The workforce journey
Many of these new breed of HR systems are designed to engage the employee and enable them to do things on an “anytime, anywhere” basis which is a great idea. Bottom line though this means they’re largely self-service, and this often a big change. A potential downfall for any HR team is not engaging the business fully to get leadership and employee buy-in to the new system.
Why is that a problem? Because if your leaders and employees don’t understand what you are trying to achieve with your new HR system, they’re likely to view the self-service requirements as an extra burden rather than a tool to help them do their role more effectively and be able to drive their career. Their view can easily turn into “Why am I doing HRs work now?” managing the change journey is critical for setting the right expectations across the business.
However, clear communication with your business that sets out your vision, how the business will benefit, what will be simpler for managers and employees, and will engage your people and bring them on the journey with you. They need to be brought with you from the start of your project and not just told at the end what is going to happen.
The business partnerships
A well implemented HR system is a powerful technology and as HR people are not often technical experts, there’s no doubt that a big mistake is not properly engaging your IT team for support.
Your IT department is responsible for integrating it into your finance system, identity management, organisational data management and potentially even your business intelligence reporting, good data flows from your system can significantly benefit many parts of the organisation. Bringing your IT colleagues in on the journey is a critical part of getting the most out of your system, not just for HR but for the whole of the business.
Also ensuring that you have worked through with your finance colleagues to ensure that not only are you able to deliver consistent reporting, but that you are all using the same definitions and have the same understanding of what each means eg what is headcount – The number of people on the payroll? The combined FTE of the organisation?
That said, HR should own the HR system and shouldn’t delegate that responsibility. HR is responsible for lifting the people capability across the organisation and the system is enabling HR processes (which HR own) so it is really important that HR continues to won the system and ensure that the configuration and updates meet their strategic goals And deliver the right people outcomes.
Who else do we need for success?
A new HR system is a big undertaking and there are several considerations you need to make.
· Do I need to work with an external partner? Who is the right partner for our organisation?
· How do I find the right Project Manager? Could this be internal, or should I enlist an external Project Manager?
· What kind of support team do I need?
All of these are important issues and will depend on the capabilities within your team, your business and the approach your organisation takes on partnering with external support. It is always valuable to make sure you have key inputs from someone who has undertaken a similar project before to ensure that you are leveraging learnings and best practice implementation.
Many companies will also create a steering committee of senior executives who use their knowledge and experience to guide the project. It’s also worth seeking advice from others in your organisation or peer group who have overseen large projects of their own. The more inputs you have, the better chance you have of making the right decisions and creating a successful outcome.
Embarking on new HR technology is no small undertaking. But, done working with the right people inside and from outside your organisation will be transformative for your HR team – and for the business.