Oracle's Rob Bothma says organisations should make HR systems easily accessible.
The HR function is alwasys looking at better, quicker, and more efficient ways of managing talent, and taking advantage of all the new value emerging technologies and innovations can offer. But innovation comes with both opportunities and challenges. Disruptive innovations can hurt you and the business if you are not ready and prepared for them. If you are ready for it, however, a disruption becomes more of an opportunity to be taken advantage of.
Currently one of the big innovations we are seeing in the market is how current HR solution providers are providing more people-centred technologies rather than the traditional administrative technologies.
This has resulted in HR starting to have access to solutions that focus more on serving the requirements of employees and managers, as opposed to simply assisting the HR team to complete their administrative tasks efficiently.
The changing needs and expectations of employees have driven organisations to start realising the enormous benefits that can be achieved through paying more attention to their employees’ satisfaction and wellness, and creating an environment suited for a better work-life balance. .
Happy employees always perform
This approach is seen to create a more engaged employee workforce, which research shows is hugely beneficial to the organisation. Today, more than ever, organisations are beginning to realise that an engaged workforce makes good business sense, as there is a direct impact on the bottom line.
There is no debate that employees who are healthy and happy at work, perform better, and will probably remain with the organisation for a longer period of time.
And this is where mobile access to the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) has become increasingly important. With employees now being able to access not only their transactional data, but also the ability to start reviewing data which is more pertinent to their career development, moves the focus to a far more strategic level, even from an employee’s perspective.
By being able to review and provide feedback on their goals and performance, requesting training or reviewing skill profiles of jobs they could be interested in moving into in the future, all in their own time, creates a far more dynamic environment to foster and grow talent within the organisation.
An easy win
Luckily with the huge advancements in technology, most vendors now offer employees mobile access to their HR solutions, either through a dedicated mobile app option or direct access through a smart device’s web browser. This trend is set to increase exponentially as smart phones become the de facto means of connectivity.
As HRIS developers start perfecting their means of executing mobile functionality, and mobile access to corporate solutions becomes more acceptable, employees will start experiencing a move away from just being able to perform more transactional functions such as submitting leave applications, personal data changes or online timesheets to more value adding career type functions, in a dynamic 24/7 environment.
In this way the functionality offered by smartphones will begin to be better utilised by HR solutions, in ways that will benefit both the organisation and the employees as adoption of mobile access is rolled out to the workforce
Fortunately, today most employees own a smart device, enabling them to connect to other employees in the organisation, as well as to their own external networks, thus enabling the organisation to better facilitate online communities which can provide far more innovative results at a fraction of the cost of traditional means.
As such, through mobile connectivity employees are no longer excluded just because they are away from the office, but now through their virtual attendance, can ensure much higher levels of collaboration within the organisation through their remote participation.
In summary, organisations should encourage employees’ connectivity to their HR systems across all HR functions. In essence, the difference between having disruptive innovation causing panic, disorder and uncertainty in the organisation as opposed to calm and readiness, all revolves around preparation.
By embracing and understanding the latest technologies, you will empower your organisation in becoming agile enough to turn disruption into opportunity.
