Introduction:
A conference dedicated to Human Resources
Technology was recently held by the Australian equivalent of HRINZ
(AHRI) in Melbourne, Australia. Simon Oldham, International &
Corporate Business Development Manager for QJumpers, attended the
conference and summarises the main discussion points from a New
Zealand point of view.
The key focus of the conference was around the Human Resources
team taking control of HR technology system buying decisions,
cloud based software and social media in businesses. There
were various angles to these topics and I will discuss a few of
them here.
HR taking control of HR technology decisions
There was a general mood of frustration amongst
the speakers and attendees at the conference over the increasing
influence the ICT team has over which Human Resource system to
purchase and implement.
Due to the relatively larger size of Australian businesses to NZ,
there is a greater need to automate and streamline as many Human
Resource processes as possible. The most common module types
being incorporated into HR systems in Australia are:
- Recruitment Management
- Applicant Management
- On-boarding
- Payroll
- Performance management
- Remuneration and benefits
- Learning and development
- Psychometric Profiling
The key issue was how a provider of an HR system
was evaluated and selected. Insights from Australian
organisations showed that the ICT department tended to focus on
ease of implementation rather than fit for purpose. Usability
also appeared to take a back seat to ease of implementation for the
ICT team. This frequently resulted in the purchase of an
off-the-shelf; one size fits all HR system from one supplier
covering all modules rather than an integrated, modular, best in
class solution from the a variety of providers.
To the best of my knowledge, a single supplier
cannot provide the best of all of the different modules needed in
an Human Resources system. Technological integration is an
essential requirement for all HR modular system providers, and
leading providers expect to build this into their service
provision. So why would you even consider settling for
average solutions across all modules when you can get the best for
each?
David Guazzarotto from Future Knowledge suggested that "these are
business initiatives with an IT component. Kill the IT
focus". Thankfully in NZ, HR teams appear to be still leading
the technology decisions relating to their department. Let's
keep it that way!
Cloud based technology
Australian HR professionals are now generally very
supportive of cloud based technology systems. New Zealand
seems to be a little way behind in this respect.
Various speakers acknowledged the security
issues involved in cloud based technology but as long as the data
is stored in a first world country with a reputable supplier, the
advantages significantly outweigh the risks. Some of the key
advantages are as follows:
- Mobility - login from anywhere on any device
- End of upgrades - continuous releases so no down time and
always have the latest version
- Less reliance on your own IT team
- Less hard drive storage space required
- System changes are generally much faster than waiting on your
own IT department or the supplier to fix them on site
- Costs are generally lower
- Easier and faster to install across multiple sites and
countries
Most suppliers who were exhibiting at the conference had cloud
based options.
The use of Social Media in business
Social media use for business purposes in
Australia seems to be on a par with New Zealand. A surprising
statistic quoted was that 5 of the top 10 largest Australian
corporates have banned social media use completely as they are
afraid of productivity losses through inappropriate use. I
guess they forget that nearly 50% of Australians own a smart phone
and they do not need the work computer to access social
networks. The star studded panel on social media also pointed
out that if an employee doesn't want to be productive, they will
find other ways of wasting time.
Peter Williams, CEO of Deloitte Digital went on to
say that social media can in fact be used to increase productivity
and reduce staff turnover. Deloitte Australia implemented
Yammer, a social media platform similar to Facebook but only for
use in-house. They found that internal issues were raised
more openly through Yammer and they could be dealt with quickly and
promptly. Before Yammer, issues were more commonly raised
behind peoples' backs and this created bad staff morale.
Staff turnover reduced from more than 10% to 2% for the people who
actively participated on Yammer at Deloitte Australia.
Participation on Yammer also taught their staff how to communicate
appropriately on social media platforms. Now they can
actively participate on their corporate Facebook page, which
assists the company in attracting candidates who will fit into
their company culture.
Australian HR professionals are still generally
cautious and uncertain about how to approach recruitment from the
likes of Facebook and Twitter - just like here in New
Zealand. LinkedIn is the most common social media platform
used by HR professionals in Australia. A show of hands
indicated that around 80% of the conference audience has LinkedIn
profiles. It is also the social recruitment platform of
choice, as it is easier to see the connection between using
LinkedIn and finding the appropriate people as opposed to the brand
attraction model that Facebook relies so heavily on.