buy-in to the new technology is far from guaranteed. Whilst HR management may be ambitious enough to roll out a new system in an effort to support the department, there is not necessarily the same enthusiasm amongst the rest of the staff – particularly if they are unsure where they will see the benefit. As such, the more astute organizations are involving employees at the nascent stages of such a project, to mutual benefit.

“Employees will only embrace new technology if it makes their job easier,” stresses Stroud-Allen. “This may sound obvious, but I have encountered many situations where, for example, a finance director has made a decision to buy an applicant tracking system without consulting the recruitment team. They have seen the high-level cost-saving argument and made a decision. Commonly it is a decision made because the vendor who will supply the applicant tracking system currently provides the payroll system. Just because they provide an excellent payroll system does not mean that they can necessarily provide an excellent applicant tracking system.

“Employees are at the coal face and know on a pragmatic level whether or not a technology has the flexibility to streamline and improve their current workflow process. If employers involve these employees at the start of the due diligence process then they will ensure that they not only purchase the right technology, but that it has a chance of ongoing success. The biggest reason for software failing to deliver is resistance to change within an organization. Get your employees involved from the start and you stand every chance of success.”

The human element
But will this IT success come at a price for some HR organizations? A team may have rolled out new HR technology, secured employee buy-in and successfully integrated the IT into the existing infrastructure, but is there a danger that such automation is tantamount to human resources selling its soul? “Technology is critical to help increase efficiency of the HR department, enhance the employer brand, increase attraction and retention, reduce admin, cut costs, etc.,” says Barbedette. “It can help to take away some of the drudgery associated with admin, enabling HR to focus on more strategic issues. However, the human element will always remain a vital part since HR is all about people management, which requires human interaction and face-to-face contact.”

Certainly, there is awareness in the industry of the risk of overemphasizing technology at the expense of the human element. “The risks arise when organizations rely on process technology as an alternative to human interaction,” warns Ruth Cavendar, Head of HR at Lane4. “There are no software solutions to the quotidian issues of human resource management; to suggest that there may be is to underestimate both the variety of ‘people’ challenges that organizations face and the complexity of the human psyche.”

“We can’t ever begin to think of treating people like equipment or some sort of inanimate commodity,” agrees Jeff Phelps, President of WorkforceLogic/ABE Services. “The danger of using technology in place of the human element is the loss of quality talent. It offends good talent to be treated like office supplies. The best of all worlds is a holistic solution that combines technology with the human element to facilitate putting the right person in the right job at the right time. If we start to view hiring and managing people like purchasing office equipment, we’ll end up sacrificing quality.”

Providing that this balance is maintained, and that technology doesn’t usurp the human qualities so central to HR, there is much evidence to suggest that emerging technologies could be a perfect partner for human resources – and could even improve the human element. “Automation improves the HR business process and actually allows for greater human interaction where human interaction should occur,” continues Phelps. “For example, automation facilitates the requisition and search process so that the human element can be introduced into the interview, selection and review processes, where it adds the most value. There will continue to be human interaction within HR processes. The benefit of technology is that it provides the employer with a simple way to quantify, document, store and distribute data for future reference.”

“It leaves more room for the human,” agrees Joyce. “HR staff no longer spend their time chasing paperwork, and instead can use their professional skills doing more succession planning and staff development. The purpose of HR is now to spend time with employees on personal development or with the business to help align employees with the objectives in the business. HR needs to evolve as human capital has to be coordinated and leveraged within the organization.”

The process of evolution
And the increasing automation of the HR field is sure to continue, with no limits on how technology could influence human resources in the future. “PRM is becoming a strategic issue for organizations, and the market demand for solutions that enhance the employer brand and candidate relationships is growing rapidly,” suggests Barbedette. ”In the future, HR will increasingly demand innovative PRM solutions that provide a high return on investment and that have the ability to evolve along with their organization. The key areas of growth will be around compensation and benefits management (simulations, salary planning, etc.) as well as constantly improving solutions that enable a better execution of people processes.”

“There is an evolution to support the more mobile workforce with greater use of handhelds such as Blackberries,” Joyce highlights. “HR managers who spend time on the road will then be able to communicate and be integrated into the organization’s workflow and involved in processes such as salary and expense administration. Furthermore, with an expected reduction in people in the workforce over the next 30 years due to the retirement of the baby-boomers, there is predicted to be a shortage of leaders in the future. To address this issue, we are seeing a growth in talent management solutions that help identify top performers and link them to an organization’s development plans. There are tools available from ERP, but some niche companies, such as Taleo, are making headway here.”

Jeff Phelps forecasts that with greater appreciation of the value of HR technology – as well as, critically, the balance that must be maintained between IT and the human touch – human resources has reached a new automated and efficient step in its development. “It’s accurate to say that the revolution is over and the process of evolution has begun,” he concludes. “The revolution was about bringing technology and automation into the human resources arena. Today’s HR technology is encouraging the evolution of labor procurement processes and sourcing mechanisms. Evaluation tools are rapidly advancing, as are the tools that help align the need for talent with the overall business plan. Organizations are becoming more agile, able to adapt more easily based on the availability of data from such areas as headcount, project spend allocation and performance.”

Industry trends
The Society for Human Resource Management’s new HR Technology Survey highlights the following key findings for the industry:

• Expanded use of the web for delivery and utilization of HR applications on a service basis
• The majority of HR professionals surveyed said their organization did not have an employee self-service component built into its HR technology system
• This is likely to change according to HR technology experts, however, as Internet-based self-service applications are improved and are better integrated into other work processes
• Most organizations are not measuring the ROI for HR technology systems, and thus some are finding making the case for HR technology problematic
• Significant growth in the use of e-learning
• Heightened awareness of HR data privacy – an increasingly important issue given the rise of identity theft using employee information
• Increasing outsourcing of human resource information technology systems
• Increasing transition to paperless payroll:

Top HR technologies
The technologies making the biggest impact in the HR market at present are:

• Employee self service
• Workflow technologies
• Vendor management systems
• Applicant tracking systems
• Hiring management systems
• E-recruitment software
• Internal mobility software
• Performance and appraisal management software
• Succession planning software
• Personal development software
• Career planning software
• Package review software
• Executives and key people management software