WSR July-September 2018

REVIEW WORKFORCE • SOLUTIONS

July-September 2018

The Official Journal of the International Association for Human Resource Information Management

IHRIM.ORG

The Workplace of Tomorrow Smarter technologies, new organizational strategies, and better data management to achieve increased workforce efficiency and effectiveness

See the Buyer’s Guide, Page 24

Contents

Volume 9, Number 3 July-September 2018

From the Editors 3

IHRIM Insights

Bruno Querenet and Jeff Higgins

Leveraging Technology to Achieve Next-Generation Performance Management

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Jim Pettit, IHRIM Chairman

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By Anita Bowness, Saba Software With a forward looking, agile performance management process that facilitates effective goal-setting, continuous coaching. and frequent feedback, you can align, engage, and inspire your people to achieve the results that matter to your business.

Ensuring that #MeToo is #NotUs: Using HCM Technology to Combat Sexual Harassment 10

How AI is Humanizing People Management

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By Adam Rogers, Ultimate Software The role of AI and advanced technology in HR shouldn’t be to replace humans, but rather to enhance the employee experience at all levels of the organization. Putting people first, with the help of ever-evolving HCM technology, will help companies of all sizes and industries make life better for employees, all while improving the business.

Reinventing Organizations: Insights into the Journey! 27

By Bob Greene, Ascentis

By Bruno Querenet, Think Surgical

The “MeToo” movement has raised the stakes, as well as the visibility, on all issues surrounding sexual harassment at work.

While it might be tempting to try to predict where the “feds” versus the states and cities might be going in their enforcement provisions around prevention, best practice dictates that that’s a dangerous game, with high costs for error.

This article focuses on new modes of organization. You may have heard about holacracy and Teal organization. Here the author shares some learning from recent Frederic Laloux videos, which provide new insights into the management of Teal organizations and the kind of leaders required to bring them to life.

IBM Study: CHRO Insights from the 2018 Global C-suite Study

Love it or Hate it, you can’t avoid it: The Persistent Path of HR Technology.

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Special Report by the IBM Institute for Business Value The executive report examines key activities that differentiate outperforming CHROs from their peers, and explores the opportunity for HR to transform itself and the organization with clear actions and behaviors to activate right now.

Microsoft and HR – It’s not what you think!

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By Katherine Jones, Ph.D. Tomorrow’s workplace will look different than today’s; HR leaders will beware of fads or technology that doesn’t create value, and consider carefully the innovative applications available today that will increase workforce efficiency and effectiveness.

The future is yours!

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By Michael Rudnick, CEO, Velaku LLC The reason Microsoft has not been a major player in HR is primarily because they have not focused on creating software specifically for functional areas like HR or Finance, etc. And, for its entire corporate life, Microsoft has sold software that is deployed on-premise, not in the cloud. So the sheer speed and scale of Microsoft’s pivot – from a focus on Windows and on-premise-based Office and SharePoint, to cloud-based Office 365 is nothing short of remarkable.

Page 24

Buyer’s Guide Workforce Solutions Review (ISSN 2154-6975) is published quarterly for the International Association for Human Resource Information Management by Futura Publishing LLC, 12809 Shady Mountain Road, Leander, TX 78641. Subscription rates can be found at www.ihrimpublications.com. Please send address corrections to Workforce Solutions Review at the address above.

www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018

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Volume 9, Number 3 July-September 2018

Workforce Solutions Review is a publication of the International Association for Human Resource Information Management, whose mission is to be the leading professional association for know­ledge, education and solutions supporting human capital management. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the editors, the IHRIM board of directors or the membership. © 2018 All rights reserved

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Managing Editor

ERIK BERGGREN, VP of Research, IDC, San Mateo, CA USA JOSH BERSIN, Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte, Oakland, CA USA jbersin@bersin.com SCOTT BOLMAN, HR Transformation & HR Excellence Practice, Deloitte, bolmanscott@yahoo.com YVETTE CAMERON, Global Vice President Strategy, SuccessFactors, Littleton, CO Yvette.cameron@successfactors.com LEW CONNER, Executive Director, Higher Education User Group, Gilbert, AZ USA lconner@heug.org

BRUNO QUERENET, Head of HR, Think Surgical Bruno.querenet@gmail.com

ELENA M. ORDÓÑEZ DEL CAMPO, Senior VP Global Delivery Unit, SAP AG, Frankfurt, Germany elena. ordonez@sap.com

Co-Managing Editor

GARY DURBIN, Chief Technology Officer, SynchSource, Oakland, CA USA hacker@synchsource.com

MICHAEL RUDNICK, CEO, Velaku LLC, Michael.rudnick@gmail.com

Associate Editors ROY ALTMAN, Founder/CEO, Peopleserv, New York, NY roy@peopleserv.com SCOTT BOLMAN, HR Transformation Consulting Leader, Deloitte, bolmanscott@yahoo.com SHAWN FITZGERALD, AMS Portfolio Manager, Alight Solutions, Shawn.fitzgerald@alight.com DAVID GABRIEL, ED.D., Global Reach Leadership, Berkeley, CA USA, davidgabriel@gmail.com BOB GREENE. Account Executive, Ascentis, San Mateo, CA, Bob.Greene@ascentis.com JEFF HIGGINS, CEO, Human Capital Management Institute, Marina Del Rey, CA USA jeff.higgins@hcminst.com DENISE LAFORTE, Partner, North America HR Transformation Practice Leader Mercer, Chicago, IL, USA, Denise.laforte@mercer.com

Dr. CHARLES H. FAY, Professor, School of Management & Labor Relations, Rutgers University, Highland Park, NJ USA cfay@smlr.rutgers.edu DR. URSULA CHRISTINA FELLBERG, Owner & Managing Director, UCF-StrategieBeraterin, Munich, Germany ucfell@mac.com

JIM HOLINCHECK, Leapgen, VP of Advisory Services jim.holincheck@leapgen.com CATHERINE ANN HONEY, VP Strategic Partner Relations, Safeguard World International, Boston, MA USA catherinehoney@safeguard.com KATHERINE JONES, Ph.D., Intellectual Capital Solutions, Global Head of Talent Research Katherine_ics@msn.com

DAN VANDER HEY, HR Enterprise Solutions, President and Principal Consultant, Cypress, TX, dan.vanderhey@hrenterprisesolutions.com

BOB KAUNERT, Principal, Deloitte, Philadelphia, PA USA bkaunert@yahoo.com

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JULIE YOO, Founder and Chief Data Scientist, Pymetrics, julie@pymetrics.com DR. MARY YOUNG, Principal Researcher, Human Capital, The Conference Board, New York, NY USA mary.young@conference-board.org

IHRIM BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers and Executive Committee JIM PETTIT, HRIP, SHRM-SCP, Chair MICK COLLINS, Vice Chair

STUART RUDNER, Secretary

MICHAEL J. KAVANAGH, Professor Emeritus of Management, State University of Albany (SUNY), Albany, NY USA mickey.kavanagh@gmail.com

MARK BENNETT, Work Life and Collaborative Products Strategy Director, Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, CA USA mark.bennett@oracle.com

DAVE ULRICH, Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA dou@umich.edu

CARL C. HOFFMANN, Director, Human Capital Management & Performance LLC, Chapel Hill, NC USA cc_hoffmann@yahoo.com

DARSHANA NARAYANAN, PH.D. Research Lead at Composites Collective, New York, NY, Darshana.Narayanan@gmail.com

CECILE ALPER-LEROUX, VP Product Strategy and Development, Ultimate Software, Weston, FL cecile_leroux@ultimatesoftware.com

MARK SMITH, CEO, Chief Research Officer, and Founder of Ventana Research, San Ramon, CA USA mark.smith@ventanaresearch.com

DOUG SAMPSON, CFO

SYNCO JONKEREN, VP, HCM Applications Product Development & Management, EMEA, The Netherlands synco.jonkeren@oracle.com

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

DR. DANIEL SULLIVAN, Professor of International Business, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware USA sullivad@lerner.udel.edu

ALSEN HSEIN, President,Take5 People Limited, Shanghai, PRC Alsen@take5people.com

JANET MERTENS, IBM, Global HR Research Lead, Toronto, ON, jmertens@ca.ibm.com

PETER WEINBERG, Founder and CEO of Qaere Solutions and The ClientBase, Chicago, IL PDWeinberg1@gmail.com

LISA STERLING, Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer, Ceridian, Lincoln, NE USA, lisa.sterling@ceridian.com

DAVID LUDLOW, Global VP, HCM Solutions, SAP, Palo Alto, CA David.ludlow@sap.com RHONDA P. MARCUCCI, CPA, Consultant for GruppoMarcucci, Chicago, IL USA rhonda@gruppomarcucci-usa.com LEXY MARTIN, Principal, Research and Customer Value, Visier, Washington, DC USA Lexy.martin1@gmail.com BRIAN RETZLAFF, ServiceNow, Executive Solution Consultant Brian.Retzlaff@servicenow.com LISA ROWAN, Program Director, HR, Learning & Talent Strategies, IDC, Framingham, MA USA lrowan@idc.com

July-September 2018 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

GARY MORLOCK, COO

Board Members STACEY HARRIS, Director of Education MARY ANN MCILRAITH, Co-Director, IHRIM Communities DOROTHY NECEDA, Director, Marketing & Communications EBBY AJEGBO, Director, Member Services MATTHEW HANWELL, Co-Director, IHRIM Communities

IHRIM Staff LAURIE CARANTIT, Director of Operations MEGAN TANNER, Members Services / Communities Administrator LARRY HEMLEY, Marketing VIOLETTA TABORSKA, Graphic Designer TOM FAULKNER, WSR and Book Publisher PATTY HUBER, Advertising Sales, WSR and Web ALLISON NEWSUM, WSR and Book Designer

(From the Editors – WSR July-Sept 2018) (From the Editors – WSR July-Sept 2018) Bruno Querenet, Lead Editor

from the editors

Bruno Querenet is the managing editor for WSR. He is the head of HR for Bruno Querenet, Lead Editor Think Surgical and has worked in several This issue of WSR incorporates some changes, which will continue in future issues.

Querenet, organizations as Bruno head of HR TechnologyLead Editor • Previously we published articles in specific lengths of three to five pages. Going Bruno Querenet the and Operations whereishe hasmanaging seen HR editor for WSR. He is the head of HR for Think Surgical and has worked forward, we willofaccept in various Bruno Querenet is thetomanaging editor for WSR. Heand is the head HR for articles Think Surgical andtechnology haslengths workedworking closely with authors to in several organizations as head HR Technology Operations where he has seen HR technology evolve quickly better sup- of ensure that their content is of value to you regardless of the length of their article. in several organizations as head of HR Technology and Operations where he has seen HR technology evolve quickly to better support port HR and open new space for its trans-HR and open new space for its transformation to a more mature and Even though our focus is primarily on HR technology, highlighting new trends, evolve quickly to better support HR and open new space for its transformation to a more mature and formation to a more mature and value value added organization.

Previously, he held responsibilities within IT, Marketing, R&D and value added organization.

Previously, he held responsibilities within IT, Marketing, R&D and ideas, and products for readers who are interested to learn more about HR technoladded organization.

Previously, he held Manufacturing. He can be reached at Bruno.Querenet@gmail.com. responsibilities within Marketing, R&D at Bruno.Querenet@gmail.com.

Manufacturing.

HeIT,can be reached ogy, we feel it is also critical to publish more broadly on key trends within the HR and Manufacturing. He can be reached at function so that our assessment of the value of new technologies can be nurtured by Bruno.Querenet@gmail.com.

a better understanding of the overall issues facing HR at large.

• Given the speed with which technology is evolving, we feel that adhering to a parJeff Higgins, Contributing Editor ticular theme for each issue is too limiting. While it makes sense to have a couple of Jeff Higgins is the CEO articles around one theme, focusing the entire issue on that theme has become less of the Human Capital relevant. Therefore, future issues will offer a set of articles tackling different topics, Jeff Higgins, Contributing Editor Management Institute, Jeff Higgins, Contributing Editor with some of them regrouped to create a more thorough examination of one subject. a driving force in workforce analytics Jeff Higgins is the CEO of the Human Capital• Management Institute, a will driving force in article workforce analytics Last but notInstitute, least, we have one per issue highlighting some aspects of helping companies transform Jeff Higgins is the CEO ofdata theinto Human Capital Management a drivingand force in workforce analytics helping companies transform data into intelligence via workforce planning predictive analytics.

With what is happening at IHRIM. WSR being the journal intelligence via workforce planning and helping companies transform data into intelligence via workforce planning and predictive analytics. With of IHRIM, and IHRIM evolvhis unique experience as a senior HR executive and former CFO, he helps organizations rapidly advance predictive analytics. With his unique article giveorganizations you insightsrapidly on new services proposed by our organization his unique experience as a senior HR executiveing, andthis former CFO, will he helps advance their analytics and HR workforce planning journey to unlock billions of dollars in workforce ROI. He is a experience as a senior executive and or findings from its research. their analytics and workforce planning journey to unlock billions of dollars in workforce ROI. He is a former CFO,member he helps organizations rapidly Intelligence Consortium and a member of the SHRM Global founding of the Workforce We believe these and changes will be meaningful to you and we look forward to your feedfounding member Workforce Intelligence Consortium a member of the SHRM Global advance their analyticsof andthe workforce Standards Committee on human capital. He can be reached at jeff.higgins@hcminst.com. back over the coming months.

Standards Committee on human capital.

He can be reached at jeff.higgins@hcminst.com. planning journey to unlock billions of If you have a broad experience in the HR field, have connections that you could use to dollars in workforce ROI. He is a founding member of the Workforce Intelligence publish an article, love to read or write, and you want to volunteer to serve on our editorial This issue of WSR incorporates some changes, which will continue in future issues. Previously we Consortium a member of the SHRM This issue and of WSR incorporates some changes, which will continue future issues. Previously we committee, please contactinBruno.Querenet@gmail.com.

Our committee is looking for one published articles in specific lengths of three to five pages. Going forward, we will accept articles in Global Standards Committee on human published articles in specific lengths oforthree fivemembers pages. Going we will accept in twoto new to forward, join its dynamic and articles lively team. various working capital. Helengths can be reached at closely with authors to ensure that their content is of value to you regardless of various lengths working closely with authors ensure that theiran content of value you regardless Thistoissue includes articleisby AnitatoBowness from of Saba, and acts as a reminder that jeff.higgins@hcminst.com. the length of their article. the length of their article. new technology allows new processes to be deployed. Her article focuses on Performance - Even though our focus is primarily on HR technology highlighting new trends, ideas, and Management.

- Even though our focus is primarily on HR technology highlighting new trends, ideas, and products for our readers who areIninterested to learnan more about HR technology, we feelAscentis it is the same article Greenewe from describes how technology can products for our readers who are interested to vein, learn more aboutby HRBob technology, feel it is also critical to publish more broadly on key trends within the HR function so that our assessment be used to combat sexual harassment.

He highlights the fact also critical to publish more broadly on key trends within the HR function so that our assessment that only recently has the use of the value of new technologies can be nurtured by a betterhelp understanding ofdifficult the overall issues of specific HR technologies tackle the of sexual harassment in the workof the value of new technologies can be nurtured by a better understanding of the overallissue issues facing HR at large. place. facing HR at large.

The next article is from Janet Mertens from IBM, and gives some sneak-picks on the re- Given the speed with which technology is evolving, we feel that adhering to a particular theme - Given the speed with which technology is evolving, we feel to a particular theme CHRO Report, which explores how sults of the 19th edition ofthat theadhering IBM Global C-suite Study for each each issue issue isis too toolimiting. limiting.While Whileititmakes makessense sensetotohave have acouple coupleofofarticles articlesaround aroundone one for forward-thinking CHROsaare responding to the crucial changes happening in the business theme, focusing focusing the theentire entireissue issueon onthat thattheme themehas hasbecome becomeless lessrelevant. relevant.Therefore, Therefore,future future theme, landscape. issues will offer a set of articles tackling different topics, with some of them regrouped create issues will offer a set of articles tackling different topics, with some offrom themVelaku regrouped totocreate In hissubject. article, Michael Rudnick Software explains how a generic tool such as a more thorough examination of one a more thorough examinationSharepoint of one subject. and the suite of Microsoft productivity products should be re-considered by HR and leveraged to offer a true, consumer like, digital experience.

Adam Rogers from Ultimate Software shares with us how AI can humanize people management. That is quite a statement, but certainly a desired outcome from the deployment and use of AI. Bruno Querenet from Think Surgical is getting us into new modes of organization. You may have heard about holacracy and Teal organization. In his article, he shares some learning from recent Frederic Laloux videos, which provide new insights into the management of Teal organizations and the kind of leaders required to bring them to life.

Katherine Jones, in her regular The Back Story feature, provides her perspective on future and breakthrough technologies.

We wish you a happy reading! www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018

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IHRIM insights In May, Stacey Harris, IHRIM’s Director of Education, and I connected with Bruno Querenet and Michael Rudnick, volunteer co-editors of the quarterly Workforce Solutions Review (WSR). We discussed how to create a better author and course instructor experience for our valued thought leaders, industry pundits, and contributors to the WSR and IHRIM education programs. More on that in future editions as Stacey and her Education committee work with Bruno and Michael to develop and execute strategies to provide a rewarding experience for our content developers, who are critical components in IHRIM’s continued quest to add timely, relevant, and digestible content to our industry’s expanding knowledge base.

We agreed to initiate a new regular WSR feature article to provide insight into the direction and programs that IHRIM is developing for the human resource information management (HRIM) industry. As the only international member-based association supporting the HRIM industry, we have an obligation to seek innovated, timely, and value-added programs to advance our mission of providing knowledge, education, and solutions supporting human capital management. I welcome this opportunity to share progress with our associates throughout the industry.

WSR’s publication schedule allows IHRIM’s leaders to provide deeper insight into an IHRIM programs or initiatives. In this issue, I update you on two current critical initiatives IHRIM is working on: expanding the quality and depth of IHRIM’s leadership and refreshing our professional certification program.

As a WSR reader, you already have a personal stake in learning and in topics related to human resources information. Are you certified, and if so, in what disciplines? Within the last few decades, we’ve seen the Society for Human Resources Management offer a certification for HR professionals and The Project Management Professional (PMP)® as a certification for project managers. Accounting, legal, engineering and many other professions have had certified industry professionals for many decades, and in some cases, centuries.

Wikipedia describes a professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation (often called simply certification or qualification) as a designation earned by a person to assure that he or she is qualified to perform a job or task.

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July-September 2018 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

Jim Pettit, IHRIM Chairman Webster defines certified as the state of being certified and professional as: (a) of, relating to, or characteristic of a profession, (b) engaged in one of the learned professions, and (c) characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession. When IHRIM introduced the human resource information professional (HRIP) certification in 2009, it marked a significant milestone in the recognition of HR information technology as a profession with a unique set of competencies, skills, and knowledge necessary to achieve success in the industry.

IHRIM was established when IT and HR collaborated in the 1970s to develop, implement, and manage technology to support and advance the needs of Human Resources departments. Many of the early pioneers were either IT or HR professionals brought together to implement some of the early vendor-developed human capital management systems to replace a myriad of manual and home-grown systems in place. Over the years, a book of knowledge for success, mostly geared to the evaluation, selection, and deployment of technology was developed. As the new millennium began, IHRIM established the Human Resources Information Management Foundation to advance the development of educational programs for the industry. The Foundation and IHRIM successfully collaborated on the establishment of an industry certification – HRIP. This involved an extensive process to collect and validate the knowledge required to be recognized as a certified HRIP. In 2009, the first group of individuals who successfully passed the certification exam with the necessary experience prerequisites became the first generation of HRIP certified professionals.

A recertification requirement every three years ensures that current certification holders continue to build upon their personal book of industry knowledge.

We knew when we started the certification journey it would take time to gain traction as an accepted industry standard. We are well on the way to seeing an HRIP certification as a validated entry into HR technology positions based on a recent trend by employers calling IHRIM headquarters to verify certification status during the hiring process. In late 2017, the HRIM foundation closed its doors after achieving its primary function of funding and supporting the extensive

certification validation process. The certification was last updated in 2016, and as their final action, the foundation board left a generous cash gift to IHRIM earmarked for our educational programs.

The IHRIM Board has committed to invest these funds in ongoing certification updates and in adding an advanced level certification for more seasoned HRIT professionals.

For an industry which barely existed four short decades ago, the HR information profession continues to grow and has become a necessary role in organizations beyond the large enterprises who were early adopters of HR technology solutions.

Mid-size and even some of the smallest organizations employ HR technology in providing payroll, talent acquisition, talent management, and employee engagement services and programs. It is now a rare HR professional who doesn’t use some sort of technology daily to perform their job functions. Organization leaders are demanding better workforce analytics to support smart business decisions and the supply of new applications and technology solutions seems endless for HR departments world-wide to consider. Recently, I’ve had numerous discussions with organizations who are still struggling with creating and then staffing the organization necessary to support their HR technology investments. These organizations range from multinational companies with tens of thousands of workers to domestic companies employing 1,500 employees. I continue to see IHRIM associates take on new roles with titles such as VP of HR Programs, Director of HR Operations and Systems, HRIS Manager, VP of HRIT and Analytics, etc. People who started their careers in IT as an HR Compensation specialist, accountant, research analysts, and other areas are finding their way to the HR technology side of the house creating long and satisfying careers in the HR technology discipline. Colleges have started offering HR technology courses and degrees to supply the next generation of IHRIM associates.

So, ask yourself, when are you going to officially join the HR information technology profession and become certified? If you’re already HRIP certified, are you keeping up with the requirements to maintain your certification? Soon, we’ll see the HRIP certification move from the desired to required list of qualifications for HR technologyrelated positions.

One of our most popular product offerings is our HRIP certification exam review course.

Our students view this six-session review as an excellent fundamentals curriculum for those new to the industry, even if they don’t yet meet the experience requirements to sit for the exam. For

those who sit for the HRIP exam, the pass rate is 19 percent greater than exam takers who don’t take the review course. We’ll be running a course during the fourth quarter. Check out the IHRIM website at https://ihrim.org/education/courses/ for more information on the next review course.

As a non-profit professional association, our heavy reliance on volunteers from within and associated with the industry is critical to providing cost-effective services and programs to our associates. By the time of this publication, the three newest members to the IHRIM Board of Directors will have been elected and begun to advance several key IHRIM programs and initiatives.

These new Board members bring a wide range of experiences and perspectives to the leadership of the organization with one key shared characteristic. They are all long-time supporters of IHRIM, well-versed in IHRIM’s value as an association, and are seasoned industry contributors.

Matthew Hanwell, esteemed researcher and author on the topic of communities, has accepted an initial assignment as Co-director of Communities, working with board member Mary Ann McIlraith to continue the development of our new community model designed to provide local faceto-face networking opportunities to our associates. Matthew is Finland-based and we’re excited to add his world view to the board. New Yorkbased, Ebby Ajegbo, is one of our rare associates who started her career in the HR technology field immediately upon completing her university studies, progressively expanding her responsibilities in building her career and was a logical fit as IHRIM’s new Member Services Director. New Jersey-based Dorothy Neceda brings executivelevel experience in organizations providing HR administrative and global payroll solutions and a natural fit to lead IHRIM’s marketing efforts in her role as Marketing Director.

These Board members’ 30-month terms started on July 1 and we are now vetting a new slate of candidates to present to the membership this fall who will begin a three-year term on the Board in January 2019.

One final note, I suggest you read Marc Miller’s new book, The Death of HR, Who Killed H.(Harriet) R.(Rose) Job? Marc is an IHRIM Summit Award winner and this book provides a game plan to use technology to gain clout, avoid career decline, and empower your HR organization. It will be a nice compliment to your HRIP certification exam studies. Here’s the link: http:// www.ihrimpublications.com/shop/product_info. php?products_id=53.

www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018

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ROAD TO

LOOKING FOR THE INSIDE TRACK ON A CAREER IN HRIT?

What Do They Have In Common?

They Are Invested In Their HR Technology Career It’s never a bad decision to invest in your career. Salaries in the field of HRIT are at an all-time high...but so are expectations. To be successful, you need a broad HR technology education that only one assocation provides.

The IHRIM HRIP Certification brings you education in HR Technology Strategy, System Assessment & Selection, Business Process Support, Project Management, Implementation, and Operations., Get the skills and knowledge you need to your HRIT career.

6 advance July-September 2018 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

Next HRIP Certification Course

Oct. 30 - Nov. 15 REGISTER FOR YOUR CAREER www.ihrim.org/Nov18HRIP

(Feature – WSR – July-September 2018)

feature

Anita Bowness, Saba Software Anita Bowness, Saba Software

Leveraging Technology to Achieve NextLeveraging Technology to Achieve Next-Generation Generation Performance Management Performance Management

With continuous advances in technology, a the need for a shift in how organizations manmulti-generational workforce, and theadvances emerage employee performance and a transitionworkforce, to With continuous in technology, a multi-generational and the gence of project-based work environments, the thework next generation of performance manageemergence of project-based environments, the business landscape is rapidly business landscape is rapidly changing.

But, these ment.

Rather than managing performance changing.

But, despite constant changes, people remain every organization's despite these constant changes, people remain through the rear-view mirror, the next generagreatest competitive advantage. So how can you ensure that you’re maximizing every organization’s greatest competitive of performance management employees’ potential today,tion tomorrow, and well into the requires future?a advantage. So how can you ensure that you’re proactive, collaborative, ongoing approach. maximizing employees’ potential today, tomorBy moving away from traditional performance management processes, which focus on row, and well into the future?

Making Shift to Ongoing what the organization can get fromthe its workers – rather than what its employees need to By moving away from traditional perforPerformance Management be successful – you can future-proof your performance management strategy to keep mance management processes, which focus on pace with the ever-changing Next-generation world of work.performance management what the organization can get from its workers focuses on creating an ongoing dialogue about – rather than what its employees need to be performance between managers and employWhy Traditional Management has Failed successful – you can future-proof your Performance perforees, emphasizing the link between employee mance management strategy to keep pace with satisfaction, contribution, and engagement. By performance management has largely taken a heavily process-driven, the ever-changingTraditional world of work. merging employee development, coaching and company-centric approach, rather than a people-centric approach that focuses on the feedback in new ways, organizations can more at the heart of the company.

This simply does not inspire performance: research Why Traditionalpeople Performance effectively motivate, engage, and inspire better reveals of employees believe that their company’s current Management has Failedthat only 46 percentperformance.

1 Traditional performance management just adds performance review process is helpful.

Traditional performance management has But while many organizations recognize moreprocess-driven, stress on ancomalready overburdened disengaged workforce. largely taken a heavily that performanceand management is no longer pany-centric approach, rather than a peoplea once-a-year process and that employees A growing number of organizations are eliminating reviews – which centric approach that focuses on the people who receive ongoing feedbackannual deliver performance greater increasingly seen as disconnected fromthat business strategy – in favor of ongoing at the heart of theare company.

This simply does returns, sometimes seems easier said than performance In fact, Hall research reveals that in 2017, not inspire performance: researchmanagement. reveals that done.

HowBrandon exactly can HR Group and talent leadonly 46 percent of29 employees that their replaced ers make their this shift to ongoing performance percentbelieve of companies annual performance appraisal discussions with company’s currentfrequent performance process management? andreview in-the-moment feedback.2And, what role can technology is helpful.1 Traditional performance manageplay in helping you successfully transform your ment just adds more on an already overperformanceappraisals managementand processes?

Thestress ineffectiveness of one-and-done set-it-and-forget-it goals are driving burdened and disengaged workforce.

Here are three ways you can start making the need for a shift in how organizations manage employee performance and a A growing number of organizations are the move to the next generation of perfor- Rather than managing transition to the next generation of performance management. eliminating annual performance reviews – mance management: which are increasingly seen as disconnected from business strategy – in favor of ongoing 1. Goal Setting performance management. In fact, Brandon The connection between an employee’s Hall Group research reveals that in 2017, 29 work, their value to the organization, and their percent of companies replaced their annual impact on business outcomes is a key driver of performance appraisal discussions with freemployee satisfaction and engagement. When quent and in-the-moment feedback.2 employees know what is expected of them and The ineffectiveness of one-and-done apprais- clearly see the impact they have on the organials and set-it-and-forget-it goals are driving www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018

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zation’s success, they are motivated to deliver results.

To make the future of performance management a reality, organizations must move toward more collaborative and simplified goal setting. Employees should be able to easily and directly align individual goals with organizational objectives. Employee goals should also be reviewed frequently – at least quarterly – and revised as needed to ensure continued alignment.

Modern performance management technology allows managers and employees to set goals as part of a regular performance review process, part of a separate goal-setting process, or in the course of their day-to-day activities – and easily refresh these goals as business priorities change. A performance management system can help you keep every employee’s goals aligned with the organization’s goals and easily identify when goals are off track so managers and employees can rapidly course correct.

2. Performance Discussions

Building a strong manager-employee relationship drives employee engagement. One of the ways to improve the manager-employee relationship and establish the trust needed for engagement is through consistent communication and meaningful ongoing performance conversations. In fact, employees whose managers hold regular meetings with them are almost three times as likely to be engaged.3 Frequent, informal check-ins give managers an opportunity to review goal status, provide feedback, and coach employees on a regular basis. For employees, check-ins are a great way to voice their aspirations, thoughts, and challenges, which can build trust and take the manager-employee relationship to an entirely new level. Organizations that actively involve employees in the performance management process are also much more likely to see gains in employee retention, engagement, and the pursuit of development.

A performance management system gives employees and managers an interactive, centralized way to track and collaborate on goals and projects, exchange meaningful feedback, provide coaching, and discuss career development opportunities on a regular, ongoing basis. The structure provided by performance

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management technology can also help make 1:1 check-ins more productive, without taking away the very essence of what make them so effective in the first place.

3. Feedback and Recognition

Organizations that nurture a feedback-rich culture and encourage all employees to share feedback have more highly engaged workforces. And Gallup suggests that “instilling frequent personalized feedback and recognition is one of the surest ways to drive that shift in workplaces worldwide.”4 A performance management system allows employees to easily request and provide 360-degree peer feedback. And enabling peer feedback through technology has many benefits. It incorporates the input of employees working in various locations; it creates a system of record that can later be integrated with performance reviews; and, it provides valuable data for further analysis and talent decision-making.

People who are recognized and appreciated are also more motivated and committed to their work. Brandon Hall Group research reveals that organizations that periodically deliver some type of formal recognition are 2.5 times more likely to experience increased employee engagement, more than 85 percent likely to see increased productivity, and up to 76 percent more likely to have employees participate in more development opportunities.5 Employee recognition – from both peers and leaders – is a critical driver of employee satisfaction and engagement. And by leveraging the social feedback capabilities available in modern performance management systems, you can enable employees to recognize each other every day in a fun and engaging way.

Driving the Future of Performance Management

If you were to ask any boardroom what their company’s most important asset is, you’d likely hear an emphatic “our people!”

And yet, many organizations are still leaving so much on the table when it comes to employee development, performance, and engagement. Traditional performance management processes are falling short of expectations for both the organization and the employee.

On average, managers are spending 210 hours a year in performance management activities that 77 percent of HR executives don’t even believe accurately reflect employee contributions.6 There has to be a better way – and that way is next-generation performance management.

With a forward looking, agile performance management process that facilitates effective goal-setting, continuous coaching. and frequent feedback, you can align, engage, and inspire your people to achieve the results that matter to your business.

Endnotes 1

2017 State of Employee Engagement Report: Eliminating the Blind Spots in Your Business, Saba Software, 2017. http://www1. saba.com/StateofEmployeeEngagementReport2017.html

2

2017 Performance Management Study, Brandon Hall Group, August 2017. http://go.brandonhall.com/l/8262/2017-0818/7fj2wk

3

James Harter and Amy Adkins, “What Great Managers Do to Engage Employees,” Harvard Business Review, April 2, 2015. https://hbr.org/2015/04/what-great-managers-do-to-engage-employees

4

A nnamarie Mann and Ryan Darby, “Should Managers Focus on Performance or Engagement?” Gallup.com, August 5, 2014. http://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/174197/managers-focus-performance-engagement.aspx

5

3 Performance Management Practices that Make a Business Difference, Brandon Hall Group, 2018. https://www.saba.com/ resources/research/3-performance-management-practices-that-make-a-business-difference

6

Dana Wilkie, “Is the Annual Performance Review Dead?” Shrm.org, August 19, 2015. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/ hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/performance-reviews-are-dead.aspx

About the Author

As the global practice leader in Saba’s Strategic Services group, Anita Bowness draws on nearly 20 years of experience in consulting and professional services to help HR leaders recruit, engage, develop, and retain their talent. She has been published in HR Daily Advisor and HRO Today, featured in an interview on BBC Capital, and presented at DisruptHR Ottawa and Halogen TalentSpace Live. Her extensive experience extends to the areas of recruitment, onboarding, performance management, learning and development, succession planning, organizational development, competency mapping, and change management. Her consulting experience has spanned many sectors, including IT, government, defense, retail, telecommunications, healthcare, education, logistics and professional services. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Human Resources Management from the University of Ottawa, and a master’s in Human Resources Management from the University of Leeds. She also earned a Project Management Certificate from the University of Toronto. She can be reached at abowness@saba.com. For more information, visit http://www.saba.com.

www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018

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(Feature #3 – WSR Apr-June 2018)

feature

Bob Greene, Ascentis Bob Greene, Ascentis

Ensuring HRMS that Project #MeToo is #NotUs: Management Review: “How Do You Eat an Elephant?”

It’s anTechnology old joke that your six-year-old might learn at school: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a Using HCM to Combat Sexual Harassment time!” No matter how corny the punchline might be, it may be keeping a fair number of HR (Feature - WSR July-Sept 2018)

professionals up at night in 2018.

The #MeToo movement got its name (and take action in the wake of the latest national some say its voice) in October 2017 with revheadlines. Indeed, in May 2018, largely in Bob Greene, Ascentis elations related to the Harvey Weinstein affair. response to the national uproar over #MeToo, But informed HR people know that the probNew York State and City passed into law Ensuring that #MeToo is #NotUs: Using revisions HCM of their existing human lem of sexual harassment in the workplace has coordinated been lingering for decades, and has occupied rights ordinances that phase in a whole series Technology to Combat Sexual Harassment some part of most HR department’s attention of new requirements: The #MeToo movement got its name (and some say its voice) October 2017 with revelations for just as long. The latest laser-like public a) in Expanding New York anti-harassment related to the Harvey Weinstein affair. But, informed HR people know that the problem of sexual attention to the problem (12 million Facebook protection from “traditional” definitions of harassment in the workplace has been lingering for decades, and has occupied some part of most posts related toattention it in thefor first after employees include contractors, HR department’s just24 ashours long. The latest laser-like public to attention to the problem subcontrac(12 million posts related to itmoves in the first 24 hours aftervendors, the coining of the phrase) the coiningFacebook of the phrase) simply to the tors, consultants, and others who simply moves to the “front burner” an issue, which all responsible employers know they must “front burner” an issue, which all responsible provide services under contract; address. employers know they must address. b) Most case settlement non-disclosure and binding arbitration rules implemented by New York employers become null and void, effective July 11, 2018 (although apparent conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Epic Systems Corp versus Lewis, which specifically allowed employers to require their employees to submit to binding arbitration, will have to The scenario is common: you’ve gone through a massive and painstaking capital be worked out byhuman new case law);management and, (HCM) systems evaluation project. In addition to HRMS, it might include any number of other modules, c) New comprehensive anti-sexual harasslike Payroll, Recruiting, Time Management, and Talent Management. In selecting your winning vendor, ment policies and posters, and mandatory perhaps you’ve just committed to an annual spend well in excess of US$100,000 in Software-as-aemployee anti-sexual harassment training Service orBut software maintenance fees, and vendor or address third-party implementation fees at the burning question remains: how to it? consultant for New York employers goes into effect Buttimes the burning question remains: three to five that first-year investment.

And,how what may be keeping you up at night are the two October 9, 2018.

The details differ at the New With the clear shift emphasis at the federal types level toward deregulation and rollback of in project to address it? most common reasons forinthe failures of these of implementations: failures administrative rules of all kinds, states and localities are picking up theand pace.

Butlevels, when itsocomes York State City check with your management, and in change management.

(For some excellent pointers onstate the role that great With thefailures clear shift in emphasis at the to sexual harassment, the states have almost always had a favorite leading role.

And, perhaps no has for more change management plays successful see thelegislative excellentreporting article in service this issue by federal level toward deregulation and rollback done more in this areainthan California.implementations, complete information.

Sabrina Clay and Karen Halladay.) of administrative rules of all kinds, states and D.C., and Chicago are all in While only a few other states (Connecticut, Maine) followedPhiladelphia, California’s lead prior to the localities are picking up the pace. But when it emergence of the #MeToo movement, weresult can expect many additional states andlive, cities to when take they Project management failures most typically in modules that never go or, do go the process of passing laws either mandating comes tothe sexual harassment, the states haveIndeed, in May 2018, largely in response to action in wake of the latest national headlines. live, fail to address the process deficiencies they were meant to resolve.

Change management failures training non-disclosure agreethe national uproar over #MeToo,role.

NewAnd YorkperState and City passed or intoprohibiting law coordinated almost always had a leading are typified by modules that, while they may run perfectly according to plan, face ongoing poor ments in settlements.

And a little-known revisions theirhas existing haps no of state donehuman more rights in thisordinances area thanthat phase in a whole series of new requirements: provision of last December’s Tax Cuts and California.

Jobs Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-97), signed into While only a few other states (Connecticut, law by President Trump on December 22, Maine) followed California’s lead prior to the 2017, eliminates corporate tax deductibility of emergence of the #MeToo movement, we can most of the expenses associated with a sexual expect many additional states and cities to

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July-September 2018 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

harassment settlement, if that settlement is covered by a non-disclosure agreement.

Given the overall risk profile presented by sexual harassment (with or without state laws in place), best practice for many organizations appears to be to adopt “California/New York policy and practice” nationwide, even if they don’t have employees within the geographic limits of those states today.

An AB1825 “Did you know?”

• California Assembly Bill 1825 (state law “AB1825”) first became effective on August 17, 2007 and requires all organizations with 50 or more employees to provide anti-sexual harassment training to all supervisors. The “50 or more employees” count is for any 20 or more consecutive weeks in the current or prior calendar year, and must include employees and contractors. The count must also include out-of-state employees and contractors.

• The law applies to employers headquartered in California, or anywhere else in the U.S., if they have California employees being supervised from within or outside the state.

• Anti-sexual harassment training must be two hours in length, include a series of mandatory topics, and can be instructorled, individual e-learning, or through scheduled webinars.

• Training must be delivered for new supervisors within six months of hire or promotion to supervisor, and repetitively for all supervisors every two years.

• The law was amended in 2015, under (California) Assembly Bill 2053, to add abusive conduct and “bullying” to the roster of required training content.

• It was further amended effective January 1, 2018, under (California) Senate Bill 396, to require manager and supervisor training specific to preventing harassment on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

• A surprise to many was that AB1825 carries no state reporting requirements or prescribed administrative penalties for

failure to comply! Rather, complete record keeping proving compliance with AB1825 acts as a mitigating factor in sexual harassment decisions by the courts, and, of course, the converse is also true: lack of training history acts as an aggravating factor, potentially increasing awards to successful plaintiffs dramatically. When the law was being written, the author of AB1825 was asked why they failed to include tougher sanctions for failure to comply with the law’s training requirements, and her response was, “The best penalty is a plaintiff’s lawyer!”

Quantifying the Risk A recent study of more than 50 sexual harassment cases in Chicago found that the average settlement amount (avoiding a jury trial) was $53,000. As bad as that number sounds, the average jury verdict in these cases was $217,000 (about four times larger), and plaintiffs won on cases that made it to a jury about 40 percent of the time. Any way these numbers are sliced, the typical HR organization simply cannot afford to ignore this risk.

Here’s What Employers Can – and Must – Do Now! While there are dozens of ways that an HRMS can assist an organization in addressing the sexual harassment risk, let’s focus on the three biggest areas: policy acknowledgement and retention, training, and workflow or, as we’ll refer to it here, “electronic workforce monitoring.”

Policy Acknowledgement and Retention In 2018, it is true that any employer still maintaining anti-sexual harassment policy statements and acknowledgements, signed by employees, in paper files, is living with an unacceptable level of risk, and needs to be looking at the process improvements necessary to address this risk.

Paper policies (signed or not) get misplaced.

Annual re-acknowledgements and revisions to the policies only exacerbate this problem.

Some paper never even makes it into the www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • April-June 2018

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physical files in the first place. As HR professionals know, the time to find out that a policy acknowledgement from the “files” is missing, or unsigned, or illegible, is not when it’s being requested by corporate counsel in response to a legal complaint.

Current best practices that every organization should be striving for in sexual harassment policy maintenance include: a) Collecting signed acknowledgements during the new hire onboarding process. Why have a gap, of even one day, in documenting employees’ and supervisors’ agreement to your “zero tolerance” working environment? Bear in mind, the combination of a criminal/civil background check and this signed policy acknowledgement, acts like an “immunization” for the company as the new hire walks through the door. b) Scanning and attaching every signed sexual harassment policy acknowledgement to the related employee’s record (or alternatively, e-signature on an electronic policy record.) For many companies, unlimited attachment space, maintained indefinitely, without additional charge, is now a “dropdead” requirement for cloud-based HRMS. c) An aging, or recertification system, that automatically prompts employees to re-sign their policy acknowledgement on a userchosen frequency (annually is preferred), and supervisor/administrator reports to identify and track down any “scofflaws.”

Employee/Supervisor Training If or when your organization is unfortunate enough to be hit with a claim of sexual harassment at the hands of a supervisor or co-worker or by an active or former employee, on a most simplistic basis, you need to prove: (a) you maintained a clear policy against it, (b) the alleged offended signed that policy, (c) you administered detailed training to the alleged offender on all required topics, e.g., “What is a hostile working environment?” and/or “What is quid pro quo? (d) the alleged offender took that training on these dates, and (e) as evidenced by the records we can provide, the alleged offender took the required mid-training quizzes and “final exam” that proves that he/

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July-September 2018 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

she knew what behavior constituted prohibited acts (but engaged in them anyway.) With apologies to the attorneys reading this for the over-simplification, the above is the baseline to which all employers should adhere.

So given the requirements of (c) through (e) above, a good learning management system (LMS) is key to an employer’s defense. Whether training is being offered in person or online (or a combination of both – most jurisdictions allow for either as effective means of training), the record-keeping around issues like dates of training exposure, time spent learning, and review questions posed by the system, and answered interactively by the learner, are key to mitigating damages that might be visited on the employer.

Systems compliant with the shareable content object reference model (SCORM) can deliver all of this capability. Additionally, SCORM or Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC), compliance is the protocol that assures a level of “plug-and-play” compatibility to offer employers maximum flexibility in choosing systems from one provider and content from another.

Other requirements employers should be including in their search for a good LMS include the ability to: • Mix and match purchased, leased, or selfauthored content (with SCORM or AICC compliance being the common denominator that makes this interchangeability relatively easy.)

• Versionize content and require re-training when versions change. As we’ve seen with California AB1825, as an example, additional training topics have been added multiple times over the years, and we can expect that to continue.

• Automate the training requirements presentation to employees/supervisors in multiple ways. Examples include: annual, biennial, or any other frequency retraining requirements, new training when an employee becomes a supervisor for the first time, and new training if an employee changes work location from one state or city to another (although, as previously mentioned, the simplest approach to this

issue is to administer the most stringent training requirement company-wide and avoid possible missed opportunities.)

“Electronic Workforce Supervision” (formerly known as Workflow) OK admit it: even the most capable and responsible HR professional, working 60 hours a week, cannot be everywhere at the same time. You don’t have a crystal ball that allows you to oversee every update to your HRMS, and (to repeat a phrase) the time to find out that something incriminating against your company has been sitting in your HRMS for months or years is not at the discovery stage of litigation!

For years HR professionals have looked at workflow almost purely as an efficiency tool: “Kill excess paper!” “Save a tree!” “Ensure all required approvals are documented!” “Reduce processing time on Personnel Action Forms by 80 percent!” And as such, workflow has done an admirable job. But workflow’s “Act II” is just beginning, and it’s pretty simple: workflow can be used to interrupt any process where a supervisor, or HR professional, should be monitoring for the possibility of company-damaging information being updated to the system of record by an employee.

Here are three examples:

Example One: The Case of the Incriminating Avatars

“Electronic Workforce Supervision” (formerly known as Workflow)

Moral of the story: a good HRMS should always allow for the same detailed workflow capabilities for the upload of attachments, pictures, and notes files as it does for data update.

Example Two: The Case of “Did He Really Write That? Yikes!”

Beta Industries is automating their performance appraisals and is thrilled to finally get the documentation online within the HRMS. They have integrated a rudimentary spell/ grammar-checker, but decided against any attempt to incorporate a legal check add-in into their system.

Moral of the story: No amount of automated legal checking can detect every turn of phrase that, like the example above, reveals a level of discriminatory animus with which no employer should ever want to be associated. The example on the right simply proves that the reviewer/supervisor is more in need of improvement and re-training than the employee he or she is evaluating.

Moral of the story: No amount of automated legal checking can detect every turn of Example Three: The Case of the “Merit” Award System Gone Wrong phrase that, like the example above, reveals Cavalier Systems has just gone live with a new compensation planning tool. Managers have been atrained level of discriminatory animus with which how to use performance results to make annual merit budget awards, but the amount of each award is left largely to the discretion of each manager. no employer should ever want to be associated. The example on the right simply proves that the reviewer/supervisor is more in need of improvement and re-training than the employee he or she is evaluating.

Example Three: The Case of the “Merit” Award System Gone Wrong

Acme Manufacturing is very proud of their Moral of the story: The distribution proposal on the left shows a quite reasonable (in fact, almost Cavalier Systems has just gone with aproposal on new HRMS employee self-service and inperfect!) regression analysis relating performance to merit award.live The distribution the right (albeit an intentionally dramatic example) shows that gender appears to be the only new planning Managers explanatory Imagine if tool. a plaintiff’s attorney, bringing an action vites every employee to post a selfie to their Moral ofcompensation thefactor story: to Noexplain amounttheofdistribution. automated legal checking can detect every turn of phrase that, for sexual harassment theateam in the example the which right, got their hands on like the example above,within reveals levelof ofpeople discriminatory animusonwith no employer should that analysis (even if the proposal were later overridden by a VP higher up.) *Shudder* have been trained how to use performance ever want to be associated.

The example on the right simply proves that the reviewer/supervisor employee profile page.

Despite strict For years HR professionals have looked on workflow almost purely as anrules efficiency tool: “Kill is more in need of improvement and re-training than the employee he or she is evaluating. excess paper!” “Save a tree!” “Ensure all required approvals are documented!” “Reduce Notice that the last two examples seem to wander a bit from the direct topic of sexual processing time this on Personnel Action Forms by 80 percent!” And asno such, group workflow has done an results to make annual merit budget awards, around process (no cartoons, harassment, to the allied topic of sexual discrimination. Evidence of sexual discrimination within admirable job. But workflow’s “Act II” is just beginning, and it’s pretty simple: workflow can be Example Three: The Case of the “Merit” Award System Gone Wrong used to interrupt any process where a supervisor, or HR professional, should be monitoring for but the amount of each award is left largely to pictures, professional clothing and demeanor, Cavalier Systems has just gone live with a new compensation planning tool. Managers have been the possibility of company-damaging information being updated to the system of record by an trained how to use performance results to make annual merit budget awards, but the amount of employee. Here are three examples: the discretion each manager. please!), it is almost inevitable that someone each award is left largely toof the discretion of each manager.

OK admit it: even the most capable and responsible HR professional, working 60 hours a week, cannot be everywhere at the same time. You don’t have a crystal ball that allows you to oversee every update to your HRMS, and (to repeat a phrase) the time to find out that something incriminating against your company has been sitting in your HRMS for months or years is not at the discovery stage of litigation!

is going to try to submit a picture of Shrek, or a picture in which they are inappropriately attired, or…well, we can only imagine.

Example One: The Case of the Incriminating Avatars

Acme Manufacturing is very proud of their new HRMS employee self-service and invites every employee to post a selfie to their employee profile page. Despite strict rules around this process (no cartoons, no group pictures, professional clothing and demeanor, please!), it is almost inevitable that someone is going to try to submit a picture of Shrek, or a picture in which they are inappropriately attired, or…well, we can only imagine.

Moral of the story: a good HRMS should always allow for the same detailed workflow capabilities for the upload of attachments, pictures, and notes files as it does for data update.

Example Two: The Case of “Did He Really Write That? Yikes!”

Beta Industries is automating their performance appraisals and is thrilled to finally get the documentation online within the HRMS. They have integrated a rudimentary spell/grammar-

Moral of the story: The distribution proposal on the left shows a quite reasonable (in fact, almost perfect!) regression analysis relating performance to merit award. The distribution proposal on the right (albeit an intentionally dramatic example) shows that gender appears to be the only explanatory factor to explain the distribution. Imagine if a plaintiff’s attorney, bringing an action for sexual harassment within the team of people in the example on the right, got their hands on that analysis (even if the proposal were later overridden by a VP higher up.) *Shudder*

Moral of the story: The distribution proposal on the left shows a quite reasonable (in fact, almost perfect!) regression analysis relating

Notice that the last two examples seem to wander a bit from the direct topic of sexual harassment, to the allied topic of sexual discrimination. www.ihrim.org Evidence of sexual•discrimination within Workforce Solutions

Review • July-September 2018

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About the Author

Bob Greene currently serves as channels manager and account executive at Ascentis. His 40 years in the human capital management industry have been spent as a practitioner, a consultant, and in vendor/partner roles. As a practitioner, he managed payroll for a 5,000 person bank in New Jersey.

As a consultant, he spent eight years advising customers in HRMS, and payroll and benefits system design, as well as acquisition strategies. He also built a strategic HCM advisory practice for Xcelicor (now Deloitte Consulting.) As vendor/partner, he has had prominent roles in sales support, marketing, and product management. He recently completed six years as contributing editor for IHRIM’s Workforce Solutions Review journal and holds a B.A. in English from Rutgers University.

He can be reached at bob.greene@ascentis.com.

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performance to merit award. The distribution proposal on the right (albeit an intentionally dramatic example) shows that gender appears to be the only explanatory factor to explain the distribution. Imagine if a plaintiff’s attorney, bringing an action for sexual harassment within the team of people in the example on the right, got their hands on that analysis (even if the proposal were later overridden by a VP higher up.) *Shudder* Notice that the last two examples seem to wander a bit from the direct topic of sexual harassment, to the allied topic of sexual discrimination. Evidence of sexual discrimination within managerial ranks can frequently be a useful diagnostic tool for predicting where harassment might spring up. Such discrimination would certainly be an aggravating factor in any future litigation that would weigh against the employer. (Author’s note: I had intended to call sexual harassment and sex discrimination “kissing cousins” in this context, but given the subject matter, they’ll just have to settle for a handshake!)

July-September 2018 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

Summary The “#MeToo” movement has raised the stakes, as well as the visibility, on all issues surrounding sexual harassment at work. While it might be tempting to try to predict where the “feds” versus the states and cities might be going in their enforcement provisions around prevention, best practice dictates that that’s a dangerous game, with high costs for error. The safest approach may be to adhere to the most stringent rules in effect at any given time.

An HRMS is an essential tool for documenting an employer’s efforts to comply with these laws, and offers many capabilities – from policy management, to continuous training, to electronic workforce supervision (workflow).

Forward-looking employers are sitting down together now to plan out any reconfigurations needed to use those HRMSs to their fullest extent to help defend against claims of sexual harassment.

(Special Report – WSR July-Sept 2018)

feature

IBM Study: CHRO Insights from theCHRO 2018 Global C-suite Study IBM Study: Insights from the

2018 Global C-suite Study

The people pendulum is swinging again. After fluctuating in importance for over a decade, this year the focus on talent has risen sharply across the C-suite.i Chief executive officers, especially, are paying close attention; our research reveals that 65 percent expect that people skills will have a strong impact on The people pendulum is swinging again.

Af- several number anticipate onto digital plattheir businesses over the next years and willventuring prompt the creation of new strategies.ii

ter fluctuating in importance for over a decade, forms to orchestrate activities across an ecosysForonchief human resources officers (CHROs), this means the heat isiiion. As organizations strive for this year the focus talent has risen sharply tem of producers and consumers. entirely new business models – collaborating with partners across ecosystems or across the C-suite.

Chief executive officers, To get a sure sense of where theyhighly shouldorchestrated be digitalclose platforms – it’sour time for HRheading, to take bold steps to foster reinvention and ensure that talent especially, are paying attention; C-suite leaders themselves must be research reveals flourishes that 65 percent that open to change. They should be prepared to acrossexpect the enterprise. people skills will have a strong impact on their reconsider their destination – as well as how Drawing from the responses survey of executives across the C-suite, IBM client engagements, and businesses over the next several years and willto a to get there – with greater frequency.

In other ii our work with academics, the 19th edition of the IBM Global C-suite Study prompt the creation of new strategies. words, their vision should be dynamic. To CHRO Report explores how For chief human resources officers (CHROs), encourage an openness change,inleaders are landscape. Read on for forward-thinking CHROs are responding to these crucial to changes the business this means the heat is on.

As organizations learning to develop their vision in close collabohighlights from our report. strive for entirely new business models – colration with customers and employees. laborating with partners orLeaders pursuing a more dynamic vision Peopleacross first:highly Designing an open culture chestrated ecosystems or digital platforms actively solicit input from employees to develop timesteps now,toorganizations have recognized thethat need to create more open culture. In such an – it’s time for HRFor to some take bold foster new ideas and inform vision.

Chiefahuman reinvention and environment, ensure that talent flourishes resources officers, of course, play an important employees are empowered to share their ideas, explore new opportunities, and take across the enterprise. fostering a culture in which collaboration action. Recently, the requirementrole for in culture change has taken on new urgency as organizations Drawing from redesign the responses to a survey of of this kind flourishes.

But, there’s much room their business models more dramatically. executives across the C-suite, IBM client enfor improvement; just 54 percent of CHROs and gagements, and our work withthey’re academics, theand 46 percent of CEOsby report that their organizaIncreasingly, seeking finding advantage expanding their business partner networks to 19th edition of the IBMnew Global C-suite tions have beenwith successful in eliciting input create value, e.g.,Study strategic collaborations third-party vendors and co-ventures with other CHRO Report explores how forward-thinkfrom employees to develop new ideas. organizations. Most are shifting from a focus on product innovation to personalized customer ing CHROs are responding to A these crucial On a related front, onto nearly two-thirds, percent of CHROs and 46 percent of 63 CEOs that their organizations have experiences. growing number anticipate venturing digital platforms toreport orchestrate activities changes in the business landscape. Read on for percent, of CHROsiii report that their leadership eliciting input from employees to develop new ideas. across an ecosystem of producers and consumers. works together in a collaborative fashion. Only highlights from our report. percent CEOs agree (see Figure 1). must On a related front,would nearly two-thirds, 63 percent, of be CHROs that their le To get a sure sense of where they49 should beof heading, C-suite leaders themselves openreport to Chief human resources officers and CEOs need a collaborative Only– 49 of CEOs would (see Figure 1). change. They be prepared toinreconsider their fashion. destination as percent well as how to get thereagree – with People first: Designing an should open culture to agree on perspectives and priorities – and For some time greater now, organizations have andshould CEOs need to agreeTo onencourage perspectives priorities – and jointly pu frequency. In other words, officers their vision be dynamic. an and openness to change, jointly pursue those objectives. recognized the need to create a more open

leaders are learning to develop their vision in close collaboration with customers and employees.

culture. In such an environment, employees Leaders pursuing more dynamic vision actively solicit input from employees to develop new ideas and are empowered to share their ideas,aexplore Figure 1. CHRO and CEO percept new opportunities, and take inform thataction. vision.Recently, Chief human resources officers, of course, play an important role in fostering a collaboration. the requirement culture for culture changecollaboration has taken of this kind flourishes. But, there’s much room for improvement; just 54 in which on new urgency as organizations redesign their Chief human resources officers a business models more dramatically. comes to the openness of their c Increasingly, they’re seeking and finding placed on collaboration in their o advantage by expanding their business partner whether leadership actively prom networks to create new value, e.g., strategic Figure 1.

CHRO and CEO perceptions of leadership collaboration. continuous dialogue, if teams are empowered to decide the next best course o collaborations with third-party vendors and reward fast failure equally with success. Only about half of CHROs report that co-ventures with other organizations. Most are Chief human resources officers are less shifting from a focus on product innovation to very effective at encouraging any of these behavior patterns – even fundamen optimistic when it comes to the openness of personalized customer experiences. A growing valued or actively in their organizations (See Figure 2). their cultures and thepromoted value placed on collaborawww.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018

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collaboration.

Chief humanChief resources are less optimist humanofficers resources officers are less comes to the openness of their cultures and the comes to theorganizational openness of their cultures tion in their organizations. We asked whether what could accelerate perforleadership actively promotes transparency mance, CEOs rank investment in people as organiza placed on collaboration in their organizations.

W placed on an collaboration in their and continuous dialogue, if teams are empownumber one. whetheractively leadership actively promotes t whether leadership promotes transpare ered to decide the next best course of action, Yet while most executives in this latest study continuous dialogue, if teams areto empowered tonext decide the nextdevelopment best course actio and if reward failure equally with agree that investing in talent is of continuous dialogue, ifleaders teams are fast empowered decide the best course of action, and if success.

Only about half of CHROs report critical, many remain daunted by the chalfast failure equallyOnly withabout success.

Only half of CHROs their or reward fast failurereward equally with success. half ofabout CHROs report thatreport their that organizati that their organizations are very effective at lenge. Just one half of CHROs say that they very effective of atthese encouraging any of these behavior patterns – even fundamental coll encouraging anyany patterns – patterns have the people skillsfundamental and resources they need very effective at encouraging of behavior these behavior – even collaboratio valued or actively promoted in valued their organizations Figure 2). strategy. even fundamental collaboration is not to execute the(See enterprise business valued or actively promoted in their organizations (See Figure 2). or actively promoted in their organizations What’s driving the current challenge regard(See Figure 2).

ing skills? Shifts in business that have been underway for some time may have reached a tipping point. Changes to business models, including more collaboration across enterprises and the application Figure 2: pervasive Only about half of ofartificial CHROs report s intelligence (AI)/cognitive technologies in the organizational that support Figure 2: Onlyof about halfhad ofabehaviours CHROs report successano workplace have profound effect on the types behaviours of in-demand workforce skills and how of organizational that support an open cu Figure 2. Only about half of CHROs report success on a variety of people learn. organizational behaviours that support an open culture.

While digital skills remain a priority, busiSupporting fluidcross-enterprise cross-enterprise –ness teams that are made up of employees from Supporting fluid teamsteams – leaders should also empower the workorganization – may beemployees the CHRO’s challenge.

43 percent of CHROs repo teams that are made up of from futureforce to succeedToday, in an environment where more than one organization – may be the Supporting fluid cross-enterprise teams – teams that are made up of employees from more th employees co-create with customers and teams already sharing people across their full value chains or ecosystems. How will the ente CHRO’s future challenge. Today, 43 percent function with high degrees of autonomy. As a organization – maybetween be the cultures?

CHRO’s future challenge.

Today, 43 percent of to CHROs report t Whatalready new workforce skills will be required engage in newthat partn of CHROs report that they’re sharing result, there is a growing emphasis on interhuman resources willorneed to be active participants dialogue to people across across their fullofficers value ecosysalready sharing people their full chains value chains orand ecosystems.

HowinThese will the enterprise br intra-personal skills. include an resolve the tems. How will the enterprise bridge gaps beaptitude for working in teams that are continubetween cultures?tween What new workforce skills will be required to engage in new partnerships? cultures? What new workforce skills will ally assembling and dispersing, a capacity for be requiredwill to engage newbe partnerships? human resources officers needin to active participants toability resolve these issue creativityin anddialogue empathy, an to change Chief human resources officers will need to be course quickly and a propensity to seek peractive participants in dialogue to resolve these sonal growth.v issues.

So, how are organizations responding to the For 13 years, we’ve surveyed the C-suitenew on demands factors that would most impact their orga for finding scarce skills and acforward.

During that Accelerating time, executives that the importance of asked people skills celerating the learning curve? When we Exponential learning: and responded CHROs to identify their top areas of focus greatly (see Figure personalizing skills 3). This year, people skills rose from fifth to third place as a force t based on the changing digital environment, For 13 years, we’ve surveyed the on Moreover, For 13 years, we’veexpects surveyed the their C-suite onC-suite factors that would most impact to affect organizations. when asked whattheir couldorganization accelerate or about a third cite training and recruiting as factors that would most impact their organizaiv performance, CEOs rank an investment people as number one. forward. During that time, executives responded thatin the importance people skills has fluc priorities.

While hiringof remains an important tions going forward. During that time, execumechanism to address the skills issue, CHROs thatpeople the importance people greatly (see Figuretives 3). responded This year, skillsofrose fromnote fifth to third place as a force the entir that because the required skills change at Figure 3. Across the C-suite, the impact skills has fluctuated greatly (see Figure 3). This rapid rate, it’s difficult keep pace through expects to affect their organizations. Moreover, whenaasked what couldtoaccelerate organizati of people skills is rising. year, people skills rose from fifth to third place hiring alone. Instead, they3. must strike the a bal-C-suite, th ivFigure Across Source: “Incumbents Strike Back: a forcean the investment entire C-suite expects to affectas number one. performance, CEOsasrank in people Insights from the Global C-suite Study,” ance; while 41 percent skillsofisrespondents rising. aim to IBM Institute for Business Value, 2018. their organizations. Moreover, when asked hire digitally skilled talent, 37 percent expect to train employees in emerging technologies.

Despite the somewhat sluggish pace of action to date, executives envisioned a impac Figure 3.HR Across thehave C-suite, the way to rapidly close the skills gap – personalskills is rising. ized learning.

In fact, 71 percent of CHROs value this capability over any other.

While the benefits of individualized learning are well-documented, the mass personalization of training programs is tricky for a number of reasons.vi Today, learners are consumers first and have high expectations when it

Exponential learning: Accelerating and personalizing skills

Exponential learning: Accelerating and personalizing skills

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July-September 2018 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

business partner. comes to selection, access, and delivery options for their training and development. Content relevance is also critical to engage learners.

Enterprises must find ways to curate the right content for each employee.

Today, 34 percent of surveyed CHROs have personalized learning in place, but that number could more than double in just a few years, with 71 percent of CHROs rating personalized learning experiences as highly valuable for the future.

In a recent IBM report, HR leaders cited AI as a critical enabler of skills transformation. To be sure, AI/cognitive systems can facilitate personalized learning. Because these systems are able to understand unstructured information at speed and scale, they can rapidly and comprehensively source and organize the most upto-date learning content for employees. Other features of cognitive systems, such as natural language processing, are implemented to create more intuitive interfaces, including chatbots and free-form Q&A. Ultimately, the biggest challenges CHROs could confront in creating mass personalized learning experiences may be similar to those faced by chief marketing officers (CMOs) in designing a personalized customer experience.

Personalized learning should be dynamic, continuously aligning and realigning with employee personal objectives, as well as employer needs.

The same kind of analytics and technologies required to uncover and understand individual customer needs and respond with precision will come into play here, so CHROs would benefit from new partnerships with their CMO peers.

Make way for change: How is HR stepping into the future?

Human Resources has been a function in transition for decades – from its post-war roots as the steward of workforce planning and lifetime employment, to its mid-1990s shift toward outside hiring practices and business-owned compensation strategies, to its recent transformation toward becoming a strategic business partner.viii Human Resources has navigated these twists and turns over time, but now businesses are experiencing such a rapid succession of shifts that it constitutes a wave of continuous change and transformation. Under these challenging new conditions, CHROs will need to keep close to their partners in the C-suite and boldly change

Human Resources has navigated these twists and turns over tim such rapid what HRadoes andsuccession how it does it.of shifts that it constitutes a wave of con The goodthese news ischallenging that most CHROs Under newareconditions, CHROs will need to kee getting ready to take on wholesale change; and boldly change what HR does and how it does it.

61 percent identified six or more functional

capabilities that they plan to tackle in the next The good newstoisbegin? that most CHROs few years.

But where What are the are getting ready to take on priorities for change that will enable CHROs that they plan to tackle in the six or more functional capabilities to What successfully reimagine HR in support of thethat will enable CHROs to suc are the priorities for change overall business transformation? overall business transformation?

In this section, we explore some HR programs that are primed for reinvention (see In this section, explore some HR programs that are primed f Figure 4), and we lookwe at how CHROs are using real-time andCHROs adoptingare agileusing practices to look atdata how real-time data and adopting agile p enable a rapid transformation.

transformation.

Figure 4. Top areas for HR ch

For example, CHROs identify the need to re-examine how emplo as the number one areathe forneed change.

For example, CHROs identify to re- This makes sense as organiz examine how employees areenterprise. measured andAnnual, givpractices across the one-size-fits-all perform en feedback as the number one area for change. an environment where employees might move between severa This makes sense as organizations move toward various managers inthe the course Anof a single year. Chief human re more agile practices across enterprise.

Figure 4. Top areas for HR changes in the next two to three years.

nual, one-size-fits-all performance appraisals no longer fit the bill in an environment where employees might move between several teams and projects, and report to various managers in the course of a single year. Chief human resources officers who have begun transforming performance appraisals often focus their efforts on establishing continuous, personal, and active dialogue with their workforce.

Given the competitive global talent market and rapidly changing requirements for skills and capabilities, HR leaders would do well to develop a new perspective on strategic workforce planning. Deriving insight generated by real-time data from new sources across the enterprise is a key step in creating a nimbler, more proactive approach. Modern workforce

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planning tools enable managers and HR to anticipate business requirements. They can also help balance the needs of the employee with the needs of the organization.

In some cases, it’s not a matter of reinventing legacy programs, but creating them from scratch. One such area is employee data and privacy. Close to two-thirds of CHROs identified this issue as a priority for change in the near future. Consider the recent introduction of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); employee data is surely already on CHRO radars.ix Even for organizations not directly impacted by the new rules, the GDPR is a sign of things to come. Employers should begin to examine their workforce data practices. Chief human resources officers, as vigilant custodians of employee information, must be central to this task. Engaging in dialogue with their employees on privacy issues can help organizations understand and proactively address concerns and expectations.

When thinking of what their own roles might be a few years from now, CHROs agree that their mandates need to expand, but it appears that too few are taking ownership of opportunities to do just that. Our research shows that only 28 percent of CHROs expect their enterprise to address changing workforce demographics with new strategies. However, this

Endnote

creates an incredible opportunity for roughly 70 percent of CHROs to take bold steps to foster reinvention and help ensure that talent flourishes across the enterprise.

Start by asking yourself these important questions: • Is your organization empowered to execute on bold HR strategies? Or, are you limited to incremental changes?

• Are you challenged by inadequate investments in the foundational systems that enable enterprise change?

• Do you have so many competing objectives that people skills don’t make the list of top priorities in your organization?

CHROs, this is your time.

This analysis and discussion is taken from the IBM Institute for Business Value 2018 Csuite Study CHRO Report titled Unplug from the Past. To learn more about what leading CHROs are doing to ensure that talent flourishes across the enterprise, download the full IBM report at http://ibm.biz/chrostudy. The executive report examines key activities that differentiate outperforming CHROs from their peers, and explores the opportunity for HR to transform itself and the organization with clear actions and behaviours to begin now.

Incumbents Strike Back: Insights from the Global C-suite Study, IBM Institute for Business Value, February 2018. http://www.ibm. com/globalcsuitestudy ii Plotting the platform payoff: The Chief Executive Officer perspective, IBM Institute for Business Value, May 2018. https://www.ibm. com/services/insights/c-suite-study/ceo iii Ibid. iv 19th Global C-suite Study, IBM Institute for Business Value, unpublished data, accessed May 3, 2018. v Michael King, Anthony Marshall and Dave Zaharchuk. Facing the storm: Navigating the global skills crisis, IBM Institute for Business Value, December 2016. https://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/thoughtleadership/skillsstorm/ vi Asha Pandey, Benefits of Personalized eLearning – Featuring a Case Study for Instructional Designers, eLearning Industry, August 29, 2017. https://elearningindustry.com/benefits-of-personalized-elearning-case-study-instructional-designers vii Extending expertise: How cognitive computing will transform HR and the employee experience, IBM Institute for Business Value and IBM Smarter Workforce Institute, January 2017. https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ ssialias?htmlfid=GBE03789USEN viii Peter Cappelli and Anna Tavis, “HR goes Agile.” Harvard Business Review, March-April 2018. https://hbr.org/2018/03/the-newrules-of-talent-management ix Cindy E. Compert, David Jarvis, Richard Hog, The end of the beginning: Unleashing the transformational power of GDPR, IBM Institute for Business Value, May 2018. https://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/thoughtleadership/gdpr/ i

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(Feature – WSR July-Sept 2018)

feature

Michael Rudnick, Velaku LLC Michael Rudnick, WSR Co-Managing Editor

Microsoft – It’s Microsoft and HR – It’s not whatand you HR think!

not what you think!

Microsoft is back. After more than a decade of seemingly being lost at sea, including a disastrous foray into the cell Microsoft is back.

After more than a decade of is the traditional version of has Office –a phone business, the Redmond, WA-based giant firing on all on-premise cylinders, and even a market cap that recently seemingly being lost at sea, including a disastruly remarkable statistic. Put another way, in topped Google.

trous foray into the cell phone business, the the last two years, Office 365 has eclipsed all Redmond, WA-based giant is firing on all cylother cloud providers to emerge as the most Butinders, the real news isn’t the stock price. The real news is Microsoft’s cloud business – which has come to dominate and even has a market cap that recently widely used enterprise cloud service on the thetopped enterprise market like no other – and its relevance Google. planet. to HR technology. We're talking about Office 365 and SharePoint Online, hasstock become the corporate as Windows.

But the real newswhich isn’t the price.nearly The as ubiquitous Yet it still in comes as a surpriseworld to many that real news is Microsoft’s cloud business – which there’s a massive sea change beginning in many comebe to dominate the enterprise market Youhas might asking, “What does this have to dofunctional with HR?”areas of organizations that have like no other – and its relevance to HR techrapidly embraced Microsoft’s cloud offerings, nology.

We’redecade, talking about Office 365 andtechnology andhas particularly the SharePoint Online aspect of Over the past innovation in HR been focused on performance management, workforce SharePoint Online, which has become nearly as Office 365.

And that’s where Microsoft’s cloud planning, talent management, recruiting, training, big data, and analytics. Virtually all the new players are cloudubiquitous in the corporate world as Windows. solutions are having a direct impact for funcbased, and certainly all the major “legacy” vendors have moved into the cloud. But two names rarely associated You might be asking, “What does this have to tions such as HR. with all this HR technology innovation, or the cloud, are Microsoft and SharePoint. do with HR?” Over the past decade, innovation in HR A different way of thinking about ShareThetechnology reason Microsoft has notonbeen a major player in HR is primarily because they have not focused on creating has been focused performance software specifically for functional areas like HR Point (or Finance, Marketing, Facilities, Manufacturing, for that matter). management, workforce planning, talent Let’s start by thinking about Office 365 and management, recruiting, training, big data, has sold software that is deployed on-premise, not in the cloud.

And, for its entire corporate life, Microsoft SharePoint Online a bit differently than many and analytics. Virtually all the new players are likely view it today –including its applicability and certainly all the major “legacy” So cloud-based, the sheer speed and scale of Microsoft’s pivotto–HR. from a focus on Windows and on-premise-based Office and vendors have moved into theOffice cloud.365 But is two SharePoint, to cloud-based nothing short remarkable.

WhileofOffice 365 and SharePoint Online are names rarely associated with all this HR techmost certainly productivity and collaboration nology innovation, or the cloud, are Microsoft appsuse – with Outlook, Word, Excel and PowToday, one out of every three corporate employees an Office 365 cloud service, up from less than seven and SharePoint. erPoint having a massive subscriber base (or, percent just three years has ago.not And last summer, Microsoft announced that Office 365 Online brought in more The reason Microsoft been a major in the older parlance, installed-base) of over revenue than traditional on-premise of Office – a truly remarkable statistic. Put another way, in the last player in HRthe is primarily because they haveversion not 1.1 billion users – SharePoint, in particular, two years, Office 365 has eclipsed all other cloud providers to emerge as the most widely used enterprise cloud focused on creating software specifically for and a number of the other Office 365 apps, are functional areas like HR (or Finance, Marketservice on the planet. increasingly being viewed as a platform, not just ing, Facilities, Manufacturing, for that matter). individual applications or an application suite. forcomes its entire life, hasthere’s a massive sea change beginning in many functional areas of YetAnd, it still ascorporate a surprise toMicrosoft many that Couple this line of thinking with survey data sold softwarethat that have is deployed on-premise, organizations rapidly embracednot Microsoft’s cloud offerings, particularly the SharePoint Online that suggests the largest and aspect of transforming in the cloud. aspect of Office 365. And that’s where Microsoft’s solutions are having directtoimpact HRcloud into being truly digital is the aability both for functions such as So the sheer speed and scale of Microsoft’s HR.pivot – from a focus on Windows and on-prem- deliver services and interact with employees in a much more user-friendly, online manner – far ise-based Office and SharePoint, to cloud-based A different of thinking SharePoint more than simply digitizing and automating Office 365way is nothing short ofabout remarkable. high-volume employee and manager transacToday, one out of every three corporate emtions (which was accomplished years ago), as Let’s startuse by an thinking about Office 365upand SharePoint Online a bit differently that many likely view it today – ployees Office 365 cloud service, from well as transforming the manner in which the less thanitsseven percent just including applicability to three HR. years ago.

HR function operates.

And last summer, Microsoft announced that Office 365 Online brought in moreOnline revenueare than While Office 365 and SharePoint most certainly productivity and collaboration apps – with Outlook,

Word, Excel and PowerPoint having a massive subscriber base (or, in the older parlance, installed-base) of over 1.1 • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018 19 billion users – SharePoint, in particular, and a number of the other Officewww.ihrim.org 365 apps, are increasingly being viewed

Change in the HR technology space

The transformation of Microsoft It’s worth noting the irony that there is a lot of discussion about Microsoft’s “comeback.” There’s no question that ever since Satya Nadella replaced Steve Balmer as CEO, Microsoft has been not only on a technology tear – with innovative hardware like the SurfacePro tablet, to the world’s largest cloud service – but Microsoft has even become a cool place to work again. And, while there’s no question Microsoft blew it in the mobile phone business (vs.

Apple and Android), search (vs.

Google) and social space (vs.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), they’ve turned what was a whopping US$8.5B purchase in 2013 of Skype, into the de facto voice/IM platform for business, and are moving in the right direction to leverage their even larger US$26B purchase of LinkedIn in 2016.

One could rightfully say that Microsoft isn’t much of a consumer software or consumer product company anymore (Xbox notwithstanding), but they certainly know how to power business software. And the threat from Google Docs and Gmail has not materialized, despite the dominance of Google’s suite at home, and in the education market.

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A 2017 Leapgen & HR Tech World survey found that 79 percent of HR leaders recognize that digital workforce experience is “not as good/very poor” compared to customer experience. And Forrester’s Paul Hamerman says there’s an opportunity for software that supports this aspect of HR to blossom. “It’s ripe for innovation,” he said. “The user experience has to be engaging.”

The remaining challenges driving the poor numbers of the Leapgen survey are HR’s inability to provide employees with easy and accurate access to unstructured content (beyond Employee and Manager self-service associated digital transaction processing), and the ability of HR professionals to effectively collaborate and interact in faster and more accurate ways.

Take these data points and combine them with the latest from Deloitte’s Josh Bersin, “Employees are overwhelmed, engagement still remains a challenge, the rise of the social enterprise, and organizations are struggling to adapt. Core HR systems are rapidly shifting their focus from applications that automate to applications that ‘make work life better.’”

For HR departments, overcoming these challenges requires a thoughtful approach for managing vast amounts of unstructured content, and delivering that content in a way that meets users’ consumer-grade expectations. This also means the content that employees seek on their intranet must align with the knowledge base that the HR service center uses to handle Tier 1 and Tier 2 inquiries. This is the only way to ensure that there is a “single source of truth” that employees, managers and HR professionals can trust (and is also the only way to reduce service center call volumes).

“Employees have many needs and questions. All they really want is a single, trusted online source for answers, and to be confident in the validity of the content they find,” says Susan Sanders, chief product officer at Velaku, which created the first HR application on Office 365 and SharePoint Online, called HROffice365. She is a former executive in Willis Towers Watson’s HR Portal business.

“Employees want that online experience to be seamless; accessible from any device at any time; and searchable from their main intranet, Sanders added.” From HR’s standpoint, managing all of that content to ensure its accuracy, to ensure the HR service center and Tier 1 help

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desk are reading from “the same book,” makes content management one of the most critical, and most challenging aspects of digital HR.

How SharePoint comes into play for HR By now you’re probably thinking, “What does SharePoint really have to do with human resources? Why now? What’s changed? And what is the relevance to Office 365?”

The answer has a number of key aspects:

• Many organizations that purchased Office 365 did so initially to deploy Outlook email (e.g., in the cloud). The other main Office 365 apps – Word, Excel and PowerPoint – often followed. However, it was common for SharePoint and other lesser known Office 365 apps (Delve, Sway, Yammer, Teams, OneDrive, etc.) to be initially left “on the virtual shelf.”

• When it came time for organizations to redesign their aging intranets, or upgrade the old intranets from SharePoint 2010, most realized it was time to move to SharePoint Online in the cloud, rather than upgrade their on-premise intranets to SharePoint 2016 on-premise.

• Because Microsoft’s cloud is set up as a global platform, not only is SharePoint Online infinitely scalable, but most importantly, the underlying architecture is standardized for all customers, making it far easier for vendors to build applications that work in SharePoint Online or sit on top of SharePoint Online, which was not practical when SharePoint was only an onpremise application.

• Because SharePoint Online is in the Microsoft cloud, it’s accessible from virtually anywhere, on any device, making it a truly enterprise-wide tool for delivering content and access to applications.

• And lastly, SharePoint is not only a powerful content management tool, and has a baked-in search engine and ability to deliver consumer-grade usability on any device – which has been long-proven effective – but the deployment of Office 365 across the corporate world has been unprecedented.

While the large, mainstream human resources information technology (HRIT) vendors have not turned to SharePoint as a

development platform, increasing numbers of smaller players are starting to build applications that not only run on top of, or are integrated with, SharePoint, but that are built using SharePoint as a development platform.

These applications are then deployed literally in the customers’ SharePoint Online tenant or in Microsoft’s Azure cloud that is seamless with SharePoint Online and Office 365.

The benefit to the user is a seamless, highly integrated user experience in which the user never leaves SharePoint Online or Office 365.

The benefit to HRIT is the ability to deploy SharePoint applications and to deliver business value much faster, and with far less cost, and far less risk than the alternative of custom developing a similar solution in SharePoint, as well as to further leverage existing Office 365 and SharePoint licenses.

Let’s take a closer look into this phenomenon and explore some of the applications that are available today using this model.

Office 365 and SharePoint Online as an ecosystem

One of the clearest indications that Office 365 and SharePoint Online is actually a platform that’s powering its own ecosystem is the sheer number of vendors that have built applications that run in, or on top of, SharePoint Online.

There is a large and rapidly growing ecosystem of solutions that can be categorized as either SharePoint applications (apps built in SharePoint and deployed into a customers’ Office 365 or SharePoint Online tenant, such as Velaku’s HROffice365 or a project management tool called Dalikoo), or SharePoint accelerators, e.g., products built to run on Azure that enable dramatically faster set up, deployment, and management of SharePoint Online and other Office 365 applications without the need for custom development, such as Powell 365 or LiveTiles.

All these products solve one major shortcoming of out-of-the-box (OOTB) Office 365 and SharePoint Online, which is that the customer is often relegated to using Microsoft’s standard templates, which are notorious for providing sub-standard user experiences; not providing department-specific features/functionality (such as an HR knowledge base or case management); and can be challenging to use for content management. Even SharePoint’s new “Modern” pages, which have a vastly improved

user experience, still have significant limitations and, some would say, are not fully baked for large-scale enterprise use (despite Microsoft’s aggressive push to migrate customers from “classic” SharePoint to “Modern” SharePoint).

A quick history of Office 365 and SharePoint

SharePoint has been around for almost two decades. During this time, it has been a frequently used, yet equally despised, application that “everyone loves to hate.” It was confusing to many who couldn’t categorize it (a content management system? a document management system? a shared file system in the sky? a portal?). And most people thought it was, as Dan Ackroyd famously said on Saturday Night Live “a floor wax and a fruit topping” – everything to everyone, and nothing to nobody. It did a lot of things, but most of them not very well.

Fast forward to 2013, when Microsoft embraced the cloud full on, started moving SharePoint into the cloud, and more importantly, started to favor feature functionality cloud releases over the on-premise versions. Microsoft also incentivized their sales force to push hard with aggressive pricing for SharePoint Online over on-premise SharePoint 2016 when that upgrade took place.

Looking back, it feels like ancient history – SharePoint Online gets continually upgraded, while SharePoint 2016 (and recently announced SharePoint 2019) as an on-premise application has languished somewhat. And, enterprises of all sizes have become remarkably comfortable purchasing seats for each user, rather than licenses for each server. The effect of this transition to the cloud is actually more profound than many realize, and the fundamental basis for viewing SharePoint Online as an ecosystem and a platform.

When SharePoint 2010, 2013, or 2016 were deployed on-premise, each deployment was slightly (or sometimes drastically) different, which made it very difficult, and economically unfeasible, to deploy on-premise what were then called “pre-configured” SharePoint apps. By the time the pre-configured app was tweaked and tested, the time and cost was nearly equal to building the same app from scratch.

The simple fact that each customer of Share-

Office 365 – more apps than most people realize.

It’s important to understand some basics about the underlying Office 365 and SharePoint Online platform itself – and remember that Office 365 is made up of far more than the major productivity apps most people are familiar with, such as Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Office 365 also includes apps like Delve, Teams, OneNote, OneDrive, Yammer, Skype for Business, Planner, and Sway.

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Partial list of SharePoint App vendors: 1. Akumina Digital Workplace from Akumina 2. Bonzai from Bonzai Intranet 3. Dalikoo from Dalikoo 4. EasyShare from EasySharePoint 5. ElevatePoint Intranet from ElevatePoint 6. Emgage Intranet from Emgage 7. HROffice365 from Velaku 8. IntraActive from ProActive 9. LiveTiles SharePoint from LiveTiles 10. LS Intranet from Lizard Soft 11. Powell 365 from Powell Software 12. Rise from Perficient 13. Unily from BrightStarr

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Point Online gets their solution deployed as a tenant in Microsoft’s cloud means that everyone’s backend of SharePoint Online is essentially the same. This makes it infinitely viable to create applications that can be quickly and easily deployed to SharePoint Online simply because Microsoft’s SharePoint Online servers are literally the same across their cloud.

In the past few years, following the rise of SharePoint Online, the number of customers that have purchased Office 365 has skyrocketed – both for small and midsize business (SMB) firms, but also the largest of the Fortune 500 as well. Customers usually start by purchasing Office 365 and migrating their Outlook/exchange. Then they slowly start moving their old intranet into SharePoint Online, and eventually moving their on-premise shared folders into OneDrive. Meanwhile, when company executives realize they’re paying for all of Office 365 and SharePoint Online, they start to think about all the other ways to leverage that investment, which does not require any added licensing fees to Microsoft.

SharePoint-based applications in the marketplace today

There are literally dozens of vendors who have built software to run on top of, or be installed directly onto, the Office 365 and/or SharePoint Online tenants (see list). Some are literally built in Microsoft’s platform, such as Dalikoo for CRM and project management, or HROffice 365 for HR. Others are third-party accelerators built on top of Office 365, such as Powell 365, which resides in Azure.

Let’s take a look into three of these vendors that illustrate not only the “platform” ecosystem of Office 365 and SharePoint Online, but different approaches to their software. All three are relatively new and provide a different solution and different value proposition. But all were created specifically to leverage Office 365 and SharePoint Online as their foundational platform.

And with all of these solutions, all authentication, personalization, permissions, and user data are maintained in Office, SharePoint and/ or Active Directory (and under the security purview of Microsoft), not in the third-party vendor’s application.

Powell 365, created by Powell Software, Redmond, WA and Paris, France (www.powell-365.com/en/), might be best considered an

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accelerator. Powell resides in Microsoft’s Azure Cloud, and is deployed to run on top of Office 365. Some of Powell’s main benefits are: • The ability to aggregate multiple Office 365 apps on a single screen. For example, displaying news published in SharePoint alongside a Yammer feed, and displaying content from Teams, all on a “single pane of glass,” without having to toggle between different Office 365 apps.

• The ability to quickly deploy using dragand-drop Powell 365 templates that make OOTB SharePoint look vastly better and improve the user experience, and far faster than customizing SharePoint.

• Reduce the time and cost of deploying SharePoint by half or more, by cutting down on the need for custom design and configuration.

• All content remains in native SharePoint or Office 365 apps. Powell is the user interface layer, but never maintains control of a customers’ content, data, or authentication.

• All authentication is managed by Office 365 – Powell has no impact on, or gets involved in possessing any, PII data.

Dalikoo, created by Toronto-based Dalikoo Software (http://dalikoo.com), is a pure-bred SharePoint Online application for CRM, integrated project management, reporting analytics and document management. Dalikoo is built in native SharePoint (classic and modern) and is deployed directly into a customer’s Office 365 tenant. The purpose of Dalikoo is to take advantage of SharePoint’s feature/functionality without having to spend time building this type of solution from scratch. And, because Dalikoo is deployed in the actual SharePoint Online tenant, it takes full advantage of search and enterprise navigation – providing a completely seamless user experience.

An app like Dalikoo can be bought and downloaded directly from Microsoft’s Ap-

pSource online store, in similar fashion to downloading an iOS app from the Apple App Store.

HROffice365, created by New York/

rather than going to a separate “HR Portal” search engine. All the content in HROffice365 is automatically indexed and can be displayed (based on personalization rights and permissions), thereby assuring a user that their intranet search is the single source of truth search. Likewise, HROffice365 is fully embedded in the customer’s enterprise navigation – providing a completely seamless user experience.

Conclusion San Francisco-based Velaku Software (www. velaku.com), is a suite of pure-bred Office 365 and SharePoint Online applications designed specifically for Human Resources. HROffice365 has four modules for employees, for managers, for HR professionals and for HR service centers. Like Dalikoo, HROffice365 is built directly in SharePoint Online, and deployed directly in a customer’s existing Office 365 Tenant.

In addition to functioning as the main go-to destination for all things HR, e.g., an “HR Portal,” HROffice 365 takes full advantage of content and search integration with an organization’s existing intranet. This results in users being able to search for HR content using the regular search box on their company intranet,

A variety of factors in the Microsoft ecosystems set the stage for HR to embrace Microsoft products like never before: • The rapid rise of Office 365 and SharePoint Online; • The vast prevalence of under-deployed SharePoint Online (companies would benefit from getting much more value for the licenses they’re already paying to Microsoft); • The perspective of SharePoint as an ecosystem; and • The business issue of the gap between HR being satisfied with the services they deliver, but the perception among employees that HR is delivering a poor digital experience (compared to the customer experience).

About the Author Michael Rudnick is the co-managing editor of Workforce Solutions Review, CEO of Velaku Software, and former HR technology executive at Willis Towers Watson with 25-plus years of experience in HR technology, employee communication, transformation and service delivery. He can be reached at michael.rudnick@gmail.com.

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2018 Mid-Year Buyers Guide The 2018 Mid-Year Buyers Guide will serve as a valuable reference tool. For your convenience, the guide has two sections: a Categorical Listing and an Alphabetical listing. In the Categorical Listing, companies are listed under the product and service categories of their choice. For information on a specific company and its products and/or service, please refer to the Alphabetical Company Listing.

While a listing in this guide does not constitute an endorsement by IHRIM, it does indicate that these companies are interested in serving the needs of HRIS professionals. We hope this Buyer’s Guide will assist you in your 2018 purchasing decisions.

Product Categories

Business Intelligence

Analytics Enterprise Information Resources Inc.

Paid Advertising

Employment Systems & Services

Recruiting/Application Tracking Optimum Solutions

Easy, Affordable & 100% Configurable HR Service Delivery Employee Performance Management Software Cloud Computing

Compensation Management

Onboarding

Optimum Solutions

Payroll Software

Optimum Solutions

Deferred Compensation Performance Management Enterprise Information Resources Inc. Decusoft Optimum Solutions Enterprise Information Resources Inc. Executive Compensation Self Service CRG emPerform Decusoft Optimum Solutions

lncentive TrustedCompensation by organizations around the world since 2004, CRG emPerform delivers award-winning Self Service

Decusoft software to save time, automate & streamline vital performance management efforts, and Learning Management Employee Self-Service (ESS)/Manager Self-Service (MSS) engage your company’s talent in easy, effective, and ongoing feedback & development.

Core HRIS Optimum Solutions Optimum Solutions

Optimum Solutions

Time & Attendance Systems

Optimum Solutions ONLINE REVIEWS & SELF ASSESSMENTS • 360° REVIEWS • FEEDBACK • JOURNALING & CHECK-INS

Alphabetical Company Listing*

NINE-BOX TALENT MATRIX • COMPENSATION PLANNING • SURVEYS • REPORTING NEW! ON-DEMAND FOR AGILEregistered, TALENT MANAGEMENT *Systems and applications referred to in this sectionFORMS are trademarked, or in progress. These names should not be used generically.

employee-performance.com

CRG emPerform

6 Antares Dr. Phase 1 Suite 200 Ottawa, ON K2E 8A9 877.711.0367 613.232.4295 info@employee-performance.com www.employee-performance.com Easy, Affordable & 100% Configurable Employee Performance Management Align, develop, reward & retain a world class workforce with award-winning performance management software backed by personal support and easy integration with existing HR systems. Join the emPerform family and see how other companies have streamline performance reviews, feedback, 360° assessments, compensation planning, succession, and surveys to engage performance and boost results. See our ad on the Back Cover.

Decusoft

70 Hilltop Rd Ste 1003 Ramsey, NJ 07446 Michele Weiss 201-258-3395 201-785-0774 Michele.Weiss@Decusoft.com www.decusoft.com You have an HCM software suite but you are managing compensation outside the system.

Now what? You need COMPOSE, a specialized compensation management software solution that handles any level of variable compensation complexity, reduces your total cost of compensation administration and integrates with existing HR Solutions. Not so suite but oh so right. See our ad on the Inside Front Cover.

Enterprise Information Resources Inc.

271 Waverley Oaks Rd. Suite 207 Waltham, MA 02452 Gin O’Leary 855-589-7451 781-790-8068 info@eir-inc.com www.eir-inc.com EIR Compensation Analytics automates the delivery of compensation reports by integrating and summarizing data from multiple sources while ensuring accuracy and role-based data security.

The resulting reports provide users with access to timely, accurate, actionable data to support budget decisions while reducing the time spent generating compensation analytics. See our ad on the Inside Back Cover.

Optimum Solutions

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210 25th Ave. North, Suite 700 Nashville, TN 37203 Scott Henderson 615-329-2313 615-329-4448 sales@optimumhris.com www.optimumhris.com Optimum Solutions provides Payroll, HR, and Time & Attendance software delivered on-premise or in the cloud (OptiCloud). All applications are developed and supported internally, giving your company the individual attention it deserves while providing you with a complete, one database HRIS solution. Optimum Payroll clients currently process over 12 million paychecks annually.

How AI is Humanizing People Management

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Adam Rogers, Ultimate Software

Adam Rogers, Ultimate Software

How AI is Humanizing People Management

In just a few short years, technological advancement has led to major industry overhauls and completely redefined the way we work, live, and communicate. The impact on human capital management (HCM) has been especially significant, as we’ve witnessed the elimination of many In just a few tedious short years, technological theseproductivity, workplace relationships.

Fortunately, tasks, improved employee and streamlined countless processes. advancement has led to major industry overartificial intelligence (AI) is helping many Technology has helped HR evolve from an administrative function toofa strategic business hauls and completely redefined the way we today’s HCM solutions address some of the partner, fundamentally reimagining people management along the way. work, live, and communicate. The impact on most common breakdowns in the employeehuman capital management (HCM) has been manager relationship, using machine learning And the couldn’tthe be better.

Through a variety ofhuman generational especially significant, as timing we’ve witnessed insight to actually improve interac-and cultural changes, we’retedious witnessing disruption intions. both the perception and practice of management, and elimination of many tasks,aimproved employee productivity, and streamlined organizations are suffering as a result. A growing body of evidence suggests that many of countless processes.

Technology hasare helped today’s managers struggling as leaders, can lead to the disengaged Building the which Right Team from Start employees, mediocre HR evolve fromperformance, an administrative function to Strategic management begins durand higher attrition.

In fact,people according to a recent nationwide study by The Center a strategic business partner, fundamentally ing recruiting, and AI’s ability to dissect for Generational Kinetics (CGK), the employee-manager relationship is the number one driver reimagining people management along the amounts of data, manipulate variables, of satisfaction at work, but onlylarge 53 percent of employees feel like their managers even care way. and discover patterns makes it ideal for the about theirbewellbeing at all. Even more shocking – a full 80 percent believe they could do their And the timing couldn’t better. Through candidate-sourcing process. Solutions can jobs without their managers. a variety of generational and cultural changes, help filter résumés, schedule interviews, we’re witnessing a disruption in both the and identify promising candidates based on perception andThis practice of management, directly affects the culturalsophisticated and financial health ofthat organizations. algorithms go far beyond According to Gallup’s and organizations are suffering as a result.

A Boolean managers searches. account for at least 70 percent of the variance 2015 State of the American Manager, growing body of evidence suggests that many Artificial intelligence systems cancost evenup re-to US$500 billion a year in in employee engagement scores, and disengaged employees of today’s managers are struggling as leadverse engineer candidate profiles, developing productivity losses. ers, which can lead to disengaged employees, a comprehensive “ideal fit” based on existing mediocre performance, and higher attrition. employees’ data in similar roles. Once you’ve These should serve as apinpointed wake-up call for companies to invest In fact, according to a figures recent nationwide top candidates, you can even in nurturing these study by The Center for Generational Kinetics workplace relationships.

Fortunately, artificial (AI) is helping create and deployintelligence specialized assessments to many of today’s HCM (CGK), the employee-manager relationship confirm that these potential hires haveemployee-manager the solutions address some ofisthe most common breakdowns in the the number onerelationship, driver of satisfaction at work, learning skills and personality traits improve needed tohuman succeed interactions. using machine insight to actually but only 53 percent of employees feel like in their roles. their managers even care about their wellbethe Right Team from the Start ing at all. EvenBuilding more shocking – a full 80 perFostering Trust and Understanding cent believe they could do their jobs without Once the offer letter has been sent and the their managers. onboarding begins, the next priority is supThis directly affects the cultural and finanporting each new hire and building profescial health of organizations. According to sional relationships based on reciprocal trust.

Gallup’s 2015 State of the American Manager, Just like with personal relationships, studies managers account for at least 70 percent of suggest that one of the best ways to build trust the variance in employee engagement scores, is to ask employees how they feel, or what and disengaged employees cost up to US$500 they need, and then act on this feedback. billion a year in productivity losses.

This is something that most managers try These figures should serve as a wake-up to do, at least once a year during the annual call for companies to invest in nurturing

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About the Author

Adam Rogers began his career in 1997 as Ultimate Software’s very first intern and quickly became a leading innovator in the field. In 2002, Adam led his team to deliver the very first Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud Enterprise solution, redefining industry standards by bringing HCM to the cloud. Today, Rogers serves Ultimate as CTO and holds the unique distinction of leading both product innovation and corporate IT strategy. His teams are routinely recognized for their industry-leading innovations and his thought leadership work is regularly published in Forbes, InformationWeek, and a variety of online blogs and publications. He can be reached at adam_rogers@ultimatesoftware.com.

performance review process. But, these sporadic, scheduled meetings are relatively ineffective at building workplace relationships. Asking how someone is doing once a year can seem a bit superficial, especially when tied to salary increases or negotiations, when employees are unlikely to “rock the boat” with negative feedback.

Alternatively, advanced sentiment analysis leverages AI technology to enhance human understanding and keep a pulse on the thoughts and feelings of the workforce.

Now, instead of a forced rating system of predetermined behaviors you typically see in the annual review, leaders can use open-ended questions, making it easier and more natural to give and receive feedback.

By applying neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and machine learning to these openended, text-based surveys, HR leaders and managers receive detailed feedback about what their employees are saying, as well as how they actually feel. Truly understanding what inspires and motivates employees can be game-changing for managers, informing one-on-one conversations, providing clear opportunities for improvement, and driving organizational change.

Developing and Retaining Talent

Understanding your people (and responding appropriately) is a huge step, but it’s also crucial for leaders to guide, support, and retain their employees as they grow their careers. In fact, retaining talented employees is consistently ranked as one of the top people challenges for leaders, and it’s only exacerbated during times of low unemployment and generally optimistic economic projections.

Artificial intelligence can help here, too.

Artificial intelligence enables organizations to holistically integrate a variety of data sources, such as performance ratings, salary increases, and skillsets to help leaders better understand their people and make more informed decisions on everything from individual development plans to companywide succession planning. Thanks to the proliferation of data, advanced solutions can instantaneously measure and identify top performers, as well as those needing additional support.

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This is particularly meaningful, considering only 47 percent of managers currently use any type of data when making salary or promotion decisions, and (according to the CGK study) almost a third of employees would quit if they deemed compensation decisions unfair. Advanced solutions can provide a wealth of insight into performance, engagement, and leadership potential, mitigating the risk of perceived unfairness through a transparent, data-based review process.

In addition to reporting on current trends, current solutions are capable of actually predicting future ones, including potential top performers, flight risks, and engagement levels.

What’s more, prescriptive systems pull from predictive functions to recommend specific, personalized actions at key decision points. These AI-based suggestions can actually train managers to become better leaders, driving proactive improvement within their organizations and using unbiased data to help solve difficult decisions.

Prescriptive functions can inform not only who to talk to and why, but also how, based on what’s worked well in similar situations.

This additional layer of support guides managers as they coach and engage their people, but the process also fundamentally relies on the innate human traits of intuition, empathy, and understanding. It’s the perfect example of symbiotic, people-first AI; using technology to improve relationships.

Putting People First

Many of these technological advancements are bringing greater insight into the manager-employee connection, which fosters authentic connection and better understanding for this crucial workforce relationship. Ultimately, the role of AI and advanced technology in HR shouldn’t be to replace humans, but rather to enhance the employee experience at all levels of the organization.

Putting people first, with the help of everevolving HCM technology, will help companies of all sizes and industries make life better for employees, all while improving the business.

(Feature – WSR July-August 2018)

feature

Bruno Querenet, Think Surgical

Reinventing Organizations: Insights into the Journey!

Bruno Querenet, Think Surgical

In 2014, Frederic Laloux published a book the three critical dimensions Tealthe organizaReinventing Organizations: Insightsofinto Journey! called Reinventing Organizations, a Guide to tions: Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Self-management – How to operate effecStage of Human Consciousness. Its success tively, at a large scale, with a system based In 2014, Frederic Laloux published a book called Reinventing Organizations, a Guide to Creating went beyond his expectations and highlighted on peer relationships, without the need Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness. Its success went beyond his an underlying search, by a large expectations community and highlighted for either hierarchy or consensus; an underlying search, by a large community of leaders, of new modes of of leaders, of new modes of organizations organizations holisticallyWholeness incorporating such as people Agile organizations, mindfulness, environmental – concepts How to enable to be holistically incorporating concepts such as Agresponsibility, or self-management practices. “whole,” reclaim their inner wholeness, ile organizations, mindfulness, environmental and bring all of who they are to work; and, In March 2015, an article by Frederic Laloux was published in WSR about what he calls “Teal responsibility, or self-management practices.

Evolutionary – How to or- consciousness evolves, we are organizations.” In this article (and in hispurposes book), he explains thatlisten as human In March 2015, an article by Frederic also evolving our mode of organization.

Looking at the history of mankind, he identifies different levels ganically to the environment, sense where Laloux was published in WSR about what of organizations, Red, Amber, Orange and Green, and identifies the emergence of these Teal the organization is and could go, and then he calls “Teal organizations.” In this article organizations. lay a course driven by a purpose rather (and in his book), he explains that as human than a long-term plan. consciousness evolves, we are also All evolving organizations in our society do not move from one level to the next when a new level of our mode of organization. Looking at the his-appears.

After the success of his one might a despotic mode of management of consciousness Some organizations are book, still Red, reflecting tory of mankind, he identifies different levels(thinkthink Frederic Laloux would created organizations aboutthat the mafia or clans), others arehave Amber, governed by strict rules and processes of organizations, Red, Amber, Orange and churches (think about or government agencies), othersand are Orange, a successful consulting practice step-by-organized around the notion of meritocracy and accountability about most of ourorganizations multi-national enterprises today), and others Green, and identifies the emergence of these step model(think on how to build Teal are Green, reflecting the notion of stakeholder management Teal organizations. based on those three dimensions.

But(think that about the manifesto from John Whole have Foods) and against others, athe limited growing All organizations in our societyMackey, do notthe CEO ofwould gone verybut nature of number of them, have become Teal organizations, a mode of organization corresponding to a new level of consciousness. move from one level to the next when a new those organizations, which are evolving organilevel of consciousness appears. Some orgalike an Agileisorganization Another word usedcally, to talkmuch aboutmore Teal organizations “holacracy,” a term popularized by Zappos. nizations are still Red, reflecting a despotic than a waterfall-driven one. What he has done In the previous of WSR,isthe article by Kroll Carl Shea,“The Agile Organization, it is More mode of management of organizations (think issueinstead continue toChuck explore forand himself new than Process,” summarized the three critical dimensions of Teal organizations: about the mafia or clans), others are Amber, self-sustaining modes of life. In parallel, he just governed by strict rules and processes (think met with leaders and continued - Self-management – How to operate effectively,to atthink a largeabout scale, with a system based on peer about churches or government agencies), the meaning of Teal organizations and their relationships, without the need for either hierarchy or of consensus; others are Orange, organized around- the nothree Heto recently released a set of inner wholeness, and bring all Wholeness – Howcomponents. to enable people be “whole,” reclaim their tion of meritocracy and accountability (think with his of who theyvideos are to work; and,insights into the journey toward about most of our multi-national enterprises the creation of Teal organizations. His intent today), and others are Green, reflecting the is to publish 100 videos and has issued about notion of stakeholder management (think 20 of them so far. Below is a summary of those about the manifesto from John Mackey, the initial short videos. These are “thoughts for top CEO of Whole Foods) and others, a limited leaders.” They are not prescriptive, but indicabut growing number of them, have become tive. As you read this summary, think about Teal organizations, a mode of organization yourself as a top leader, as the recipient of corresponding to a new level of consciousness. those thoughts. They may help you, whatever Another word used to talk about Teal orgarole you have. nizations is “holacracy,” a term popularized by It’s a personal journey.

Zappos.

As a leader embarking into the creation of In the previous issue of WSR, the article by a Teal organization, you will have joyful, but Chuck Kroll and Carl Shea,“The Agile Organidifficult moments. This journey will be for you zation, it is More than Process,” summarized www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018

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as much as it will be for the organization. You will grow tremendously as you figure things out, but you will need to be open to it, open to personal changes. The creation of such an environment will demand that you act as a role model, as a guide, and this will require the “old you” to be replaced by a “new you.”

Think about current practices through the eyes of the three dimensions of Teal organizations and question them. For example, you may promote an open culture, but continue making “big” decisions behind closed doors.

If you want to learn more Does this meet the transparency requireabout teal organizations, ments for Teal organizations? Shouldn’t each read the following: of those decisions be reassigned to their natural owners and leave the walls of the executive Frederic Laloux, Reinventcommittee meetings? ing Organizations, A Guide to Your personal journey is intrinsically linked Creating Organizations Inspired to the organizational journey. The speed at by the Next Stage of Human which you will evolve will dictate the speed Consciousness, Nelson-Parker, at which your organization may be able to 2014. transform.

Brian J. Robertson, Holacracy, the New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World, Henry Holt and Co., June 2, 2015.

Listen to the Frederic Laloux’s videos at: https://thejourney. reinventingorganizations.com/

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What truly drives you?

The desire to run an organizational transformation such as the one proposed by the creation of a Teal organization has to come from a deep place, not simply from the idea of making more money and being more efficient.

What is your story? What is the greater good that you want to create? What do you want to change? It has to come from your heart, from your gut. Your purpose has to be aspirational, addressing situations that are not disheartening. For example, Buurtzorg Nederland, a Teal organization, disrupted the market of nursing care at home. The organization started in the Netherlands and is now established in 24 countries. It was founded in 2006 when Jos de Blok and a small team of nurses realized that the current system was trying to optimize their work rather than look at providing the best service for the patients. They redefined their work by putting the patients back at the center of their operations with self-managed teams of nurses. Starting with one team of four nurses, Buurtzorg now employs 10,000 nurses within 850 self-managed teams, and provides high-rated services at a cost-per-patient much lower than through the conventional method.

Your story, your dream, will drive others.

Test it with others, ask friends to push you to clarify your intent, and get to the deepest

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meaning of the change that you want to drive.

How far are you willing to go?

Asking this question will help you find your true motivation and will help you create expectations. Look at the three dimensions of a Teal organization: self-management, wholeness, and evolutionary purpose. For each dimension, ask yourself what you would feel comfortable changing, what may be edgy, and what you cannot imagine yet being able to drive.

For example, for self-management, you may say: “I am comfortable creating self-managed teams in specific departments, let’s say manufacturing and customer services; something edgy would be to move fewer decisions through the executive committee, only the big hairy strategic ones; but I would not feel comfortable yet operating entirely without an executive committee and providing total transparency on salaries.”

For wholeness, you may say: “I am comfortable not wearing suits anymore; something edgy would be to favor meditation practices; but, I would not yet feel comfortable centering the organization around the whole person’s growth.”

For evolutionary purposes, as this is the most difficult dimension to realize, you may simply look at your strategic planning processes and see how to lighten those, understanding that the ultimate goal of Teal organizations is to eliminate those practices and replace them with a more organic pulse on the potential evolution of their mission and purpose.

The idea here is not to let you be guided by “ideals” that you won’t be comfortable with, but by expectations that you are willing to fight for. Communicate those expectations and, at any time, re-assess them as you navigate through your journey. You will progressively push the boundaries of what you can do as you unlearn what you knew as the “old you” and relearn for the “new you.”

How do you hold your destination?

The place where you want to be is simpler and will progressively lighten your journey and your role, but, as said before, there is a lot of unlearning and relearning that will have to happen, and this is difficult. As you go through tough moments, not knowing exactly how to address them, you will realize the

power of being Teal.

Here is a real example from one Teal enterprise (FAVI): The market went down and this company’s workforce was suddenly about 25 percent over capacity. It was hard to see when the market would recover and the top leader wondered if some employees should be laid-off. Instead of tackling this as a traditional company would – planning for a lay-off, involving HR, Legal, managers and Communications through a series of lengthy and dedicated meetings – the top leader called everyone, shared the situation, and asked for inputs. Someone proposed that salaries be cut by 25 percent for one month, time to see how the market would evolve and look for possibilities to diversify. It was accepted, and that is what they did. The market recovered and the cuts got reimbursed.

This may seem to be too good to be true, but if the situation had not evolved favorably, other actions would have been taken.

Let’s go through another example: a new formula to calculate over time. The leader of another Teal organization posted a blog with his intent to change the formula to calculate overtime and make it fairer to all. He got feedback, adjusted his initial formula, got buy-in for it, and it was implemented. In a traditional setting, he would have asked HR to work on it, HR would have done a benchmarking exercise, run it by the different functional leaders and, then, would have closed the loop with the top leader for adoption.

In both examples, the simplicity of the decision-making process is clear, and its strength is appealing compared to conventional approaches.

The same principle of simplicity applies to the other dimensions of Teal organizations.

For wholeness, you will relax and become who you really are and drop having to protect your image. It will surprise you at the beginning, but you will quickly reap the rewards.

You may even consider doing work for non-profits or expand on a passion of yours with the time that you will get back. With the evolutionary principle, it will make planning very different. We will see that later on, but you will not run lengthy planning meetings anymore, but act on a more continuous basis to get a pulse on the organization and suggest changes when needed.

Watch Yourself!

Enjoy all aspects of the Teal transformation. Do not focus too much on the end game and live each moment to its fullest. It is a journey, an adventure, and if you only focus on the end game, you will lose the benefits of all small battles won.

Try to use new vocabulary to express yourself. Eliminate management speak. Do not talk about employees, for example, but about colleagues, scratch empowerment in speeches, and implement the notion that “everybody can make important decisions.” Think about terms that genuinely match your vision. No Orwellian speak; just your consciousness driving the use of new terms when needed.

Know your preferences. Your temperament will dictate how the journey will be designed.

Notice where you are and where the organization needs you to be on four major scales: • Clarity/standardization versus ambiguity/emergence; • Patience versus impatience; • Leading from behind versus leading from the front; and, • Speak and think from the head versus from the heart.

For each dimension, you may have a preference but the organization may need you to adapt and be situational. Revisit periodically this grid to see if your behavior aligns with what the transformation may require at any point in time.

Your roles in this new world

Should leaders forcefully lead from the top or let go? What is the role of a CEO in a Teal organization? What will stay, what will move to others, and what won’t be needed anymore? What will be new?

In one of his videos, Frederic Laloux identified the different roles of a Teal CEO: The CEO will stay as the public face of the corporation. This is true today and will be true in the future. This is a role that you need to play well today.

You will sense and formulate a vision for the organization. You may think: “Well, this is achieved today through planning, but I understand that this is done conceptually very differently within Teal organizations.”

You are right. Even in self-managed organizations, there is one person who has the most www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July-September 2018

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About the Author

Bruno Querenet is the managing editor for WSR. He is the head of HR for Think Surgical and has worked in several organizations as head of HR Technology and Operations where he has seen HR technology evolve quickly to better support HR and open new space for its transformation to a more mature and value added organization. Previously, he held responsibilities within IT, Marketing, R&D and Manufacturing. He can be reached at Bruno.Querenet@gmail.com.

prominent access to the source, to this “voice of the organization.” The idea here is not for you to be a visionary, but to be connected strongly to the organization and be able to speak from within. If you act as a transmitter, people will listen. They will be receptive to the collective wisdom that you have been able to capture and translate back to them. You won’t be able to impose, only suggest or submit, but your voice will be recognized as speaking from the source.

The system will self-correct and put pressure on itself. Tools such as targets and budgets, which help keep an organization under tension, will not be needed anymore. The vision provided will be strong enough to challenge the organization, guide the decision-making process while the mechanisms owned by the self-managed teams will help keep things tight.

Sometimes, you may have to recognize that you rely on someone else to be that voice of wisdom. The best thing to do is to assign that role to this person and make sure that, if this person was to leave the organization, you identify someone else able to take over this position.

As CEO, you will not make decisions anymore. This is a huge shift in your role. The decision-making process will move to whoever needs to make decisions. As CEO you may provide advice, but the decision-maker will integrate your advice with other advice received, and make the last call. In the end, no more executive team meetings, no decisions behind closed doors, but clear decision owners for each type of decision to be made, and a clear mechanism to make decisions: Share the decision to be made, get inputs, and communicate your decision along with the rationale leading to it. And if the decision owner gets challenged, it will be with information that had not been known or collected at the time of the decision.

As CEO, you will have four new roles: • The first one will be to hold the space.

Folks will try to bring you back to the traditional way of doing things. You will need to stand firm and make sure that they do not derail the transformation.

• Second, be a role model. Think back to the kind of transformation you want to achieve along the three dimensions and imprint the desired changes along each of them. Know that you will make mistakes, as the transformation process is complex.

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You will have to admit these mistakes, correct them, and move forward.

• The third new role will be to continuously invite people who want to do things differently, as it is sometimes by trial and error that progresses will happen.

• The fourth one will be to create the context under which other people can make decisions. You may be in a privileged position to see that a decision is needed in a specific area. Instead of jumping into it, set up a meeting, and make a call; your role will be to identify the right owner for the decision to be made and suggest that an action be taken. This being said, there is a fair chance that others close to the issues will have already approached this owner for that decision.

Change Management

Such transformation will not go without moments where you will wonder what to do. It is important that you build a group of allies, folks that you trust, with whom you will launch or manage the transformation.

You should also enroll a personal coach with whom you can examine ideas. This coach will not only work with you, but with people at multiple levels within the organization. If you can, join a group of peers, other leaders on a similar journey. Those three actions should help you stay on track.

You will soon realize that the change you are trying to initiate is not mechanistic. You will not be able to plan and execute based on that plan, after having defined step-by-step how you will build your Teal organization. An organization is a highly complex system. A transformational plan would be comforting but unrealistic.

You will have to start, learn, adapt, and be guided by your story, your vision, and your star in the sky. The organization will react as you introduce change and, as you listen carefully, you will be able to formulate your response and design the next steps. Stay open for valid inputs and move forward. It will be like a boat that you will navigate to leave the port. Initially, you will be firm, up to passing the first wave of the ocean, and then, knowing where you want to go, you will progressively release full control of the boat based on its characteristics, the state of the ocean, and your understanding of the strength of the crew.

The Back Story

Katherine Jones, Ph.D.

Love it or Hate it, you can’t avoid it: The Persistent Path of HR Technology.

The HR organization cannot escape it: major leaps in technology are going to radically change the way we work. Look at the past: technologicallydriven advancements moved HR from on-premise, customized ERP-with-HR software to stand-alone, sometimes cloud-based talent management products. Then, realizing that all those siloed solutions were not meeting business needs, the talent management vendors expanded their initial offerings into suites – suites that covered the whole scope of employee management, often beginning with whatever area the vendor was first noted for—such as recruiting, performance management, or learning, for example, then expanding to other talent-related functions. Employee self-service and managerial self-service moved routine transactional steps to the employee him or herself, easing the data entry burden on HR and improving the accuracy of employee data.

Then we have the hot topics — those mega-trends that are supposed to radically chance the way HR conducts its work. Remember Big Data? HR was supposed to filter huge volumes of amassed data into stellar insights. Truth be told, however, employee data is not generally big data — it is not the volatile, voluminous, and varied data that “Big D” usually concerns itself with. Rather, in most companies, HR deals with “middle-sized data” – and while there may be a lot of it, it is often of one type, and not changing that rapidly.

And we cannot forget the push for HR analytics. Every vendor responded by adding reporting and data synthesis to its product set, attempting to address the widespread cry for analytics in the workplace. But wait: we have heard less about analytics and the need for data scientists in HR of late. Is that because the need is satisfied? Have HR professionals indeed become more analytical (yes) or has the C-suite stopped asking for insights based on employee data (no)? While research shows that analytical acumen is perceived to be a benefit for an HR job candidate, is it really? Is HR still driven to carry the analytics banner? Perhaps we have arrived at the point where analytics are table stakes

and taken a bit for granted – a measure of success indeed.

Where will technology impact HR tomorrow?

Despite all the advances made in HR tech over the last decade, far too many organizations rely on outdated practices. Far more tasks are accomplished manually than need to be; the paperless HR office has yet to truly become widespread. Even when at the point is where analytics are and takenand a bit for granted – a technology prominent, it table maystakes be outdated measure of success indeed. be used in arcane ways: such as dumping statistics Where will technology tomorrow? from a variety of disparateimpact talent HR programs into a spreadsheet in an attempt to create timely data Despite all the advances made in HR tech over the last decade, far too many points or scrambling to create accurate personnel organizations rely on outdated practices. Far more tasks are accomplished manually counts across geographies that usehas disparate than need to be; the paperless HR office yet to trulydefinibecome widespread. Even whenoftechnology is prominent, it may be outdated and be used in arcane ways: tions employee or contractor. such as dumping statistics from a variety of disparate talent programs into a However, inthe these practices areorjust spreadsheet an move attemptfrom to create timely data points scrambling to create accurate personnel counts across geographies that use disparate definitions of catch-up with the status quo —new efficiencies employee or contractor. will ensue from a combination of the technologies However, the move from these practices are just catch-up with the status quo — increasingly leveraged in today’s applications. Looknew efficiencies will ensue from a combination of the technologies increasingly ingleveraged forward, organizations seek to provide employ- seek to provide in today’s applications.

Looking forward, organizations employees with technologies at work that are as up-to-date as what they use in ees with technologies at work that are as up-to-date other aspects of their lives. as what they use in other aspects of their lives.

Source: Mercer, 2017.

Source: Mercer, 2017.

Intelligence within software can ease the burden of linear, time-consuming Intelligence within software can ease the burden workflows that often caused delays; some applications allow organizations to of evaluate linear, how time-consuming workflows thatatoften their employees are using their time work, which can lead to more efficient production practices, although with a risk of sounding overly “Big Brother.” caused delays; some applications allow organiza-

tions to evaluate how their employees are using their time at work, which can lead to more efficient production practices, although with a risk of sounding overly “Big Brother.”

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Seventy-six percent of organizations currently use or plan to use disruptive technology.1 While the key areas that technology impacts in the conduct of work and the management of employees may not change, the effects of innovation will be far-reaching. Here are just samples of the areas of technology-driven change that will affect HR by 2020.

Business Process Re-evaluation Archaic HRIS systems are ripe for replaceEndnotes 1 Excellence in Risk Man- ment. Companies that have not implemented a agement, Marsh, 2017. new HRIS within the past few years are look2 Personal safety wearing at cloud-based solutions, often those with ables: A helping hand in modern talent management suites that offer risky situations. https:// ease and appeal to users. Software that supports www.wareable.com/ wearable-tech/best-per- continuous performance management, bot-supported assistance, and voice-base conversations sonal-safety-wearables for learning and transaction support will bring Alexa-like ease and immediacy to the workplace.

About the Author Intuitive mobile apps will dominate the converDr. Katherine Jones, veteran high-tech market sation as HR leaders seek more modern options analyst, is an independent for their workforce. Even payroll software — that thought leader in all areas sacred warhorse — is under scrutiny as more of human capital manage- efficient global options hit the market with the ment and the technoloability to almost instantly roll out compliance to gies that support it. She new regulations. has been an analyst at Aberdeen Group, Bersin

by Deloitte and Mercer, following a career that includes marketing in high-tech companies such as NetSuite and academic administration in higher education. Her master’s and doctorate degrees are from Cornell University.

She can be reached at katherine_ics@msn.com or @katherine_jones.

Smart and Getting Smarter: Proactive Decision Support Rather than making decisions solely on historical data, adaptive intelligence, also called machine learning, can lead to predictions based on current data. AI, part of almost every vendor’s HR offering today, will play a meaningful part of enterprise business decisions, including those centered on hiring, promotions, and retention.

Its use will only increase – allowing HR to better anticipate and act on personnel-related issues.

Better Data Management with Blockchain Blockchain technology, which emerged in the context of cryptocurrencies, is built on a series of innovations enabling new methods of data management. Relying on encryption and mutual consensus verification, it uses a distributed ledger model, rather than the centralized model prevalent today. Blockchain technology is applicable across many industries: Educational credentials such as degrees, transcripts, and assessments can be stored on a blockchain for third party verification; biometric devices can access and update electronic medical records stored on a blockchain to simplify providers’ data-sharing processes; “smart contracts” stored on a blockchain can serve as an official ledger

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of contract details or software licenses; smart devices can communicate status updates onto a blockchain in order to simplify insurance providers’ authentication processes, and many more.

Wearables for Safety at Work The safety of the workforce has risen to the HR agenda as gunslingers step out of the wild-west movies and become a threat in the workplace.

Corporate policies address increased physical plant security, lockdowns and education on emergency preparedness. Recognizing that in a highly volatile situation, whipping out a cell phone and calling for assistance may not be ideal or even possible, novel solutions are entering the market, such as a ring or device that, when rubbed or tapped a specific way will signal safety officials or law enforcement that there is a serious threat and its location.

Safety wearables are nothing new — but their use in the workplace is in its infancy. Consider products such as those from Ripple: one click of the button and a member of the response team will call you, if you just want to speak to someone while walking through a dodgy part of town.

But if you need help, hit it three times and an emergency team will find you by contacting local responders and police. “It’s faster than fumbling for your phone, calling 9-1-1, naming yourself and telling your location,” said Rees Bowen Gillespie, the co-founder and COO.2 Useful for both field operators and on-premise employees, safety wearables are likely to become far more prominent.

Facing Change

Technology shifts, even subtle ones, effect the workplace and HR‘s roles and responsibilities. Jobs trends change: for example, now there is greater interest in recruiting those rare Chief Information Security Officers than data scientists in the face of increasingly expensive corporate data breaches and the infusion of analytics at HR’s fingertips given today’s applications. Smarter technology will create new jobs, while over time eliminating some, generally at unskilled levels. AI applications that can predict job fit and likely success will augment recruiting solutions, altering and hopefully accelerating the hiring management processes of today.

Tomorrow’s workplace will look different than today’s; HR leaders will beware of fads or technology that doesn’t create value, and consider carefully the innovative applications available today that will increase workforce efficiency and effectiveness. The future is yours!

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