If recent events have taught us anything, it’s that change can come from anywhere and being flexible enough to adapt is essential to success. When combined with the knowledge that employees have common reactions to change, leadership can anticipate reactions and plan accordingly for success. If your organization intends to successfully navigate change, do you have a solution to help address the challenges associated with leading and inspiring a large workforce through these dynamic moments?
Successful change leaders who pioneer sustainable, long-lasting initiatives use a high-involvement, collaborative approach rather than top-down directives that can yield minimal results. You’ll need to build a compelling case and empower your employees to contribute to these new efforts.
Employing a single HR tech platform can help you address two change-related variables: continuity and communication.
Continuity
Having a continuity plan may not seem essential during nonturbulent periods, which is precisely why every organization should have one ready in case the need arises. Whether a company experiences sudden disruption or planned growth, continuity plans are where your organization looks for guidance, confidence and resolve.
Having one platform to store your entire range of data offers simplicity and confidence to ensure smooth scalability while dealing with the varied demands and functions of an active organization. Technology can prevent unwanted disruptions through reporting, talent acquisition and development.
- Reporting: Whenever reporting data stems from a variety of different systems, these disparate streams of information will have to be manually combined. A single-database software is built to provide cohesive reporting that yields the essential data companies require for analysis, extrapolation and decision-making to effectively address their change efforts.
- Talent acquisition and development: With streamlined tools, HR staff can take an individual from hire to retire with an automated, self-service system that addresses benefits enrollment, training, performance reviews and even compensation management. As an organization’s staffing demands change, a single software makes it easy to monitor and adjust positions as necessary.
Communication
In times of change, frequent, transparent and compassionate communication is essential. I would even go so far as to recommend overcommunicating.
Successful change leaders use open channels of communication that go both ways. They must communicate the reason for the change and their vision for the future clearly and often, and they also need to listen to employee concerns.
Questions aren’t necessarily resistance, and addressing those questions is often the first step in recruiting advocates for a change initiative. With that in mind, here are a few areas in which rich communication can deliver noticeable benefits.
- Direct access to benefits and HR tasks: Transparency and easy access to information builds trust among your workforce, and during times of change, pre-built trust in leadership and HR managers will come in handy. A single application, especially one that automates payroll, empowers employees with self-service tools that help increase visibility and access to vital information, including benefits administration. Being able to urgently view account details via tools like Employee Self-Service® or address direct questions to HR through Ask Here can be especially comforting in times of change.
- Automation of high-impact functions: A OnePoll survey examining the technological frustrations among office workers nationwide found that only 18% used HR software to sign up for benefits, while 48% used digital forms or email. Technology is ideally suited to minimize uncertainty, and using it to facilitate functions that are top-of-mind to employees such as payroll and benefits can provide peace of mind to your staff while enhancing the employee experience and streamlining processes.
- Emphasize the “H” in “HR”: Technology doesn’t need to be faceless. Automating manual processes returns time to HR staff for more important conversations and interactions that can give employees the assurance and confidence they require to be effective and engaged. For managers, this means more time to dedicate to strategic initiatives that will position them as leaders across their organization.
Expanding easy-to-use, app-friendly technology from everyday life into the workplace promises a better future for the organizations that prioritize it. With streamlined HR technology, leaders have the ability to more effectively guide their workforce through the challenges of change and into the next phase of business success.
Explore the benefits of a single database HR platform by scheduling a demo with our expert team today.
Disclaimer: The information provided herein does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional legal, tax, accounting or other professional advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation and for your particular state(s) of operation.