Technology in HRM & Its Impact on HR Practices

The recent COVID crisis has brought about a tremendous shift in business operations. With the extensive lockdowns globally, remote and hybrid working models have gained widespread prominence across industries. Thus, technology is not only playing a vital role in every HR team’s transition to digital but it is also increasing the efficiency in the HR processes. In an exclusive conversation with siliconindia team, Sumit Sabharwal, the CEO of TeamLease HRtech shares his thoughts on the current HR scenario and the impact of technologies on diverse HR functions.

How is Technology impacting the HR process in India in recent times?

As we enter the post-pandemic era, we are seeing a lot of hybrid working as well as remote working practices coming in. The importance of technology has increased multifold in the HR process in recent times – right from pre-hire to post-retire. Pre-hiring includes the way we approach a candidate for a particular role. For this, we use the latest technologies as our medium of communication such as social media platforms, emails or text messages. Technology has completely transformed the entire employee hiring & onboarding process, including the interview process which can now be done via an automated process. From identifying potential candidates to interviews to assessments to salary finalizing, technology has enabled companies to offer a seamless experience to the candidates.

Yet another area that is completely automated with the help of technology is the documentation process once the candidate is hired. He/she need not submit their documents manually to be verified, as all their documents are readily available through Digilocker, including the bank details where the salary is to be credited. Additionally, employees can now have a clear visibility of their objectives, key result areas, performance expected from them & and the training process via Digiversity.

Employee retention being one of the key focus areas of HR, companies can now also offer healthcare benefits, digital vouchers and any other employee engagement initiates in an organized manner, thus enhancing the efficiency of the programs. The statutory dues and other retirement benefits are also included in modern-day HRMS, thus enabling companies to continue offering hassle-free experience post-retirement as well.

How does technology impact a company’s employee engagement and retention strategies?

The importance of employee experience and engagement has increased drastically in recent times. Traditional HRMS platforms do not offer the kinds of features or modules that match employees’ expectations, which have also increased in terms of the kind of seamless information they wish to have. Thus, organizations are now implementing modern-age HR tech solutions & platforms that will take their employee experience to the next level. Improved employee experience is one major area that has been impacted thoroughly by integrating new age tech in the HR process.

One of the key things in an organization is the Employee Handbook, which every employer needs to follow. Since the timeframe of the onboarding and training process has decreased considerably, HR teams can leverage tech platforms like Learning Management Systems and Information Distribution Systems. For example, a query management system which is AI and Machine Learning enabled. When an employee comes in, he can go through the HR practices & rules of the organization in the Employee Handbook and need not go to the HR Manager for minor doubts or queries. All the necessary information is readily available with the chatbot. So in a country like India where each company has a different set of leaves and HR policies, all the information can be easily stored and decoded in a very simple way using technology. Thus, the employee experience pertaining to any HR-related queries becomes seamless and more efficient.

Also, when employees give feedback or suggestions pertaining to how any HR process can be improved, there are constant technology-enabled pulse surveys where the employees can give their suggestions and inputs, which can then be filtered and sent to the right decision-makers of the company in an orderly fashion. This will enable the management personnel of the organization to have a clear idea of which policies need to be tweaked and which practices to modify based on the information gathered from the employees. Thus, technology enables an organization in cascading and refining its HR policies, aligning to business objectives and employee preferences.

What is the role of HR Tech in achieving organizational efficiency?

When an employee joins a new role, he has a set of KRAs and KPIs. So when he logs in to his modern-day HR system, all his KRAs and KPIs are accessible at a single click on his mobile. Thus, employee has a crystal clear picture of what he has to deliver after three months on performance measures. He can also get to know the rewards he will be entitled to if he is able to meet the expected performance levels. This will also ensure complete transparency throughout the organization.

Additionally, technology enables the organization to measure these KRAs and KPIs whenever needed in a quick and hassle-free way. Since this platform is AI enabled, it also automatically suggests and incorporates those training modules into that particular employee’s training plan, thus enabling every employee to receive a customized curated training plan that will help them improve performance and productivity.

What are the major problems HR teams faced during the COVID pandemic?

Due to the pandemic, a lot of work that was earlier being done from the office is shifted to hybrid working. The complete process has moved from a face-to-face scenario to an online mode. This is when the role of technology becomes supercritical because the distribution of work has to be done remotely and each team member would be working from different place. With the right HR technology, the team leaders or managers will have access to all employees’ work reports in a single place, thus boosting productivity throughout the organization.

In your opinion, what are some of the upcoming trends in the HR tech space?

With the growing awareness of health, companies are very sensitive towards the health and well-being of their employees. Thus, a lot of health tech integrations are happening in the form of wearable devices, wherein they already have the HRMS systems in-built. Through the Wi-Fi system of the wearable device, the employee’s attendance for that day will be registered both while entering and leaving the workplace. Also, with the consent of the employee, these wearable devices can capture a lot of healthcare data, thus enabling the organization to keep a check on its employees’ health and handle situations carefully during crisis situations like COVID.

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