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We are at the edge of a new paradigm. From the birth of the gig economy, to the rapid growth of digital technologies permeating the workplace, the last few years have upended traditional notions of the workplace and the nature of work.
In 2020 and the years to come, forward-thinking companies are likely to further transform their workplaces by utilizing digital tools and strategies that set up their people, teams, and businesses to succeed. Fueling this trend will be a widespread surge in digital transformation within the enterprise—and HR leaders will be at the forefront of it. As HR embraces the disruption of the digital workplace, they will become a mechanism for improving the overall lifestyle of employees. This includes offering a more expansive range of employee benefits, protecting the employee digital experience, and providing ongoing support to ensure employee well-being.
Simplified Processes and Integration
As technology has evolved, so has the role of the modern worker—careers have moved beyond a single employee performing a single role. Today’s employees often work on a variety of tasks, and much of the work is accomplished by teams of people who can switch roles and assignments easily. This changing team dynamic has been made easier as a result of digital technologies and platforms that allow employees to simplify tedious work processes and streamline productivity.
Looking at HR through a digital-first lens not only simplifies the experience for employees but also for management and HR leaders. Companies now can implement solutions that integrate into their existing technology applications across departments. By centralizing the roles of HR with IT, accounting, and other digital systems, employees and employers alike can save time while providing an integrated approach.
Trends point to a future when HR leaders are no longer isolated as a centralized team but instead embedded inside the business functions they support. Digital solutions allow HR professionals to tailor experiences that integrate more deeply into business functions and that are specific to each employee. An example of this is only presenting relevant forms to departmental employees who use them and skipping unnecessary training for those who don’t require it. With 86 percent of respondents in Deloitte’s 2019 Human Capital Trends survey citing “learning on the job” as an “important or very important” issue, utilizing digital solutions is becoming increasingly important to meet the needs of employees.
Recruitment and Onboarding
Employers today need to implement a swift and effective onboarding process that matches the digital expectations of today’s top talent.
Why? Because a great onboarding process sets the tone for an even better work experience and lets new employees know their time is valuable. The type of experience you provide new employees during their first days and weeks has a tremendous impact on long-term retention. However, with only 12 percent of employees strongly agreeing that their organization does a great job at onboarding new workers, there’s certainly room for improvement. Paperless forms, e-learning, and goal-oriented performance software are just some of the digital solutions that can help to streamline this crucial HR process.
Professional growth and development opportunities also play a major role in increasing employee engagement and retention. This is especially true among Millennials, who now make up the largest generation in the U.S. workforce. When organizations digitize tedious HR practices, such as logging in expenses and paid time off (PTO), both new and former employees gain back additional time to dive into career development programs and other assignments.
Furthermore, data from digital training programs assists HR with allocating resources and helps them to better understand where employees are looking to improve their skills. By identifying these trends and patterns, HR can adjust offerings in accordance with employees’ needs and interests, in an effort to decrease turnover and build on recruitment efforts.
Employee Engagement and Company Culture
A digital-first approach can provide contextual guidance in real time to help employees reduce time-to-competence when learning to use a new software platform. Pop-up prompts and navigation assistance remedy frustration associated with navigating an unfamiliar interface and ensures productivity remains high throughout the learning period, keeping employees happy and engaged.
A culture that cares about the well-being of its employees—not by just offering competitive benefits—but by utilizing digital tools to streamline HR and admin processes can assure employees that their quality of life is valued within their organization. In fact, more than half of the employees surveyed for Glassdoor’s Mission and Culture survey said that company culture is more important to work satisfaction than salary. By taking action, HR professionals can ensure access to services that can increase morale and drive employees to be more motivated and engaged in their jobs.
In the quickly-evolving workplace, attracting, retaining, and building a culture for top-notch talent depends on digital-first implementation. In my role at WalkMe, I’ve seen firsthand that technology has redefined expectations regarding how employees work. It will be up to the workforce and HR leaders to fully embrace the changes.
Dan Adika is CEO and co-founder of WalkMe, the Enterprise Class Guidance and Engagement Platform). WalkMe uses its step-by-step walkthrough technology to bridge the skills gap for today’s workers. Since its founding in 2011, WalkMe has established itself as a leader in digital adoption, with $217.5 million in funding and 2,000 customers, including more than 30 percent of the Fortune 500, 40 percent of the Fortune 100, and 60 percent of the Fortune 10. Acquisitions in mobile, analytics, and artificial intelligence in the last three years include
DeepUI, Jaco, and and Abb.io.