How Strong is Your HR House?
Blog: eCase Case Management Blog
The 5 HR Best Practices You Need to Implement Now
In the classic tale of the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf challenges the foundations of each house. Down comes the straw and sticks, but the brick stands.
This story reminds us that we need the right materials and tools to build our foundation. As warm and cozy your “HR House” may be – it is only as effective as the strength of the processes on which it is built.
One National Finance Center customer tested the durability of their Human Resource processes when modernizing their HR systems to eCase® HR. They learned that they needed the right tools to fortify their HR house.
Here are the 5 HR best practices that your agency needs to implement now:
1. Leadership should own the system.
Best Practice: The Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) “owns” the new centralized HR system.
The agency had 20 different IT systems to handle their non-core HR processes. Some managers created their own internal systems or utilized manual supports like spreadsheets, file folders or SharePoint sites to process information. This led to delays, inaccuracies and frustrations across the agency.
Moving ownership to the OCHCO and consolidating to one software solution encouraged compliance and sped up response time. This also gave leadership a big picture view of the organization.
2. Integration is key
Best Practice: HR functions need to be connected.
No man is an island, nor are human resource functions.
Departments were operating as silos and having difficultly transferring information between groups. This made it harder for both managers and employees to accomplish multistep tasks.
The agency needed to break down silos and construct a bridge in process and software. The new, case-centric system connected applications and submitted email alerts when an activity was transferred. The applications also integrated with core systems like HRConnect. Thus, the client was able to connect the entire employee lifecycle which improved performance.
3. Complex processes require flexibility
Best Practice: Plan for changes in your process.
The agency learned two lessons: 1) very few processes were point A to point B – most had a complex web of decision points and approvals. 2) The only thing you can plan for is change.
Moving to a new system, they had the opportunity to revamp their processes and determine where flexibility was needed. The software they selected had both pre-defined structured workflows and unstructured capabilities to change course on the fly. This allowed them to plan for the future by building in flexibility to adjust processes as they go.
4. Connectivity enhances employee engagement
Best Practice: Treat processes as two-way conversations with employees.
Human Resources should be about people. When they mapped out their new system, they redefined the way they approached their workers.
In the new model, a “case” was defined as an interaction between an employee seeking HR Services and the HR staff. More points of connections were set up including web portals where employees could initiate a request, collaborate and review/submit forms. HR Managers could then easily track the interaction, respond and connect the employee with other related services.
This two-way conversation makes employees feel connected. This connection helps employee engagement.
5. Transparency is critical
Best Practice: Open up information flows with robust reporting.
You can’t fix, what you can’t see. Using manual processes, the agency had difficulty tracking and reporting on activities. Bottlenecks were hard to identify and solve.
The agency made their new processes transparent. Dashboards viewed into workloads, pending/overdue tasks and gave deadline alerts. A robust reporting module allowed for instant report generation. This visibility gives the OCHCO the ability to manage resources, while helping workers get quick responses from their HR managers.
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Is your HR house made of straw, sticks or bricks? Learn more about how to strengthen your HR foundation with eCase HR.
eCase HR is now available to National Finance Center (NFC) customers and Non-NFC Agencies on the Blanket Purchase Agreement for Non-Core HR Solutions.
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