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Leveraging Your Digital Toolbox to Increase Employee Communication & Engagement

Documentation is one of the tenants of HR but that doesn't mean you should be drowning in a wasteland of paper to complete your onboarding, conduct benefits enrollments and manage your employee performance.

 While paper documents are still prevalent in many organizations today, digitization can be used to improve organization, documentation, employee communication and engagement, all while saving both time and money for employees and organization. 

Leaders are faced with navigating the complexities of adopting technology that meets the multifaceted needs of an organization. In fact, 88% of HR leaders say their organization needs to invest in three or more technologies in the next year. Understanding the technology available and how it can best be used is an important first step to using it to improve communication and engagement.

5 items for your HR Digital Toolbox:

  1. Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

    A HRIS is either a software or web solution that allows for, at minimum, the tracking and storage of employee information. A HRIS stores much of the information electronically that was formerly only found in employee files. While employee files are still important and necessary, implementation of a HRIS can allow for manipulation of the data to run reports and gather information, helping HR make more strategic decisions. These metrics are vital for the decision making that companies looking to grow will need. For many small companies, however, the question becomes, "when do I abandon my Excel or Access spreadsheets and move to a HRIS?" and "what can I expect from such a system?" The goal of adding a HRIS should be to make HR functions simpler and information and metrics easier to find and to use. The HRIS a company chooses to implement will be driven by achieving these goals.

  2. Employee Self Service (ESS)

    ESS gives employees and managers limited access to either the HRIS or a standalone system to record and update their own information – without having to ask the HR department to do it. Employees can update their address, complete new hire paperwork and complete annual benefits enrollment through self-service programs. Many ESS programs can also be integrated with both payroll and benefits, further increasing effectiveness and improving communication. Use of ESS has been shown to reduce errors in processing and to save employees and HR time to process information.

    Self-service portals can reduce the amount of time an HR professional spends answering administrative questions by 40%-60%.

  3. Intranet

    Communication has been shown to drive employee engagement. Using technology to enhance employee communication can be highly effective in improving employee communication and engagement. A company-wide intranet is one way to do this. The intranet can store information such as the company’s mission, values and goals while also storing logistical HR information such as links to benefits information or HR policies and Employee Handbooks. The company intranet is not meant to replace all communication but should be used to enhance communication and house archived information.

    The average office worker receives 121 emails per day. Employees connected to a company intranet experience 20-25% more efficiency in their day by eliminating time spent sifting through emails.

  4. Online Performance Management

    Gone are the days of chasing down employees and managers to complete performance reviews and write goals. A good online performance management system will do this for you. Online Performance Management can help with goal setting and tracking, feedback gathering, storing evaluations and tracking development plans. As employees and managers enter data, the information is fed down the workflow pipeline, allowing managers and leaders to assess progress, successes and opportunities at various levels of the organization. Making the flow of information more effective and allows HR to be more strategic around using this information to build effective teams.

    46% of organizations that have moved their performance reviews online claim to have increased employee engagement as a result. They also say their managers have become better coaches.

  5. Recruiting

    In today’s employee-centric climate, the ability to gain a competitive edge to stand out during the recruitment process will help employers hire the right person. Applicant tracking systems and electronic job boards are vital to ensuring employers can get the word out about open positions and to relay important information about the job and the company.

    The average job posting receives 250 applications on average, making recruiting software tools a critical element in filtering through candidates.

HR technology creates an opportunity to streamline much of the traditional paperwork and free up time for HR professionals to serve as strategic partners to the organization. Of course, nothing is more valuable than the personal touch and nothing will ever outweigh the importance of connecting directly to your employees. But having ineffective processes mean the HR professionals’ time is spent drowning in paperwork or trivial details, robbing them of time that could be spent with employees.

Connect with your OneDigital HR Consultant to determine the technology tools best suited for your organization’s needs.

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