The ongoing evolution of Technology and its impact on HR.
Society has witnessed a surge of technological advancements and innovations in the last century across all industries. The world baby boomers and millennials were born into is now starkly different from the world that exists today. Computers came onto the
scene in the 1950s and in infiltrated the workplace by the 80s & 90s making tedious workplace tasks much more efficient. Unless they were being intentionally ironic, we would be hard pressed to find a company today that didn’t have computers because this has now become our baseline. It’s hard to envision, but even email as a widespread tool only began its emergence in the 1990s!
Technology is here to stay and has opened the door to the creation of various innovative services to fill the gaps that have organically occurred when companies started migrating from paper to computers. Peoplesoft was the first HR system and is a relational database built on SQL that could only be accessed if the program were installed on your computer. Fast forward to today and we have cloud based SAAS HCM solutions like Workday that manage the entire lifecycle of an employee. Now, with recruiting, onboarding, cross-boarding, talent management, compensation & benefits and off boarding data “living” in the same system, companies are unlocking and discovering the unimagined insights this data holds.
What is Human Capital Analytics or People Analytics?
The term human capital, coined centuries ago, became popular in the 60s and is used to describe the mixture of skills, knowledge, experience, habits and personality in each of us that can be put to productive use as described in the article, What Is Human Capital? Everything You Need to Know. So then, what is Human Capital Analytics? Our friends over at SHRM describe it as understanding the power of human capital to transform businesses by applying simple logic, and not just numbers (“Human Capital Analytics – Foundation Level Workshop,” 2017). In other words, Human Capital Analytics, is how organizations attain valuable insights from areas like employee engagement, talent management and organization network analysis, to drive change and streamline processes. Human Capital Analytics, along with technology has advanced rapidly as organizations clamor for sophisticated cloud-based solutions to optimize HR in an efficient and consistent manner.
Human Capital Analytics is quickly becoming the foundation on which HR stands as the interactions of various functions within HR provide the powerhouse of data that analytics and insights are derived from. One can easily predict that in years to come HR & Human Capital Analytics or People Analytics will be so intertwined that it would be hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. The symbiotic relationship makes way for organizations to quickly & firmly make important decisions without delay
The Future of HR and Technology
HR is now experiencing another transformative phase based on the prioritization of employee well-being, cultural shifts in societal norms & future of work accommodations. This has sparked a burst of innovation that ultimately aims at taking HR Technology to the next level, with human capital at the forefront. We can expect to see innovative approaches that solve preexisting problem areas within organizations and even bridge gaps we may have been unaware of. As predicted in this HR Technology trends article, here are the key areas where we can expect to see the most innovation:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Blockchain integration
- Decentralized HR evolving new management skills
- Digital learning, training, & development
- Technology that elevates hybrid working
- Compliance with the D&I, DEI, and DEI&B
- Tech developing for the well-being of employees
The above items are quickly becoming the new baseline and companies that are still using older software to manage their HR function will quickly realize that they are no longer attracting or retaining top talent. Quite a few small & mid-sized companies need to turn their focus to first modernizing their HCM approach and secondly leveraging their HR tools to optimize their workforce’s talent. Larger organizations are already ahead of the curve and are snatching up valuable human capital resources.
To give an example of the types of innovation witnessed thus far, the company Polinode hits almost all the points above, performing organization network analysis (ONA) by using artificial intelligence & machine learning, a sophisticated approach to analyzing the networking relationships of a company’s human capital. Using the insights uncovered, companies can identify influencers, uncover hidden talent, update succession planning and analyze how the uncovered relationships impact DEI. Once companies like Polinode provide such valuable insights, it is of course up to the organization to leverage the data and take action in a manner that is best aligned with the company’s overarching goals.
What can companies do to step into the future of HR?
Companies that want their HR function to have a more strategic role, firstly would need to reevaluate and likely update their HR tools. Workday, a cloud-based software, is way ahead of the curve on most of the HR Technology trends right out of the box, although it can be customized to suit your specific business need. Implementing new software can be daunting but is still the next best step and luckily there are existing solutions like Evolution Cloud Services (EVOCS), a Workday partner firm, that will do the heavy lifting for you. Their consultants have worked across various types of industries and will come in to assess your HR Technology needs from expert eyes, making the implementation process significantly smoother.
Immediately after implementation, Workday will demonstrate its tremendous value by streamlining processes, housing and protecting sensitive data while delivering unique and valuable insights across all modules. Recruiting, Onboarding, Crossboarding, Talent & Performance, Compensation & Benefits, Time-off & Absence, Payroll, Inventory, Finance, Payroll, and Offboarding used to be housed in different software, relying on clunky integrations to pass data along. Workday can eliminate the need for most of those integrations and allow your workforce to reduce the focus of tactical work and turn their attention to aligning to the strategic goals of the company
Taking action to keep all employee data in one system as the core base that other functions like Finance, Sales, and Talent can easily be tracked and tied back to can have transformative effects that are unimaginable. Trends that were previously hidden, will be center stage and although organizations may find shocking truths that aren’t easy to ignore, they will have the powerful insights that the data has uncovered via reporting and analytics.
Overall, Human Capital Analytics will not only transform HR, but it will also leverage technology to affect change and have a positive impact on the world around us by putting humans first. Once companies do their due diligence to perform the updates based on the powerful insights their cleansed data provides, they will be closer to achieving at the very minimum, true work life balance, by supporting & and uplifting their human capital. Truly making technology work for us.
How can Workday help companies optimize talent?
At its core, Workday, the organization, has unlimited vision with a strong customer focus that helps them stay on trend. As we’ve discussed, technology’s role in the advancement of HR tools is undeniable and Workday’s success in this area is clear evidence of the possibilities. With COVID19 pulling back the curtain on the vulnerabilities of various supply chains and showing that companies are only as strong as their workforce, there has been a culture shift to focus on employee well-being and retention has become a top priority. Workday gives organizations the ability to empower their workforce to take control of their careers.
The Workday Talent module holds tremendous value and isn’t just the usual run of the mill Performance tracking functionality that HR has come to rely on. Workday is even currently working on functionality where their employee survey feedback tool, Peakon, can be leveraged in conjunction with Performance to check the employee’s pulse in relation to how they were doing in their role.
More importantly, there has been a push to upskill today’s workforce in an attempt to be ready for the next inevitable wave of technological advancements. Workday’s Talent suite includes Succession Planning, Performance, Gigs, Career Hub, Talent Marketplace, Skills and Skills Cloud and Talent features like certification tracking and education history. Workday Talent is also intertwined with other functionality and has touchpoints like Recruiting & Learning which together makes it manageable for both HR and workers to focus on closing the skills gap and increasing employee retention. Workday helps employers position themselves as leaders that care about their employee’s growth and career path.
Workday Skills and the more powerful Skills Cloud, leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning that is the foundation for much of the functionality that companies will find valuable. Skills are extracted from the employee’s resume at the very beginning
of their lifecycle and from there, based on how the organization has decided to configure and leverage Workday, the possibilities are endless. As the employee continues along their career, artificial intelligence & machine learning, suggests learning paths based on what it perceives the direction of their career to be.
There can also be the option for employees’ Skills to be rated and evaluated by peers or managers, making the suggestions of the algorithm even more accurate. Organizations like Uber, Lyft, Doordash and Instacart who have made a name for themselves by innovating existing industries, paved the way and legitimized the gig economy.
While there are still some kinks to work out there, Workday also gives companies the ability to internally leverage the Gig functionality. This is yet another way that they are staying ahead of the curve where AI & ML can analyze an employee’s skills, assess any skills gap, then suggest learning paths and potential gigs that will take their career to the next level. Workday’s tremendous value as an analytical tool can even be assessed with Workday VIBE Central (Value, Inclusion, Belonging and Equity), by offering dashboards and reports in the Talent Module right out of the box. Workday VIBE Central, as the company describes, can help organizations evaluate where they stand on belonging and diversity, measure the outcomes achieved and identify opportunities to change.
While Workday delivered reports can be hit or miss when matched up against the wants and needs of the customer, the Workday VIBE Central functionality is evidence of the powerful type of reporting and analytics the tool provides and is capable of. This type of forward thinking is what places Workday at the top tier of its industry. Customers can truly take on areas like DEI and review actionable insights to ensure they are aligned to their organization’s overall strategy.
Where does EVOCS come in?
Our customers can depend on us to be Workday experts, and no matter the scope of their needs, Evolution Cloud Services can help with their HR Technology journey. Whether your company needs to begin their migration from dated relational database HR
software, already implemented Workday and need to add on additional functionality, or maybe you’ve even tried out another cloud-based HR technology solution that fell short, EVOCS is your answer. We focus on helping companies design and configure HR Technology processes within Workday in a tailored approach to your company’s needs & wants. The possibilities within Workday are endless and having a strong partner like EVOCS will be instrumental to your company’s success. Selecting a Workday partner firm is a very important step in your implementation journey of a best-in-class solution, and EVOCS is the most obvious answer in terms of skill set, expertise, efficiency and reliability.