All industries are being impacted by the global economic downturn, with job cutting at the forefront of cost savings.
Some industries are hit worse that others, but Accsys CEO Teryl Schroenn says: “Although many IT industry segments have been affected, we have not yet seen a big impact within the HR and payroll market segment. We have, however, seen a few of our clients having to institute retrenchments.”
Schroenn says she hopes HR and payroll technologies being implemented at large organisations are not contributing to job losses, by making HR and payroll personnel redundant.
In the past, the HR and payroll personnel's function was very operational and hands on, but now qualified employees are needed to do succession planning, while the HR system does its work in the background, she says. “Often, personnel are only reactive. The implementation of a good HR system frees up valuable time for the personnel to focus on other important things. The technology is there to assist and enhance the HR operations, rather than replace employees.”
She continues: “The last few years were an employee market, but now it is an employer's market. It is time for current staff to be up-skilled. Now is not the time you want to lose people you have.
“Managing people should be underpinned by systems that help management make decisions. That is where the current focus should be.”
With Trevor Manual's budget vote pending, Schroenn says she expects the major changes in the industry to be focused on SARS' e-Filing and how this affects running the payroll, but she is positive it will only present changes for the better.
In terms of technology within the HR and payroll environments, a big issue concerns how technology, from a business point of view, keeps the company on track when it comes to any legal battles and disputes. “It also keeps employees more honest,” Schroenn believes. “The systems underpin the rules and regulations.”
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