Applying Technology to HR: How and where to start

Technology changes the way HR
departments contact employees, store files and analyse employee performance.
When used well, technology makes HR practices more efficient. When used poorly,
it can get in the way of managing the company's human resources. Technology
makes it easier to gather and break down data of employees to get an overall
picture. Good HR practices maximise the benefits and minimize the problems when
technology is used well.

What is technology? Technology is
the sum of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of
goods and services. It helps make things easier or resolves problems since it
is a practical application of knowledge. Applying Technology to HR is providing
groundbreaking HR automated technology solutions that re-shape the way people
work and how they think about HR.

The adoption of automation and
artificial intelligence (AI) marks an acceleration over skills shifts in HR,
the future of workforce. This will transform the workplace as people
increasingly interact with ever-smarter machines. Technology makes the tasks of
recruitment, payroll and performance evaluation more manageable and allows HR
staff members to better engage with the company's employees. Automation and
'thinking machines' are replacing human tasks as well as changing the skills
that organisations are looking for in their people.

These technologies, and that
human-machine interaction, will bring numerous benefits in the form of higher
productivity, GDP growth, improved corporate performance, and new prosperity,
but they will also change the skills required of human workers. There are wide
varieties of HR technology groundbreaking solutions that have begun to give
shape and substance to the world of human resources. Some of them include:

Recruitment
Portals

As the name implies, recruiting portals
streamline the hiring process. HR specialists can post job ads, accept job
applications; manage candidates and do more without the hassle of manually
tracking everything by themselves. Predicting workforce demand and attrition,
searching for the right candidate, primary screening and interviews can all be
achieved by a few clicks with intelligent AI Recruitment Portals. Candidates no
longer need to send their CVs every time there is a job opening, therefore,
once they register on these portals and upload their CVs the Recruitment Portals
will automatically shortlist them if they are suitable for the position.

Performance
Management Applications

Performance Management is a
process of ensuring that a set of objectives and pre-set goals are met over a
set period. Technology has streamlined the process and eliminated a lot of
unnecessary steps for evaluations and tracking of performance between
supervisor and employee. The Performance Management applications can assist
managers to track their staff member's performance throughout the year, saving
notes and feedback to prepare both manager and employee for the evaluation with
a few clicks.

Salary
Portals and Advisors

Salaries portals such as Glasssdoor, PayScale and IPC
PayGenius help
employers and employees compare their salaries against market trends. Here
technology has also streamlined the process of salaries and benefits data
collection, analysis and report generation by a click of a button. It is well
known that employee compensation is a business activity with constantly moving
parts and it needs to be continuously updated and managed especially in these
trying times. Technology has increased the efficiency of business processes and
frees up HR from many of the manual tasks it performs.

Betterworks CEO Doug Dennerline says HR will
see a new level of data competency in 2019 with the rapid and widespread
adoption of people analytics that help managers and executives make decisions
about their workforce. “The raw data pulled from analytics can be used to
create actionable insights and ultimately support data-driven decisions around
promotions or compensation, development and success planning, and agile
cross-functional team staffing,” Dennerline says.

While technology plays a crucial
role in transforming human resources management software and operations from
personnel management to business execution, technology itself does not create
this change. HR managers must leverage technology to drive real value to the
business. If you want to get started with a powerful yet cost-effective HR
software, I recommend that you start with a solution that is in tune with the
technological trends mentioned above. You can contact IPC at bis@ipcconsultants.com for a free trial today.

Kudzai Derera is the Business Systems
Manager at Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human
resources consulting firm.

LinkedIn: https://zw.linkedin.com/in/kudzaiderera

Phone: +263 242 481946-48/481950

Mobile: +263 773 523 084

Email: kudzai@ipcconsultants.com

Main
Website: www.ipcconsultants.com.