In case you missed it, in early February, sa.global collaborated with Microsoft Finland and our brilliant client Karo Healthcare on a webinar, looking at how fundamental employee experience is going to be to HR tech in 2023.
If you want to see the only time I’ll ever get Finnish rock sensations Lordi into a professional presentation, you can watch the recording here.
But if you want the TL;DR version (without the references to Eurovision and Spanish football), look no further.
The fact is – in 2023 HR departments are riding a wave of pandemic influence. We’ve shown we have the skills to facilitate change within all businesses. But at the same time, we’re still working with a handicap. Our tech is out of date, creates silos, isn’t always easy to work with, and has created an unenviable user experience.
A lot of HR teams are looking for change, and because of the ongoing uncertainty in the world, there’s more scrutiny on budgets than there’s been for a long time.
So, it’s time for a reality check.
The ‘one ring to rule them all’ that you’re looking for? Does. Not. Exist.
There’s too much variation between businesses for any single vendor to perfectly fit any of them. The sooner we all accept that and move on, the better. We now need to put our energies into focusing on the things that really matter. Here are the things that I think you need to focus on in 2023.
1: Define your data strategy
I speak to so many businesses who are still focused on creating list reports. I know those are important. But what’s the point in capturing all this data if all you ever do is dump it into Excel? Accept that you’re going to have silos of data and you need to find a way to work with them.
Solutions like Power BI can be the answer here. It’s not as difficult as you might think it is to pull these data sources together to generate answers to the questions you’ve always had. If you don’t have the skills in house, there are plenty of partners out there who can help. You can start this one now. Drop us a line for a chat.
2: Get serious about employee experience
Make a list of the moments that matter. What are the key points in the employee lifecycle that you know you need to get right? You can probably do this on the back of an envelope in about five minutes. Then look at how your tech plays to those key moments. Is it making it as easy as possible, or is it creating a nightmare? Are there any common denominators in those scenarios that are causing problems? Do you have interface issues? Are some of your systems harder to use than others? That will give you a priority list to work on.
3: Recognize that you don’t need to fix everything all at once and act accordingly
Whether it’s budgets, or appetites for change, there’s always a reason to delay those big change projects. But you don’t have to do this all at once. To some extent, it can help to begin with the end in mind, but that doesn’t always mean that you need to solve every single problem before you’ve even started. You just need to know what the problems are and what your overarching principles are in finding a solution.
4: Be prepared to commit
We meet clients where they are and offer a service that adapts to how much time they’re able to give us. But the ones who are most successful, who get the most out of the investment, are the ones who seize the opportunity, and are willing to commit time and energy to get things right. Karo Healthcare wanted to automate as many of their processes as possible; so they engaged an automation lead and assigned him to their project. That decision is now paying dividends.
sa.global provides the tools and some guidance. The HR team provides the inspiration (the to-do list!). The automation lead provides the time and expertise to get things done. It’s a three-way marriage made in heaven.
5: Adapt and be flexible
This one is a bit of a personal opinion, but I firmly believe that technology is moving too fast these days for two-year projects to really deliver on expectations. Realistically, the most important thing is to start with an end goal in mind in terms of the principals you want to adhere to, and what your priorities are. Then break things down into smaller chunks. At the end of each chunk of work, reassess your priorities, and reassess your plan. Are we still making the right technical decisions? Be willing to adapt if not.
If you’re interested to find out how sa.global and Microsoft can help to guide your HRIS strategy, start by watching the webinar and then drop us a line.
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