The business world is experiencing seismic challenges and change — and this is creating risk everywhere. Organisations today are facing three major challenges. Firstly, regional conflicts and global politics are fuelling uncertain trading conditions and supply chain disruption. Secondly, there is a scarcity of talent, made more difficult by historically low unemployment rates. And finally, post-pandemic workers have emerged with different expectations — greater flexibility, a need for higher purpose, and expectation of trust and transparency from their employers.
As senior leaders tackle these issues, they face a big ask. How can they simultaneously adapt their workplace to be fit for the future, align customer, business and people needs more effectively and foster a culture of greater trust, inclusion and transparency? Challenges can be met — but only if they address a major internal problem that’s affecting many organisations.
The Challenge lying within Every Business
To meet the above challenges, businesses must start by tackling an issue that restricts performance, namely the ongoing tension between Operations and HR teams on how to drive operational performance whilst, at the same time, delivering a positive employee experience.
Let me explain…
To help drive cost control and productivity, most of the time companies will implement new operational systems, such as workforce management systems that include demand forecasting, labour scheduling and time and attendance. And, in pursuit of faster hiring and delivering a better employee experience HR will implement new hiring systems and people processes. Solutions on both sides are implemented with the ‘best of intention’ but unfortunately their siloed approach and lack of consideration for the impact on individuals can counteract the expected benefits.
For example, if a new scheduling and time and attendance solution — which is designed to drive cost control, productivity and flexibility — does not consider the needs and preferences of employees during design and implementation, organisations can be left with unhappy staff and higher turnover. Likewise, if new hiring systems and processes do not consider the additional administrative burden they will impose on already stressed operations managers they too can result in a backlash causing poor user adoption.
According to Gallup, a scary low figure of just 14% of Europeans are engaged at work. Whether or not you question the accuracy of this data, most will agree that employee experience within companies is not in good shape. To meet today’s challenges and achieve targets it’s imperative that new technology and processes fully consider the impact on managers and employees.
The best of both worlds
At UKG, our customer case studies prove that it’s possible to make people feel valued while improving operational performance. With the right technology, organisations can set the best People Operation strategy, allowing them to:
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Adapt now to the workplace of the future with easy-to-own solutions that allow businesses to quickly flex their operating models and processes to meet the challenges in front of them, be they crises, disruptions or compliance issues.
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Align business objectives, customer demands and employee needs, to deliver a positive employee experience and meet financial goals.
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Foster a culture of trust, inclusion, and transparency to make your organisation an employer of choice to attract new talent and win loyalty from existing colleagues.
Through focusing on these three approaches, organisation can embrace a positive people experience and improve operational performance — making deeper human connections and gaining predictability and control over operations.
Challenges met
When organisations have the ability communicate better with their employees and empower them to take greater control of their personal life-work journey through technology, they can become an employer of choice — putting themselves in a strong position to recruit, retain and motivate their people.
The future for Business seems chaotic
For companies to thrive through forthcoming challenges, our experience shows they can’t keep doing what they did in the past. On average, up to 16 different HR systems are used within an organisation. These siloed and disconnected processes must be replaced with technology that gives employees one entry point to the tools and knowledge needed to simplify, clarify and humanise the people journey.
In this webinar, UKG Chief Product and Technology Officer, Hugo Sarrazin talks about how UKG People Operations helps organisations adapt to whatever challenges may lay ahead by improving their flexibility and agility to meet new challenges and engage their employees.
A disconnect between Operational Challenges and People Needs
There is an intrinsic link between happy employees and business performance. An engaged workforce is more productive, more flexible and more invested in the success of your organisation. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made fixing the operations vs people gap doubly hard, but it simply must be done.
As discussed in the Fosway 9-Grid Cloud HR™ September 2022 report, a next-generation People Operations solution offers the ability to not only align business with HR needs, but also transform HR administration into work execution. Using mobile-friendly experience layers, these solutions act as the primary channels for admin and allow managers and the workforce to interact effectively.
The intense battle to be an Employer of Choice
Over three-quarters (76%) of global workers have higher expectations for a prospective employer than they did three years ago. To meet these expectations, organisations need to foster a culture of transparency, inclusion and trust. And data proves being an employers of choice pay dividends for the employees and shareholders. Great Place to Work research shows that the best workplaces, on average, outperform the market by 2% — 3% a year, benefit from 40% more applications, and have higher levels of employee engagement from those already in a role.
Watch this webinar to learn how Brian Reaves, UKG EVP Chief Belonging, Diversity, and Equity Officer has helped Dell, SAP and now UKG drive positive DEI&B transformation — leading to bigger talent pools, better employee retention, a more skilled workforce and higher performance.
Bridging the People and Performance Divide
At UKG, we know that businesses who have the right technology that enables them to adapt to the workplace of the future, align customer demands, business objectives and their people needs, and foster a culture of trust, inclusion and transparency, will outperform their competitors. By automating processes and empowering your people will the knowledge, visibility and control to perform at their best, every day, you and your organisations can tackle whatever challenge may lay ahead.
