WSR September 2015 by IHRIM Publication

September 2015

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

IHRIM.ORG

THE EVOLUTION OF HR IS YOUR ORGANIZATION READY FOR THE NEXT WAVE OF CHANGE IN HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT?

HR Outsourcing Buyer’s Guide on page 26

Contents

Volume 6, Number 5 • September 2015

features HR Outsourcing Buyer’s Guide

Page 26

columns From the Editors

Shawn Fitzgerald, Lead Editor Freddye Silverman, Editor

Executive Interviews

Cisco Systems executives talk about their new product, Cisco Collaborative Knowledge

Hot Topics: The Evolution of Job Posting

Attracting Talent with Technology: How Digital Job Descriptions Can Draw in Top Talent By Lindsay Stanton, Digi-Me

How to Get Out of the World of Swirl and into Strategic Calm: Today’s HR Imperative

By Lizz Pellet From a compliance standpoint, having a core HR system for securing data is vital for privacy and employee data security. Numerous examples in recent history show that if this crucial step is not addressed, the outcome can be disastrous for the organization and, more importantly, for the employees who work there.

Growing Without Breaking: HR’s Role in Keeping Company Culture Intact

By Matt Straz, Namely From productivity and engagement in the organization’s day-to-day, to an employer brand that naturally fuels recruiting efforts, to creating a lasting brand that customers immediately recognize, there’s no escaping it – culture radiates outward into the marketplace.

Workforce Analytics: Achieving the Action Reaction

By Jamie Barrette, Mercer Some companies have already done the hard, expensive work of getting the people and technology in place to build a powerful analytics function within HR. Growing that function, and watching it take root in the organization, is a hands-on effort that is in contrast to the largely automated ways in which simple reporting has been handled in the past.

HR in the Middle (Hot) Seat: Implementing the Right Talent Management System

By David Creelman, Creelman Research

Product Focus

Sticking Up for Small Business – How Zenefits is Transforming the Way SMBs Grow and Succeed By Parker Conrad, Zenefits

HR Systems of the Future

HR Platform Technology and Component Assembly By John Macy, Competitve Edge Technology

Data Privacy Trends

HR Data Privacy in the Era of Big Data By Dr. Donald F. Harris, HR Privacy Solutions

The Back Story

HR Evolution: From Resolution to Revolution … and Beyond By Dr. Katherine Jones, Bersin by Deloitte

To be successful in selecting and implementing a new talent management system, HR should be prepared to own the process. This will require courage and the ability to translate business priorities into a talent management strategy and collaborate with IT to execute it.

Systems of Engagement: The Next Frontier in HR Services

By Marc Solow and Erik Alvarado, Deloitte Consulting, LLP HR should raise its game in order to maintain its influence and resources in big companies. While some of that will have to happen at the executive level, the administrative side of HR shouldn’t stand still. Taking a cue from efforts well underway on the customer side of the business, HR can invest in systems of engagement that improve its efficiency while also serving vital strategic goals.

Innovation – the Next Level of Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Your Organization, and YOU!

A discussion between Ed Colby and Dr. C. Brooke Dobni Innovation is all about creating new value – both internal and external to the organization, value which is recognized by the marketplace or helps the organization to be more effective and efficient. From an organizational perspective, it’s a culture … the way employees think and act about innovation and doing things differently.

Workforce Solutions Review (ISSN 2154-6975) is published bi-monthly for the International Association for Human Resource Information Management by Futura Publishing LLC, 20505 Live Oak St., Leander, TX 78641-9273. 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 • September 2015

Volume 6, Number 5 • September 2015

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.

MARK BENNETT, Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, CA USA mark.bennett@oracle.com

LEXY MARTIN, Independent Consultant/Researcher, Meadow Vista, CA Lexy.martin1@gmail.com

ERIK BERGGREN, VP, Customer Results & Global Research, Success Factors, San Mateo, CA USA eberggren@successfactors.com

BRIAN RETZLAFF, Head of IT for HR, Legal & Communications, ING US Insurance Americas, Atlanta, GA USA brian.retzlaff@us.ing.com

JOSH BERSIN, Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte, Oakland, CA USA jbersin@bersin.com

NAOMI LEE BLOOM, Managing Partner, Bloom & Wallace, Fort Myers, FL USA naomibloom@mindspring.com

LISA ROWAN, Program Director, HR, Learning & Talent Strategies, IDC, Framingham, MA USA lrowan@idc.com

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Managing Editor SCOTT BOLMAN, HR Service Delivery Market Leader, Towers Watson, Chicago, IL USA, Scott.Bolman@towerswatson.com

Co-Managing Editor SHAWN FITZGERALD, Managing Director, Total Rewards and HR Technology, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Chicago, IL, USA shawn.fitzgerald@bcbsa.com

Past Managing Editor ED COLBY, Managing Principal and Technology Evangelist, PRO HCM Solutions, Chapel Hill, NC USA edcolby@gmail.com

Academic Editor KAREN BEAMAN, Managing Director, Teilasa Global, former CEO/Founder, Jeitosa Group International, San Francisco, CA USA karen.beaman@teilasa.com

Associate Editors ERIK ALVARADO, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting LLP eralvarado@deloitte.com

YVETTE CAMERON, Research Director, HCM Technologies, Gartner, Littleton, CO Yvette.Cameron@garter.com LEW CONNER, Executive Director, Higher Education User Group, Gilbert, AZ USA lconner@heug.org ELENA M. ORDÓÑEZ DEL CAMPO, Senior VP Globalization Services, SAP AG, Frankfurt, Germany elena.ordonez@sap.com LARRY DUNIVAN, SVP Products and Technology, Ceridian larry.dunivan@ceridian.com GARY DURBIN, Chief Technology Officer, SynchSource, Oakland, CA USA hacker@synchsource.com Dr. CHARLES H. FAY, Professor, School of Management & Labor Relations, Rutgers University, Highland Park, NJ USA cfay@smlr.rutgers.edu

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

DR. KATHERINE JONES, HCM Research, Bersin by Deloitte, San Mateo, CA USA kathjones@deloitte.com

ERIC LESSER, Research Director, IBM Institute for Business Value, Boston, MA USA elesser@us.ibm.com

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

BRUNO QUERENET, HR Technology Executive, High-Tech and Medical Industries, Sunnyvale, CA USA bruno.querenet@gmail.com

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

MICHAEL RUDNICK, Vice President, Principal Consultant, Logical Design Solutions, New York, NY USA michael.rudnick@gmail.com

BOB KAUNERT, Principal, Towers Watson, Philadelphia, PA USA robert.kaunert@towerswatson.com

IHRIM BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers Chair SHERRY TIMMERMAN, Partner/Senior Consultant, Apex Performance Consultants Ltd

Chief Financial Officer GARY MORLOCK, HRIP, Senior TRM Project Manager, Qualcomm Inc.

CATHERINE ANN HONEY, VP, Customer Services, Radius Worldwide catherine.honey@comcast.net

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

DR. MARY YOUNG, Principal Researcher, Human Capital, The Conference Board, New York, NY USA mary.young@conference-board.org

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

ROBERT C. GREENE, Channels Account Executive and Sales Training Manager, Ascentis, San Mateo, CA USA rcgreene@mindspring.com

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

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

Vice Chair JAMES PETTIT, HRIP, HRIS Manager, Project Byrd Kimberly-Clark Corporation

JIM HOLINCHECK, Vice President, Services Strategy & Marketing, Workday, Inc. james.holincheck@workday.com

FREDDYE SILVERMAN, CEO, Silver Bullet Solutions, Baltimore, MD USA, freddye.silverman@mysilverbulletsolutions.com

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

DR. URSULA CHRISTINA FELLBERG, Owner & Managing Director, UCF-StrategieBeraterin, Munich, Germany ucfell@mac.com

DAVID GABRIEL, Ed.D., Global Reach Leadership, Berkleley, CA davidcgabriel@gmail.com

JEFF HIGGINS, CEO, Human Capital Management Institute, Marina Del Rey, CA USA jeff.higgins@hcminst.com

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

Secretary DAVE BINDA, HRIP, CHRP, CCP, President , HR Results, Ltd. Past Chair KEVIN CARLSON, Ph.D., Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech

Directors JOYCE BROWN, HRIP, Brink’s Inc. MIKE HARMER, Intermountain Healthcare JAMES LEHMAN, Results Driven Consulting, LLC KEVIN MURPHY, HRIP, Murphy Management Consultants STUART RUDNER, Rudner MacDonald LLP

IHRIM Executive Director TODD S. MANN

BILL KUTIK, Technology Columnist, Human Resource Executive, Westport, CT USA bkutik@earthlink.net

PUBLISHING INFORMATION

DAVID LUDLOW, Global VP, HCM Solutions, SAP, Palo Alto, CA David.ludlow@sap.com

TOM FAULKNER, Publisher, Futura Publishing LLC, Austin, TX USA, tomf@futurapublishing.com

RHONDA P. MARCUCCI, CPA, Consultant for GruppoMarcucci, Chicago, IL USA rhonda@gruppomarcucci-usa.com

PATTY HUBER, Advertising Manager, Austin, TX USA phuber2@austin.rr.com

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

feature Shawn Fitzgerald, Lead Editor Shawn Fitzgerald is a global HR leader with expertise in workforce technologies, talent management, and HR transformation. She has experience transforming the HR function to align HR strategy with organizational strategy. She is currently the managing director, Total Rewards and HR Technology for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. She has worked in the financial services, technology, professional services, utilities, higher education, and health care industries. She has an undergraduate and MBA from Dominican University and holds the PMP, SPHR, and HRIP certifications. Fitzgerald is co-managing editor of WSR and a frequent speaker at industry conferences. She can be reached at shawn.fitzgerald@bcbsa.com. Freddye Silverman, Editor Freddye L. Silverman is an independent consultant and principal of Silver Bullet Solutions who has been in the HRIS field since 1986. Prior to this she was the vice president, Eastern Region of Jeitosa Group, a global HR technology consulting firm. As a practitioner with several international corporations, she was responsible for strategic planning and oversight of all global HR systems and the U.S. payroll system. Silverman has been actively involved in IHRIM since 1986, serving as chapter president, association board member, and president. She is a frequent presenter at industry events and since 2008 has been the executive director of the HR Technology Solutions Network for Executive Networks. She has a B.A. in Spanish from Adelphi University, a master’s degree in Education from Towson University, and taught Spanish at the secondary and university level before making a career change into IT. She can be reached at freddye.silverman@mysilverbulletsolutions.com.

from the editors

When I think of evolution related to HR, I picture that tongue-in-cheek visual of the progression from ape to caveman to man at a PC to man with a mobile device. As all of us in HR know there has been significant and continuous change in HR over the years. We have gone from the police or party planners to respected business partners with a point of view on what people initiatives can make our organizations rock. One of the best pieces of ammo that we have in our arsenals is technology. HR technology has helped get us out of the weeds and allowed us to transform reams of data into action, given our employees a superior experience, and helped our managers become better. This issue focuses on how HR has and continues to evolve. We begin with an article by Liz Pellet, “How to Get Out of the World of Swirl and into Strategic Calm: Today’s HR Imperative,” who writes that having a core HR system for securing data is vital for privacy and employee data security. Ignoring this crucial step will result in a disastrous outcome for the organization and its employees. Next up is Matt Straz who tells us that culture in a company is the real key to success. In his article, “Growing without Breaking: HR’s Role in Keeping Company Culture Intact,” Matt describes how his company, Namely, has grown and prospered by creating a culture that attracts and retains top talent – and how his self-service HR technology platform has played a vital role. Jamie Barette of Mercer, in his article, “Workforce Analytics: Achieving the Action Reaction,” says some analytics initiatives have focused too heavily on the science while minimizing interpretation and facilitating adoption. As a result of this imbalance, these initiatives are not impacting strategy and effecting change to the degree their investment warrants. However, the opportunity has never been better for HR to materially effect change and lead workforce analytics strategy formulation. “HR in the Middle (Hot) Seat: Implementing the Right Talent Management System,” by David Creelman, Creelman Research, advises that any organization would benefit from the exercise of reviewing talent management processes to ensure they are supportive of organizational priorities. Taking ownership of this initiative will require HR to demonstrate the business-savvy, courage, and collaborative skills necessary to fill the middle seat that bridges strategy and execution. “Systems of Engagement: The Next Frontier in HR Services” is our next feature by Marc Solow and Erik Alvarado, Deloitte Consulting, LLP. The authors write that today’s systems of record are oriented around data storage and control, but companies should have a “system of engagement” built on a customer-service technology backbone, and offering an employee-centered, intuitive interface, fully accessible from the cloud. Ed Colby and Dr. C. Brooke Dobni discuss some new concepts of innovation as envisioned through Dr. Dobni’s InnovationOne model. Dobni says that innovation is much more than measuring and cultivating employee engagement. Innovation is a holistic management approach that measures, creates, and manages internal and external value. His work is being introduced to the U.S. market at the IHRIM Annual Conference, September 16-19 in Atlanta. The columns and features in this issue offer in-depth coverage of everything from one of Cisco Systems latest product introductions, to How Digital Job Descriptions can draw in Top Talent, plus an article about HR Systems of the Future. Other highlights include Transforming the Way SMBs Grow and Succeed, HR Data Privacy in the Era of big data, and HR Evolution: from Resolution to Revolution … and beyond. All-in-all, an information-packed issue! I’d like to thank my co-editor, Freddye Silverman for her work on this issue. Remember, evolution is all about the process, it can take time, but the results are often magical. Please enjoy our issue and we hope to see you at the IHRIM Conference in Atlanta. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

feature How to Get Out of the World of Swirl and into Strategic Calm: Today’s HR Imperative By Lizz Pellet

ack in the day, the people who worked in Personnel were often referred to as both the policy police and the party planners. There was an old saying that it was their job was to “carry the watermelon to the picnic.” Those days are gone for most of us and we have seen a definite evolutionary shift, at least in the private sector, from Personnel to Human Resources. Yet, some of us still lament that we have not been fully embraced by senior leadership, nor do we seem to have secured that coveted “seat at the table.” Why, after decades of intensive study of human behavior-demonstrated statistics that company culture has a direct correlation to increased performance and the advancement of HR technologies, are we still playing this old tape? It would appear that many HR professionals are still stuck in the tactical role, creating action plans, putting out fires, and implementing strategies handed down from above rather than creating them. The way to the seat in the boardroom will require both behavioral change and shifting the Human Resources paradigm. In order to move into that strategist role, our view of the organization has to be more holistic, no matter the size or industry. A broad knowledge of all aspects of the business, including Finance, will need to be mastered. You might argue the point here and wonder if you really need to be “a mile wide and an inch deep” or if you should niche and be “an inch wide and a mile deep” in knowledge and experience. Strategic players must be deep and wide in their knowledge base. There needs to be a foundation of understanding of the measurable, short-term objectives that play into the long-term strategic influence. The cause of this monumental shift in the HR paradigm has a lot to do with new

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

technologies, automation, and even artificial intelligence. There are so many choices when selecting the right technology and vendor that it is hard to decipher what will bring the most added value to your organization. The first step in moving forward is by taking a step backwards. This seems counter intuitive, right? Trust me and do this crucial step first. Go back to move ahead and evaluate what solutions you currently have, which of those solutions are serving you well, and which one would create the most efficiencies if they were enhanced or replaced. If you are like so many organizations that are bound in legacy systems or even employees who are bound to the same old tools, processes, and systems they have been using for the last two decades, this is where some tough decisions need to be made. I am a firm believer that organizational culture is really the driver of how successful you will be in any transformational effort. Your leaders are influencing that culture in every single action they make. If they want you to be more strategic, then have them take a hard look at how their behaviors shape the culture. If they don’t support you in each one of these steps to culture creation, no matter what changes you may suggest, the reality is that nothing is going to change. Culture is created by the following four distinct methods in an organization: 1. The actions and behaviors of leaders; 2. What leaders pay attention to; 3. What gets rewarded and what gets punished; and, 4. The allocation and attention of resources. If we can ensure that our leaders are on board to support some major shift, then we can expect to gain momentum in moving from tactical to strategist in the HR function. To start the pendulum swing to social media, social collaboration and social technology, we need to see the entire landscape. In the newly revised Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Body of Competency and Knowledge,

there is a functional area dedicated to technology and data, with SHRM’s definition being: “this deals with the use of tools, technology, and systems that support the gathering analysis and reporting of workforce information, as well as effective and efficient collaboration and documentation throughout the organization. HR demonstrates value by developing knowledge about technology uses, trends, and innovations applicable to HR’s strategic goals.” This is, at best, the 30,000-foot view of what this vital knowledge must be. There does not seem to be a central repository of information where HR professionals can go to review or learn about today’s best practices in technology. Here’s a brief look at the plethora of new, strategic options in the technology space that today’s HR professionals need to know. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) – These systems bring a level of organization and efficiencies that could never have been achieved by the old approach to keyword search and the sorting of résumés from an internal database. Gone are the days of scanning résumés or manually entering candidate information, and then searching for top talent within that database. Today, the process of candidate data entry from a variety of entry points is done in one key stroke. Our talent pool is constantly being filled without a lot of energy or oversight from any one individual. It’s all automated but, unfortunately, so is the response and interaction with the potential candidate. This auto-communication can be detrimental to the organization and the candidate experience. Sure, automatically generated email responses are a necessity. Clearly, they are a time saver and an opportunity to provide follow-up information to the process or to manage candidate expectations. But, the thing to remember is that messaging and timing are key. Some would say résumé search and ATS are synonymous, yet we still hear the two terms used in different ways. Here’s a brief overview of how the résumé search software analyzes a résumé: A résumé is run through a parser, which re-

moves the styling from the résumé and breaks the text down into recognized words or phrases. The parser then sorts that content into different categories: education, contact info, skills, and work experience. The employer’s desired skills or keywords are matched against the results from above. The résumé is then scored on relevancy, using semantic matching against the employer’s search terms and the candidate’s years of experience. Best to keep in mind here, technology is great, when it works and is set up properly in the beginning. Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) – Vendors offer recruitment, performance management, talent management, analytics, and most offer learning solutions along with their core HRMS and payroll applications. The functionality is the crossing of HR systems and processes with information technology. The wave of technological advancement has revolutionized each and every space of life today, and HR in its entirety was not left untouched by it. What started off with a simple software to help improve the payroll processing of an organization, or a software to track the employee work time, has grown to become the human resources systems that helps improve process efficiency, reduces the cost and time spent on mundane tasks and, at the same time, improved the overall experience of the employees and the HR professionals. In short, as the role of the Human Resources function evolved, HR technology systems also changed the role they were playing. Learning Management System (LMS) – These technologies now integrate learning with talent and performance management. They include integrated content and expertise management, and they often have integrated collaboration, recommendation engines, and tools. The key to understanding the difference between LMS and other computer education terms is to understand the systemic nature of LMS. Learning management systems are the framework that handles all aspects of the learning process. An LMS is the infrastructure that delivers and manages instructional content, identifies and assesses individual and organizational learning or training goals, tracks the progress towards meeting those goals, and collects and presents data for supervising the learning process of the organization as a whole. This is one technology that HR has a love/hate relationship with. The automation is great for distance learning; on-demand allows for global efficiencies and www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

the option to have a learner “test out” before completion is brilliant. The hate part comes in on the administrative side. Managers have questions and need the answers: Who has completed training? How did they do? What courses do each of my employees still have to take before the end of the year? This administrative task takes us back to the days of “personnel” and the policy police. The LMS should not be solely owned by HR. Managers need to be trained and allowed a level of administrative access to answer their questions without having to reach out to HR for reports. Mobile Apps (that support communication, collaboration, clarity, and some of which are just plain clever) – Mobile applications, such as online learning and goal setting, are positioning the phone to become the primary interface for all HR-related applications. Mongoose Metrics published a mobile readiness study in February 2012, and their statistics are staying right on track in today’s environment. They found that: Smartphone market share at the time was at 44 percent and it is expected to increase to over 52 percent by 2014. Mobile search at the time was approximately 9 percent of all searches. According to data from Adobe’s Mobile Experience Survey in 2011, 80 percent of users preferred mobile sites when searching for prices and product reviews. With so many indicators pointing to the strong and robust growth of mobile search, it is important to understand the rates of mobile readiness among website publishers in order to determine how well the industry is meeting the needs and preferences of mobile users. About the Author The quick fix for the recruiting Lizz Pellet is a fellow in Organizational Transformation industry was to turn to native mobile from Johns Hopkins University recruiting apps (those you download and a well-known thought leader and install), which met a growing in talent management. For the need … at the time. However, those in past 15 years, Pellet has been educating HR talent acquisition realized that having professionals on culture, employment branding, to download an app was an obstacle and all areas of talent management. She is a for the candidate during the discovery master in teaching professionals how to use social media platforms in their recruiting and and application phases of their job marketing efforts. She is recommended by SHRM search. and has presented at over 50 conferences and delivered 100 webinars. Her high energy, use of humor, and relevant business content make her a very popular trainer and keynote speaker. Pellet is the author of the 2010 SHRM book, The Cultural Fit Factor, Creating an Employment Brand that Attracts, Retains and Repels the Right Employees and Getting Your Shift Together – Making Sense of Organizational Culture & Change. She can be reached at @lizzpellet and at lizzpellet@gmail.com.

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

Social Collaboration Software – This provides a private social platform for employees to connect and collaborate with others at a team or enterprise level. The software gives employees the ability to discover and connect with other co-workers, manage tasks and assignments, instant message, form teams, and collaborate on documents with others at the company. The software may offer or integrate with third-party tools to provide functionality for project management, phone or video communication, and file sharing. If you find yourself asking, “What is a wiki?” You should check out one of the most informative videos on YouTube. Search “What is a wiki?” It has over two million views. Workforce Dashboards and Analytics – These provide information regarding the current workforce across mission critical occupations, including demographic and background characteristics of the current workforce, retirement eligibility, turnover, and various workforce management issues. The things that directly affect recruitment and retention. This information is valuable in understanding the workforce across the organization and identifying trends impacting the workforce as a whole or in part. One of the more useful components of this data is to address succession planning in a strategic way, by providing a basis for action to address demographic and employment trends that may impact future mission capabilities. We know automation plays a critical role in streamlining processes, reducing redundancies, and minimizing errors as a result of manual work flows. From a compliance standpoint, having a core HR system for securing data is vital for privacy and employee data security. Numerous examples in recent history show that if this crucial step is not addressed, the outcome can be disastrous for the organization and, more importantly, for the employees who work there. So, as the saying goes, technology is great, when it works! Human Resources has come a long way from being the policy police. We have an outstanding opportunity to leverage what is currently available and what the automation of the future will deliver.

feature

Growing Without Breaking: HR’s Role in Keeping Company Culture Intact By Matt Straz, Namely

t’s no secret that company culture and engagement are the most important issues HR professionals face today – and they will continue to be. After all, almost all (87 percent) of the 3,300 business and HR professionals surveyed in Bersin by Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2015 called employee engagement and culture issues “important,” with 50 percent saying the issues are “very important.”1 That’s for good reason. Culture at a company unlocks everything. From productivity and engagement in the organization’s day-to-day, to an employer brand that naturally fuels recruiting efforts, to creating a lasting brand that customers immediately recognize, there’s no escaping it – culture radiates outward into the marketplace. In the same way sour morale and poor leadership come to public light when companies least expect it – fun companies, positive people, and courteous work – people find out about it. Customers share it. It keeps your company centered, and defines the very work you do. Namely itself is a growing company. We continue to hire one person nearly every day, and I was thrilled to announce our $45 million Series C round of funding led by Sequoia Capital in June of 2015. Experiencing growth firsthand fuels our passion for working with other companies that are scaling up their teams quickly. Before we started building all-in-one, cloud-based HR software for companies to manage all of their HR, payroll, and benefits needs in one place, we started very humbly in a Brooklyn office – just four people and an idea. As our teams and funding grew, we hopped across the water to a headquarters in Manhattan, while still keeping a large working space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Today, our staff has expanded into a third office space in Manhattan, and we just opened our new San Francisco office. Soon we will move into our brand new office to house all of our East coast employees in Lower Manhattan’s Financial District. The entire Namely team has experienced lightening fast growth over the last three years.

Distance alone can be a barrier – ask anyone who’s been subjected to a day of meetings via online video calls. It can seem tricky to keep a company culture together, and keep employees engaged, while adding employees all the time. But we’ve done it – with major thanks to the HR software we’ve built and use ourselves daily.

The Mighty SMB Part of what makes Namely a unique company is that we serve a specific section of the market that is hungry and ready for HR software – small and medium-sized growing businesses. According to the Starr Conspiracy Intelligence Unit’s 2015 Human Capital Management (HCM) Vendor Brandscape Report, the rise of HCM for the SMB is one of the three most important HCM industry trends to watch, with the latest U.S. Census data reporting there are 42 times more firms with 100 to 4,999 employees than with 5,000 or more employees.2 It’s easy to understand why this sector hasn’t had access to the HR software it needed in the past. For one, the SMB has been priced out of legacy solutions meant for larger organizations. Furthermore, HR technology was not as easy to implement or update as it is today.

Cloud HR software is changing all of that. Forty-two percent of HR software buyers according to PwC’s 2014 HR Technology Survey are choosing cloud-based solutions to primarily take advantage of quicker software release cycles.3 On the other hand, according to Josh Bersin, stagnant enterprise software essenwww.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

Endnotes David Brown, Sonny Chheng, Veronica Melian, Kathy Parker, Marc Solow, “Culture and engagement: The naked organization,” Global Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading in the new world of work, March 2015, p. 35. 1

George LaRocque, “Three Trends to Watch,” 2015 Human Capital Management (HCM) Vendor Brandscape Report, February 2015, http://campaigns.thestarrconspiracy.com/hcmvendor-brandscape/ 2

Dan Staley, Murali Gandi, PwC’s 2014 HR Technology Survey: Moving HR to the Cloud? Navigate key barriers to boost success, December 2104, p. 4. 3

Josh Bersin, “7 Reasons HR Technology Is So Hot Today,” Forbes, May 2013, http://www. forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/05/31/7reasons-hr-technology-is-so-hot-today/ 4

Erin Osterhaus, Human Resources Software BuyerView 2014, April 2014, http://www.softwareadvice.com/hr/buyerview/report-2014/ 5

Matt Straz, “Data Reveal the 7 Factors for Optimal Employee Retention,” Entrepreneur, September 2014, http://www.entrepreneur. com/article/237248 6

“50 HR & Recruiting Stats That Make You Think,” Glassdoor, October 2014, http://employers.glassdoor.com/statistical-citations/ 7

Clark Buckner, “Expert Interview: How Integrating HR Tech Relieves Your Company’s Growing Pains,” The Namely Blog, May 2015, http://www.namely.com/blog/2015/5/12/ expert-interview-how-integrating-hr-techrelieves-your-companys-growing-pains 8

Bersin by Deloitte, HR Factbook 2015: Benchmarks and Trends for U.S. HR Organizations, January 2015, p. 1. 9

David Wentworth, “5 Trends for the Future of Learning and Development,” Training, August 2014, http://www.trainingmag.com/5-trendsfuture-learning-and-development 10

Jay Yarow, “This Is the Internal Grading System Google Uses For Its Employees—And You Should Use It Too,” Business Insider, January 2014, http://www.businessinsider.com/googlesranking-system-okr-2014-1 11

Ben Mueller, “Is Unlimited Paid Time Off All It’s Cracked Up to Be?” The Namely Blog, July 2015, http://www.namely.com/blog/ blog/2015/7/1/is-unlimited-paid-time-off-allits-cracked-up-to-be 12

tially becomes obsolete every seven years.4 Smaller companies can finally have access to the technology their HR organizations deserve in order to manage people effectively and align strategically with higher management. The numbers reflect it. In Software Advice’s Human Resources Software BuyerView 2014, the majority of HR software buyers (67%) were companies with 1-250 employees.5 Those are just the kind of companies we love—the ones scaling-up quickly in exciting, innovative industries. Companies like these, perhaps more than any other, need to keep a close eye on company culture. Great cultures must evolve to serve the new and challenging needs of business: Research tells us that integrity on the job leads to better financial performance.6 But companies must also keep their roots strong in order to retain those valuable early employees. Since our founding in 2012, there have been a few guiding principles that I believe will serve any new growing company’s HR team well (especially startups) in keeping their company culture together as they grow.

employees have a chance to introduce themselves to the whole company, different departments present their exciting new projects, and we all stick around for a happy hour afterwards. So every single month, employees are reminded of our mission, and invigorated by the work of their peers. The communication is transparent, proving that everyone has a valuable stake in the company. We believe in transparency like so many other companies today because it’s built into our product. For one, keeping all of your HR, payroll, and benefits data in an all-in-one system instead of siloed in several point solutions just makes the most sense. Coupled with an open API to allow for smooth integration with the other applications companies use, keeping data consistently together is the most efficient way to tackle the administrative side of HR. Employees see all of their payroll info and benefits selfservice tools in one place in employee profiles. Then, they can scroll through a company feed, in a simple-to-use social media style, to see the latest updates or post a quote from an excited customer for the whole company to see.

Transparency In a survey conducted by Glassdoor, 96% of job seekers say that it’s important to work for a company that embraces transparency.7 That’s no coincidence. You’ve read the headlines. One company makes all salaries known to all employees. Another makes staff diversity statistics known to the public. There are major differences between internal transparency and external transparency, but a certain level of internal transparency is part of what keeps companies connected. And HR is its steward. Our entire company has an All Hands Meeting monthly. It’s a huge part of what keeps us working well together. Every month, we gather for an all-company meeting led by HR at a fun New York location – sometimes at a theater space, other times at a rooftop restaurant. I share company financials with everyone, and we give status updates on our product roadmap. New

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For managers, they can review salary history and time-off requests while writing a performance review, get the exact benefits employees need, and update the whole company about the team softball match, all in a single platform. No walls are put up around the data, no messy agreements between different providers. Everything is transparently shared in one system. It’s no wonder our prospects and clients regularly suffer from “system fatigue” – that is, using too many systems to accomplish all of their tasks.8 Keeping data together in one system certainly avoids that.

Personal Growth Spending on HR is still on the rise. The Bersin by Deloitte 2015 HR Factbook puts the budgets of HR organizations up an average of four percent, with the most mature, business-oriented HR organizations spending $4,434 per employee.9 Not only that, Training Magazine reports that one-third of companies are increasing their budget for learning and development.

But how much of that budget actually goes directly to benefiting the employee? How much of it is sunk in costly and timely HR product implementations, or unrealized in well-intentioned but failed culture initiatives? We’re not only committed to professional growth as a company, we’re also committed to personal growth on the employee level, and that’s great for company culture at any organization. We offer a professional development program that allots every employee $3,000 yearly to spend however he or she wishes on professional development. From conferences across the globe to college courses, anything employees can think of is fair game, as long as it advances their career. It seems too easy – almost unthinkable – to put that much funding into an HR initiative relying on so much employee initiative. But that’s what HR is meant to do – be there for their employees’ personal growth. We believe that a company shouldn’t just get bigger. Everyone should get better. Plus, anyone can share updates on their learning experiences with the whole company in our company feed.

Goal-Setting The core of performance management at our company is through goal-setting, but specifically cascading goals. I set company-wide goals with our higher management, and those feed into the goals of every department. Employees then set goals tied to departmental goals, so everything is connected. We all fill out goals in our company profiles, and anyone can access another employee’s goals (there’s some more transparency for you!).

Goals may seem simple, what with the well publicized advent of Google’s OKR tracking (Objective and Key Results), which are annual and quarterly goals broken down into actionable steps.11 But goalkeeping and revising are one of the many ways your HR software can serve as a cultural tool. Employees stay zeroed in on the company’s mission, and if your company-wide goals explicitly reflect your company values, then they’re zeroed in on your values as well. When everyone can see each other’s goals, the whole company can see how hard everyone is

working. It’s more than just tracking individual progress. It’s about propelling the whole organization forward.

Trust

About the Author Matt Straz is founder and CEO of Namely (www.namely.com), the all-in-one HR, payroll, and benefits platform for growing companies. Namely, his third startup, closed its Series C round of funding led by Sequoia in June of 2015. The company helps organizations like Mashable, Vimeo, and Warby Parker grow world-class teams and manage everything HR. He is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur and frequently writes for several other publications about human resources, startups, and technology. Follow him on Twitter: @mattstraz.

At the end of the day, you’ve hired your staff because you believe they are the best people to get the job done. So of course, you have to trust them to do so, while giving them the steady guidance required of a manager. Employee trust is baked into what may seem like an unlikely employee perk we offer: unlimited paid time off. Forty-three percent of the more than 250 companies we work with offer unlimited time off plans of their own.12 In our company, there’s no limit to the amount of days employees can take, yearly or consecutively. With managerial approval, they have all the time they need to recharge, balance their personal and professional lives, and accomplish all of their work. All they need to do is self-service their time off requests in our platform for easy managerial approval. Then, they can get back to their projects – or enjoy their well-deserved day at the beach. Again, how could such a policy, a radical one by some industry standards, function well in an organization? Trust. Trust that your employees will get the job done and act in the best interest of themselves and the company. Our data also reveals that the employees at companies with unlimited plans only take one extra day off per year on average. That’s one extra day that’s worth the employee engagement and healthy company culture it fosters. When an employee can enter their own data into an HR platform – say an expense or time off request – he or she is helping speed up all of HR’s administrative work. The HR department can then focus more on strategic matters like driving the business goals of higher management or scheming initiatives to make work culture even better. All HR has to do is educate its employees about an easy-to-use HR platform, and then trust them to use it. After all, self-service tools are what employees work in every day, from websites to the very software they use to get their jobs done. As a CEO of any growing company can tell you, it takes a village. Of course you need to hire the right people, but you also have to trust them. And that results in a healthy company culture, one with all the tools it needs to get your company exactly where it needs to be. Here’s to happy growing.

www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

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feature

Workforce Analytics: Achieving the Action Reaction By Jamie Barrette, Mercer

Building a workforce analytics group that drives action and change requires more than just a toolbox of powerful software, years of rich data, and a staff of statisticians. Too often these initiatives focus on the science, and minimize the art that is necessary for interpretation and adoption. But, for analytics to inform strategy, the unique non-quantitative characteristics of this data, and how it differs from traditional reporting, should be considered. Human Resources can draw on its communication skills to move beyond simple data distribution and to engage directly with its audience by providing assistance with interpretation, playing a consultative role, and introducing this new material with a change management initiative. Taking the steps to plan a multi-faceted deployment model will ensure that HR’s new capabilities get the attention and reaction they deserve.

Workforce Analytics: Achieving the Action Reaction The potential value of well-formulated workforce analytics is undeniable, but that does not guarantee adoption, impact, or return on investment. The Moneyball era that brought to focus the power of analytics created a new demand within HR for a quantitative skillset. And now, everything is focused on big data or on being predictive (or, better yet, both!). But, with all the focus on the value of data, the communication skills that were originally so valued in HR have been de-emphasized. Some analytics initiatives have come to focus heavily on the strengths of the science while minimizing the art that guides interpretation and facilitates adoption. As a result of this imbalance, these initiatives are not impacting strategy and effecting change to the degree their investment warrants. This lack of success can be summed up as “they built it and no one came.”

For the unsuccessful initiatives, what went wrong? Unlike the type of reporting HR has historically provided, advanced analytics are not always intuitive and can, at times, be intimidating to the uninitiated. To overcome the obstacles preventing this new content from being embraced and, more importantly, to spur action, this type of analysis often needs to be complimented by a decidedly non-quantitative approach. Creating an evidence-based, datadriven decision culture is a high-touch effort that calls for relationship building and a realignment of HR information distribution methods. In this new model, as much as 45 percent of an analytics group’s focus should be on communication, with the balance spent on data acquisition and analysis, as seen in Figure 1. To create a successful analytics deployment strategy, there are four factors to consider. First, understand how this new type of data is different, as those differences will shape the components of the delivery model. Second, engage the business in order to understand their needs and readiness to work with analytics before anything is built or deployed. Next, help the business to use this new information by putting a change management initiative in place, mixed with a bit of salesmanship. Finally, plan for growth by developing an iterative approach that expands in terms of capabilities and value as the business matures in their ability to leverage the material.

Figure 1.

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Adapting the Delivery Model One of the most common reasons an analytics group doesn’t gain traction is because, despite having great new capabilities, the group continues to stick with their legacy methods of disseminating information. Pushing out reports on a regular frequency, in the same format every time, and without analysis, worked great in the “counts and tabulation” reporting era. Given how different and advanced analytics can be, a more hands-on approach is required. When thinking about getting the business to adopt and use the new capabilities, the successful deployment model should account for: •

•

Content dynamism – Some portion of the analyses people see should change frequently. To be sure, there will be content that everyone wants to see every month. But, emerging issue areas should be flagged and brought to the forefront. For example, one company has created a people scorecard to support a monthly operations review, and each month the topic areas on the scorecard change to reflect current priorities and hot spots. Trust – Although data integrity is important with analytics, something to consider is that small numbers do not sway results dramatically. Unlike reporting on head counts and turnover counts, inputs to analytics that are directionally correct will still yield valid results. The larger trust issue to overcome here is that higher level analyses, such as those that are predictive in nature, require an extra measure of trust. Their derivation may be beyond the ability of some people to fully comprehend, and HR will have to work to make the business as comfortable as possible with the general methodologies employed, without getting overly technical.

•

Comprehension – In most organizations, some people receiving data do not know what to do about it, or even sometimes what it means. The meanings and messages of analytics are sometimes not readily intuited. For that reason, anything provided should be clear and concise, with a prominently displayed takeaway. Additionally, when new content is provided, HR should spend time walking the business through it and answering questions.

•

Relevancy – The comprehension issue is

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only compounded when the data is pushed out by HR without having been requested, and without any context. Part of helping people understand what the data means includes helping them see why it matters and how it can help them run their business. •

Personalization – Many people today want a customized experience that can be distilled down to just the few, relevant pieces. They like to start at the summary levels and drill down into areas of interest, following curated analysis paths that act as guardrails. Additionally, it is no longer sufficient for all segments of the business to receive the same content and analyses, just populated with different data. Content, as well as data, should differ by functional area and need. This approach makes personalization capabilities a priority and is not really compatible with push-style report distribution.

Something that is clear after thinking through these characteristics of analytic delivery is that a greater level of involvement from HR is required. True, advanced software can assist with intelligent delivery of fresh and pertinent content. But, for an analytics group to play a continually pivotal role in corporate strategy, there will be a need for continuous humanbased interactions. Investing time in growing relationships with the business will build support, ensure that current needs are met, and will help to anticipate future demands. For this reason, it is important to hire employees who can communicate equally well with machines and people.

The Listening Tour With delivery considerations in mind, the next step is to understand what to deliver. Many political campaigns start with a listening tour during which the candidate engages voters to get a sense of hot button issues. Selling the business on the value of analytics can call for politicking, and the listening tour works well. Human Resources needs to go back to their roots of engaging with people and brush off their communication skills to play a consultative role in the business. This is a soft sell; it pivots on first understanding what is going on in the business in order to know how to help. It might be surprising and rewarding to see how

appreciative people will be when they are given the opportunity to discuss their specific needs and wants. When engaging the business, there are three important things to anticipate: • Often, they will not know what they need. How easy would it be if everyone knew exactly what they need to do their job, and could articulate it clearly? In reality, frequently people will not know what to ask for, and sometimes will say they have everything they need. For that reason, HR cannot simply ask, “What analytics can we provide that would help you run your business?” Playing a consultative role means listening to people talk about their world and their challenges, in their own terms, and then using that information to inform data strategy. •

They will ask for the wrong things. The danger here is that if HR does not dig into requests, a lot of time can be wasted compiling something that does not actually provide value. Take the time to be a trusted advisor and probe into the request. The most important questions center on what the data means to business strategy and what actions will be taken when the data changes, either positively or negatively.

•

They will ask for things HR cannot provide. This situation can be intimidating, and is sometimes the reason HR avoids too much engagement with the business. It’s important to understand that every need cannot be met. Treat these out-of-reach requests as potential future enhancements, and try to offer alternative ways to meet the need in the short-term. Competency data is a good example of data that would be valuable, e.g., in workforce planning, which in reality, is difficult to track and quantify. In this case, creatively mining job data might serve as a proxy. The important takeaway is that even if HR cannot meet every need, by being heard, the employees in other departments will feel as though their input is valuable and that the lines of communication are open. This is a win.

A final point here is that listening does not just happen at the start of an initiative. Companies are in a constant state of flux and the environment is always changing. In a matter of months, a lot of what is learned at the start of an analytics initiative will not be a priority. The importance of staying engaged for the long haul cannot be overemphasized.

The Sales Drive After spending time listening, and then building based on needs, it may seem as though the obvious next step is to hit the publish button and call it a day. But, selling analytics to the business and getting them to act based on the data requires implementing a change management initiative. Components of this initiative include workshops and informal one-on-one sessions conducted to educate with the purpose of making the data and tools non-threatening. Unlike the aim of legacy HR reports, the purpose here is not to create a totally self-sufficient audience. Instead, the goal is to emphasize how the business can leverage HR’s knowledge and expertise – as well as tools – in order to be successful. Part of adding art to the science of data involves assisting the business with understanding what the data means – and, more importantly, what to do about it. What’s the story? Why In a matter of months, a should anyone care? In the early days, lot of what is learned at the value and meaning of the data will sometimes have to be spoon-fed. And, the start of an analytics it will be important to emphasize not initiative will not be a to look at single analyses in isolation, priority. The importance but to consider everything holistically of staying engaged for the to determine meaning. For example, long haul cannot be overhires, promotions, and terminations cannot be analyzed singularly as they emphasized. work together to impact the shape and movement of the internal labor market. Further, labor market conditions outside the company – the external labor market – should be considered in order to fully understand internal labor market conditions. Becoming a strategic advisor also means moving beyond speaking only in terms of numbers, for instance percentage changes. The numbers should be weaved into a narrative that gives the status, the reasons, the predictions, and then recommends a course of action whenever possible. That last point bears emphasis because HR is at times uncomfortable suggesting specific, strategic actions. But, the best way to get people to pay attention to the data is to make their life easier by helping them put it to use. Keep in mind that an easy way to sell all of this is by appealing to peoples’ self-interest. Data can be a powerful career advancer for those who have a good handle on it and know how to leverage it to the benefit of the business. If HR is able to partner early on with proponents and demonstrate a few quick wins that benefit those early adopters, it will be amazing to see how quickly others become believers.

www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

An Iterative Maturity Model In thinking about deployment strategy, one of the outcomes of engaging the business is an understanding of how advanced the stakeholders are in terms of their readiness to interpret and leverage analytics. It may be that the place to start will be with foundational basics, essentially providing descriptive analyses. This may not seem like much, and it may underutilize HR’s capabilities, but it can still be a win just in terms of getting out reliable, standardized data. Beginning with basic metrics to gain trust, and then continuing to report them over time, can serve as a conversation starter that opens the door to advanced questions and requests. It will be easier to gain believers by growing them rather than by attempting to bring them directly into higher-level topics, such as correlations and predictions. One way to plan for the growth of an analytics initiative is by considering an iterative maturity model, such as the one presented in Figure 2. The first iteration of a deployment might be small and not provide significant insights or have the ability to impact strategy. But, after circling back to the business to gather feedback about what worked, what was a miss, and what else is needed, the second iteration is repositioned to be more advanced and provide substantially more value. The iterationfeedback-iteration cycle continues indefinitely. Whereas the delta between early iterations will be significant, later iterations will not always provide great jumps over previous ones and will instead primarily be realignments driven by changing business conditions and priorities.

About the Author Jamie Barrette is the product line leader for Mercer’s Workforce Strategy & Analytics practice. Drawing on his broad work experience in workforce consulting, technology consulting and public accounting, he is well-positioned to advise clients on implementing and deploying technologies in ways that drive business strategy and effect change. His area of focus is in delivering actionable and relevant analytics to the business by leveraging software platforms that are easy-to-use, and which fit into the ways people perform their jobs. He holds a graduate degree from the Jones School at Rice University and can be reached at jamie.barrette@mercer.com.

Where to Start? It may seem as though there is a mountain of work to do to build an analytics function that spurs action. The good news is it is easy to start small. Here are a few suggestions for taking the first steps: •

ook an hour with each stakeB holder. Start the listening tour. Ask about the business beyond just the workforce. Find out about initiatives and issues, how priorities are chang-

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Figure 2.

ing, and how the data HR provides does, or does not, meet needs. Having this information will help to frame how people strategy can support business strategy. •

Inventory what HR currently provides. Do a current-state assessment that catalogs what HR provides to the business, the audience, and how/if it is used. Later, rather than starting completely from scratch and putting out brand new content, consider if existing inventory can first be enhanced. It is sometimes less intimidating for the business, and less work for HR, to add a new advanced analysis or two to an existing dashboard.

•

Start to move out of data provider mode. Work with the analytics team on building and sharpening their consultative skills. Rather than being data order takers, train them to always ask about why something is needed and then to later push for action based on the data.

Some companies have already done the hard, expensive work of getting the people and technology in place to build a powerful analytics function within HR. Growing that function, and watching it take root in the organization, is a hands-on effort that is in contrast to the largely automated ways in which simple reporting has been handled in the past. Transforming from a service provider to a partnership delivery model takes planning and work. However, the opportunity has never been better for HR to materially effect change and lead strategy formulation.

feature HR in the Middle (Hot) Seat: Implementing the Right Talent Management System By David Creelman, Creelman Research To be successful in selecting and implementing a new talent management system, HR should be prepared to own the process. This will require courage and the ability to translate business priorities into a talent management strategy and collaborate with IT to execute it. It was a good question: was the easiest solution the best solution? Hospital Sisters Health System was looking for a new talent management system (TMS) and, “Our CIO leaned towards buying talent management modules from our existing HRIS vendor; after all we were familiar with that platform,” remembers Alicia Hanna, senior technical analyst. “However, HR noted that an absolutely crucial business goal was developing and retaining leaders, and that the HRIS vendor could not deliver on that; that’s why we went with a best-in-class TMS.”1 Question answered; potential problem averted because HR ably occupied the “middle seat” – the space between the business strategy and executing the functional initiative. For Hospital Sisters, implementing the easiest solution might have failed to address their crucial business goal. But, due to an effective collaboration of savvy HR and IT leaders, their new talent management solution delivered real business return-oninvestment. It all begins with the business goals, a simple concept, but hard to hold onto in the face of a major technology initiative. Ideally, HR will already be involved in setting or, at minimum, be aligned to the business strategy and know the connections to talent management. Then, it needs to step into that middle seat – the place between strategy and execution, the lack of which is too often the source of failure, not just of HR initiatives, but of any initiative. From the middle seat, HR must own the process of ensuring that the TMS is aligned to the needs of the business and manage an effective collaboration with IT to find and implement the best TMS for that purpose. This is a challenging role for even the most grounded and strategic HR functions, especially amid the rapidly-changing availability of analyt-

ics and functionality. For mid-sized organizations, where HR may typically have been focused on managing compliance, benefits, and employee relations, it may feel like a bridge too far. Choosing and implementing a new talent management system may be the opportunity to courageously step into the middle seat and demonstrate a deep understanding of what the business needs in order to achieve results.

Common Sources of Failure in Selecting a Talent Management System •

Failure to connect to business needs – Are you implementing a TMS because a senior executive saw an impressive demonstration at a trade show or at a competitor? Or, are you trying to solve problems that don’t reflect the strategy and priorities of the organization? Here is where disconnects like that averted by Hospital Sisters so often occur. It is HR’s role to make sure the business strategy is understood and is reflected in the talent management strategy. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

•

Failure to clearly translate the talent management strategy into technology requirements – Similar to the issue described above, many failures happen due to lack of clarity on how to translate the talent management strategy into the queries and data points that are the output of a technology system. Not everyone understands what you mean by “talent management” and how it impacts the business. From the middle seat, HR must translate between business-speak, HR-speak, and IT-speak.

•

Expectation that technology can “fix” poor talent management processes – As the old adage goes, “garbage in, garbage out.” The best technology in the world will not save a poor process. Trying to do so may end up adding work, rather than making it easier. Fix the process first.

•

Lack of buy-in – Even if HR understands the business needs, stakeholders may be resistant to change. It is up to HR to make sure stakeholders at all levels understand how the TMS will help them achieve business priorities and what’s in it for them.

Clarifying the Talent Management Strategy If the middle seat is the place where strategy becomes execution, the TMS vendor selection process must begin with an understanding of the business needs and their human capital implications. Here is where many HR departments have to move themselves from the sidelines into full business partner roles. As business partners and process owners, HR should be able to translate between businessspeak, HR-speak, and IT-speak so that all stakeholders are in alignment and focused on crucial organizational needs. To begin, some good questions to ask include: • What business problems are we trying to solve? •

Are we anticipating changes in direction, goals, or culture that will require people to make major changes in their behavior or skillset?

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•

Do we know how well our people are performing?

•

What kind of leaders will we need in the future?

•

Do we know how to get them?

For example, senior leaders may be concerned about falling sales in a certain market. Or, they may have identified customer service as a differentiating strategy that they want to embed into the organizational culture. Help stakeholders navigate through these big-picture concerns to the HR implications. Are sales falling because the sales staff is not adequately skilled or effectively led? Which employees are key to providing excellent customer service and what competencies do they need to exhibit? As a strategic business partner, HR should be prepared to demonstrate how the talent management process can address these issues through its elements of goal alignment, performance management, talent acquisition, succession planning, and employee development. To meet these challenges and reach these goals, what critical functionality should the TMS deliver? Consider what data on employees will help guide decisions and monitor progress, and what tools will be useful in addressing the issues. Brian Sommer, writing in Workforce Solutions Review,2 points out that in order to bring to the table all that new technology offers, HR ideally would also bring expertise in data analytics and be aware of the human capital implications of cutting- edge technology, big data opportunities, and external, non-HR sources of information. While these are certainly important elements, I counsel caution here. There is so much technology out there, and it is changing so rapidly, that it is easy to get lost in the weeds and lose sight of the big-picture priorities. Don’t be dazzled by the allure of a future for which you might not be ready. An organization that hasn’t identified the critical competencies it needs, or doesn’t have an effective performance management system, will only be distracted by trying to implement data mining from social media for proactive candidate sourcing. A crucial aspect of the middle-seat space is to function as an anchor, holding onto initiative priorities and pulling everyone back from unnecessary mission creep.

Building the Selection Team and Steering Committees The steering committee and selection team can make or break a new TMS purchase and implementation. Clearly, here is where the business, HR, and IT collaboration must live and breathe, but it is not where it best begins. As the workplace and the workforce become more technology-driven, Cisco VP Lance Perry3 points out both the need and opportunity for HR and IT leaders to collaborate as strategic business partners. If HR and IT accept these roles and abandon functional siloes, then they will already have a good working relationship and share some common goals. In this partnership, HR brings the strategic talent management goals and IT brings the technology to support it. A high-level steering committee of business, HR, and IT executives, formed at an early stage can provide sponsorship, organizational alignment, and resources. Representation from the groups that will be most impacted by the changes required will be useful in smoothing out bumps and ensuring adequate support and buy-in through the implementation phase. In establishing the selection and implementation team(s), the main criteria are to make sure there is adequate representation of major stakeholders and expertise in both the systems and talent management aspects of the project. Staffing these teams inadequately is a common pitfall waylaying large initiatives. All too often, team members are assigned on the basis of who may be available or have an interest, rather than who brings the right knowledge and skills. Or, busy team members may be expected to carry on their normal workload while working on the initiative. Another common pitfall is underestimating the budget necessary to achieve initiative goals. This is a critical time for HR to exercise middle-seat courage. Having already demonstrated how the initiative supports business priorities, make a reasoned business case to get what is needed to ensure success. Consider requesting the team to first conduct a study to map current processes, determine future requirements, plan the process, and determine the overall budget. This early planning will help avert pitfalls and make a solid case for full implementation needs.

Process Design The best technology can’t rescue a poor process – it will only add complexity and turn users off.

A good place to begin is by mapping the current processes, which will yield a clear idea both of how to improve the process and what functionality is needed in the TMS. Watch for areas of unnecessary complexity, multiple hand-offs, inconsistency, and manual processes. Now is the opportunity to improve the process and make it responsive to current and future needs. Here is also an opportunity to ensure alignment of understanding between the HR and IT team members. One of the greatest strengths of an automated TMS is the ability to connect performance management to employee development, succession planning, recruiting, and other elements of talent management. Take the time to identify the most important connections needed to meet the business priorities. Consider the reports needed to answer crucial questions and provide the analytics needed to drive decisions, set goals, and monitor progress. Ensure that the new processes will generate the required data. This retooling of the process will not only ensure that the talent management process is robust and aligned with business needs, but will help to identify the critical functionalities required in the technology suite.

Take the time to identify the most important connections needed to meet the business priorities.

Establishing Requirements A caution here is to not get bogged down early on with a detailed list of requirements. It is better to identify the big picture functionalities for the system based on the business goals and process improvement exercises just completed. The team can then research the market and create a short list of vendors that offer systems that meet the most critical requirements. The HR side of the team can keep the team aligned to business priorities and the people implications, as well as bring an understanding of the culture and readiness for change that will have implications in the implementation process. Meanwhile, the IT side can focus on the technical functionality, integration with current systems, and implementation challenges.

Understanding the Options in the Selection Process Developing a process for making the selection will be helpful in navigating through the short list

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Endnotes 1

avid Creelman, Selecting A Talent Management D Suite: Experts Share The Real Story, Creelman Research, Pg. 20.

Brian S. Sommer, “The Problem is HR – Not HR Technology,” Workforce Solutions Review, January 2015, pp. 18-20.

Lance Perry, The Future of Work: The Partnership Between HR and IT, Cisco Blog, December 2014. http://blogs.cisco.com/news/the-future-ofwork-the-partnership-between-hr-and-it

of vendors. Include a more detailed and prioritized list of requirements and questions. It can be helpful to send the list of requirements to the vendors to enable them to focus demos on the most important requirements. The predetermined selection process will help in keeping the focus on essential selection criteria, while avoiding the “dazzle effect” as you see experts manipulating the bells and whistles of their products. As with buying a car, make sure to test drive the application. Besides obvious factors such as cost and functionality, other considerations to include in the selection process are: •

Recommended Reading Josh Bersin, Dimple Agarwal, Bill Pelster, Jeff Schwartz, et al, Global Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading in the New World of Work, Westlake, Texas: Deloitte University Press, 2015. David Creelman, “Selecting A Talent Management Suite: Experts Share The Real Story,” Creelman Research.

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About the Author David Creelman is CEO of Creelman Research. He helps HR leaders to identify, understand, and address important new issues in human capital management. He also researches and writes about critical issues in human capital management, and is a regular contributor to the Halogen TalentSpace Blog. His most recent book Lead the Work: Navigating a World Beyond Employment (co-authored with Boudreau and Jesuthasan) is about the future of work and has received plaudits from business leaders. Prior to founding his own company, he was chief of Content and Research for HR.com and before that a management consultant in Canada and Malaysia, most notably with the Hay Group. He has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and a Combined Honours B.Sc. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from McMaster. He received the HRPS Walker award for state-of-the-art thinking in human resources management. He can be reached at dcreelman@creelmanresearch.com.

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User experience – The user experience (UX) is a bit broader than the usually considered user interface (UI), and is focused on how the user will feel about the application. Here is where HR’s awareness of organizational culture and employee work habits will be particularly useful. Workforce demographics – If the organization is global, the TMS must support the implications of multiple time zones, languages, cultures, and labor practices. Consider also how important mobile accessibility may be. endor reputation and V customer service – The vendor relationship is critical for not only selection and implementation, but in the longterm. Check vendor references, which will by nature be positive, as well as others who have implemented their system.

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The People and Politics of Implementation Implementation time is the place where earlier errors become apparent, where mission drift will have its impact, and where it will become clear whether the new system will achieve its objectives or become a failed project-of-the-month. Human Resources will need to tap into change management expertise, as well as organizational savvy in avoiding pitfalls and getting buy-in to the new system. Success factors include: •

Visible sponsorship by the steering committee;

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An experienced project manager and dedicated team;

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An adequate budget and timeline for implementation, communication, user trials, and training;

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Technical expertise from the vendor and/ or outside consultant that includes support after the implementation;

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Leveraging early successes and early adopters to advertise the benefits of the new system – show people what’s in it for them when they embrace and use the new system;

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Expectation of and tolerance for some setbacks and glitches in the early stages; and,

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Sensitivity to the natural tendency to resist change and a plan that minimizes disruption.

Conclusion Not every organization is facing the prospect of buying and implementing a new talent management system, although with the maturity of the TMS market, many are. But, any organization would benefit from the exercise of reviewing talent management processes to ensure they are supportive of organizational priorities, and generate the data and analytics to bring rigor and confidence to human capital decision-making. Taking ownership of the initiative will require HR to demonstrate the business-savvy, courage, and collaborative skills necessary to fill the middle seat that bridges strategy and execution.

feature

Systems of Engagement:

The Next Frontier in HR Services By Marc Solow and Erik Alvarado, Deloitte Consulting, LLP

With technology lowering the cost of personalized interaction, companies are doubling down on strategies of engagement. Instead of focusing on profits from individual transactions, they’re working to create ongoing relationships with customers. The trust built up in these relationships then can lead to far more revenue and profits over time. No longer are they anonymous buyers – now they feel connected to their favorite sellers. Customers are more likely to buy across the product portfolio, and to recommend it to their friends. What if companies could apply that same dynamic to how they treat their own people? We already know that engaged employees are more productive and less likely to leave.1 And now is a good time for Human Resources departments to make the move. Most of them have already made the underlying technology investments necessary for data management and self-service automation. “Systems of engagement” are the next frontier in HR services.

From Silos to Shared Services

To understand this opportunity, it’s helpful to note the concerns important to today’s employees. In Deloitte’s annual global poll of HR and business leaders, two-thirds of these leaders said they were struggling with overwhelmed staff.2 A similar number agreed that their work environments had become more complex. It’s not just the work itself. On top of all their ordinary responsibilities, employees are also taking more charge of their careers, rather than expecting a long-term, stable, orderly development within a company. As a result, people are naturally looking for simplicity and customization. They want their interactions to be direct, easy, and personalized, without compromising their choices. Having achieved this ideal from the likes of Amazon and Facebook, they’ve raised their expectations from the workplace. So far, Human Resources is falling short. At too many companies, HR’s understandable concerns with compliance have led to a blizzard of information and forms to wade through. Nowadays, HR has a lot to offer, but it becomes a net disengager when it overwhelms people with hard-to-navigate

technology. We can see a rising impatience in the C-suite with HR in general. Nearly all of the executives Deloitte surveyed (85%) are looking to transform HR to meet new business priorities. Most say that HR needs new skills and operating models. They’re looking for the function to deliver a strategic advantage, especially in recruiting and retaining talented employees. And even HR executives are concerned. Only a quarter feel confident that they are adapting well to employee needs. While HR is transforming itself in multiple ways, a key element is technology that’s intuitive and integrated into the overall experience people have with the company. With this technology, HR can meet the heightened expectations of employees. Of course, HR has already made impressive strides with technology in the past few decades. A big step took place in the 1990s, when the larger U.S. companies began consolidating HR and other support activities into shared service centers. Instead of each operating unit or division handling employee matters, a centralized office handled everything company-wide, at much lower cost. HR services were among the first to be included, along with Finance and Accounting services. Information Technology, Procurement, Real Estate, and Legal eventually followed, depending on the company. The creation of this new scale often took place in parallel with the deployment of client-server systems that greatly expanded HR’s technological capabilities. This effort picked up steam in the 2000s as companies outsourced many HR transactions to large specialists. Shared services has become a common model in the 2010s, and companies have leveraged these capabilities to expand on several dimensions. With globalization, they’ve adapted HR activities to national and regional requirements and customs. They’ve also moved beyond inquiries and transactions to handle a variety of knowledge-based, specialized services, from talent management to employee relations. Along with this expanded scope, HR has continued to work on its administrative efficiency, especially by shifting the more routine employee inquiries and transactions to selfservice portals. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

Even so, too many corporate leaders see HR as an administrative cost center, not a strategic partner in dealing with the biggest challenge in many industries: attracting and retaining talented people. It’s likely not enough for HR to comply with government regulations or fulfill internal service level agreements. While still concerned about cost, executives are looking for strategic help and innovative solutions from HR business partners. Instead they see managers caught up in delivering services. They want HR to go beyond “hygiene” factors and drive competitive impact.

From Transactions to Interactions

HR can make that switch by better internalizing the needs of the business, by gaining technical depth in the key disciplines of talent management, and by taking its transactions with employees to a new level. HR can free itself from getting caught up in administrative details while also serving employees better. The path forward should involve looking at employees in much the same ways that companies are treating their favored customers. In this employee-centric approach, companies focus not just at whether its offerings conform to policies and regulations, but also at how employees experience HR. Do all these services draw people more closely into the company – or is it a neutral or negative experience? Technology makes it much easier to treat people according to all sorts of segments. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, HR can deliver the most relevant services through the most convenient channels. The employee is no longer a single entity, but someone with different needs and wants depending on who they are, where they are, and when they are. As employees change from job candidate to new hire to veteran, and from one location to another, does HR treat them much differently? How easy is it for employees to register life changes with their companies, from marriages and births to caregiver leaves? If companies treated employees like customers, then visitors to the HR portal would see offerings adjusted for their age, time in the organization, position, benefits choices, and perhaps even personal tastes, similar to how Amazon treats its frequent shoppers. The interface would draw on previous choices and other information to predict an emEndnotes ployee’s likely needs and wants. 1 James Heskett, The Culture Cycle: How to Shape the Relevant information and tools Unseen Force That Transforms Performance, (Financial would be front and center or easily Times Press, 2011), Chapter 5 searched, so employees wouldn’t have to hunt through a variety of 2 For both the general survey and the survey specifioptions. The resources would also cally about HR, see Deloitte Consulting, “Global Human be transparent, so people could Capital Trends 2015: Leading in the New World of learn and decide for themselves, Work,” 2015, available at: much as they would in working http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/humanwith a Web retailer that enables capital/articles/introduction-human-capital-trends.html

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customers to “build” their own product. These services would be available whenever and wherever the employee needs them – not just when he or she is sitting at her desk on her office computer. At key points in an employee’s career and life, “moments that matter,” HR would appear not as an anonymous provider of paperwork, but a connected system that quickly takes a time-stressed employee to the necessary information and forms. As with Facebook, the intuitive, contextualized interface would work seamlessly across devices, including mobile. It would also connect socially, with formal chat groups and ad-hoc venues, so people could share information and insights from colleagues and even experts outside the company. Most of this activity would happen automatically, in an app-based environment. Yet instead of the drudge of filling out paperwork, employees would feel a sense of interaction with their company. As they search for information and make choices, the portal gets “smarter” about who they are, and offers better choices in the future. With so much automation, HR could now invest in a few employee relationship managers who can expertly offer “hightouch” services to help people in special situations. In every step of their career, the more employees interact with HR, the more engaged they’d likely feel about their company.

Beyond a System of Record

Fortunately, HR is already most of the way along in making this kind of system a reality. Many companies have invested a great deal in HR technology in recent years, which is perhaps one factor in the rising impatience that many executives feel toward their HR colleagues. They’ve bought one of the several HRIS packages in the marketplace, all of which promise to bring a company’s offerings fully into the Web age. What’s missing is the top layer, the part that connects this impressive software with employees. The existing “systems of record” are oriented around data storage and control. The result is a functional but inflexible interface that HR professionals can handle, but that employees often struggle to navigate. Even after training, many of them give up and call HR – taking staff away from their strategic priorities. Some systems are so tightly secured behind corporate firewalls that people can’t easily access them outside the office. To make the final connection to how employees actually live their lives, companies should have a “system of engagement.” Built on a customerservice technology backbone, this software can offer an employee-centered, intuitive interface, fully accessible from the cloud. It offers a great deal of flexibility and customization, and includes social media that foster information-sharing and collaboration across the company and beyond. This software is now emerging. Deloitte’s c*link

About the Authors

Case Study: Telecommunications Provider “Telcom” is a telecommunications company in a fast-growing emerging market. It decided to make a major push into 4G wireless Internet and mobile access, a move that required adding more than a hundred thousand employees. The company was also rebranding itself to support this big expansion, and part of that campaign promised a leading-edge employment experience for the talent it sought. It had already implemented an industrystandard human-capital management system, but the company’s leaders understood that this system by itself couldn’t support the more engaged employee experience they sought. They needed a software layer to sit on top to serve as a “super-app” accessible anywhere on any device. Accordingly, Telcom was looking for an HR software solution that was scalable and extensible, still being tightly integrated across a large network of employee and operations databases. To handle the strain of so many new hires, Telcom needed an interface that got people oriented and engaged with the company with little help from staff. They wanted to “blow up” the shared services model and push most interactions out into the organization, with only a small HR operations center to support the most challenging inquiries and issues. And they were willing to invest in the technology to make that happen. We worked with Telcom to apply c*link, a solution based on Salesforce’s Service Cloud and Communities Portal products. The result was a single app for all employee interactions with HR, with an interface adapted for the company’s needs. There was also a pre-hire portal for all accepted job candidates, where they could learn more about the company and complete their pre-hire activities before joining. The company took a number of steps to encourage people to embrace the new application. While the system worked with a variety of devices and operating systems, all employees received a tablet configured for optimal interaction. As a result, each employee received a personalized HR experience, contextualized according to his or her role within the company. And because Telcom integrated the new system with SAP and SuccessFactors to capture pre-hire and post-hire data, people felt recognized from the day they started throughout their employment life cycle. This new system has been in place since early 2015, and already it has delivered against Telcom’s goals for growth and engagement. The company has been able to maintain an aggressive rollout of its new products and services, supported by thousands of new employees, without a big expansion in HR staff. (www.deloitte.com/clink), for example, has now been in use in several companies for the past 18 months, with good results so far. (See case study.)

Conclusion

HR should raise its game in order to maintain its influence and resources in big companies. While some of that will have to happen at the executive level, the administrative side of HR shouldn’t stand still. Taking a cue from efforts well underway on the customer side of the business, HR can invest in systems of engagement that improve its efficiency while also serving vital strategic goals.

Exhibits 1. Socially adept HR portals

Systems of engagement such as c*link have the flexibility to mimic social networks in offering multiple channels of information and support.

2. Multi-channel Access to HR

Like any self-respecting e-commerce site, systems of engagement work across multiple channels, from desktop in the office to smartphone overseas at 3am.

3. Ready for moments that matter

Caption: Systems of engagement know ahead of time the “moments that matter” for employees and prepare special interfaces to address those questions fully, so busy, stressed employees don’t have to call HR.

Marc Solow is a director with Deloitte Consulting LLP. He leads Deloitte’s HR Engagement Solutions practice, focusing on the delivery of CRM, Portal and Mobile-App-based technology solutions for HR organizations. With more than 25 years of experience in the industry, Solow is an HR transformation thought leader with deep experience and knowledge in HR technologies, shared services, organization design, and change management. He has worked extensively with large, multinational clients to help address their most critical and complex HR-related issues. He is also a frequent speaker and author on HR technology, transformation and shared services related topics. He can be reached at msolow@deloitte.com.

Erik Alvarado is a senior manager with Deloitte Consulting LLP, specializing in the design, implementation and management of integrated HR processes, services and technology portfolios for global organizations across multiple industries. His 16 years of global experiences covers HR operations capability assessments to support human capital and business strategies, facilitation of global fit/gap, roadmap and strategy executive workshops, HCM technology vendor evaluations and selection, business process design, and subsequent implementations. He is the former architect and CEO of one of the first integrated talent management software products. He can be reached at eralvarado@deloitte.com.

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feature Innovation – the Next Level of Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Your Organization, and YOU! A Discussion between Ed Colby and Dr. C. Brooke Dobni Colby: Broadening our Perspective Over the course of our lives we are witness to constant change in the world around us. Most often change is gradual and evolutionary, occurring almost unnoticed; while other changes are so revolutionary and “game-breaking” so to speak, that they smack us right between the eyes and get our instant attention, as they will have a significant impact on our lives, and our work. From a business perspective, many of these revolutionary changes are unplanned reactions to world events that cannot be anticipated, or for which we could have planned. The impetus for these types of changes includes a variety of events; political, economic, natural phenomena (i.e., weather and other environmental changes), scientific or technology discoveries, and competitor market disruption with new products or services. However, regardless of the external forces impacting their progress, how is it that many of the companies and organizations most familiar to us that have been market leaders and household names “forever” are able to maintain longevity and continued competitive success? I think I recently found the answer, when I had my eyes opened to a whole new concept of management and leadership that will help lead and shape the next wave of progressive business and workforce management. That concept is innovation, and organizational creation of a Culture of Innovation, as researched and modeled by Dr. C. Brooke Dobni of the University Of Saskatchewan Edwards School Of Business. This article presents Dr. Dobni’s concepts through a discussion between me and Dr. Dobni as we introduce Dr. Dobni and his InnovationOne model to the U.S. Recently, according to The Wall Street Journal, the word “innovation” appeared more than 33,000 times in annual reports of North America’s publicly traded companies. It’s a great word that rolls nicely off the tongue; we all want to be innovative – we have a feeling we need to be innovative in order to succeed. When thinking about the term innovation and organizations perceived to be truly innovative, most people only see and focus on the end result ... the bringing to market of a revolutionary or

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uniquely new product or service. But that’s only the “tip of the iceberg.” Being innovative doesn’t happen by chance in a vacuum. And it isn’t coincidence that companies, organizations, and “Yes!” even individuals that appear to produce a steady stream of new and leading products, services, ideas, thoughts, performance results, etc., are able to do so. Although many employees and organization members are creative, their great ideas, enthusiasm, and passion often don’t see the light of day due to internal organizational or personal barriers. The challenge is how to capture and apply these traits and transition from occasional, random, short-term gains to a long-term environment, which continuously and systematically unleashes the full potential of all employees, and drives employee engagement, purpose, and ongoing business value. We’ve all witnessed the unrealized promises for many organizations of all the hype surrounding the talent management craze over the past 10 years. So let’s take a look at Dr. Dobni’s research and “the science of Innovation.” Colby: Dr. Dobni, exactly what is Innovation? Dobni: Innovation is all about creating new value – both internal and external to the organization, value which is recognized by the marketplace or helps the organization to be more effective and efficient. We consider innovation to be enterpriselevel – that is to say – from including the development of new products and services, to awareness of the competitive environment and customer/stakeholder interactions, to structure and processes in an organization. So, from an organizational perspective, it’s a culture … the way employees think and act about innovation and doing things differently. Culture is measurable – there’s been lots of work done in terms of metrics to measure general culture in organizations. And we know that employees can think and act differently depending on the context they are put in. You can condition employees to think and act differently.

Colby: It sounds like you define innovation as being similar to employee engagement, and measuring employee engagement levels. Is this true? Is innovation the same as employee engagement? Dobni: No, they are quite different in fact. Innovation is much, much more than measuring and cultivating employee engagement. Innovation is a holistic management approach that measures, creates, and manages internal and external value for: individuals, work units, product and project teams, organizational units, and organizations. It involves creating an internal organizational environment and planned, systemic approach to generating new ideas regarding: products, projects, systems, services and processes, communication, and organizational design and leadership. In short … it’s a new way of doing business. Innovation involves a focus on the creation and management of an environment that aligns vision to purpose, and facilities knowledge-sharing and organizational learning. It unleashes creative potential, aligns resources, and facilitates full utilization and actualization of all assets to maximum value, in particular an organization’s most important asset – its people! Innovation requires a planned, systemic philosophy, organization environment, and governance system that nurtures and manages new ideas from conception, to fruition, and use on a consistent and reliable basis. It is an intangible philosophical management approach, with tangible characteristics and financial results. Innovation unleashes individual, project team, work unit, and organizational resources to their fullest potential and effectiveness. The end result is a sustainable, higher-performing organization, group, or individual. Colby: Is it just a matter of training? Dobni: It’s a combination of things. Through our research, we’ve identified and created a structured innovation model that measures 69 key organizational factors that form the basis for 12 drivers of innovation; one of those drivers is education, training, and learning – specifically defining innovation for organizations, and having employees understand what innovation is, what it means to their organization, and how they can contribute to it at their levels. The results of our research and model have identified six common traits of truly innovative organizations. Colby: So you could take someone who is naturally creative and put them in a situation where they flounder?

Dobni: Exactly. We’ve found out that creativity of employees is not the problem. Our surveys of more than 2,000 organizations across North America show that employees are naturally creative. But, that creativity is squashed as a result of processes, rules, and bureaucracy. Creativity scores are generally pretty high. There are consultants that will come into your organization and help your employees come up with better ideas, but that is often not the problem. The problem is in the governance of InnovationOne Culture Assessment Model. new ideas and the execution of them. We also have discovered that there is often a perception gap (as to how innovative the organization actually is) between senior management and those charged with doing the work. For innovation to work, this gap needs to be narrowed. We help organizations close this gap by measuring and scoring areas of relative organizational strength and weakness across the 12 drivers of innovation. This can be measured across any or all segments of an organization, be they organizational structural units (i.e., enterprise, division, facility, function, geographic location, work unit, etc.); product/service unit (commercial, residential, wholesale, retail, trucks, cars, etc.); or role level (executive, manager, individual contributor, etc.). Colby: What are some attributes of an innovative organization? Dobni: Most organizations at the top of their industry know exactly why they are there. One of the first things they will point to is their innovation culture. An organization at the top of their industry – leading in performance, value creation, and customer satisfaction – would be motivating and empowering employees to do things fundamentally different, with a goal of creating new value for the market or stakeholders. The employees understand the vision, they understand innovation and what it can do for their organization, and most importantly, they know how they can personally contribute to innovation; their behaviours and actions relate to the vision. It’s all about the culture – and culture is established and reinforced by the leadership – through what they say, how they act, and how they support it – through management control and performance management systems – through knowledge management and cross-organizational sharing of knowledge and information. There are a lot of organizations with good administration; very few www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

that have good leadership. A lot of it also has to do with size, bureaucracy, and rules. Colby: Is there a difference in innovation levels between small and large organizations? Dobni: Our research shows that smaller organizations are more nimble. It’s easier to make small organizations more innovative more quickly than large organizations, simply through the differences in breadth and depth of communications. As well, the leadership is more visible, it’s easier to communicate mission and vision, and lead by example. Having said that, size is not an excuse to not be innovative; we have worked with organizations as small as six employees to ones that have more than 10,000 employees in helping them to advance their innovation goals. Colby: Do organizations miss out on opportunities by not being innovative? Dobni: Not only opportunities, but also the ability to run a more effective and efficient organization. The strategic value of innovation lies in such things as new products or services, or better ways to interact with customers (most people think about Google or Apple). But that amounts to about 50-60 percent of the strategic value depending on the industry. Innovation also deals with systems processes within an organization; the organizational structure, doing things better and more efficiently, and getting rid of processes that no longer create value to name a few. A lot of organizations don’t take the time for introspection, yet the strategic value can be as high as 40 percent. I tell executives that they could be leaving up to 50 percent of potential new value on the table by not being innovative. Colby: How does risk affect innovation? Dobni: For most organizations, the value proposition is based on profitability plus potential for growth, minus risk. So we ask: How can we use innovation to actually minimize risk in an organization, to view risk as a positive References factor; how do you manage that Learn more at http://www.innovationone.org/ risk within certain parameters? Of Innovation Nation? Innovation Health Inside the Fortune 1000 course, not all organizations have a profit focus. Innovation is also important for them as well. As an Editor’s Note: example, the American Cancer InnovationOne and Dr. Dobni’s work is being introSociety pursued innovation with a duced to the U.S. market in the fall of 2015 at the goal of allocating research dollars IHRIM Annual Conference. Dr. Dobni will be delivering an IHRIM Preconference Workshop on his Innovationmore effectively. Essentially, One Model. You can also see Dr. Dobni in the Technol- they wanted to do more with the ogy Incubator sessions of the conference. funding they have. They did this by

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developing a process to identify the most strategic projects, and then provide more funding to them. Essentially, they have reduced their risk exposure by doing this. A lot of organizations are actually quite risk averse. Those organizations at a higher innovation orientation take more risks and allow employees to try more things. They have learned that employees grow wiser through failure, so they are given the time, space, and resources to experiment and fail, and as well, succeed. These organizations do not treat failure punitively. Colby: So how do you measure innovation? Dobni: We’re not the only ones that measure innovation in organizations and the economy, but we’ve taken a unique approach: we actually measure the ability of organizations to be innovative, because we believe that organizations in a market economy are in the best position to create new value. InnovationOne helps an organization determine their current innovation state and review the gaps (what are you good at, what isn’t working) in respect to the 12 drivers, develop new (or amend existing) programs or initiatives, prioritize, focus on where they get the “best bang for the buck,” and then create an innovation implementation plan for execution. In our research over the years, we determined that there are 12 drivers of innovation orientation in organizations. So we’ve taken a subset of the culture and looked at innovation in particular. There are 69 questions that measure those drivers. Those questions were scientifically developed over many years. First we need to get a baseline score. When we measure innovation, we are essentially measuring the organization’s engagement and innovation culture, so we survey every employee if possible. We do an “innovation culture assessment” and develop a report based on the assessment. As I previously mentioned, innovation is much more than engagement, with engagement being only the tip of the iceberg. There are four major areas, or quadrants amongst these drivers, that we look at: One is leadership for innovation; the second is resources for innovation (skills, learning, and creativity falls under resources). Third is knowledge management, or what we call market orientation; understanding the marketplace, the clients, customers, competitors, stakeholders, state of the industry, the entire value chain – and being able to make quality decisions based on information. The last quadrant is execution of innovation – which includes empowerment, venture management, and alignment.

Most organizations score lower in leadership and execution. Based on the aggregate assessment from all employees, the organization is given a percentage score across all 12 drivers based on the information. An average score generally falls in the mid-60s; a good score in the mid-70s and an exceptional score would be in the 80s. Colby: How do you improve innovation levels? Dobni: It’s important to know that innovation can be systematically managed. Most organizations experience random innovations. It happens in every organization at some point in time: Someone comes up with an idea, it is given some due diligence, and then it is implemented. It’s more by chance, not by design. The issue is how many of those ideas don’t get through, because you don’t have a systematic approach to managing innovation. We have had good success moving organizations that score less than 70 percent (a random approach) to a solid 75-76 percent, where innovation happens on a systematic, planned basis. This is when employees see the connection between their actions and outcomes, and they start to change the way they do things. We give them a prescription: “Here’s what you need to do based on what we’ve found out through these 12 drivers to advance your innovation orientation.” For example, one of them might be “there is a lack of leadership for innovation.” Everyone might be talking about it, but nothing is happening. On average, 15-20 recommendations come out of the assessment and then we provide a multi-year roadmap for organizations to start to move their innovation orientation forward. Some things are easily done, some take more work, and organizations who truly want to adopt innovation as a core value or initiative, will often see results within the first year. Some of our clients have seen their innovation health scores increase by up to 12 percent over two years. It does not happen overnight, as we are talking about facilitating a change in the way employees think and act, but when it does happen, it’s contagious for the organization. And it depends on the organization. Some people just want a PD [professional development] session –spending half a day to a day with their management and talk about innovation, and talk to us about setting goals. Others want a dinner talk, and even more want the innovation culture assessment, and related counsel that follows. The best impact comes when they understand what their level of innovation is across the 12 drivers and 4 quadrants. They can tell from the score what areas need work. Things will start to align and start working: Here’s where you are, here’s

how you compare, and how you can move up. If organizations want to progress, they have to adopt innovation, and they often have to do things fundamentally differently. Colby: How does innovation affect the economy? Dobni: If you can raise the innovation orientations of organizations across the board, you’re going to have a much stronger economy. There’s a strong correlation between level of innovation, and financial performance in an orgaAbout the Authors nization. Financial performance Dr. C. Brooke Dobni is a professor of for many organizations is what Strategy and former dean at the really matters at the end of the day. Edwards School of Business, Create more value, value creates University of Saskatchewan. He has revenue, revenues create profit, published over 30 peer-reviewed and all the while the organization is articles on strategy and innovation in journals including the Strategic Management Journal, Business considering ways to become more effective internally. I am not aware Horizons, Journal of Business Strategy, and the European Journal of Innovation Management to name of an organization who wouldn’t a few. His organization recently completed one of the want that. largest surveys of innovation ever done amongst Colby: Can your innovation model help organizations that are market leaders and already viewed as being innovative?

Fortune 1000 companies in the United States. On the consulting side, Dr. Dobni’s expertise lies in the areas of innovation orientation profiling, and providing strategic counsel to advance innovation platforms in organizations. His metric for measuring innovation culture, InnovationOne, has been used by over 2000 organizations across North America. He holds a Doctorate in strategy from the University of Bradford, Bradford-Leeds, UK. He founded Strategian in 1995 (www.innovationone.org), and has completed hundreds of consulting engagements, with organizations such as EDS, Hitachi, PotashCorp, Cameco, CP Rail, University of Hawaii, Innovation Saskatchewan, and others.

Dobni: Absolutely! With success, many organizations can become a bit complacent. When you’re successful for a long period of time you begin to let down your guard. Success can breed failure. This is particularly true with startup and Ed Colby is a partner in InnovationOne. emerging technology organizaUS, and managing partner of Pro HCM/ tions that experience exponential WFM Solutions, a strategic managerevenue and profit growth after ment and technology consulting company. He is a human capital having introduced a revolutionmanagement (HCM) and workforce management ary, game-changing technology or (WFM) strategic consultant and technology evangelist, product. Unless there are longhaving been both an educator and student of term significant barriers to entry, management, technology, and leading organizational these organizations will typically practices for over 35 years. He has held senior leadership roles in management and solutions face intense competition from consulting, professional services, value analysis, and new competitor entrants to their marketing for several leading-edge HCM and WFM market, thereby slowing revenue technology providers. As a practitioner, he has led growth, market share, and profits. large operational consulting and systems development Such organizations really need to groups across a variety of industries. Colby has been an active member of IHRIM for nearly 20 years. For think constantly about how to do the past 10 years he has served on the Editorial things, and how to change what Boards of both IHRIM.Link and IHRIM Workforce they do and how they do it, in Solutions Review (WSR) having stepped down as efforts to become even stronger and managing editor of WSR this past year. He has served more prepared to maintain their on numerous IHRIM committees over the years and has been a frequent presenter at industry events. He success. This “over the shoulder” look also strengthens organizations holds a MBA in Marketing and Computer Sciences from Northeastern University and a B.S. degree from to be able to withstand the ineviTufts University. table economic downturns that require belt-tightening. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015 25

2015 Outsourcing Buyers Guide The 2015 Outsourcing/ASP 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 2015 purchasing decisions.

Product Categories

Outsourcing

Human Capital Asset Management Ingentis

Paid Advertising

Application Service Providers (ASP)

General Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Career & Organizational Development Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Compensation DECUSOFT Compliance Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) WorkForce Software Employee Relations Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Human Capital Management PeopleStrategy Payroll PeopleStrategy Recruiting/Retention PeopleStrategy Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Rewards & Recognition CrystalPlus.com Self-Service (Employee & Manager) WorkForce Software Time & Attendance WorkForce Software Workforce Management PeopleStrategy WorkForce Software

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

2015 Outsourcing Buyers Guide

Alphabetical Company Listing* *Systems and applications referred to in this section are trademarked, registered, or in progress. These names should not be used generically.

Ingentis

Crystal Plus.com 18475 E. Valley Blvd. City of Industry, CA 91744 Michelle Smith 888-779-8803 888-669-0838 service@crystalplus.com www.crystalplus.com CrystalPlus.com is a leading supplier / manufacturer of crystal awards and corporate gifts. We offer free engraving and no setup charges on all of our crystal awards and gift products. We have in house professional graphic designers, engravers and customer service specialists to serve our customers making ordering crystal awards and gifts easier than ever. At Factory direct prices and with huge inventory selection at our California warehouse, you can’t find any better prices and faster turnaround for the same premium quality of custom engraved corporate awards, sports trophy and personalized gifts.

Decusoft 70 Hilltop Rd. Ste. 1003 Ramsey, NJ 07446 Karie Johnson 201-258-1414 201-785-0774 karie.johnson@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 ad on Inside Front Cover.

Raudtener Str.7 90475 Nuremberg Michael Grimm +1-800-477-1408 Michael.grimm@ingentis.com www.ingentis.com Ingentis org.manager is a software for organizational charting and visual HR controlling. The tool is linked to leading HR systems and enables you to create and publish organizational charts within minutes. Furthermore, Ingentis org. manager empowers you to calculate personnel or corporate statistics and to deliver visual reporting through organizational charts. See ad on Back Cover

PeopleStrategy, Inc.

5883 Glenridge Drive, Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30328 Lesley Lyons 404-410-4154 866-485-8293 Lesley.Lyons@peoplestrategy.com www.peoplestrategy.com PeopleStrategy is a leading provider of enterprise Cloud-based HCM solutions that enable employers to more effectively manage their Talent Acquisition, HR, Payroll, Benefits, Workforce Management and Performance processes. PeopleStrategy’s eHCM Suite empowers the entire organization through self-service and mobile access, reducing administrative costs and providing deeper insight into your workforce. See ad on page 36.

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

1800 Duke Street Alexandria, VA 22314 Sara Bracco 703-535-6026 sara.bracco@shrm.org www.shrm.org Founded in 1945, SHRM is the world’s largest HR membership organization devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 275,000 members in over 160 countries, SHRM is the leading provider of resources to serve the needs of HR professionals and advance the professional practice of human resource management. See ad on Inside Back Cover.

WorkForce Software

38705 Seven Mile Road Livonia, MI 48152 Sales Department 877-493-6723 734-542-0635 info@workforcesoftware.com www.workforcesoftware.com WorkForce Software is the leader of complete, easy-to-use workforce management solutions. Its EmpCenter suite enables strategic HR by automating and streamlining interactions between the employer and its workforce, enabling organizations to better manage payroll and processing costs, help ensure compliance with labor regulations, and increase productivity and satisfaction of employees.

www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

Executive Interview

Jeanne Beliveau Dunn

Katherine Bries

Vandana Malik

WSR: Today we are speaking with a team from Cisco who is responsible for the development and release of one of their company’s newest products, Cisco Collaborative Knowledge. With us for this interview are Jeanne Beliveau Dunn, VP and general manager Cisco, Katherine Bries, senior director and general manager Learning@Cisco, and Vandana Malik, technical product manager, Learning@Cisco. Jeanne, Cisco is considered a thought leader in designing and authoring educational programs. Can you explain what the genesis of Cisco Collaborative Knowledge was and why Cisco felt it was a marketable product? Jeanne: At Cisco we have always focused on learning and always deployed systems internally to foster continuous learning. However, about 7 or 8 years ago we decided to change our approach to creating information and knowledge. We wanted to provide an environment where people could learn from one another – it was the basic concept of “social learning,” but long before that idea was popularized in the LMS market space. We knew that people learned in different ways and that learning is a continuous experience, not just the activity of sitting in a classroom or in front of a computer. One of the strongest learning experiences is the opportunity to connect with knowledgeable people. At first we used the product internally for our employees and also with some of our customers. It was extremely successful for both groups, so much so that our customers kept asking us when they could buy it for their own companies. About two years ago we had the opportunity to re-engineer the internal product and build the next generation that would solve the challenge of allowing people to work together in this new agile environment we are living in. Kathy: There is so much information flowing through an organization and it is incumbent upon us as vendors to digitize the available information in order to create and accommodate a learning generation of users, as well as to provide tools to collaborate and learn. Millennials, as an example, demand and expect that type of virtualized learning. They are also used

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

to collaborating and sharing information as a consumer so the workplace needs to emulate that approach in order to keep those employees engaged. WSR: When new products are introduced, it sometimes is not clear to the marketplace what problem is being addressed. What problem or challenge is Cisco Collaborative Knowledge solving? Jeanne: Research has shown that 90 percent of all jobs will change in some fundamental way in the next few years in the digital economy. One of the greatest challenges facing organizations today is not only a shortage of people — it is also a shortage of key skills. Analysts predict there will be an estimated shortage of 38 to 40 million college-educated workers by 2020. Companies are going to have to reinvent their talent in order to close that impending skills gap and remain competitive; we think Cisco Collaborative Knowledge will help them do just that. You want to keep your best people – those that are adept at forming/storming and bringing projects to fruition. One of the best ways to retain that talent is to have an application suite that gives them the versatility to continuously learn how, where, and when they want to so they will be better equipped to solve business challenges. WSR: Do you consider Cisco Collaborative Knowledge an LMS? If so, why do you believe the learning market will be receptive to another product in that niche? What are your differentiators and who do you consider your competitors? Jeanne: Good question. Cisco Collaborative Knowledge is very innovative – it is a new and different kind of knowledge and learning system. Cisco Collaborative Knowledge is a digital workspace solution designed to connect people to learning and to other people. It brings it to the solution level so that an enterprise does not have to use a mish-mash of multiple products that don’t connect with one another. We have integrated other best-in-class Cisco collaboration tools such as Webex and Jabber, and also have over 300 learning partners so

we can bring very rich content to our customers. In that sense we are not just competing in one market area, but rather several related areas such as learning, networking, and analytics. The social element exists across the fully integrated product and we believe is one of the key factors, which will help build a “knowledgecapable” learning organization.

Kathy: In addition to developmental learning, Cisco Collaborative Knowledge is also an excellent tool to use for onboarding and new hire training as well. It supports different learning platform modalities and prescribed learning plans, as well as individual/customized selections.

Kathy: One of our major differentiators is how we connect people with human knowledge providers rather than just courses. All employees have a knowledge profile of their level of expertise in specific areas; that expertise rating is a combination of self-rating, peer endorsement, and organization ratings from past projects. Any employee can reach out and connect with a rated expert in real-time using Jabber chat or they can meet them using Jabber and then jump onto a Webex right away with the expert. This creates a very dynamic and supportive learning environment. You can see there is a cultural aspect to this – the organization must be, or must become, willing to collaborate to a very high degree.

WSR: You released Cisco Collaborative Knowledge at the end of April this year. What has the market reaction been?

WSR: In the history of HRIS systems, skills databases have been notoriously difficult to set up because internally it was hard to get people to agree on what constituted different skills, as well as how to judge and validate different levels of expertise. How does Cisco Collaborative Knowledge respond to skepticism around that? Vandana: First, an essential part of a collaborative organization is trust – and the organization must trust its employees. We believe that people will rate themselves very honestly, knowing that others will come to them for expert advice if they state they have expertise in a specific area. Second, we provide some standard definitions and a library of terminology to describe different levels and components of expertise. We have embedded industryrelated ontology libraries that provide formal definitions of domain knowledge. People, not just metadata, can be “tagged” with expertise by others and users can do a contextual search, which uses a semantic engine and a knowledge map. We’ve tested this extensively and believe that all of those tools combine to enable users to mine the “expert” data and connect with the best resources very effectively.

Jeanne: Customers we’ve spoken to are very excited about Cisco Collaborative Knowledge. We’ve taken advantage of emergent technologies such as mobile optimization and the timing is right – millennials and actually the great majority of the workforce now, regardless of age, are demanding products like this that emulate the social experience they have as a consumer of technology in their homes. The corporate sphere really has to step up and exceed those expectations. WSR: What are some of the main features of Cisco Collaborative Knowledge? Jeanne: Cisco Collaborative Knowledge is a SaaS-based suite, scalable, and designed for mobile at the core. Analytics is a key component both for management to better understand how their workforce learns, as well as for employees to see and understand the profiles of the knowledge experts and how to effectively expand their personal knowledge maps and further their careers. Vandana: We wanted the system to be intuitive, easy-to-use, and smart. There is a keyword search, which produces results across all knowledge aspects related to the keyword on a common platform, and that can include white papers, peer communities, relevant courses, blogs and discussions, and knowledge experts. Knowledge content is selected and sent to you based on the knowledge communities you belong to. You can also save Web articles to your device without ads or other extraneous material to read later and share. The user can, of course, organize any extracted material the way they want to and also share it. Cisco Collaborative Knowledge incorporates graphics throughout – the Knowledge Map that shows you whom to reach out to for expertise in a particular area is shown graphically so you can see the knowledge paths. This graphic map also helps you www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

with your own performance and career development because you can see the components that comprise an “expert rating” and therefore learn what some of your next steps must be if you want to climb the knowledge ladder. Kathy: The capabilities are designed to address an intergenerational workforce and provide different ways to be able to connect with various knowledge sources. With Cisco Collaborative Knowledge, we’ve leveraged various technologies with the goal of helping to create an agile and intelligent organization. Using the Knowledge Map, as an example, that not only shows employees who know what and how they can take steps to expand their own level of knowledge, but from an analytics perspective, upper management can also see those knowledge paths and understand who the experts are in different topics and how they learn. That’s valuable insight and can truly help to align an enterprise’s talent strategy with its overall market and product strategy. WSR: Jeanne, do you have any closing thoughts? Jeanne: If I were to describe it in one sentence, I’d say Cisco Collaborative Knowledge integrates best-in-class consumer and business technologies to enable capabilities such as highly secure knowledge sharing, expert identification, continuous learning, social networking, and analytics into one complete and end-to-end enterprise knowledge exchange. We’re very proud and excited to bring this product to market. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to introduce it to the WSR audience. * Interview conducted by Freddye Silverman, principal at Silver Bullet Solutions and WSR editor.

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn is vice president and general manager of the Business Enablement and Strategy team within Cisco Services. In this role, she leads Learning@Cisco, Technical Services strategy and operations, and the Center of Excellence for innovation, globalization, and commercialization. Beliveau-Dunn is a recognized expert and award-winning executive on workforce education, the social enterprise, cloud, and Software-as-a-Service, collaboration software, and knowledge systems, and brought the first social education system in the industry to market, the Cisco Learning Network. Under the leadership of Beliveau-Dunn, Learning@Cisco has grown from a $60 million annual business into a $245 million education service that leads the industry in growth, profits, and thought leadership. In her first role of her 20-year career at Cisco, she created the Cisco channels sales team and strategic alliances program, and the Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG). Beliveau-Dunn is the founder of the IOT World Forum for Talent and serves on advisory boards for CareerBuilder, Arizona State University, New York Academy of Sciences - STEM, Chico University, Technical Services Industry Association (TSIA), and advises many universities and companies globally on innovation and talent. She holds a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Massachusetts. Kathy Bries, senior director and general manager at Cisco joined Learning@Cisco two years ago from Cisco’s CDO (Chief Development Office)/Technology group to lead the Learning@Cisco operations team. She currently oversees Learning@Cisco’s operations, IT infrastructure investments and overall P&L management. Bries started out at Cisco in 1995 and before taking her current role, she was the director of operations for Cisco’s $6 billion business unit –– High end modular switching and the Datacenter Switching Security technology group. Under her leadership, the business unit successfully passed both ISO and TL9000 audits, is on track to meet its multi-billion dollar annual goal while surpassing overall profitability goals. She had managed the technology group’s overall planning, operational, R&D investments, and strategy review process, and was instrumental in implementing various Cisco-wide initiatives. She also served as the director of Operations for Cisco’s Service Provider Business Council and helped create and communicate Cisco’s overall service provider strategy, goals and long-term business plans. She is a graduate of the Harvard Business School. Vandana Malik, Business Operations manager at Learning@Cisco, has more than 18 years of experience in Product and Program Management specializing in products in the portal, collaboration, commerce, training, and learning space. She has been successfully providing vision, architecture and roadmaps, as well as design standards and support for learning and training solutions. Her past experience includes industries such as insurance, financials, health care, technology, education, professional services, and specializes in product management, social learning, social media, learning technology strategy, e-learning standards, and agile methodology. Malik holds a master’s degree in Computer Applications and an associate degree in Program Management.

Hot Topics

Attracting Talent with Technology:

How Digital Job Descriptions Can Draw in Top Talent By Lindsay Stanton, Digi-Me

In today’s world, digital technology is king when it comes to communication, and things are changing rapidly. Paper has been replaced by email. Text messages have replaced phone calls. Notebook computers have made the office a virtual space. The Internet can help find you anything you need with the blink of an eye (and a fast wireless connection). Welcome, recruitment professionals, to the digital age.

Job Seekers are Mobile Users People today are always on the go, which is why mobile devices are so important. We need to find information, easily, wherever we go, and on the size screen that fits in a purse or pocket. A report was released in April 2015 by Pew Research Center in association with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that stated 64% of Americans are now smartphone owners. The report went on to list statistics that reinforce what is happening around us, which is that mobile devices are a key way to communicate each other online: •

10% of Americans own a smartphone but do not have broadband service at home; and,

•

15% of Americans own a smartphone, but say other than their cell phone, they have a limited options for going online.

The report also revealed critical statistics about how we obtain information. •

67% of smartphone owners will occasionally use their phone to share pictures, videos, or commentary about events happening in their community.

For recruiters, the report revealed most interesting results about job seeker behavior. •

43% of smartphone users report looking up information about a job.

•

18% of users say they have used a smartphone to submit a job application.

•

Beyond.com released an interesting study showing that 77% of job seekers use mobile apps in their search.

•

The stats are even higher outside the U.S., i.e., 88% of Japanese users access the Internet on mobile devices every day.

This begs the question, how are you leveraging the current trends for smartphone utilization in your recruitment efforts to attract the talent you want?

Job Seekers are Social Users Facebook has surpassed 1.44 billion monthly active users and 1.25 mobile users; 65% of active users are daily users. Twitter has 302 million active users with 80% active on mobile devices and 500 million “tweets” sent per day. LinkedIn has over 364 million members in more than 200 countries and territories. Professionals are signing up on LinkedIn at a rate of more than two new members each second. In the first quarter of 2015, 62% of LinkedIn’s revenue stream was from Talent Solutions, totaling $396 million. Jobvite conducted a survey that found 79% of recruiters said they found candidates through LinkedIn, while 26% of recruiters found candidates through Facebook, and 14% found candidates through Twitter. And, how do you get them to respond

www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

and share at a higher rate? Video! Videos carry more prominence in their appearance with a thumbnail image that draws a candidate’s attention, which, in turn, encourages more clicks. People today are social, learning, sharing, and keeping up-to-date with the world by contacts over Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Their contacts are made up of people they know personally, as well as acquaintances. No matter how many contacts you have, social media is the fastest way to spread information and tell people about what you are up to, or share information you have found.

Job Seekers Use Search Engines To put it simply, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process in which people improve their website’s ability to be organically found by search engines, like Google. Search engines, like Google, have one goal: to give us, as users, the best possible answers to our search. Search engine optimization is critical to a recruitment strategy given that 80% of job seekers start their search by typing in key words on Google. Potential candidates will be typing in keywords that may or may not lead to your position openings. How do you make sure your jobs show up front and center?

The Power of Video Video allows you to win the war on SEO. Did you know Google actually indexes video 53 times higher on a search? You have probably noticed that no matter what you type into Google, YouTube will be at the top of your results. This is due to the way that search engines have their algorithms set. The world is now digital, so in order to keep pace, the way you recruit needs to be digital. People find information through search engines, mobile devices, and social media. Job seekers are no different. A relevant method for recruiting is digital job postings. A passive job seeker who is not actively searching for a new position is social and mobile. If you want to gain a passive job seeker’s attention, you need a way to make your open position go viral. How can you accomplish this? Candidates learn and retain up to 60% more critical information about your company and the skills required for the position through

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

video instead of text. This clearer understanding causes candidates to more accurately opt in or out of the application process based on fit. So, by “showing and telling” your positions in a video rather than just having candidates read about it, recruiters are seeing significant reductions in screening times. How do you attract candidates in addition to digital postings on job boards and on your applicant tracking system (ATS)? Leverage your network. A video is easy to watch and listen to on a mobile device and they are easy to post and share via social media. It is a great way to spread the word and find referrals.

Job Seekers Want a Diverse Culture Another great feature of job videos versus displaying text only is that it gives recruiters an opportunity to truly show a diverse workforce. According to survey results in a recent blog by Glassdoor, 67% of active and passive job seekers said that when evaluating companies and job offers, an important factor is a diverse workforce. Glassdoor also reported that only 14% of people said that they did not think their company should be doing more to increase diversity in the workplace, meaning, the majority of companies have the appearance that they are not doing enough. The easiest way to attract a diverse workforce is to show it. Video allows candidates to see and feel that they will fit in with your company and your culture. Video job postings allow you to truly tell your story, whether it is visually or through language.

Big Data and Tracking It helps in recruiting to know where you are getting the most traction from your postings and which source found the candidate you ultimately select. With today’s technology, the right recruiting partner should be able to give you data to help you make the best decisions during the process. It’s not just about the sites you are paying to source on either; it is all about the share. Candidates are the ultimate third-party validator of your messaging. Tracking will allow you to have insight into where those candidates are sharing your video jobs, what niche pools you can reach through social media, blogs, discussion groups, and

niche job boards. Recruitment strategies can be very one dimensional – posting your position out and hoping candidates find you. In order to attract top talent, you need to reach them where they are already going and track where the messaging goes from there. If your message in your digital posting is dynamic, it will be shared, and you need to know where.

Setting Expectations during the Application Process You’ve heard it called the “black hole” in Human Resources. A candidate submits a résumé for a position and then…nothing. There is no response, no idea of next steps, and no knowledge of the company’s recruitment process. The candidate that was interested in the open position you had posted now feels lost. Along with this unclear understanding of the application process could also be a negative feeling toward your company and brand. The way that you treat your candidates can be seen as indicative of how you conduct business. Careerbuilder released a 2015 Candidate Behavior Report with data about the U.S. Job Seeker. When respondents were asked if the application process would impact his or her decision to accept a position from a company, 68% either agreed somewhat or strongly. When asked if the companies that he or she applied to were responsive during the application process, 55% disagreed. The report went on to show that if a person had a good experience with a company during the application process, 24% said they would tell more than 5 people and

12% said they would tell more than 10 people. Just like the job postings, video and leveraging technology can help eliminate the gap. A short video that sets expectations for the hiring process leaves a candidate with a clear understanding of time and next steps, which will provide a positive experience during the interaction with a potential employer’s brand. A short video will also save recruiters time that was previously spent notifying individual candidates of their status during the job application process.

Digital Technology is King John Chambers, departing CEO of Cisco, spoke to CBS This Morning this past June and talked about the need for companies to become digitized. In his interview, Mr. Chambers said that “being a digital company, speed of change, and willingness to reinvent yourself” is how companies will survive changing technology. To stay relevant in today’s marketplace, companies must become digitized and the same stands for recruiting. If you want to attract top talent and gain an edge in About the Author today’s competitive candidate-driven Lindsay Stanton is chief client market, recruiters must understand officer for Digi-Me, a video technology company for talent and leverage digital technology. acquisition that helps organizaThe market is changing rapidly, but tions add a new dimension to there are simple ways to keep up and their job and employment brand ensure that you are providing the best messaging. In her time with the company, she has facilitated relationships with 19 partners, including experience with your job openings the largest recruitment advertising agencies, global and brand. recruitment process outsourcers, and staffing firms, as well as providing an effective and innovative solution to the largest global employers, including Verizon, USG Corporation, and The Hartford Insurance. She has been a featured speaker at SHRM, and a featured leader in the recruitment space through ERE, HRO Today, and major media outlets, including Forbes.com, ABCNews.com, and CCTV. She has a master’s in Public Administration, and is a recognized thought leader on digital recruitment. She can be reached on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stantonlindsay.

www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

Product Focus

Sticking Up for Small Business – How Zenefits is Transforming the Way SMBs Grow and Succeed By Parker Conrad, Zenefits Zenefits is doing something terribly unsexy, but incredibly important when it comes to running a business: automating Human Resources. I should know. As one-time CEO of a startup that was too small to have a dedicated HR staff, I was responsible for managing all aspects of HR, from employee onboarding and compliance, to health insurance and benefits administration. Every time an employee joined the company, changed their address, had a baby, or switched benefit options, I had to go through the process of filling out pages upon pages of paperwork, typing in information across multiple benefits systems — or worse — faxing forms at the local Kinkos. Not only was this a colossally inefficient way to spend my time as chief executive, but it also siphoned away countless hours that I could have spent growing the business. I knew if I was suffering this much paperwork pain, other small businesses must be as well. In fact, most of the five million small businesses in the U.S. that have fewer than 1,000 employees contend with at least a dozen disconnected and disparate benefit systems. My personal frustration with this disjointed HR system is the reason I started Zenefits.

How Zenefits Works Zenefits is free HR automation software for small and medium-sized businesses. Zenefits’ cloud-based HRIS platform makes running a business and managing employees effortless by automating 95 percent of the HR administrative work, including compliance, onboarding, health insurance, and all other employee benefits. Zenefits helps its business customers set up payroll, benefits, and other HR systems, so they can manage all of their HR online using

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

a beautiful, easy-to-use dashboard. What used to take weeks — checking compliance boxes, updating payroll, onboarding new hires, enrolling in health insurance – Zenefits now automatically handles in minutes. Zenefits offers powerful business intelligence reports, including instant views on company head count, compensation, stock options, workflows, turnover, and more – in real-time, before potential problems become actual problems. What took a team hours or weeks the old-fashioned way, will only take them minutes with Zenefits. Zenefits does this all for free, without any contracts or disruptive switching of legacy systems.

How is Zenefits different than other HR Platforms? While traditional HRIS systems are static, offline, and disconnected, Zenefits is dynamic, cloud-based, and seamlessly integrated with a company’s many benefits systems. In other words, Zenefits connects a company’s HR systems together – from payroll to its health insurance provider – so managers and employees can manage all HR from a single online portal. That means no one has to log into multiple systems just to manage HR. But it also means that any changes that get made in one system will automatically be updated in all of the others. When an employee has to record a change – a new baby, a new spouse, a new address – Zenefits automatically makes the change in all of a company’s benefits systems in a matter of seconds. Employees also benefit from Zenefits. They can manage their own HR needs online, including requesting vacation and time off, updating bank account information, adding dependents to insurance, tracking stock options, viewing insurance plans, and pricing. While professional employer organiza-

tions (PEOs) charge up to $2,000 per year per employee, Zenefits offers all of the same services – end-to-end payroll, benefits, and HR outsourcing – without fees or long-term contracts. Zenefits is the only software platform that unifies payroll, benefits and compliance without expensive software or complex integrations. Many HR outsourcing firms take a company’s manual tasks and simply has someone else do them. This obviously saves a business time, but it’s often costly, and it does not address the inefficiencies of traditional benefits management by hand. Zenefits takes these administrative tasks out of everyone’s hands through automation. A few examples of Zenefits’ automation that you can’t find anywhere else include: Onboarding: When you hire an employee through the Zenefits dashboard, we automatically generate their offer letter, handbook, and other agreements, get them to sign it online, collect their payroll information, help enroll them in health insurance, and push all this data straight into your systems. This all happens in minutes. Offboarding: When you terminate an employee through Zenefits, we automatically take them off all benefits and payroll, administer their COBRA (we’re the only online COBRA administrator), tell you how much to pay out for PTO, and return unvested shares to the pool. That happens in seconds. Compliance: When you hire a new employee, we automatically send them their ACA notices, collect their EEO information, check for IRS no-no’s like highly compensated employees on 401k’s, and more.

Sticking Up for Small Business Until Zenefits launched two years ago, automated HRIS solutions were only available to large enterprises and Fortune 500 companies. For the other 98 percent of small business owners and HR teams, the only option was to devote endless time and paperwork to a snarled network of disconnected third-party solutions. Further, there was no other employee system of record for SMBs under 1,000 employees. For customers, there is SalesForce, for Finance there is Intuit or NetSuite, but

nothing existed just for employees. Zenefits has changed that. Our solution is in high demand. We’ve seen exponential growth as a result; in less than two years, more than 10,000 customers in 48 states serving more than 100,000 employees have signed up.

How Can We Give Zenefits Away for Free? The core Zenefits service is 100 percent free to customers because we are able to collect fees from multiple benefit providers. For example, every time a company contracts with a 401k, or health insurance, or another third party provider, we get commissions from that third party. Those commissions don’t come out of customers’ pockets. Zenefits is also a licensed health insurance broker in all 50 states. In fact, we have become a top broker for Anthem, one of the largest health insurance companies in California, and we are the only fully online small group plan broker in the U.S. It’s this disruptive and unique business model that has enabled Zenefits to attract so many users so quickly. A small business gets incredible software, saves a ton of time and money, all for free – and we keep the lights on and the engine humming for them. This unique business model

Zenefits as Disruptor Our innovative product and transformational business model is also one of the reasons we have been raising hackles with incumbents in the health insurance brokerage industry. This is an $18 billion industry that is still relying on outdated 1980s technology, including faxed-in applications. Just like Travelocity and Orbitz upended travel agents in the 1990s, Zenefits is doing the same for brokers. This will have real effects on the brokerage business – some will adapt, some will not. The real winners are consumers who will get a better product. Just like Uber, Airbnb, and Tesla, we too are seeing incumbents going to regulators for protection. But we are increasingly seeing regulators side with innovation in nearly every case, which is ultimately great news for the consumer, and for Zenefits. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

Why Are CEOs Choosing Zenefits? At the end of the day, SMBs are choosing Zenefits because we solve a pressing need they have for HR automation, and make it free and easy to incorporate in a way that no one else can. We help companies save money on vendor fees and help reduce liability. We replace costly, disparate systems with a free HR platform. Our built-in compliance automation also helps protect customers from ACA, time off, and other regulatory About the Author fines. Parker Conrad is co-founder and We offer access. Employees get CEO of Zenefits, a free human full access to all of their HR info, resources platform that automates and eliminates HR and plus a suite of intuitive online tools benefits-related tasks for small to manage it themselves. Zenefits and medium-sized businesses, allowing invites your employees to play a companies to focus on people, not paperwork. more active role in their HR – and Conrad has expanded Zenefits’ reach to more than 10,000 companies across 48 states, serving as a bonus for everyone; everything over 100,000 employees, and is disrupting the HR-related now takes a fraction of $18 billion health insurance brokerage industry the time. along the way. Prior to Zenefits, he co-founded We allow small and mediumonline stock research tools SigFig and Wikinvest. sized businesses to go 100 percent He graduated with a B.A. in chemistry from Harvard University, where he was managing editor online and paperless, providing of the Crimson. He can be reached at managers and employees the power parker@zenefits.com.

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

to make changes, requests or updates online, in the cloud, in real-time. We leverage our large pool negotiating tactics, quarterly benefits reviews, and industry leading technology to help find the best ways to contain your costs. Our audits find 1 in 4 companies still have former employees on benefits due to manual errors. Zenefits virtually eliminates human error. After suffering through my own experience trying to navigate a traditional, tangled and disconnected HR system, it’s no surprise to me that demand is so high for our HR automation solution. Zenefits is transforming HR management and liberating entrepreneurs and SMBs across the country from all of the administrative and compliance headaches that come with having employees – for free. More importantly, we are freeing HR-decision makers to focus on what really matters: recruitment, team-building, culture, and compliance and we are – thankfully – eliminating paperwork entirely from the equation.

HR Systems of the Future

HR Platform Technology and Component Assembly By John Macy, Competitve Edge Technology The HR technology world is currently experiencing a change that will impact on the nature of markets, define the meaning of technology platforms, and alter the way HR systems are designed, constructed, and delivered. The change is being driven by new Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) technology and led by products such as Cornerstone Edge and Salesforce for HR, but there are other products waiting in the wings to come on stage once the market is reshaped. In this article, I will describe the new HR platform technology and explain how new methods of assembling flexible HR applications will replace the current method that has been in place for over 30 years.

The Nature of the Current HR Software Market At least 80 percent of HR software products sold today are built for the “top end” of the HR software market? The “long tail” is the end of the distribution with the highest number of occurrences. The products are all very similar and consist of mainly core functionality, including payroll, person data, and more recently, talent management solutions. The “far end” of the market’s long tail is illustrated in the diagram below, and although servicing only 20 percent of the market, contains a far greater number of niche products. However, they are generally considered not commercially viable because the needs are so varied and often company-specific. The neglected far end will become commercially viable with the advent of highly flexible HR platform technology and component assembly techniques, enabled by the two products mentioned earlier, but there are dependencies.

The potential customers in the far end of the long tail market are mainly people managers and specialist HR professionals, and they currently rely on spreadsheets to build custom solutions and solve immediate problems. They are the new target market for the emerging HR platform providers and component developers, and there are 10 times more potential customers in that segment of the market than the top end, where the customer is the company and not the individual.

Spreadsheets – the Current Preferred Method for Solving the Long Tail There was a time when the only way to get around the product deficiency of the long tail of the HR software market was to build your custom solution with the Microsoft Excel tool. The tool was very flexible and there was a lot one could do, such as build formulas in cells to manipulate data, reference cells between worksheets to create a form of integration, build pivot tables, export worksheets in comma-separated values (CSV) file format for data exchange, and import data in different formats. But, there was also a lot you couldn’t do, such as real-time integration with the company’s HRIS corporate product or network a spreadsheet to a global community and allow real-time input in a secure environment. However, it was the only option for people managers, and the company’s marketing team, to address the long tail problem.

Technology Innovation led by the Marketing Function Even after the arrival of cloud computing, people managers were left to do the best they could with spreadsheets. The marketing and sales teams saw the cloud as an opportunity and recognized an immediate benefit in capturing customer information within their customer relationship management (CRM) software, and sharing it on any device to anyone within their team with an Internet connection, irrespective of where they were. With an immediate favourable return-on-investment (ROI) the CRM business applications pioneered Software-as-a-Serwww.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

vice (SaaS) and now lead the PaaS innovation. The core CRM product was able to store basic data about customers and support processes during the sales cycle, such as converting leads to prospects to customers. Along the way, it captured contact details and unique information about prospects that increased the likelihood of closing a deal. Custom development became invaluable to the sales cycle, which can be very compressed, and there is not time to send off requirements to company developers to make enhancements to the CRM product: The response must be immediate and the best person to build the extra customisation is the sales person who knows the requirements. There is a lot of similarity with employee data, the HR function, and the need to quickly respond to changes in the business.

What Business Problems are solved by an HR Platform? From the business perspective HR platforms address: • Integration; • Custom development; • Easy workforce information reporting on a unified database; and, • Reliable information source for HR metrics and strategic decision-making. Human Resources platforms are based on PaaS. Platform-as-a-Service is an amalgamation of the features from the earlier SaaS and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), as shown in the diagram below.

The Trend to Business-User Development The CRM products were the first to be adapted to business-user development and these products simplified the process to the point where no programming was required and customisation could go straight into production without going through a prolonged testing, sandbox development, and migration to production process. Of course, the main workings of the CRM were protected, and nothing the business developer could do would harm the core system. The model for HR platform development, application frameworks, and component assembly has grown out of the CRM innovation. The obvious target for HR platform technology was the far end of the HR software long tail. Custom developed components addressing an HR functional need, and built to a standardized application framework, could compensate for the absence of commercial HR products in the market. The person closest to the supporting application need was the right person to build the HR platform solution, whether it was an HR person or a line manager with people responsibilities. Many of the needs are short-term, making them ideal for a custom solution, but they must be built and put into use quickly or the benefit is lost.

Whilst the SaaS model delivered fixed applications, usually with multi-tenant architecture, and applied a best practice model, it did not expose the underlying infrastructure to support customisation. The SaaS model had the capability to offer integration facilities with application programming interface (API) and allowed limited customisation, but the business model relied on having all clients on the same version of their software for cost-efficiency purposes, and to allow upgrades without disturbing client specific customisations. On the IaaS side, the capability existed to allow clients access to their underlying infrastructure and database storage layer, and for development tools and application services. Platform-as-a-Service could borrow from both models to create a development environment suited to HR business technology needs and allow open customisation and application extension. For the novice HR user, some companies offer a pre-built application framework to accelerate custom development. Products currently built as SaaS solutions can still be delivered through a PaaS environment, but with the added advantage of extensibility.

The Component “LEGO®” Analogy Components are the building blocks for HR applications. Human Resources applications can be assembled from a collection of components.

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

When explaining components, the analogy that is often used compares technology components to LEGO building blocks. Just as LEGO blocks are clipped together to form structures, components can be joined together to similarly make technology structures. If the builder wishes their LEGO structure to change shape, then they swap blocks to construct the desired form. The same process applies to HR interchangeable components.

code stores to leverage off pre-built components and avoid reinventing the wheel each time. There must be a reliable method of finding components, otherwise there is no benefit to anyone if developers build components and no one can find them. Components must be catalogued according to the business functions and processes they support. There are many different methods of component discovery, but without a structure, components are like a box of LEGO pieces and the piece you want is always hard to find. Commercial component registries are the best way of presenting components to the market, and internal component repositories are the best method for storing reusable code and interchangeable components for later.

Component Catalogue Design Standard “Physical” Components Described Components can be many things, but fall into two groups: large grain objects and fine grain objects. In the new HR platform era, one of the two leading products mentioned earlier, Salesforce for HR, provides a good example to describe what physical components are. Saleforce for HR (a product of Salesforce. com Inc.) is built on the Force.com platform. In the Force.com world, the principal unit of assembly is an object. An object encapsulates all the development pieces such as data, fields, logic code, and screen presentation. They are the “fine grain” components. Additionally, reports, dashboards, workflows, data validation rules, and system logic code can also be packaged as components and made available to developers. In the case of code, the component is an open document with copy and paste capability that can be taken from a “code store” to a developer’s application. Reusable code is usually free and available from communities, and has been the Holy Grail of software developers for decades. Components can also be working applications using a collection of objects with their own sub-menus and tabs and deployed to support an HR function or process. They are the “large grain” components. App stores will list “large grain” component applications as either a commercial plug-in or a free download.

The Ecosystem and how to find Components When developers are building applications, a good ecosystem is essential, especially one with

Most existing HR products are built according to a proprietary structure, and it is not shared with the public. To publicise a standardized structure that will be universally accepted, it must be independently created and maintained and not follow any one particular vendor’s existing product. The human resource component software application standard (HR-CASAS) was designed and developed in the early 2000s to enable component exchange. Today, it serves as the model for the Commercial Component Registry and the Force.com application framework from HR Cloud Solutions.

The Transition to HR Platforms and Reshaping the Market There are challenges ahead for the new PaaS HR products. Before HR platforms and component assembly can achieve universal adoption, there are many things that need to change, from the way software is designed to the way it is sold or licensed. Unfortunately, the existing HR software vendor community does not have a compelling reason to change. There is so much investment tied up in current products, that any shift in purchasing patterns in the market would have a massive impact on everything from jobs to share price, as well as the ability to raise market capital. In the medium to short-term, it is envisaged that the role component applications will play in a company’s application architecture is to provide a platform to extend current HR management systems, rather than replace them. The only way HR platform products will comwww.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

pletely take over from the current generation of on-premise and hosted (SaaS model) systems is through commercial opportunity. There is no technical reason why component applications cannot scale up to address a high data volume and over 100,000 records. The breakthrough will come when one major software house decides to go to market with a component designed core product, similar to what the Dutch company MPloyee is currently doing.

About the Author

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Reports, workflows, logic code, objects, and fields will all become replaceable components of the platform architecture.

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Downloadable report components will largely eliminate the need for in-house expertise to write reports and remove one of the most costly items associated with system replacement – that is, rewriting the library of reports.

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Systems will no longer be replaced with a Big Bang approach. The replacement will be an iterative process driven by the business owner.

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The transition to HR platform component assembly will start with a platform provider and an application framework, replacing the old method of HR systems from one supplier.

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Systems will be assembled from multiple components rather than built to a siloed structure.

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The traditional request for proposal (RFP) will be the first major change. When shopping for the right component, it would be impractical to send out RFPs to hundreds of vendors and then evaluate every response. The person wanting the new component will be the person sourcing the product from the market.

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The software market will include app stores and code stores. Components will be listed as products. Some will have a commercial value and others will be crowd-sourced, and reusable code will be shared between like industries and colleagues with a common need.

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Licensing – HR platforms will be licensed to individuals, in addition to companies. The pricing model will change to make ownership by people managers and HR professionals affordable from both a company and personal perspective.

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Component portability – Bring your own application (BYOA) will be possible if a person goes to a company that has the HR platform infrastructure and database design standard their component application was built for. This will make a massive difference to the way we currently perceive the employer/employee engagement model as the HR professional in the future arrives with their own technology tool kit and intellectual property. Companies will be contracting an entity, rather than a person.

What is Happening Now?

John Macy is a thought leader in the HR technology world and an experienced HR practitioner. He has held senior HR management positions in the airline industry and has led a global HR technology consultancy for the last 21 years. In 2013, he was awarded the Australian Human Resource Institute’s highest honour and made a Life Fellow as recognition for his services to the HR industry. He has been a long-time advocate for component-based technology for HR and has published books and presented at conferences around the world on the subject. He can be reached at john.macy@cet-hr.com.

We are just beginning to see the recognition of a commercial opportunity take place. The obvious leader would be those products with a background in CRM, and Salesforce.com has been the leader in that area for many years, and is renowned for their ability to innovate. They have been voted the most innovative company in the world for the last three years by Forbes, so they had to be favourites in the early market. With their Force.com application development tools, access to underlying infrastructure and open database design, they have a huge advantage. But, my experience tells me they know very little about HR and have stumbled through some earlier attempts at the market before recently announcing their Salesforce for HR product. The most recent entry to the HR platform market is Cornerstone OnDemand with their Cornerstone Edge product announcement and scheduled delivery in July 2015. It is similar to the Salesforce for HR concept, but is not as open, and custom development on Cornerstone’s platform is not as simple. It is truly intended for professional developers, using a proprietary tool set, and not designed for the business user – at this stage. But, that could change.

What to Expect in the Future

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Products will no longer be built as one complete system; products will consist of multiple components residing on an open platform that will supply all of the tools and infrastructure needed to build and install additional components.

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Databases will become the foundation layer and will not change as component applications come and go. That will eliminate the need for costly system replacements every five years or so.

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

Data Privacy Trends

HR Data Privacy in the Era of Big Data By Dr. Donald F. Harris, HR Privacy Solutions We live in an unprecedented era when personal data is being hoovered-up, stored and made accessible for profile generation and analysis in a little-disclosed manner, by government security agencies, corporations, criminals, political parties, fundraisers, researchers, and a host of other parties. While the potential benefits are profound, so are the dangers, and each is only compounded by the dawning age of ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things. Our societies have scarcely begun to sort things out, with legislation to protect privacy and individuals lagging painfully behind technological and economic advancements. Against this larger, unsettled, and often disturbing background, the privacy issues confronting employers, while not insignificant, seem far more manageable. Let’s first consider those impacting multinational companies and then turn to those any company anywhere needs to attend to. For companies with an international workforce, complying with transborder data flow (TBDF) requirements remains a top concern, with Europe’s lead in this regard being followed by countries as diverse as Mexico, Australia, and Russia. One of the main means of meeting European TBDF requirements, the Safe Harbor1 program, has long been under assault by critics. In 2013, following outrage over Snowden’s revelations of NSA mass surveillance, the European Commission called for 13 specific reforms to strengthen Safe Harbor and has been negotiating ever since with the U.S. to secure them. Notwithstanding recent statements of optimism from both sides2 – we heard similar statements last summer – the future of Safe Harbor is uncertain. Should the program be suspended, as the EU Parliament has called for and the Commission has threatened, the 4,000 or so U.S. companies participating in the program would have no legal means of importing personal data from Europe, including that of employees. The impact upon these companies would be severe, since the associated data transfers would have to stop until an alternative compliance mechanism, such as the execution of model contracts or the establishment of Binding Corporate Rules, was achieved. Many HR programs and strategies would be totally disrupted in the meantime. Prudent Safe Harbor participants are preparing for this possibility.

The expected enactment of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the end of 2016,3 replacing the 1995 Data Protection Directive, will require most U.S. companies with European employees to significantly upgrade their privacy programs. For example, companies will have to be able to demonstrate, through documented policies, procedures, and oversight programs both in Europe and at home, that they comply with the GDPR. Failures to comply will be punishable not by a slap on the wrist, as at present, but with substantial fines that could range from two percent to five percent of a company’s total annual revenues. Once again, prudent companies are beginning to laying the groundwork for GDPR compliance. Another development impacting companies with international employees is the significant ratcheting-up of enforcement actions. Recent years have seen a steady advance in the cooperation, collaboration, and powers of data protection authorities around the world. By pooling their resources, lesser authorities have been able to take on big tasks. For example, the small Belgian privacy authority has taken the lead in Europe in going after Facebook and just recently filed a law suit against the company over its tracking of nonusers.4 The DPAs are increasingly employing the name-and-shame tactics and bigger fines typically associated with regulatory enforcement in the U.S. They are also becoming more effective, bringing an end to years of stonewalling by U.S. tech giants and compelling them to change their practices. With foreign courts also becoming increasingly involved, as in the Google Spain v. AEPD and Mario Costeja Gonzalez right-to-be-forgotten case,5 ignoring or attempting to fly under the radar of enforcement is an increasingly risky proposition. For all companies, whether multinational or not, other key privacy issues include the prevention and remediation of data breaches; avoiding use of irrelevant or questionable data in employment decisions; promotion of wearable devices; tracking and surveillance of employees; and the risks of going overboard with big data analytics. Breaches of employee data remain an enormous headache and liability for employers, as U.S. states continue to enact ever stricter, one-off obligations around prevention and response, as other countries (e.g., Canada, the Netherlands, www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

and in the near future, all of Europe) follow the U.S. lead by adopting breach notification laws, and as lawsuits by employees multiply. The staggering compromise of employment and sensitive background investigation data reported by the U.S. Office of Personnel Endnotes Management in June, 1 Hogan Lovells blog, “European Commission Calls for jeopardizing the privacy of Data Transfer Reforms,” November 27, 2013, (http://www. up to 22 million individuhldataprotection.com/2013/11/articles/consumer-privacy/ als and the security of the european-commission-calls-for-data-transfer-reforms/). nation, should be a wake2 Loek Essers, TechWorld, “EU, US officials close in on broad up call to all employers.6 privacy accords,” June 4, 2015, (http://www.techworld.com.au/ Expanded security trainarticle/576586/eu-us-officials-close-broad-privacy-accords/). ing for employees, more 3 Olivier Proust, Fieldfisher blog, “EU Council of Ministers Adopts technical resources such General Data Protection Regulation,” June 17, 2015, (http:// as data loss prevention privacylawblog.fieldfisher.com/2015/eu-council-of-ministersadopts-general-data-protection-regulation). software, and a radical re4 thinking of security for the Samuel Gibbs, The Guardian, “Belgium takes Facebook to court over privacy breaches and user tracking,” June 15, 2015, most sensitive personal (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/15/belgiumdata should be pursued. facebook-court-privacy-breaches-ads). The use of irrelevant, 5 SC Magazine, “A year of trouble and strife for Google and the questionable, and some‘Right to be Forgotten’,” May 14, 2015. times inaccurate personal 6 Jeff Goldman, eSecurity Planet, “OPM Breach Hits 22 data to make employment Million People, Director Resigns,” July 13, 2015, (http://www. decisions has emerged esecurityplanet.com/network-security/opm-breach-hits-22as a significant social ismillion-people-director-resigns.html). sue. In the U.S., over 100 7 Michelle Natividad Rodriquez and Nayantara Mehta, National cities and 18 states have Employment Law Project, “Ban the Box: U.S. Cities, Counties, passed “ban the box” laws and States Adopt Fair Hiring Practices,” July 1, 2015. (http://www.nelp.org/publication/ban-the-box-fair-chance-hiring- that prohibit employers state-and-local-guide/). from inquiring about the 8 criminal histories of job National Conference of State Legislatures, “State Laws About applicants on employment Social Media,” June 12, 2015, (http://www.ncsl.org/research/ telecommunications-and-information-technology/state-lawsapplications.7 At least 21 prohibiting-access-to-social-media-usernames-and-passwords. states have enacted laws aspx). banning employers from 9 Parmy Olson, “More Bosses Expected to Track Their Staff accessing the social media Through Wearables in the Next 5 Years,” Forbes, June 1, accounts of applicants and 2015, (http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2015/06/01/ employees.8 In Canada, wearables-employee-tracking/). privacy regulators in Brit10 Hannah Kuchler, Financial Times, “Data pioneers watching ish Columbia and Ontario us work,” February 17, 2014, (http://www.ft.com/intl/ have forced the police to cms/s/2/d56004b0-9581-11e3-9fd6-00144feab7de. html#axzz3fyd5ManZ). stop providing irrelevant 11 information in their files Josh Bersin, Forbes, “Quantified Self: Meet the Quantified to employers. In the UK Employee,” June 25, 2014, (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ joshbersin/2014/06/25/quantified-self-meet-the-quantifiedand Ireland, regulators employee/). have cracked down on the attempt by employers to skirt privacy laws and About the Author determine the criminal hisDr. Donald F. Harris is president, HR Privacy Solutions, a management consulting practice tory of applicants via what that has helped over 30 leading multinational is called “enforced data clients meet the challenges posed by global subject access.” Employers privacy laws. Founder of IHRIM’s Privacy need to bear in mind that Committee in 1996 and a Summit Award winner, he is an the accuracy and relevancy internationally known expert, author and speaker on HR data privacy issues. He can be reached at of personal data are fundadonaldharris@hrprivacy.com. mental privacy principles.

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

Many employers are attempting to incorporate the growing interest in fitness wearables, such as Fitbit, into their wellness initiatives, in order to improve the health of employees and restrain healthcare costs. Some observers believe that employers may soon be mandating the use of such devices,9 but HIPAA in the U.S. and privacy laws abroad make this unlikely. However, with appropriate planning and privacy safeguards in place, such as ensuring that employers, insurers, and unidentified third parties do not have access to individually-identifiable data from the devices, both employers and employees should be able to reap the potential benefits of wearables. Tracking and surveillance of employees, a perennial privacy issue, has traditionally focused on the monitoring of employee communications, computer, and Internet usage. In the absence of laws to the contrary, and in spite of considerable arbitration and litigation in this area, employers in the U.S. generally have a free hand in carrying out such surveillance. Not so in any of the more than 100 countries with comprehensive data protection laws; in these nations such monitoring may only be carried out, if permitted at all, with adequate notice to employees and sometimes to works councils and data protection authorities as well. Tracking of location data generated by companyissued mobile devices – data which can be quite sensitive and may reveal activity beyond working hours – is only a more recent extension of these traditional forms of employee surveillance. Surveillance is being taken to a whole new level by what is known as the Quantified Workplace movement. Firms such as Evolv, Sociometric Solutions, and Steelcase supply technologies and products to track the behavior, movements, and interactions of employees, running analytics on data collected by traditional means, new data gathered from sensor-equipped ID badges, furniture and buildings, and performance measures. The payoff in productivity improvements from such Frederick Taylor-like approaches can be significant.11 However, these technologies need to be deployed carefully, ensuring that employees understand what data is being collected, who will have access to it, and how it will be used. Unless privacy concerns are met, the workplace could be transformed by overreaching quantification analytics into the equivalent of Jeremy Bentham’s debilitating and dehumanizing panopticon prison. Technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with both the workplace and HR often in the vanguard of adaptation. Getting one’s privacy house in order is a critical prerequisite to being nimble and effective in introducing new technologies.

The Back Story

HR Evolution: From Resolution to Revolution … and Beyond By Dr. Katherine Jones, Bersin by Deloitte

This ain’t your granddaddy’s HR. Today’s HR meets head-on a world of change – change in the organizations and the environments they exist in – and these changes impact HR. The impetus for change can come from many directions: •

The inability to compete successfully in a particular market in which the company does business;

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Growth opportunities, such as new markets or acquisitions;

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Inability to meet process, revenue, or quality goals;

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Cost imperatives;

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New legislation or a changed regulatory environment; and,

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Internal executive leadership changes.

These are the issues that can drive resolution – we in HR know how to buckle down and address the people issues of these challenges –even though they are huge and often involve widespread strategic and personnel changes across our organizations. We, however, are just getting our arms around the analytic capabilities needed to address the ramifications of these changes – numbers that can lead us to more readily understand the impact of the decisions we may be about to make. Data in hand, we can move to the revolutionary – not because we can, but because we must. Granddaddy’s world of “personnel departments” to ensure compliance is oh-so-last year. In fact, oh-so-last century! Industrial Revolution management policies hung around for a long time, but many in HR have managed to dump that model as they moved to support concepts of talent as their mission. Sometimes when change is evolving around us, we don’t realize it is happening. Somewhere along the way, for instance, the roles of technology, the view of the world as a talent market, and the concept of employee-centricity introduced change that has revolutionized the world of work.

Consider: 1. Human Resource technology became Human Capital Management technology. No longer with a mission solely to manage an HR department, today’s technology revolutionized our view of talent. Now, the role of technology is to support employees in becoming and remaining valuable, productive contributors to the mission and goals of the organization they work in – rather than manage a department called “HR.” 2. The locus of control has changed. In many organizations, control of the world of work has moved into the hands of the workers and the leaders that manage them. A more collaborative, social, and highly mobileequipped workforce is forcing a new look at where people work and what devices are in their hands – or their pockets – to perform that work. 3. The very nature of work is changing, and with that comes new and often confusing definitions of a worker – when exactly is a person an “employee?” Words like “temp” and “full-time” are often no longer sufficient to discuss the job classifications we need today. As many companies form of loosely-affiliated individuals that may be more project-based or “workers on call,” how will this impact HR’s role in employee management and support? 4. Globalization has impacted every organization. This impacts compliance at a time when cloud-based technologies often “cloud” the issue of location of employee information. Increasingly, many countries are imposing rules that not only limit where employee data for their nationals is stored but who can actually manage (hence potentially access) that data in a data center. 5. Employee data, especially in large organizations, has the potential to become “really big data,” especially in highly regulated industries. The potential implications are many: most simply, storage of data, likely www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • September 2015

getting more economical, will be in petabytes or perhaps zettabytes. HR members will be responsible for decisions on where to store (cloud or on-premise?), how much to store, what is or is not critical to store, who can access it, and the increasingly looming issues of employee data security. This is before we even get to the question of analyzing the data and using it for business decisions. 6. Siloed technologies are dead. With a rebirth of the kind of deep integration that the ERPs provided in the 1990’s, many users recognize that HR and talent management solutions are inexorably linked and that the inefficiencies and inability to get meaningful analytics from unintegrated solutions can be crippling for HR. But no mousetrap stays static. HR professionals tend to be hit almost daily with new tools and technologies that may augment, replace, or distract, from the work they have to do.

Our Pending Tech Revolution As history demonstrates, no one is “one and done” on revolutions. Even if we get the categorization of the new and global labor market and the rules that apply to it under control, technology never sits still. This is not just changes in technology that support revised About the Author processes – such as the Dr. Katherine Jones is a vice president, focusing on human capital management (HCM) widespread movement technology research, at Bersin by Deloitte, from performance rating Deloitte Consulting LLP. She analyzes the and ranking to an ongounderlying technologies and services that ing coaching process support the management of a global workforce, including HR, for the improvement of hiring and performance management and workforce planning. Jones is a veteran in enterprise workforce and talent manageperformance, and the ment applications and a recognized expert in cloud computing. concomitant technologiPrior to joining Bersin by Deloitte, she was a research director at cal changes that involves. the Aberdeen Group for eight years where she established Consider the wideAberdeen’s HCM practice, focusing on research and consulting spread practice to develservices in HR, talent acquisition, workforce management, ERP and mid-market companies. Later, she was the director of op for mobile first, stemMarketing for NetSuite Inc., a cloud-based ERP company. She ming throughout the has written on many areas of talent management, technology, talent and HR software and business practices. With over 300 works published to date, manufacturing commushe is also a frequent speaker in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to a nity. Four major factors high-technology career, Jones was a university dean, involved in point to the need for HR academic administration, research, and teaching. She has a master’s degree and a doctorate from Cornell University. She can to consider mobile apps be reached at kathjones@deloitte.com. in their environments: •

Mobile devices are among the least expensive computing devices for equipping a workforce. They represent an alternative to the “PC at every desk” approach which,

September 2015 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org

in large organizations, can be expensive in both outfitting and support. •

Mobile phones are ubiquitous, not just in North America, not just in business, but everywhere. They tend to be the “tool of choice” for millennials, a rapidly rising population in the workplace.

•

Computing power only increases. The computing capability in these pocket-sized devices is only likely to grow, enabling future applications to become more sophisticated in their ability to support analytics or crunch more complex algorithms in seconds.

•

Employees are working differently: HR should support the increasingly “untethered” workplace. As work changed from something that is done solely on a manufacturing line or in an office to the “anytime, anywhere” modes we frequently see today, the technology should follow; mobile devices help meet that requirement.

Mobile support is just the very “tippiest-tip” of the proverbial iceberg – far greater changes are underpinning that big piece of ice. As the Internet of Things enters the workplace (and it is), it’s important for HR to consider “thing” management and the ramifications for “real people.” Robotics, once the province of assembly lines, has spread to other functions, and while drones may not be delivering your coffee to you yet, they just may in the future. Computerized clothing or accessories, (referred to as “wearables”) will likely increase, going beyond that pretty bracelet that counts your steps at work, the watch that tells you the outdoor temperature and supplies your email, or the jacket sleeve that allows passage into a building. Revolutions are reiterative. Just when we thought the troops packed up their tents and went home, new technologies and new philosophies about the world of work and the people in it emerge. HR will never be done; it is not a “one and done” task but an evolution that has to encompass revolutions – periods of disruptive change or innovation. Embracing all this change can be challenging, but also exciting: imagine a new paradigm for work in your organization. What has to happen to meet tomorrow’s business challenges and what will it mean for HR and for your workforce? We all should suit up, shoulder those muskets, and get ready for the next wave of revolution in our management of human capital.

BUSINESS SUCCESS depends on getting the most out of people. Now more than ever, businesses rely on HR professionals to make the most of a changing workforce. Because great HR makes great organizations.

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