SHRM-Atlanta

By: Harold G. Ford III, SPHR

As we look at Human Resources disciplines in 2013, there are many significant HR technology trends returning to the forefront. Over the past five years, many HR budgets were slashed in great proportions, with training and technology leading those cuts. But in 2012, we saw that trend shift, as a Towers Watson survey reported a strong and increased level of HR technology spending. More and more companies looked to leverage the HR department through technology. This trend will continue in 2013, with three major HR Technology trends at the forefront.

Talent Management continues to be the top HR service delivery issue in organizations. With online tools, social media, and Software-as-a-Service applications on the rise, companies are evaluating Talent Management systems at a rapid pace. Because of this HR need, Talent Management systems are plentiful in number, and most are still silo applications that are difficult to integrate with core HR Management Systems (HRMS). In 2013, these systems will get more flexible, and integration and other challenges attributed to these systems will be decreased. Talent Management applications will also increase the strategic value of HR in a company, allowing HR to contribute to long term talent issues for an organization. Organizations will utilize these systems to tie employee goals and objectives, link goals to performance measures, and integrate measurements to long term business strategy.

In addition to getting strategic through talent management, HR will leverage their HRMS to generate meaningful business analytics on their human capital. Workforce analytics are an imperative part of HR technology, and are an integral component in corporate-wide decision-making. HR must meet the demands of their organization by delivering analytics that can be integrated with other key corporate data in order to predict workforce demands for the future. HR departments must also be able to sift through the ever increasing amounts of Big Data in the organization to transform it into valuable information and business intelligence. In 2013, organizations will harness the power of their HRMS via robust reports, dashboards, and business alerts in order to meet this demand.

As mentioned in the other trends, integration with other data in the corporation is critical to HR technology needs. HRMS must integrate with a plethora of applications, including talent management, accounting systems, and CRM in order to provide valuable metrics and insight. Data integration is intricate and complex, and does not only involve on-premise solutions. With the introduction of other trends in HR technology, including cloud-based systems, social networking, and workforce mobility, integration has become even more complicated.  Ultimately, each of these systems must work together to provide the organization with relevant, worthwhile information. These systems must also synchronize in order to manage the quality of employee data.

In conclusion, these trends will increase the visibility of HR technology in a company, and will fundamentally change the way HR works in an organization. Companies will be challenged to meet these trends, but will benefit greatly by adapting to these changes.

Don’t forget to visit Dresser & Associates at  the 2013 SHRM-Atlanta HR Conference booth #204 to enter for a chance to win an iPad Mini. You can also obtain a free copy of the Health Care Reform Checklist. 

Harold G. Ford III, SPHR, is the Regional HRMS Manager for Dresser & Associates. For the past twenty years, Harold has helped HR and Payroll teams build strategic value in their organization utilizing today’s technology.

Most companies today appreciate the benefit of outsourcing and automating Payroll and HR functions.  They partner with companies that provide specialized services and solutions in those areas in order to:

• Reduce costs
• Expedite processing
• Enhance accuracy
• Mitigate the risk of non-compliance
• Increase employee satisfaction with reliable payouts
• Ensure that taxes are paid correctly and on-time

These are just some of the reasons why companies choose to partner with a payroll provider.  They see the benefits and they want to leverage that expertise and protection to their best business advantage.

That’s all well and good.  But is Payroll the only consideration?  What about Time and Attendance (also known as Time and Labor Management – TLM)?

Historically, TLM took a back seat to Payroll.  Payroll was seen as the “must-have” service, while TLM was typically relegated to a “nice-to-have” service status.  That trend was partly due to the Payroll providers who sell and provide payroll.  From their point of view, Time and Labor is an “add-on”; it is not their core business or focus.

But in fact TLM is a foundational sub-set of Payroll.  The two services go hand-in-hand, each one feeding information to the other.  And because of that, companies are now realizing that if they take their automated Payroll and HR system and feed it with either a manual process or an outdated TLM solution, they are certain to encounter problems such as:

• A lack of seamless integration
• No checks and balances for DOL compliance and internal policies
• A slowed Payroll process of gathering, compiling and calculating data
• Inability to capture historical data
• PTO requests and the related tracking and approvals are often manual, tedious and error prone
• No simplified scheduling tool to integrate with time sheets or Payroll
• Lack of visibility between locations; failure to take advantage of Cloud technology

So with all of these challenges and limitations looming, your automated (and expensive) Payroll solution can become bogged down, inefficient and less accurate.  It stands to reason that if you are automating only one side of the equation (and not the other), you are likely losing money!  The rationale for partnering with a Payroll company stands true for Time and Labor as well.  You need to manage one of your biggest expenses: your people.

TLM delivers the best return on your investment when it is integrated with Payroll and/or HR, not as an add-on, but rather from the ground up, built to manage and track your people’s time.

The two processes work together seamlessly, and it is an affordable and preemptive strategy that keeps the DOL out of the picture so that your business can be more focused on growth, profitability and scalability.

Not only does TLM eliminate most problems on the front end, but it also serves as an amazing tool to handle anything from an employee inquiry, to a Union dispute or a full-on DOL audit.  Imagine having anyone’s punch data, from any time frame, with a full audit trail at your fingertips, without ever leaving your desk.

Now imagine if you could do that in a minute or less?!

So rather than asking “Why Time & Attendance”, I urge you to consider the more obvious question, “Why not?”  Why wouldn’t you integrate TLM solution alongside Payroll?

The truth is, you would be foolish not to…

To speak with a TLM Consultant or to learn more about SaaSTime and their comprehensive TLM solutions, be sure to visit booth number 236 in the Resource Partner Showcase at SHRM-Atlanta’s Annual Conference March 13 &14 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA.

David Nixon is a Workforce Management Sales Consultant with SaaSTime.  He has spent the past 16 years in the Payroll outsourcing world.  Half of that time was spent as implementation specialist and support specialist for 200+ companies, and the last 8 years have been spent as a Workforce Management Sales Consultant, helping companies cut costs, streamlining internal processes and staying in compliance with the Dept of Labor.  David was formerly a top producer at ADP, a Solutions Engineer and Subject Matter Expert at Perquest, and is now the Sales Consultant for the SaaSTime WFM product line.

The HR organization is often one of the last to enthusiastically embrace new technology in any enterprise.  The adoption of many technologies is often predicated on improved efficiency (normally read as “doing more with less”), and is often perceived as corporate code for downsizing.  With a bit of planning and strategic thinking, however, the enthusiastic adoption of technology could mean that HR in general, and recruiting specifically, can play much more valuable and strategic role in the organization.

While some HR technologies, such as those that improve record-keeping and benefits administration – long considered millstones around the collective necks of HR professionals – are earnestly adopted; others are viewed a bit more suspiciously.  Many technologies that are sold to increase efficiency of the HR organization are viewed as a means for technology to take the place of valuable – and wage-earning – humans.  By understanding what technology can, and equally important can’t do, users can position themselves as being indispensable in the face of such change.

By way of illustration, a large, well-known telecommunications company recently decided to try a virtual interviewing technology as a way to increase the number of the candidates in the hiring funnel and to decrease the time-to-fill.  When the recruiting staff was first introduced to the application, there was some natural resistance.  Their thinking was “any technology that helps improve efficiency means that one or more of us will be deemed surplus and will be let go.”  But, instead of digging in their heels, the recruiting staff decided to find out as much as they could about this technology and how it could help them increase their importance and value to the organization.

They soon found that the new virtual interview application recorded each applicant’s interview, allowed the recruiters to assign scores to each recording and add their own notes directly in-line with the interview itself.  They also discovered that they could send these to hiring managers and other stakeholders for their review and feedback.  Pretty soon, the recruiters discovered that this technology could be used to enhance their jobs and make them more valuable to the organization.  After all, the virtual interviewing technology couldn’t make decisions about candidates – it could only capture interviews more quickly and present them in an organized, consistent fashion so the recruiters could add their value more efficiently.

The introduction of this new technology merely acted as a catalyst that enabled the recruiters to become more trusted strategic partners to their stakeholders – the hiring managers in the company.  Recruiters were able to collaborate on a level that was not possible with their previous methods.  They now proactively share candidate interviews, and the recruiters’ evaluation of them, with hiring managers to help ensure they are on the same page.  As a result, hiring managers, spend less time on marginal candidates, thereby improving their effectiveness.  The bond between recruiters and their stakeholders has grown stronger as well.

The recruiters have even taken it upon themselves to review a small subset of interviews together to ensure each of them evaluate candidates in a consistent, predictable manner.  The hiring managers who count on the recruiters to send them high-quality, well-qualified candidates have enthusiastically endorsed these “calibration” sessions.

While many view the adoption of new technology with fear, uncertainty and dread, others enthusiastically embrace it as a means to increase their personal and professional value to the organizations they serve.  Those who do often find themselves to be indispensible and well-positioned for increased responsibility and recognition.

Be sure to visit HireIQ Solutions in the Resource Partner Showcase at SHRM-Atlanta’s Annual Conference March 13 &14 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA!

Kevin Hegebarth is Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for HireIQ Solutions, Inc.  He is a frequent contributor to industry publications and has spoken at numerous industry events on the topics of workforce acquisition and optimization, the role of social media in customer service, and innovative human capital management strategies. He is an AIPMM certified product manager and is a co-inventor on two U.S. patents.