Over the years, communication and interaction have become less personalised and more electronic, with sufficient information but not enough sentiment.
Technology has offered convenience but has marked the demise of familiarity.
Dale Thomas, VP and GM: Northern Europe, PeopleSoft UK
Technology has offered convenience but has marked the demise of familiarity, and while human resource (HR) managers are busy managing average software, they are not managing people and businesses suffer. The correct HR solution can manage itself.
Just functional
The call centre operator on floor one in your company could be your daughter`s best friend and you`d have no idea. In fact, the larger the organisation, the less you know of the people you manage.
HR managers, who once had to know the name of every employee, now rely on methods of communication and transaction through technological advancements, in an effort to cope with procedures, policies, payroll and compensation, and general administration.
Human capital
Still, employees are as much capital to a company as its IT infrastructure and it is crucial to keep them satisfied. Employee satisfaction entails a number of things, not least of which is the role a person feels they play within the organisation. When an employee knows that he is important, it promotes loyalty, trust and ultimately a decision to stay longer than a few months.
Employee retention reflects the kind of business you run and if your image portrays mismanagement, you are unlikely to acquire capable educated staff.
It is no longer simply a matter of paying employees and remembering their birthdays. An HR manager must deal with an ever-increasing competitive market that snaps up potential managers out of university. With education and training made available, job-hunters can choose which company offers them a rich future and the competition can lure them with attractive perks and incentive programmes.
Technology and outsourcing
For this reason, technology can play an important role in alleviating the management of systems and applications and leave space to focus on strategy, company culture, value-added activities and a bit of socialising.
Moreover, it can assist your activities by "thinking for you" and tracking progress, habits and best methods.
Another option is to outsource this function altogether to a company that can accommodate your human resources needs on one comprehensive package managed by the provider.
Industry solutions include packages that maximise your return on investment in people, using tools that help design and assign the organisation`s strategic objectives and then align workforce initiatives to support them.
It is imperative that technologies applied enable a powerful, all-encompassing analysis of combined financial, HR transactional, and external market data stored in a data warehouse. A solution that "closes the loop" to the transactional source systems with approved and finalised business rules needed to take action, delivering the ability to quantify the intangible -- measuring the value that the knowledge worker brings to the organisation instead of focusing simply on cost.
Customer relationship management
HR management does not work in isolation either. In fact, using an effective HR strategy involving employee relationship management is vital in a working CRM strategy, as after all, a happy employee always acts in the best interests of a company. Issues can be directed at one point of contact that can deal with it swiftly and in the best manner, which is favourable for the employee and the company.
Strategic business objectives and the completion of business-critical programmes rely on the collaboration of staff and departments. Streamlining this effectively and getting the staff commitment under crisis situations is a result of shifting your management approach to building lasting relationships.
John and Jane
Investing in a scaleable and suitable solution or outsourcing to a reputable solution provider will enable you to streamline your transactional and communication processes, and use them to support traditional face-to-face contact.
Now, in the future, you won`t have to a arrive at work early to dodge people whose names you don`t know as you`ll be able to confidently greet them, be it John, the call centre operator, or Jane, the secretary.
(Please note that Industry Insight pieces reflect the view of the author only. For further stories and opinions on this subject, please visit ITWeb`s Human Resources section.)
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