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    Monday
    Jul272009

    Guest Post - Choosing the Right Technology

    Note: This Guest Post was written by Loren Yademski, from Crimcheck.com. Crimcheck.com is a nationwide provider of background checks for employment screening purposes. Crimcheck.com background checks include criminal records, educational history, employment verification, driving records and more.

    Thanks to Loren for this excellent article that highlights some extremely important questions that should be considered in the evaluation of HR Technology, particularly for the small business.

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    It may seem that technology for human resources would be standard from one company to another. However, as one dissects the specific needs of an HR operation, it becomes apparent that technology must accommodate many different aspects of HR management. In order to choose the right system, the staff should be consulted so that the technology can be streamlined to be efficient and easily implemented.

    When determining your HR technology needs, you need to find a vendor that is reliable and helpful. If your vendor does not have the time or knowledge necessary to help you sort through your requirements, it is time to look for another vendor. There are many variables, such as flexibility in interfacing with accounting software, making it is essential to thoroughly understand your options before a final selection is made.

    The first thing to consider is the size and growth pattern of your company. Are you in a ‘fully grown’business that has reached a plateau in terms of size and number of employees? Is your HR system stable enough that you are sure of the amount of data that you need to import and the types and numbers of related software systems it must interface with? If not, you need to plan for growth and make sure that you choose a system with a flexible and easily altered code. For example, you may not currently import and export data to an accounting system, but as your company grows it may be essential in order to save time and eliminate potential data entry errors. Another example is that you may want to share data with Excel spreadsheets. The cost, potential for error and inconvenience of having someone manually enter this information would justify any increase in the cost of software with this feature.

    Easily exported reports from HR software are helpful for any company. By using software that allows one to extract information that benefits decision making and planning on the executive level, a company could easily recapture the cost of the software because of access to concise reports that distill information in a way that makes it easy for executives and owners to manage their businesses effectively.

    Once you find a system with all necessary technical requirements, you may feel like you are ‘home free’ and ready to write the check and make a purchase. There are other considerations that are yet to be reviewed. One must consider the interface for this system and how easy it is to use. You need to determine who will have access to the system and who will operate it. Do you have an employee who will be able to fully utilize the benefits of the system you are considering? Will they require special training and if so, are they already comfortable enough with HR technology to easily pick up the operation of a new system? It will do you no good to purchase a great system if you do not have an interface that is easy enough for your employees to use effectively. If you need to hire someone with more technical savvy, it is important to understand that before you purchase the system so that you can include that expense in your economic analysis of the system.

    By taking time up front to choose HR technology that fits your business, you can save a great deal of time, money, and frustration down the road.

     

    Saturday
    Jul252009

    Upcoming HR Happy Hour Shows

    Shauna Moerke, the HR Minion and I are getting back into the ring, with more HR Happy Hour shows on Blog Talk Radio.

    We have decided an 'every other week' schedule seems to work out the best for everyone, so look for the HR Happy Hour shows every second Friday.  We are mixing up the start times a bit, still trying to figure out the best one, so keep an eye out for the scheduled start time for that particular show.

    One final note, you can listen to the show live at the Blog Talk Radio page, or you can use the listener line, 646-378-1086, to hear the show via the phone, and you can come on the air by calling in to that number and pressing '1' on your phone and I will get you on the air.

    Here is what is coming up on the the HR Happy Hour:

    Episode 6 - July 31, 2009 - 8 PM EDT, 5 PM PDT  'The HRevolution' - An open forum to chat about ideas for the very first HR Blog Conference.  Where should the conference be held?  What topics and sessions are you interested in?  Would you actually attend?  Set to appear are conference founders Trish McFarlane, Ben Eubanks and more.
     

    Episode 7 - August 14, 2009 - 6 PM EDT, 3 PM PDT' Funky Hair, Tattoos, and HR Diversity' - This show was inspired by some Tweets with Kelly Mitton, Jen Wojcik and others. Basically, is HR truly welcoming as a profession to those folks that look and act a bit 'different'. Are tattoos and purple hair welcome in HR? Does HR need to do more to embrace individuality and creativity in the workplace?  Do visible tattoos give you a bad impression of a job candidate?  Scheduled to appear are Jen Wojcik, Kelly Mitton, Lynn Ellsberry and who knows what other funky haired HR pros.

    Episode 8 - August 28, 2009 - 8 PM EDT, 5 PM PDT 'HR and Sports' - What are the connections between Sports and HR and Talent Management? Is managing superstar employees at all like managing superstar athletes?  What can coaching Little League baseball tell you about management? Are my beloved Jets going to get the Super Bowl?  Slated to appear Tracy Tran, Todd Kmiec, Lance Haun and Kris Dunn.

    Episode 9 - September 11, 2009 - 6 PM EDT, 3 PM PDT 'HR Issues for the Small Business' -  We'll talk about small business and the various HR-related challenges in a small organization. How can a small business compete effectively with the giants in Talent Acquisition and in building an employer brand? Are you a 'one-person' HR organization? How do you keep it all in balance? Set to appear is Charee Kilmek and a host of other HR Professionals.

    So that is the current rundown, we have some more thoughts for even more future shows, including a really fun 'HR Horror Stories' show we will do closer to Halloween.

    If you have any suggestions for show topics, want to come on as a guest, or have someone you think would make a great guest, drop me a comment, send Shauna or I an e-mail, or shout it out on Twitter using the #HRHappyHour hashtag.

    Thanks everyone who supports the show by listening, participating, and tweeting.  The response to these shows has been surprisingly terrific, and as long as the HR community seems interested, we will keep doing them.

    Thursday
    Jul232009

    I'm an HR Rock Star? Really?

    Well, the Creative Chaos Consultant seems to think so. Flickr - themechanism

    Head over the the CCC blog to see my interview on HR Technology, teaching HR, The HR Happy Hour Show, with a bit of barbecue mixed in.

    Thanks, CCC for the interview and for putting me the the 'Rock Star' category.

    Hmm, maybe I need to don the costume and makeup like Gene here from now on....

    Wednesday
    Jul222009

    Let the users help themselves

    If you are in a mid to large size organization that has implemented either Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, targeted Human Capital Management (HCM) applications, or really any enterprise-wide IT solution it will not have taken long to realize shortly after implementation you were faced with a rash of questions, issues, and problems that were discovered by the end users of your applications.Flickr - Jaydot

    I know, you prepared detailed end-user instruction manuals, or even video tutorials.  You held numerous forums, demonstrations, and hands-on training sessions.  Maybe you even anticipated and posted a 'Frequently asked Questions' section on the company intranet.

    You thought you had all the possible scenarios covered in your rigorous system and user acceptance testing.

    But of course, once the system was subject to more widespread use, beyond the project team, conference room pilot, and the pilot department or division, you started running into issues, questions, bugs, and use cases that you had not anticipated, nor tested for prior to go-live.

    And so, like in almost every major enterprise implementation before yours, you feverishly spent the first few days/weeks/months getting patches, updating user procedures, adding more and more items the the FAQ list, and generally fighting fires to keep the system running, and close the books/pay the employees/send the files to the bank, etc.  Honestly, even the very best implementations that I have worked on have to go through this insane stage, where the hours are long, the list of issues is enormous, and the light at the end of the tunnel seems very distant.

    But eventually, the issues die down, the urgent problems are resolved, and soon, you as the implementor arrive at that place where you are sort of in limbo, kind of on standby. Not implementing anything new, because the organization is still trying to digest all the changes from the go-live, and still dealing with issues and questions from the user community as they arise.

    After a while the questions and end user feedback starts to morph from 'This does not work' type questions, to 'Can the system do this' or 'I wish we had the ability to do that' type inquiries.  And typically as the system gets rolled out to more and more users and locations, and members of the project 'core team' either leave (in the case of consultants), or move on to other projects, the connection between HR or IT and the end user community tends to weaken, and at some point the questions, problems and issues start to increase.  Attrition, job rotation, and normal turnover all conspire against you, the 'super' users you could rely on may no longer be there, and soon you find your user guides, FAQs, and tutorials are not enough to keep up with the increased number of questions and issues.

    And if you are like most organizations that I have been around, you respond by updating the manuals, FAQs, and tutorials. Maybe you hold more training sessions for the new users. You address the help desk calls one at a time, until you feel like you have stabilized the system once more. 

    But what if instead of repeating the same pattern over and over again, of users finding issues, and asking questions of the project team or IT, you give them the platform and opportunity to help each other?

    Instead of each individual question or problem  flowing from the user  to the central help desk, or support analyst, and back again to the user, usually via e-mail, what if you had the users enter all the questions in a shared question and answer forum, or even a wiki?

    Larger organizations have hundreds, if not thousands of users, the chances are pretty good that most specific issues have been previously encountered by someone else in the user community.  Creating user forums with different sections for the various components of the application (Payroll, HRIS, Self-Service, etc.), that are accessible to all users, searchable, and monitored by the support team can be a great way to reduce time to resolution, lower support costs, and build a stronger, shareable body of organizational knowledge that potentially will also ease the transition of new users of the system. Additionally, you can include specific sections for enhancement requests, or for desired changes to the system or the underlying business processes.

    This 'users supporting users' model has had quite a bit of success and publicity in the consumer spaces, most typically with tech goods and services like computers, home electronics, and popular consumer software.  Why not leverage the concepts with your internal enterprise users?

    Have you deployed end user support forums for your community of users yet?  I would love to hear some case studies.

    Monday
    Jul202009

    Social Network Analysis and HR

    Note : I decided to include some content and discussion questions on Social Network Analysis in my HR Technology Class for the first time, and as I was writing the introduction to the topic, it seemed only sensible that I post it all here as well.

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    What is Social Network Analysis?

    In the last 10 years or so scores of research papers and several books have been written on the subject of Social Network Analysis (SNA), which simply stated is the study of how information flows in organizations, with whom are employees most connected, to whom do they turn for information or advice, and identifies the roles individuals and departments play in the overall social network of the organization.

    It is a way of quantifying the answers to questions like:

    "When faced with a complex problem, who do you typically ask for assistance?"

    "Who would you turn to when discussing a new or innovative project?"

     "Who are you most confident will give you accurate and truthful information?"

    Why study Social Network Analysis?

    Why is Social Network Analysis important for the HR professional?  To help answer that question, lets take a look at two charts.

    First, the organization chart of a division of a typical company:

    Source - Saba/HCI - Tapping the Power of Social Networking to Manage Talent

     

     And then the Social Network Analysis diagram for that same division. For example purposes, assume that this is an 'Information' network analysis. That is the connections in the diagram represent requests for information needed to perform a person's job requirements.

    Source - Saba/HCI - Tapping the Power of Social Networking to Manage Talent

    The key conclusion from the analysis of the SNA diagram is that while employee Mitchell occupies a relatively low position on the 'official' organization chart, she is central and highly connected in the SNA diagram. Many, many employees turn to her for information in the course of performing their jobs. Generally speaking, Mitchell is more more crucial to the overall efficiency and operations of the organization than say, Avery who is higher up on the organization chart, but on the periphery of the SNA diagram. This is just one, really simple example of the value and insight that you can gain from Social Network Analysis, but even this simple example is powerful, and helps illustrate the importance of SNA to the organization.

    How can HR leverage Social Network Analysis?

    There are several important aspects of Social Network Analysis that can be leveraged by Human Resources departments.

    1. Organizational Design - If the SNA reveals a lack of communication and information flow due to too strict adherence on formal organizational hierarchy, some re-design may be in order to try and help facilitate more cross-organization communication

    2. Succession Planning - SNA can assist tremendously in the identification of key employees, ones that either have a central, highly connected role in the network, or that serve as the primary or only 'connector' between different departments or offices. HR would likely want to take steps to insure that an adequate succession strategy is in place for these individuals, who are not necessarily 'high' on the official organization chart.

    3. Job Description modification - sometimes SNA reveals certain individuals are 'too connected', meaning there are far too many demands on their time, and too many other folks in the organization looking for their insights.  Many times this leads to bottlenecks, that can disrupt the flow of information and ultimately detract from productivity. If this situation occurs, HR can assist in an intervention to modify the position roles and responsibilities, removing or re-aligning certain duties to promote a better balance, and hopefully reduce the information bottlenecks.

    4. Training and Development - SNA can help identify and analyze the makeup of the networks of the organization's top performers.  It could be that the structure or patterns of high-performer networks could be replicated to others in the organization, potentially leading to increased overall personal and network effectiveness. HR can be instrumental in developing learning opportunities to help educate the workforce on these approaches that top performers utilize.

    5. Internal Social Networking technology - Conducting a thorough SNA for an organization typically reveals areas that need improvement, either a need to increase collaboration and communication overall, desire for better inter-departmental processes, or more widespread organizational changes. Internal or corporate social networking technology is one tool that can be brought to bear to attempt to address these challenges.  Platforms ranging from internal microblogging, blogging, wikis, activity streaming, or more robust platforms that encompass all of these functions are becoming more common in organizations, and HR departments, armed with information from the SNA, should be in an excellent position to drive these efforts.

    Additional Resources

    If you are interested in reading more on Social Network Analysis, I recommend the following two books

    The Hidden Power of Social Networks - Rob Cross and Andrew Parker

    Driving Results Through Social Networks - Rob Cross and Robert Thomas

    In addition, Jon Ingham at the Strategic HCM blog and Mark Bennett at Talented Apps frequently write on these topics.

    The topic of Social Network Analysis, while not exactly new, is getting more and more attention, and new tools and technologies to assess and improve internal networks are emerging all the time.  It is an important area for the HR leader of today to become more familiar with, and to leverage in their quest to improve organizational performance.

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