Speaker 1: Human resource departments nowadays are far different and more wide-ranging than the days when they were called personnel departments. Back then, they basically passed out job applications, counted employees, and cut paychecks. Today's HR department is much more involved, permeating practically every function involving a company's workforce. But managing all these functions would not be possible without the software programs to run them. People management has become an urgent priority, especially with the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the new reality of hybrid and remote workforces, and the ongoing technology skills gap. Add to that the economic pressures of inflation, possible recession and layoffs, and what you get is a more dynamic and uncertain work environment than we've ever seen. All of the traditional functions of HR are now reinforced by software, allowing for more efficient, thorough management of HR processes. HR software encompasses the myriad tools that companies use to manage recruiting, onboarding, training, payroll, benefits, time and attendance, performance management, and succession planning, among other functions. Originally, HR software was inward-facing and focused almost entirely on the administrative tasks of HR departments. Today, it's become one of the more important purchases an organization can make, and it touches every department. As with any automation, HR software usually makes the existing processes more efficient and creates more headroom to be creative and add new, often more innovative techniques. HR software basically digitizes the record-keeping, computation, and communication tasks of an HR department, but also distributes some of those responsibilities across the organization. Manual tasks can be partially automated, including time and attendance, payroll, recruiting, regulatory compliance, and benefits administration. This helps companies in several ways, the most obvious being reduced labor costs and more streamlined, efficient, and effective HR processes. But the effect of technology goes far beyond these commonplace benefits of HR automation. When more employees perform better and reach their full potential, the result is improved creativity and productivity that ultimately leads to higher profits. The most comprehensive HR platforms go by several names. Human Resource Management System, or HRMS, Human Resource Information System, HRIS, and Human Capital Management, HCM. The terms are often used interchangeably, but there are some discernible differences. In short, HRMS and HRIS are the actual software platforms you can buy, while HCM is an umbrella term for both HR processes and software. HR platforms usually come as a suite of modules. Each module is designed specifically for the tasks and workflows of one of the many HR processes. The four most common categories are Core HR, Talent Management, Workforce Management, and Service Delivery. Each module can often be purchased separately depending on the needs of the business. Each category is comprised of individual component modules, each for a different purpose. Core HR refers to the most basic functions of HR departments, the software used to manage those functions, and the data associated with them. Typical functions include Benefit Management, Employee Records and Payroll. The Core HR module digitizes and largely automates each of these responsibilities. There are certain things to keep in mind, though, about individual modules and how to use them effectively. There are certain things to keep in mind, though, about individual modules in the four main categories. First and foremost, be sure the Core HR module has a payroll module. Some HRMSs don't have one. The payroll module needs to support every country that the company does business in and be able to create and file the appropriate tax documents and other compliance requirements. Then there are several other modules and functions in Core HR to consider. A longstanding function of Core HR is Benefits Administration, like Health, Dental, Life, and Disability Insurance, 401k Retirement Plans, Tuition Reimbursement, and Flexible Spending Accounts. Core HR might include an Onboarding module, though you might also see this function in Talent Management along with an Offboarding module. Onboarding should integrate with IT, the Time Clock, and other systems to handle things like issuing a security badge and laptop, ordering uniforms, and scheduling orientation. Finally, the Core HR module should also have a breadth of tools for not only monitoring practices that can have legal implications, but preparing all the paperwork required by local, state, and national governments. HR departments are responsible for keeping an organization in compliance with the many regulations affecting employment. From fair labor practices to anti-discrimination laws and workplace safety. After Core HR, Talent Management is the next most important driver of HR software purchasing and product development. Talent Management covers a wide array of disciplines and processes to bring people with the right experience and potential into the company, develop their skills, motivate them, assess their performance, compensate them, retain them, and when necessary, ease their departure. With the ongoing technology skills gap, the goal of Talent Management has shifted to skills development and more awareness of how skills fit into job descriptions and career paths. A Talent Management module should be able to capture skills and translate them into job roles that are updated regularly. Another part of the Talent Management module is the Learning Management System, or LMS. The LMS is a common legacy platform that has often been modernized and moved to the cloud. A newer type of specialized software is the Learning Experience Platform, or LXP, which incorporates external content and can be used as the primary means of interacting with employees, while the old LMS still does the record keeping. Performance management also falls under the Talent Management umbrella. Companies have started moving from annual reviews to continuous performance management. This essentially provides tools for ongoing coaching and feedback to improve employee performance continuously as opposed to once a year. There's also recruitment. Talent Management modules have more tools for employee recruitment than any other type of function. One other key part of a Talent Management module is succession planning. It helps to plan what should happen when executives and other high-value employees leave to avoid gaps in leadership, communication, and productivity. It also helps with retaining good employees by spotting signs of dissatisfaction and providing career paths. Workforce management has some obvious similarities with talent management, but it's a separate discipline, often with separate software devoted to it. Businesses use workforce management systems to monitor and improve employee productivity, track the time it takes to complete tasks and projects, and identify opportunities to better schedule and deploy employees and skill sets. The HR analytics tools that are part of workforce management provide the people data that guides company strategy. Executives and HR managers can use it to spot pending shortages or decide where to reassign employees to better address strategic priorities. Performance tracking features also help HR departments organize the workforce to meet company goals more effectively. Data from workforce planning tools can also be used to ensure the staffing strategy complies with federal, international, and local labor and safety requirements. In this era of hybrid and remote workforces, self-service features are key. Scheduling software is especially valuable to workforce management if it lets employees schedule themselves while ensuring that shifts will be covered, which is key to retaining employees in certain professions. Employee requests for time off or shift changes are centralized and made easily visible to managers using workforce management software. Service delivery is the last category of modules. HR service delivery platforms enable employees to communicate with the HR department and help streamline that communication. HR service delivery features include help desks, chatbots, and internet portals. The two main parts of the service delivery component are employee and manager self-service. With employee self-service, employees can change their personal information, benefit elections, and beneficiaries on their own, saving time and money for HR staff. Employee self-service also gives increased flexibility and autonomy to employees. Managers, on the other hand, need self-service features that go beyond the needs of employees by providing access to the HR and business functions, applications, and data that they need to perform their supervisory roles. Like any other corporate buying decision, you need to create a strategy to evaluate HR tools and define your company's biggest workforce challenges, needs, and goals. This starts with assembling a cross-disciplinary buying team from HR, IT, finance, and the departmental managers and staff who will actually use the software. Then, identify your technology requirements and your business issues, the things that are most important to have in your company's HR software system. Also identify potential vendors by using a variety of research methods, from reports to word of mouth. Send a clear and concise request for proposal to the shortlist of vendors, including information about your company, the project, the timeline, submission rules, scope, and a vendor questionnaire. View demos and ask each vendor to build a fully scripted demo around the actual use cases from your company, showing the exact steps for employees. And finally, read customer case studies that include deployment and adoption challenges. Better yet, ask vendors for reference customers who can answer questions candidly and directly. All these steps work in conjunction with building a strong business case for HR software. When it comes to recruiting, evaluating, and developing talent, much of the leading edge is automating those processes with AI to make them more accurate and efficient. For instance, HR software vendors are increasingly incorporating diversity and inclusion features, including specialized learning content and AI tools that are intended to remove bias in hiring. But there are major concerns that the technology can sometimes amplify rather than eliminate bias. Companies are also uneasy about leaving important decisions up to a technological black box. Two other important technologies are augmented reality and virtual reality. Both are transforming corporate learning by providing virtual hands-on experience with the tools and procedures employees need to learn for their jobs. And companies are beginning to realize the potential of blockchain, a new type of decentralized data technology that's supposed to be almost hacker-proof for sharing employee records and other HR information. In short, societal trends in emerging technology will continue to have a big impact on HR processes and the software used to carry them out.