In a world of never-ending digital interruptions, are we reducing workplace clutter and distractions so employees can get their work done? Do we know how and where employees are wasting time? Even with HR processes that ‘get the job done’, the depth of your technologies matter most when analyzing gaps and developing a more productive workforce.

In Josh Bersin’s recent report, ‘HR Technology Market 2019: Disruption Ahead’, the $8 billion market for core HR platforms is considered to be the most critically essential of all. Biases aside, we can agree that every organization needs to have systems in place that engage employees and encourage productivity.

However, your HR processes must align with the talent management and learning solutions your company provides. And according to the report, there’s already a major market shift ahead. One that will inevitably require companies to offer enhanced user engagement from their core HR systems. Before organizations can decide if their HR processes are working properly, they must first audit their existing software.

Do Your Systems Measure Up?

According to Bersin’s aforementioned report, there are decision-making questions being asked of HR software vendors before executives make a purchase. These questions should also be asked when considering your existing HR solutions. Of course, it’s not a comprehensive list and business leaders should still meet with their HR partners to make a final choice depending on their company’s individual needs. However, the following is a great starting point to ensure your systems measure up to your HR processes:

1. Can employees use the system easily? User experience is a critical component of a successful HR software.
2. Are your systems useful for day-to-day work? This is especially important to maximize efficiency and offer a justifiable ROI.
3. Does it help scale a global workforce with full time and contingent populations? Every business leader is feeling the effects of how our workforce has changed. Ensuring we meet our employees on their terms is paramount—whether they’re in our offices or working remotely on a contingent basis.
4. Is it flexible enough to accommodate the many global regulatory issues? Considering the unique nature of global workforces, an HR system that allows companies to easily meet regulatory and compliance requirements is a must. Especially with GDPR and other similar regulations cropping up.

Related Reading: 'Drive Your Talent Strategy, Not Your System'

Why User Experience Is Tied to Employee Success

Aside from capabilities and pricing, one of the key factors to be considered when looking for an HR solution should be User Experience (UX). UX refers to the way your users engage with a solution, such as a Learning Management System (LMS), on the back and front end. For an LMS to be impactful, it must meet certain requirements that align with existing processes and must also be tied to employee success. Using learning solutions as an example, we’ll go through a few aspects that create a successful user experience for front and back end users.

First of all, it’s important to acknowledge that UX is not the same as User Interface (UI). UI refers to the design elements that enable someone to interact with a product or service. This can encompass the screens, pages and visual elements (and the specific font, color and navigation choices within them). UX refers to what the user takes away from their interaction as a whole.

Good UI doesn’t guarantee good UX—if the product or service itself is lacking, the User Experience will still fall short. We can see L&D professionals grappling with this as Learning Experience Platforms (LXPs) rise in popularity. These platforms in particular use tried and tested UI principles to enable better user experiences—making it easier to share larger amounts of useful content, for example.

An LMS is essential for eLearning teams to develop, deploy, and analyze online training. The ability to quickly upload content and/or modify existing content is absolutely critical. This ensures that users have easy access to training materials in order to continue their day-to-day work and remain productive. Spending hours navigating the platform or facing an expansive learning curve means users are less likely to utilize all the features an LMS has to offer.

Finally, an LMS must be responsive to all employee populations, including contingent and fully-remote workers. Based on the Pew Research Center’s ‘Mobile Fact Sheet’, 96% of Americans own a cellphone, meaning the ability to access an LMS via mobile devices and tablets should also be a priority. An LMS should also take into account the various regulatory and compliance guidelines required for global workforces. Again, catering to all users makes an LMS, or any HR solution, more practical while enhancing the user experience.

Related Resources: Download the product sheet for Mid-Enterprise: Performance

Does It Help Make Your Data Talk?

The phrase, “make your data talk” is commonly used by data scientists to explain the conversion of data into knowledge. Put another way, your solutions should act as more than just a repository of endless data. Setting expectations for how your employee data is stored can help make your metrics more impactful. Once data has been converted into useful information, it can be shared and acted on to identify and remedy gaps in your processes. After all, if you don’t know a problem exists, how can you fix it?

Let’s say John is anxious about an upcoming performance review for one of his employees. John is unsure of how he will justify the employee’s pay raise if he cannot demonstrate certain metrics to the business leaders—such as the employee’s individual contributions which led to business success or whether the employee met certain performance goals. John needs an easy way to access this data, which means there must be a repository for said data. Once he finds and compiles the data, it can be converted into useful information that John can then present to the employee and business leaders.

The point of John’s story is to say, just because an HR solution allows you to capture data doesn’t mean it will allow you to act on it easily, which is the overarching goal. Finding solutions that drive productivity and allow managers and HR partners to take action is critical.

More from the Blog: 'How to Measure the Success of Learning Programs'

What’s the Business Case for Change?

HR solutions can be expensive and time consuming to set up. Making a business case for change should always begin with reviewing your organization’s existing practices. Setting expectations is also important and can help make the case for you. Cross-referencing your company’s goals with the capabilities of your solutions will inevitably identify gaps in the process or missing functionality in your talent management software or other HR technologies.

Interested in learning more about how your organization can better align your HR processes with feature-rich HR software? Contact our sales team to discover how PeopleFluent solutions can help drive more efficient HR processes in your organization.