How to Employ HR Modernization for Improved Employee Engagement
Unlock strategies and steps of HR modernization to boost employee engagement in the workplace.
Jenna Bunnell, director for field and strategic events at DialPad, explores the concept of HR modernization as a dynamic approach to recalibrating HR functions and fostering a more engaged and empowered workforce.
HR sits right at the heart of your company, balancing the needs of the business and its employees. Accordingly, the HR team must support the employees and the organization’s goals and needs.
This is where HR modernization comes in.
We’ll explore the ins and outs of HR modernization below, following a quick definition to get started. Stick around to learn how this process can revolutionize your approach to HR!
What is HR Modernization?
Put simply, HR exists to help you manage your workforce as effectively as possible. That means helping everyone succeed at your company, valuing each individual for their unique selves, and finding ways to empower employees.
Modernization is the act of taking something and updating it in order to help it work or fit better in the present.
HR modernization is all about finding ways to refresh and renew your HR department. This may mean introducing new policies, for example, or restructuring the department to allow it to have a more meaningful impact.
How does HR modernization look in practice?
HR modernization can be applied across various industries, from retail and banking to hospitality, healthcare, and telecommunications. Even legal service providers have successfully modernized their HR process management with scalable solutions for a global workforce.
Regardless of your industry or company size, the following may be included in your business’ HR modernization journey:
- Revising existing policies to ensure they’re still useful and relevant in a modern environment.
- Implementing new policies covering previously left out areas, such as hybrid/remote working.
- Digitizing and automating manual processes to increase efficiency. For example, consumer goods company Unilever introduced an AI-driven platform to automate recruitment.
- Refocus your HR team’s targets, for example, to emphasize diversity and inclusion.
- Launch new training programs and seminars for HR employees.
- Implementing advanced contact center solutions to enhance communication channels and support for employees
- Providing more avenues for employees to reach out for help, such as an employee self-service portal.
- Introducing new and more powerful tools and technology, such as a cloud phone system, helps the HR team connect seamlessly with the rest of the company.
Examples of successful HR modernization
There’s no better way to understand HR modernization than to consider some real-life examples.
Aiming to transform its HR services and employee experience, global bank HSBC modernized its HR with digital solutions from Accenture. New software replaced manual processes and fragmented systems with an integrated cloud-based platform.
Besides improving productivity and customer service, the bank was more effectively able to manage talent and career development, helping employees feel more empowered. At the same time, the new digital services helped to reduce costs and complexity while opening up opportunities for future innovation.
Essex Wildlife Trust, a UK conservation charity, successfully implemented HR modernization. The group historically used an application tracking system that saw managers moving between different platforms to move candidates through the pipeline. This came with various challenges, slowing down the recruitment and onboarding process.
Their modernization efforts saw them upgrade their software system with a modern interface that required little training. As a result, the number of job applicants for each role nearly tripled, and the hiring time improved. And various HR processes were sped up without creating more admin work.
Long-term Benefits
The above examples show that companies can gain immediate benefits when updating HR procedures. But when implemented correctly, there are also significant long-term benefits, including:
- Cost-effectiveness: Some processes might be free to modernize, while others require investment in new technology. Either way, the changes can save you time, money, and resources by streamlining processes, increasing productivity, and reducing external costs like recruitment. This offers you a significant Return on Investment (ROI).
- Better decision-making: HR analytics can give you valuable insights if undergoing a digital transformation. With accurate data, you can continue to make improvements long into the future.
- Increased efficiency: Modernizing HR procedures and software increases reliability and agility. Streamlining processes and adding in automation helps to speed up tasks and eliminate redundancies. Moreover, with improved visibility, you can make tweaks to increase efficiency even more.
- Improved employee satisfaction: Your modernization efforts may help increase agility and flexibility for employees. Whether you help to reduce tedious tasks or empower them to take control of their career management, you can significantly improve the employee experience and, in turn, satisfaction and engagement.
How Does HR Modernization Improve Employee Engagement?
As mentioned, a fully updated and upgraded HR department can better serve the company’s employees. It’s easy to say that this leads to boosted employee engagement, but how does it do that?
We’ll be taking a closer look at some of the top ways HR modernization helps you get your employees more engaged.
1. Providing support faster
A highly modern tech stack allows HR teams to see, manage, and respond to queries much more quickly than a series of disconnected, traditional solutions can. This means that anytime your employees have a question, they can get an answer rapidly.
Similarly, quick support lets HR teams resolve conflicts between employees more seamlessly. That leaves employees in a better position to collaborate, which in turn helps them stay engaged much more easily.
2. Connecting everyone
If you’re using an outdated phone or conferencing system, you may struggle to host smooth calls or meetings. This may lead employees to stop paying attention out of frustration or boredom. Fortunately, HR modernization can help here, too.
Implementing new and improved tech solutions is a key component of the modernization process. This includes tools for hosting local and international conference calls, no matter how many participants worldwide want to join them.
As a result, your HR team stays connected to the company, while employees enjoy smoother calls that hold their attention every time.
3. Increasing accessibility
A fully modernized HR department can be reached in various ways and quickly. For example, you’d expect HR modernization to do away with problems like constantly waiting weeks between sending an email and getting a response.
This higher level of accessibility helps show employees that they’re not alone. It also clarifies that the employees’ HR support network works for and with them, which helps create a sense of motivation, thereby boosting employee engagement.
Plus, any increased accessibility means extending your HR team’s reach to more of the employee body.
See More: Building employee engagement in the workplace
Top Tips for Employing HR Modernization
Lastly, we’ll share some best practices to ensure you can start your HR modernization process on the right foot.
1. Use a model of continuous growth
The first thing to know about HR modernization is that it’s not a one-and-done process. Instead, it’s a constant, ongoing one that doesn’t have a clear endpoint. This is why ensuring you approach it with a continuous growth mindset is vital.
The tech and the approaches and theories that seemed super new and exciting in 1998 wouldn’t be considered as such now. That’s because the world has evolved since then, and our ideas of what makes for an excellent HR strategy have transformed.
Our understanding will also continue to evolve. That means you’ll want to be ready to adapt to that evolution as it happens.
2. Update your tech stack
A major component of a 21st-century HR department is the integration of suitably advanced technologies, as we’ve mentioned a few times already. That’s why an unmissable aspect of employing HR modernization is to start using cutting-edge tech.
You’ll want to regularly check each item in your stack to ensure they’re all still useful, up to date, and the best fit for your company. Plus, tools need to be useful for everyone so your workforce stays engaged as a whole.
3. Focus on company culture
Your HR department should be instrumental in creating an inclusive, welcoming environment where everyone can thrive – which should be reflected in the company culture.
To take your HR transformation to the next level, invest time and energy into updating your company culture. For example, you might have the HR team host workshops, seminars, classes, or other group activities to boost awareness and foster understanding. This creates a more informed, consciously unbiased culture on the whole.
4. Consider employees’ perspective
As mentioned, HR teams balance the company’s and its employees’ needs. They can do this much more effectively when they can ‘walk a mile in the employees’ shoes,’ so to speak.
A great way of doing this is to create a freely accessible feedback portal or comment box. You can also host surveys to gauge employees’ thoughts and feelings on topics like flexible work. This can easily lead to transformations in the workplace environment that begin with modernizing your HR department’s approach.
5. Address your weaknesses
In the same way, if you want to focus on patching your software’s vulnerabilities and exposures during an update, it’s a great idea to work on your HR weaknesses as you undergo modernization.
Data will help you do this effectively. For example, let’s say your analytics show that your employees don’t trust the HR team with personal matters. You could then focus on creating meaningful connections between HR team members and employees from other departments, fostering a trusting environment where everyone is engaged and comfortable.
Challenges of HR Modernization
We can’t discuss the benefits of HR modernization without exploring the challenges. After all, this isn’t a silver bullet solution. If you have significant hurdles to overcome, simply updating to a new software or automating processes won’t solve all of your problems. What’s more, implementing new working methods will take time and buy-in from all stakeholders.
Let’s explore some of the main challenges you’re likely to face and ways to overcome them.
1. Choosing your tools:
It doesn’t matter whether you want to automate your payroll process, streamline onboarding, or implement a self-service portal for employees. Whatever system you choose needs to meet your needs.
It can be challenging to find HR tools with so many to choose from. It can be tempting to choose the cheapest option or one with the best, but marketing. You can then end up with a system that doesn’t provide the necessary solution.
Avoid this pitfall by doing your research. How easily will it integrate with other systems? Is it easy to use? Can the new software scale with your company?
2. Managing change
Change can be challenging for a workforce. Your employees are used to one way of working and comfortable using legacy systems, even if they are ineffective.
Employees may feel left out of the decision-making process when transitioning to a new way of work or be frustrated with changes. They may even feel confused or worried about technology taking away some of their responsibilities.
As part of the transition, consider how employees will respond to new ways of working and find ways to engage them in the process. Can you use their input to decide on modernization? Do they understand why legacy systems are being modernized and how they will benefit them?
3. Training staff
Choosing shiny new software or updating manual processes is one thing. But many companies fail to train staff in these new working methods properly. If you don’t take time to teach staff how to follow new procedures or use new technology, your HR modernization efforts won’t be very effective.
Ask yourself which staff will be affected by the changes. What training do they need to use new software effectively? Do they need additional tools or resources?
It’s important to be ready for anything the future has to offer. Your employees need to know they can count on your HR department to support them appropriately because this is a major part of what helps employee engagement improve consistently.
That’s why HR modernization is so crucial.
As we’ve discussed, there are plenty of components to the broad topic of HR modernization. The most important thing to remember about these is that your updates must suit your company’s and your employee’s needs. By centering those needs, you can ensure your modernization is sustainable and beneficial.
What steps have you taken to adopt new digital tools to help HR improve employee engagement in the workplace? Let us know on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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