HR PRACTICE,HR STRATEGY
Article | August 8, 2022
While most operators would suggest that salaries and payments are the business’s strategic components since it populates the Sales, General & Administrative line item, a significant portion of businesses across the globe outsource it to third-party service providers.
As per a Deloitte survey, 24%-27% of firms across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC outsourced their payroll management function to third-party vendors.
Payroll management services generally include a basket of services like:
Integrating time-sheets into payable salaries and tax liabilities.
Managing tax-deducted at source, tax filings, and deductions.
Providing management reports.
Managing wage garnishments and other ad hoc requirements.
Processing payment discrepancies.
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TALENT MANAGEMENT
Article | June 24, 2022
We hear the term “getting back to basics” quite often and we’re hearing it a lot lately. Regular readers of HR Bartender know that I’m a fan of consulting the dictionary, so I did a quick search to see what “getting back to basics” means. The Collins Dictionary defines it as “concentrating on simple, important ideas or activities.”Getting back to basics can be an opportunity to refocus and streamline. It can be ways to deliver great work with fewer steps. To become more proactive, especially if the organization feels they have been very reactive lately. Getting back to basics can help us spend time on things that are directly aligned with the business.
The reason I’m bringing this up is because now is a great time to evaluate HR compliance processes. If we step back for a second, let’s look at what’s going on right now.
From a business perspective, organizations are redefining the customer experience. I’m not saying that’s bad. But companies are trying to set new expectations with customers.
I’m hearing an increasing number of people talk about spending some or all their time back in the office. Even employees who are 100% remote are talking about going in for special company events. So not only are companies setting new expectations with customers, but they’re setting new expectations with employees. While we’re going through this reset, it only makes sense to examine the way we’re doing things in HR.
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EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Article | July 6, 2022
HR analytics was first conceptualized in 1911 in the book ‘The Principles of Scientific Management’ by Frederick Taylor. Since then, it has become a prominent aspect of people management. Its application in performance optimization, employee retention and employee engagement is unprecedented. However, HR analytics has contributed in a multitude of ways to improving decision-making. Its scope is expanding and spilling into other areas of business. Many organizations are uncovering ways to use their people insights to inform decisions that have nothing to do with hiring.
Applying HR Analytics to Identify a New Office Location
The tech giant Cisco demonstrated that the use of people analytics can take many different shapes and forms. The company used data to guide its decision on choosing a new office building location, optimize space and build a positive culture right off the bat.
Powered by the company’s data from across its 266 offices in 87 countries, the people analytics team got into action to identify usage rates and costs in the organizations. The team took into consideration the neighbourhood and community around them to assess the business outcomes. The team went over and above to examine the availability of talent from nearby universities in relation to the areas their competitors served.
Predicting ROI on an Apprenticeship Training Program
Multinational energy provider, SSE, deployed an in-depth analysis of their trained apprenticeship program to calculate ROI. It not only enabled the company to make a business case for its apprenticeship program to senior management but also see the true value of its initiatives through a financial lens.
SSE discovered that every £1 invested collectively by the individual, society, and employer in a fully trained apprenticeship yields a return of £4.29 to the economy.
Making Diversity More Than Just a Buzzword
The carpool service, BlaBlaCar, used data analytics in HR to review job applications that were comprised of biased language and messaging. The company also structured its interviews in a way that was inclusive, a tactic that helped them convert candidates into employees and increase the diversity on their teams.
London-based survey company Saberr employed HR analytics to explore candidates’ behavioral compatibility, core values, and diversity to identify if a candidate will feel welcome in an organization and the strength of their interpersonal relationships.
Beyond the Hiring Horizon
A 2019 study by Chalutz Ben-Gal discovered that recruitment and workforce planning are the two areas of HR that yielded the highest returns. By using data to fuel insights outside of hiring and people management, some organizations are demonstrating the innovative ways that HR analytics can power business outcomes.
Whether to pinpoint a new regional office, assessing investment decisions or spearheading diversity and inclusion, leveraging people analytics is a matter of thinking outside the proverbial box and maximizing the combined power of people and their behaviors to drive innovation.
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EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
Article | May 19, 2022
The pandemic uncovered several insights into the significance and connection between health, wellbeing, and productivity at work. Whether you work from home or in an office, without employee well-being, there is no organizational resilience. HR leaders are recognizing this bare truth and are focusing on more than just physical health. There is a push to promote holistic wellness, which includes physical, mental, social, financial, and psychological well-being.
Employee Well-Being and the Modern Organization
Studies have proved that employee well-being has a direct impact on revenue and profitability. It affects the overall employee morale, productivity, and employee experience. Focusing on employee well-being leads to a 41% drop in absenteeism, as well as more innovation, better retention, and lower healthcare costs.
As workplaces have undergone much transformation in recent years, employees’ expectations from a health and wellness perspective have taken on a new shape. Forward-looking organizations are committing to developing meaningful initiatives that foster well-being in the workplace. Organizations do not intend to stop providing health coverage and benefits. They are proactively infusing well-being into the work culture, employee experience, and career growth as these factors are most likely to take precedence in the near future. In fact, according to a study by TeamStage, 78% of employees were more likely to continue working because they liked the benefits.
In this context, data and a handful of key metrics will set the tone for HR professionals to deliver more value to their employees.
Mapping the Metrics That Matter
So what metrics will play a key role in bringing modern, employee-oriented wellness and health programs?
According to a Paycor survey, 17% of HR professionals were able to provide a concrete response to changing their approach to well-being in 2022. Some initiatives include:
Mental health awareness and training
Discount on mental health apps
Virtual exercise programs
A 24/7 support helpline
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
The first viable option is to implement a meaningful way to measure employee happiness in the workplace. For instance, international electronics giant Hitachi used wearable devices to monitor a range of activities, including sitting, standing, talking, and even typing, to create a measuring algorithm. Hitachi identified and pre-empted stressors and health concerns in the workplace by offering corresponding benefits.
However, implementing benefits isn’t enough. Many employers are calculating employee interaction with their wellness offering through online portals. This key metric is used to determine whether or not employees are making the most of their benefits. In turn, this demonstrates their engagement levels with the company.
Parting Words
As the work landscape has shifted from the office to homes and job markets have become more volatile; stress, anxiety, and mental illnesses are mainstays of employee concerns. The pandemic underlined the importance of having a robust grip on employee well-being for organizations to be able to survive such drastic transformations. However, employee wellness has proven to be a cornerstone of sustainability and resilience all along. Organizations that hope to thrive and grow well into the future will need to highlight employee well-being as an integral part of their workforce strategy.
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