An organisational transformation can be quite complicated and take many years to accomplish. Finding the right balance of change effectiveness and impact is tricky but essential to successful transformations. The first question many organisations ask is, “where do we start?”
The easy targets are the money-makers and customer-facing departments of the organisation, such as sales and customer success. Sure, these departments clearly impact customer satisfaction and the bottom line. But at the core of every employee at an organisation, regardless of department, is their experience at work. HR is a big contributor, along with managers and leaders, in shaping these experiences.
Because a positive employee experience contributes to better business results, it makes sense to begin any organisational transformation with HR. HR leaders bring innovation into their organisation and shape the future of the workplace by attracting, developing, and retaining the right people in the right roles.
Where to begin an HR transformation
An HR transformation can mean a lot of different things because HR teams cover so many facets of the business. From talent management, to learning and development, to payroll, and everything in between, HR has a lot of ground to cover.
All-encompassing in every HR role, though, is providing great service and positive experiences to employees. Because every HR role deals with some element of providing employee service, it’s a perfect place to start making an impact.
Transforming the service that HR teams deliver to their employees—HR Service Delivery—means completely changing how employees interact with HR in a manner that improves both the employee experience and HR efficiencies. This all begins with evaluating where service delivery currently stands at your organisation and establishing the goals a transformation initiative should achieve.
Here are a few ways in which transforming HR Service Delivery can make an impact.
1. Improve the relationship between employees & HR
Without changing any established technology, an HR Service Delivery solution can transform how your employees interact with HR today. HR service delivery solutions feed off information HR teams already have in their other HR systems, like the HRIS or payroll system.
Using this data, HR can begin personalising experiences for each employee in ways never before possible. These personalised experiences enhance employees’ perceptions of HR and improve their satisfaction.
2. Meet the demands of employees today
Workforces are evolving every day. We’ve seen a shift to accommodate more freelance and remote workers in recent years, and catering to millennials was a huge trend not too long ago. They will soon be old news, though, as Gen Zers begin to take over the workforce. All of these generational changes have affected the way business is conducted.
Unfortunately, what hasn’t changed much is how HR serves employees. In many organisations, employees are still stuck calling HR or emailing generic inboxes when they have questions or want to provide feedback. When compared to on-demand, mobile-friendly consumer experiences, these outdated HR practices fall short.
HR Service Delivery solutions explicitly address the needs of today’s workforce by providing 24/7 access to HR for policy information, requests, or questions, all from their devices of choice. Even better, employee requests and questions are directed to the right person in HR so they can be addressed and resolved faster while giving employees complete visibility into the process. That means employees can request maternity leave from their home, then get back to binging The Office on Netflix all from the same device, whenever and wherever they need help. This is futuristic HR!
3. Improve your employer brand
Implementing an HR Service Delivery solution helps teams to retain today’s employees and attract the workforce of tomorrow, as well. Creating an organisation that supports employees’ needs helps establish a positive employer brand. People want to work for and seek organisations with great brands.
According to a study from Software Advice, almost half of all surveyed job seekers used Glassdoor at some point in their job search, and a majority of the time, that happens before they even consider applying for jobs. Poor online reviews deter people from even considering your organisation as a future employer.
Employer branding involves the work of many different functions within HR, and those in service delivery have the important role of preventing employee frustration by handling requests, questions, and feedback quickly and effectively. HR Service Delivery technology helps HR to do just that. Employees who are empowered with knowledge and who feel taken care of have better impressions of their company and work more efficiently.
4. Build your foundation
HR Service Delivery technology not only provides a way for HR to serve employees, it also helps them to improve HR processes and programs. This is all thanks to advanced analytics that provide insights that are unavailable in other HR systems.
What are the top five most frequently asked questions from your employees? How long does it take your HR representatives to answer employee questions? Are you missing crucial employment documents? It can be hard for HR teams to answer questions like these, and without answers to these questions, it’s even harder to adjust processes and make improvements that positively impact your organisation.
Because case management and file management capabilities are built into HR Service Delivery solutions, your team can evaluate processes, bottlenecks, and employee feedback. When you can use data to understand your employees’ questions, requests, and needs, you can improve HR processes to better serve the organisation.
Quick wins, big gains
One of the greatest ways to make an impact at your organisation today is to implement an HR Service Delivery solution. Yes, it will improve your employees’ relationships with HR and it will help you to improve operations. But, the biggest differentiator with this technology is that it can be up and running in no time compared to other HR technology implementations. This means quick wins and big gains for your organisation.
Implementing a new ATS or HRIS, for example, can take some companies years to accomplish. Meanwhile, HR teams are left holding their breath hoping this huge investment will pay off. You can't afford to wait so long to show the first results of your transformation. In a matter of weeks, HR Service Delivery solutions can be implemented and teams can learn the technology. This will help to demonstrate early success and keep the excitement of the HR transformation alive!