HR in Real Time

by   |  3 min read
Published :

Organizations today exist in an information age where everything happens NOW. The workforce of today has access to all kinds of information in real time. Whether an organization likes it or not, they no longer work in a closed eco system where they can restrict access to any kind of information. The workforce is connected to the outside world 24X7 through their hand held devices which are continuously fed social media updates, as a result of which they expect the same environment within their organizations. They do not want to wait 12 months to receive feedback through annual appraisals; they do not want to wait for a quarterly Town Hall to provide feedback; they do not even want to send mails to their co-workers to broadcast information or discuss ideas. They want everything NOW, in real time.

For an organization to engage and retain such talent, it will need to adopt an HR culture which supports the real time needs of such a workforce and more importantly an HCM Software which can form the backbone of this culture. Some of the key features that an organization will need to look out for in an HCM Software include:

  • Connected 24X7 – The HCM Software has to provide 24X7 connectivityto the employees. 24X7 in this case does not only target the temporal dimension but also the physical one. One can no longer accept a system available only within the Intranet or through the VPN. The employee has to be able to access his HRMS whether he is at the office or at home or on the move. Make no mistake that provisioning such an HRMS to meet the 24X7 temporal and physical needs results in infrastructure and maintenance overheads beyond the traditional implementation. Hence, there is the increasing trend of organizations gravitating towards Cloud Based HCM Solutions, which apart from lowering the capex also ease the maintenance overheads.
  • Mobile Access – The next obvious need to be met for real time availability of an HRMS is providing mobile access. Any HCM Software worth its salt provides mobile access and some visionary ones are following a ‘Mobile First’ strategy, where newer functionalities are being designed first for Mobile Access and then the traditional interfaces.
  • Social Media Integration – Employees are spending more and more of their time on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc… This provides a unique opportunity for an HCM Software to tap into the pulse of an employee in real time, understand their likes and dislikes and more importantly provide a similar platform for an employee to express themselves and broadcast their view and ideas within the organization.
  • Constant Engagement – An HCM Software has to keep the employees constantly engaged, e.g., provide frameworks to implement development and mentoring appraisals where the feedback cycle is weeks or months rather than your traditional annual or quarterly appraisals, provide discussion boards, surveys etc.

As you are reading this blog your employees may be going through job postings on their Linkedin Groups or airing their grievances on their Facebook pages or sharing some innovative ideas with a group on like-minded professionals just because they don’t have a real time medium do it within their organization. The question is how soon can you provide this to your employees to keep them engaged within the organization rather than looking out?

Blog by: Abhijit Kohli, Business Consultant, Ramco Systems