the correlation between hating HR and HR systems and technology

     One of the topics which have been discussed in almost all the classes I have had in this program is "why everyone hates HR" and we can find list after list of reasons for such hatred on internet. Reflecting on all the HRIS systems we reviewed in class I think no matter how user-friendly these systems are, and how much they can actually help organizations to have access to huge applicant pools, find the most talented candidates, provide high quality training to new hires, efficiently process payroll or conduct performance review, they can not or better say they should not replace the actual human interaction that HR people should have with the employees. One of the reasons people hate HR is that they rarely see HR people except for when they are hired, fired or disciplined for doing something wrong. In other words, the increasing use of technology for HR functions has tremendously decreased the face-to-face interaction between HR and employees.  As discussed in all HR classes, one of the key roles of HR is to create a supportive work environment and culture where moral and ethics is high and thus employees are motivated and engaged. And merely relying on technology to build that culture of support will not render the desired goals. For example, when it comes to employee development and succession planning, no matter how complete and impressive an employee's profile or performance review is in the HRIS system, HR or hiring manager would definitely benefit from actually having a face-to-face interaction with the employee, knowing him/her and showing them their care and support.

The pros and cons of having an HRIS system and the difficult decision to choose one!

       

     To learn more about the features, pros and cons of the specific ATS system that we are going to present for the final project compared with other ATS systems out there, I came across reviews written by different stakeholders about different ATS systems. Reading these reviews I realized that rating theses system as "not-user friendly", "not easy to integrate", "a waste of time and money" or even "very clean and easy" does not necessarily mean that they are hundred percent good or bad.  These reviews are written by different stakeholders in different companies each having a different size, goal, mission, and culture where different criteria have been considered in choosing the system and different processes were involved in implementing them. In other words, whether you are a job applicant, manager, an employee, HR manager, HR staff or an executive you have a different experience using the system which depends on the purpose for which you are using the system, your level of familiarity with the system and its features and the number of hours you spend daily using it. Then, as we also discussed in class, I realized how difficult it is to decide whether to have an HRIS system or not and if yes, whether you rather outsource it or chose between a cloud-base or on-premise system and then whether you want to have a complete suite or just a module for a specific HR function such as recruitment or payroll? And then how you want to implement it to ensure getting the max. from what you paid for?

Here are some of the links which I found interesting to share:

http://www.comparehris.com/HRIS-Overview/

http://www.hrpayrollsystems.net/hris-system-question-premise-cloud/

http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2014/01/22/hris-advantages-and-disadvantages/#

Oracle Talent Management Cloud: a clean and all-in-one HCM cloud

     In our last class we saw a demo of Oracle Talent Management Cloud which I found very clean and user-friendly. Though in the past I had used Taleo couple of times as a job seeker applying for jobs, that was my first time seeing it as a whole suite with all HR solutions all in one place which makes the user experience whether he/she is an applicant, an employee, a manager or someone in HR simple and straightforward. 

    However, compared with "Cornerstone" we saw a demo of which the week before, with its little cute gummy, it is not "sexy" as Savera has also mentioned. In other words, though it is simple, practical and easy to use and understand, it does not look every attractive and engaging which makes it kind of difficult to compete with the increasing number of HRIS systems out there! The other shortcoming of Oracle Talent Management Cloud is that though LMS can talk to core HRIS, unfortunately it can not talk to the performance piece which requires a strong process to get the max benefits from both!

 

HRIS system for Performance Management in my company

After talking about Cornerstone, its features and benefits, I became more curious to find out if we have any HRIS for performance management in my company considering the fact that so far I have never had a performance review though have been with the company for about a year and 8 months and have had merit increases couple of times!
After talking to my manager, I found out that we do have an HRIS but only managers have access to it and after a quick look into the system I found out that there is a long list of measurements only 10% of which are included in the job description which really surprised me!
I found it very unfortunate that in big companies such as the ones I have worked so far,  not only HR fails to communicate to the new hires about the HRIS system, the things they can do with it and its benefits, but also the system itself is not comprehensive enough which makes it very confusing for the employees to use. In other words, they have to log into different systems to check they paycheck, enter their work hours, enroll in benefits and even like me just find about a separate HRIS system for Employee Recognition!!

On-boarding, with or without technology?

     One of the critic to the use of technology in on-boarding is lack of human interaction which results in less employee engagement and connection with the organization. But the question is if technology is the only thing that should be blamed for such negative consequences and if  traditional ways of on-boarding where no technology is used except for pen and paper and photocopy machine, can never render such negative consequences?
     I think whether we use pen and paper or a computer for on-boarding, these two are both tools and the results depend on how we use them and the process rather than the tools themselves and that is why:
Not that long ago, I attended a one-day on-boarding session held in the corporate office that though it was conducted in traditional way where no technology and computer was used, still at the end of the day we did not even know the name and position of the individuals who were in charge of on-boarding and very few of us got the chance to talk to know each other!! It was more of an event, all 24-25 of us new hires were asked to fill one form after the other, while someone was making photocopies of our documents. I like many others did not feel any connection or sense of belonging as there was really no human interaction. Our main interaction was with the forms to ensure we fill them out correctly! In addition, none of the immediate supervisors/managers were present in the on-boarding to show us their support and give us a sense of belonging!! And even after one month of training on my first day on the job, not only there was no orientation, I could not even use the computer to do my job as I was not given a a username and password and no one knew how to get them!!

HR Technologies, A Sociolinguistic Perspective

     The increasing prevalence of mobile tools, social media and gamification in HR industry is a topic which I found very interesting considering the fact that we use the very boring and sometimes really confusing PeopleSoft in our company where user interface has the least importance to the extent that sometimes to find or do something you have to click on ten tabs!  

     The fascinating point is these platforms have changed traditional forms and functions of communication in workplace. They have introduced new genres in workplace in which each and every employee and not just top management or those in HR are asked or even required to participate, engage and collaborate. We could say that these platforms are a form of response to the increasing change in the workforce, in particular millennial and their needs and expectation of a workplace, and at the same time they are constantly shaped and influenced by the users which have resulted in more business agility and companies adopting a more bottom-up management strategy.