Interplay between Technology and HR

Technology is not only changing the way we work, think and interact, but also the way we live. It is so encompassing. Technology interface is dictating the way we communicate and interact in our lives and at our workplaces.

At the workplace, technology is considered to be the key to growth and progression. However, we also have another very important element of growth which is employer-employee ‘happy’ quotient. It is imperative for an organisation’s Human Resources (HR) to position technology strategically to extract more value through each of their business processes. Creating a strong brand identity by attracting brilliant and tech-savvy talent is crucial to any organisations’ success, and HR plays a pivotal role of factoring in technology interplay in building the brand and its employee competitiveness.

Eventually what we see is that, there are numerous tasks and processes being bucketed under the vast umbrella of HR. At this time, technology seems to be playing a bigger role leading to a few growing trends which are disruptive in nature; but are impacting organisations positively. Below are few trends to watch out for:

Technology changing workplace etiquettes:Workplace etiquettes are changing, catalyzed by the evolving face of global technology trends. One of the most decisive trends has been that employees are not boxed in by the traditional ‘workplace’ and ‘work time’ fundamental. The 9 to 5 worktime no longer exists. Flexi-time is the buzzword.  Employees are not restricted to the conventional 9-5 working setup anymore. With internet technology and cloud-based environment, physical presence in the office campus is no longer essential.  With the cloud environment and connectivity on the go, teams are connecting from any location, and are flexible with their work timings as well. The new age organisations are trying to enable this flexibility for all their employees across the globe. With the availability of high bandwidth portable internet devices, smartphones, tablets, data cards and what-have-you, work happens anywhere and anytime, without any hindrance. 

Pre- assessment tools for potential hires: Thanks to technology, organizations are now able to easily extract information about a potential hire’s candidature, personality and psychology. This is helping organizations to cut down costs of hiring, and most importantly helping them to quickly identify the best suitable talent.

Online pre-assessment tools enable employee screening, and pre-hire testing, giving HR the power to measure, interpret, and improve potential employees at a fraction of the overall hiring expense. These tools generally comprise of multi-competency analysis of prospects, providing a complete picture of their abilities and skills to the hiring managers and HR. Although these tools are not yet at a stage where they can fulfil every HR requirements; they are gradually getting there and it won’t be long when these tools will have the ability to provide exact and perfect matches based on a list of extensive requirements.

Social recruiting is another trend that is creating a new buzz in the HR arena. According to Jobvit’s Recruiting Survey 2014, 73% of recruiters have hired a candidate through social media, and 93% of recruiters review a candidate’s social profile before making a hiring decision. Social networks are playing a vital role in HR hiring, because it not only provides quality and quantity of candidates, but it has also improved the time to hire.

Mobile application, a new HR platform: With more than 2.1 billion smartphone users around the world, HR has already started looking at how to use smartphone technology to build and enhance the HR practices.  With new breed of pulse tools, feedback apps and other social media networking tools taking over, the traditional engagement and feedback systems will soon become outdated.

Cloud technology in HR management systems: When we talk about the possibilities of cloud computing, the sky is the limit. With its unbound prospects, cloud based HRMS is expanding beyond the old and personnel record management systems. These systems are scalable and cost effective, and have the ability to support the functioning of practices within an organization throughout their lifecycle. Additionally, this also permits the HR personnel to conduct extensive predictive scrutiny by understanding the present scenarios and delivering new perception to people management.

Technology for online trainings and certifications: The requirement to be physically present at the training venue, comprehensive pre-planning and coordination with very limited flexibility, makes the traditional class room training obsolete. Moreover, classroom trainings do not provide any means to capture the assessment or learnings from the sessions in a format that can be readily used for reference at a later stage. Online trainings, however can be seen as a saviour in these scenarios. Online training systems are generally self- service ascendable tools to centralise and automate learning. They enable use and reuse of knowledge and boost complete flexibility in terms of attendance and delivery of trainings. These systems are immensely helping HR to assess the need and effectiveness of various training programmes for their employees and understand the knowledge and skill gap in their employees.

In a nutshell, these are exciting times for people working in the HR field, and HR personnel are cued into this trend. With these HR practises, organisational strategies will be strengthened and be in sync with modern trends.

(The author is Senior Vice President and India Head — Talent Management, VirtusaPolaris)