As an entrepreneur or a business owner, you would come up across many challenges that you experience firsthand, but a majority of the challenges are encountered during the ‘scaling-up phase’. You have developed a Minimum Viable Product [MVP] of your idea, got a couple of customers for your product, and set up a Class-A core-team. But once you have to scale up your technical/marketing/sales team, you might need to go head-hunting searching for potential candidates who are a culture fit for your organization. There is always an option to hire people via references, but that approach may not be feasible in case you are planning to hire in large numbers.
In such a scenario, you have to setup a Human Resource [HR] department whose core expertise will be in screening candidates, shortlisting candidates, scheduling interviews, on-boarding employees, and retaining them. All these activities are easier said than done as the quality of shortlisted candidates would depend on the approach that is taken by the HR team. There is a cost associated in scheduling interviews and the costs can multiply if the interviewed candidate does not join the organization [even after he accepts the offer].
Instead of having an in-house HR team, it is recommended that you partner with a company that specializes in Human Resource Management and one which has provided their services to companies [of different sizes]. One such company that has specialization in human resource management, Recruitment Process Outsourcing [RPO], Leadership development, etc. is the ManpowerGroup. Unlike HR teams that are housed in-house, an HR partner like ManpowerGroup can play a vital role in various HR activities like shortlisting potential candidates, scheduling interviews, negotiating for salary, on-boarding employees, and more. The same role can also be performed by the in-house HR team, but the primary difference lies in the implementation & speed with which results are achieved.
HR partners like ManpowerGroup are not HR generalists, but they are experts in their domain. Since HR partners have worked with clients across different sectors, they have an immense amount of experience & expertise in recruitment and retention of employees. Since the HR partners work in tandem with the top management team of the client organization, they understand the culture of the organization and ensure that employees who are hired are ‘culture fit’. Such an approach also ensures that the HR team in the organization can focus on other important tasks like Employee Learning & Development [L&D], Employee retention, etc. The HR team, irrespective of the experience can learn from the consultants who are associated with the HR partner & learn useful traits from them.
There are so many traditional recruitment agencies who call themselves as HR Partners for Human Resource Management, but they may not have the level of expertise that is required for managing different functions in HR. It could be possible that the charges levied by them could be much below the industry standards, but you should make a conscious decision to avoid them. Human Resource is an important department & HR folks are the ones who are responsible for building a ‘best-in-class organization’.
It is always recommended that you partner with the best like ManpowerGroupby having at a long-term plan, rather than looking at short-term gains.
In the advent of the shift towards evaluating performances through ‘Continuous Feedback’, Cyber Managers Software Services [CMSS] [earlier coverage here] has now enabled ‘e-Nhancer – the performance management platform’ with the Continuous Feedback capabilities.
The essence of e-Nhancer’s continuous feedback system is to provide a platform for employees to critique work related activities of their co-workers on real time basis. To facilitate quick feedback, e-Nhancer provides easy access on all major touch points like HR portals, Communication platforms and intranet social workplace available on Mobile or desktop.
According to Godwin Pinto, Business Head Mobility at CMSS, said
Keeping feedback simple and accessible is our primary focus in making e-Nhancer continuous. The roadmap for e-Nhancer with continuous feedback have many more features and they are under development.
In addition to KRA/Goal Settings, Cyclic Review, Ratings the core features of e-Nhancer continuous feedback are:
Give/Seek Feedback – You can choose to give feedback to other employees or seek feedback from your colleagues for any work-related activity. You can record your feedback with voice, video or photographs, and tag them with KRA’s.
Groups – A feature similar to Whatsapp, structured for continuous feedback, allows feedback within a group, either to individuals in a group or to the entire group.
360 degree feedback/Survey – Employees can conduct a 360 degree feedback/survey to seek perception/opinion of others.
Meeting Calendar Synchronization – e-Nhancer can sync with meeting calendar to seek feedback on meetings which could help in understanding the effectiveness of meetings.
Employee recognition – You can choose to give your appreciation badges to team members for their exceptional performances.
Gamification – Appreciation Badges, Leaderboard, Badge Level Limits are some of the employee engagement aspects that have been added to increase engagement with the platform and promote continuous feedback.
Team Health Monitoring – e-Nhancer comes with AI extensions that allow Managers/Admin to view the sentiments of groups/teams/locations/organization, etc. thus foreseeing, when intervention may be required.
Provider of ‘totally integrated solutions’ in the areas of Software Products, Application Engineering and Professional Service, CMSS is pioneering in creating technology solutions in the Human Resource Domain. The company last year launched Chatbot by the name H-SHARP, designed specifically for Human Resource industry which can make human-like natural conversation with the support of AI, NLP, and Machine Learning [ML].
Cyber Managers Software Services [CMSS] has launched a talk Bot aptly named H# [H Sharp] designed for a natural language understanding and can make human – like natural conversation with the support of AI, NLP and machine learning.
H# can be easily plugged-in on different social communication platforms, external or internal and does not demand for a separate login or complicated interface navigations, get talking right on your twitter or any intranet communication platform that organization might be using currently.
A chat/speech bot which directly plugs into existing HCM [PeopleSoft, SAP HCM, etc.] – which has helped a leading bank to move beyond mere clicks to chat and speech as interfaces for their HRMS. Reducing transaction time by as much as 30% and correspondingly increasing usage, the chat bot allows employees and managers to engage with their existing HCM on an intuitive level.
The need for automating HR functions arose long time ago, as the world saw increasingly large corporates adapting software and apps taking over the mundane tasks of managing people at work. Historically, as HCM Systems were designed by engineers, they have stressed more on the ‘System’ component than the ‘Human’ component; the actual user who is going to be affected by it. This has resulted into systems which although extremely functional, limit themselves to manage and transact with Human Capital rather than engaging with it.
HR Bots has taken automation to an all new level, as it allows for interactive, response based real-time functions. Since User Interfaces [UI] and User Experience [UX] have undergone a sea-change in the last 5 years, especially after social networks have put the spotlight firmly on engaging with the ‘Human’ component, it is expected that HCM should not be left far behind.
Although HR professionals feel intimidated with the new technology, fearing their elimination from the HR roles, Godwin adds
HR Bots should not be seen as adversaries, but as a colleague, they are here to facilitate rhythm in daily HR tasks, for instance form filling, maintaining musters, and managing leaves, etc. Hence, the organization can utilize their HR workforce productively into tasks where a human touch or human reasoning is required.
Within the same corporation; one sees that while consumer-facing systems have interesting interfaces like bots and apps; Employee facing systems like HCM, have to make do with Retro User Experience till such time as the whole HCM is upgraded to a newer version or flavor. This leads to a huge experience gap for employees; who on the one hand have a highly engaging user experience as consumers; and on the other hand ‘transact’, click by click, as employees.
Features & Benefits of H#
Support for common HR functions like seek leave, muster, etc
Suggestive data intelligence for assistance in approvals
Ready connectors for HRMS like Peoplesoft/Fusion, SAP, etc.
Highly personalized responses based on user’s profile
Pre-trained for common HR queries
From induction to exit, H# helps perform HR related tasks like – getting salary information, applying for benefits and leave, fill forms, take surveys and even collaborate with other employees – through a unified chat, speech and mobile interface. All while giving HR a whole new touch point for employee engagement – with a hint of personality and as natural as having a conversation.
Today, technology and its know-how is a fundamental requirement in every sphere, whether it’s about running our personal affairs or our professional agenda every day. The same theory applies to companies, hunting for the right candidates to fit their work environment. With the accession of the internet, social media, and high-end applicant tracking systems, employers today need to take a more proactive approach to find and source candidates.
This has to be done by pushing the brand name forward with the help of each and every available technical expertise available. Taking into consideration the intricacy of the hiring process and different ideas of conducting recruitments, only the use of a general psychometric test is not going to work out.
That is why, there has been an emergence of a range of automation tools for various tasks, ranging from performing keyword searches of resumes to conducting behavioural and skills assessments. These tools can be integrated into human resource information systems or articulated products. They can also be premeditated to implement particular HR management philosophies.
Employers who commit to their employer branding see an average growth of 11%, thus making HR technology an attractive item to overburdened recruiting teams – NovoGroup, 2016
Universal Adoption of Automation Tools
In the 1930’s, the company for Barbasol Shaving cream, had over hundred employees. However, in 2009, Perio Inc., Barbasol’s owner, Thomas Murray, decided to open a factory in Ashland, Ohio, to manufacture the shaving cream. With mechanics at hand, the company now only needed 22 employees to start a first shift. Hence, prior to opening the facility, Perio brought in JC Rice, Vice President Shared Services for Perio-Barbasol and Kevin Klinvex, to rethink the hiring process.
Perio Inc. received about 3000 applications, but they wanted to follow a consistent process, that could handle that number of candidates. Hence, to sort out the torrent of applications that came in, Perio used three online tools from Select International, of which two were used to screen candidates.
After an initial interview, the chosen candidates were then given the Select Assessment for Manufacturing, a test designed to evaluate personality and behavioural traits that were relevant to the hourly manufacturing employees. Those who passed the assessments were given reference and background checks. Based on the ease of this initial round of hiring, Perio Inc. used the process to pick applicants for additional shifts, thereby adding another production line altogether. At present, The plant has brought 70 manufacturing jobs to Ashland, which runs two shifts a day, five days a week.
HR technology trends on the rise
How do you know who to hire? How do you know what your employees want in the workplace? How do you predict how a new update or change in your workplace is going to go over?
HR technology has been undergoing one of the most tumultuous phases since the past decade, thus undergoing a revolution. From mobile, to SaaS, to social media, the HR technology has been changing rapidly. According to CB Insights, a venture capital database, more than two billion dollars were invested into HR tech systems and platforms in 2016 in their quest for the next big thing in breakthrough technology. A research conducted by Deloitteestimated a revenue of USD 240 billion dollars, spent only for recruitment and talent acquisition.
HR technology solutions that give recruiters the competitive edge are already the game changers for recruiting professionals. With the rapid rise in technology, recruiters and HR professionals are all racing at arms-length. HR technologies have brought science and metrics into the game. As these technologies get more cost effective and easier to use, more people are jumping onto this cultism. These advances are meant to take the guesswork out of hiring, and lessen the threat of the much-dreaded bad hire. Here is a look at the tech that everyone is talking about.
Video interviewing, after psychometric tests, has become one of the wildly popular tech tools in recruiting & HR that has quickly proven to be an ROI superstar. According to an infographic by SparkHire
Beyond 6 out of 10 companies presently use video interviews in their recruiting process.
Recruiters can watch 10 one-way video interviews within the same amount of time taken to conduct just one phone screen interview.
Companies that use video interviews for recruiting can save as much as 67% on the cost for travelling.
HR is moving at such a fast pace and what used to be advanced software just a few of years back, is now being quickly replaced. It has become distinct that talent management software is no longer just a ‘cool’ option for HR departments to have, but it has become the standard procedure. HR pros and recruiters are falling over each other for new software.
Other than video interviews, another HR tech tool that is on the rise and has taken a firm hold on the HR and recruiting world, is social media. Many companies are going even further LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook for improving their recruiting services by use of niche sites, which have become a very popular source for tough-to-fill positions and passive candidate scouting.
Another popular technology which is seeing the light of day in most companies is the integration of gamification into their recruiting process. According to an article published in Mashable, Richard Taylor, senior VP for communications and industry affairs at the Entertainment Software Association, 70% of major employers utilize interactive software and games to train employees.
In 2013, Mettl, India’s leading online skill assessment platform, introduced the Case Study evaluator to pioneer the measurement of business skill evaluation, using the methodology of case study. This case study simulator is available in a simulation format wherein users simply require to log on to the Mettl platform and choose to participate in the treasure hunt, graphically depicted as the gamification of a business case problem, after an invitation from a participating company or institution. Mettl’s CEO & Co-founder Ketan Kapoor stated that their vision by doing so, is to to redefine the standards of skill assessments globally, by employing technology to measure hands-on skills and not just knowledge on any subject.
Over to you
The HR technology space is worth USD 14 Billion. Around 15 years ago companies mainly focused on making HR tools easier for HR people to use, rather than for employees. However, today the demand is for HR technology to deliver a great employee experience that makes work-life more productive and interesting; HR tools need to feel more interesting and less like training and performance administration.
As the shift to automated accelerates, HR vendors too need to adapt fast. Psychometric assessments are a great way to gauge candidates applying for a job application, but HR tech tools are fantastic, especially tool when talent is required ASAP. New software and social platforms can discover the best and brightest candidate, allowing HR or hiring teams to establish immediate dialogue with them. This software alone has the ability to change the HR equation. Who knows? You might even discover someone who ignites your imagination, leading to creating a position just to get this genius on board.
Hiring software can automate processes, grade candidates, and provide HR professionals with some direction. With the advent of web services, the same tools can be used by both large and small organizations.
The HR technology landscape is ever-evolving, but as companies embrace the science, they should also never forget that it is not infallible. Remember the human dimension. The best HR practitioners and leaders know their organizations and culture brand on a innate level. Finding talent can be made a lot easier by these fantastic technologies, but finding the ‘right fit’ transcends even technology.
About the author
Tonmoy Shingal is the Co-founder & COO of Mettl, an online assessment platform to measure, analyze and improve people skills. It is ideal for companies looking to run multi-competency assessments for hiring, certification and training of existing employees. Further details about Tonmoy Shingal can be found here and more details about Mettl can be found here
