Proud Partners in People Performance Part 1
Insights from an HR Professional on the world of HR Tech
Hello, and thank you for reading my (semi) bi-weekly newsletter on all things HR Tech. I aim for this to be the resource I wish I’d had when I started this career many years ago. If you find this useful, please subscribe and share!
I’ve created a very short (1 question) survey to get advice on improving my writing. Would you consider filling it out? https://forms.gle/Ch87EMhBMAH18MnU6
Our Discord channel - Digital HR Alchemy - will host a live virtual event on February 21st, 2024 at 11 AM. Join the channel here for updates.
Introduction
Prioritizing relationships is a foundational but often neglected mindset for HR Tech professionals. Our work is driven first by the relationships we build and, secondly, by the skills we develop.
The most important relationship for any HRIS professional is their HR colleagues. These partners provide the insight and perspective needed to design systems and reports that build value for the business and enhance the employee experience.
To explore this relationship, I had the unique opportunity to assemble this Q&A with Amy Mencarelli.
Amy has worked in the HR field for the last decade, spending time in the tech, medical, education, and consulting fields. She is passionate about the future of HR and helping to lead HR teams to that end. When she’s not diving into all things HR, she loves relaxing on the lake, reading biographies & non-fiction, and watching sports with her husband and dog.
Below are key insights from our discussion, followed by an in-depth exploration of each topic.
Key Insights
Strategic HR Tech: HR technology is critical in today’s organizations. Amy emphasizes the importance of HR leaders leveraging their tech professionals for success.
Creating value as an HRIS professional: Storytelling and documentation are crucial to bridging the gap. Work with your HR partners to align projects with business outcomes. This turns HR Tech from an operational support function to a strategic partner.
Big picture perspective: HR tech professionals must proactively understand technology trends and offer recommendations to HR leadership.
The Journey to Collaboration
Amy is surprised by the lack of focus on HR tech professionals in her HR career.
Question: Could you share your journey in the HR field and how you have interacted with tech professionals throughout your career?
“The HR tech team members I’ve worked with have rarely been full-time members of the HR team. Instead, they’ve either been HR team members assigned the responsibility of overseeing the HRIS in addition to their other responsibilities, or they’ve been a member of the IT team assigned to the HRIS.”
I have also experienced this coming into teams where HR functional areas were responsible for the HR tech. For example, the training and development team administering the LMS. This results in a fractured employee experience as these teams lack the time or knowledge to create cohesive systems. Amy sums up the consequences of this well:
Question: When you first began working with tech teams, what initial challenges or surprises did you encounter?
“Initially, I was struck by the lack of focus on this area resulting in weak processes, subpar systems, and minimal resources. The outcome was poor historical data preservation, incomplete conversions, and an overall absence of people data in decision-making.”
Many organizations struggle to understand the role of technology in their HR function. It’s up to HRIS professionals to demonstrate the value of their work and their leaders to familiarize themselves with the role of technology in their operations.
HR Tech Strategies for Success
While we may feel like we lack the influence to change the trajectory or focus of our HR teams about tech, Amy provides some key insights to show the value of systems and data.
Question: How can HRIS professionals foster a better understanding of technical possibilities among their HR colleagues?
“Capture and share the stories behind what you do – whether that be stories from other orgs who are capitalizing on technical possibilities, stories shared by vendors, or stories from within your own org. Storytelling helps make the technical approachable.”
Storytelling is a powerful tool overlooked in our modern corporate world of numbers and facts. However, storytelling bridges the gap between the human and the technical in a profession focused on people.
Question: In your experience, what communication strategies work best when HR Tech professionals collaborate with their HR colleagues?
“Documentation, documentation, documentation. Make things as self-serve as possible to minimize the administrative burden of HR colleagues for the HR tech team members. The right system can help immensely in this regard.”
Those with a tech mindset can forget that not everyone sees systems as we do. Others see what we see as an intricate web of interconnected technology processes as a tangled, unapproachable mess. Building quality documentation and training for your systems empowers your customers.
Question: What advice would you give HRIS professionals looking to grow their HR careers?
“Grow your understanding of how the data and tech you work with impacts the business. What do you see as the biggest areas of opportunity for the business? Why? Really dig in and analyze so you have a full story to present and not just one piece of the story.”
I wish I had learned Amy’s advice earlier in my HRIS career. The best-looking system or dashboard means nothing if it doesn’t impact business outcomes. This is what company leadership is looking for from HR and what your HR leaders are looking for from you.
That’s it for Part 1. In the next article, we will explore Amy’s insights on the role of HR leaders in understanding and maximizing the value of their HR Tech teams.
Subscribe below to get this newsletter direct to your email!
Additional Resources
Some friends from my HRIS circle and I have started a Discord channel to help support HR Tech professionals in their work. You can register here. We’ve also put together some instructions here.
We want to create volunteer positions to help with moderation, welcome new members, plan events, and overall engagement. If you are interested in helping out, please email me at timwhitley@hrtechwizard.com.
Interesting Stories from the Week
ChatGPT has revived interest in ethics. The irony is that we haven’t been holding humans to the same standard
I’ve always believed that “we shouldn’t have AI evaluating people” in hiring decisions, performance reviews, etc. However, this article brings an interesting perspective as we think about bias in human decision-making. Are we really any better at evaluating potential candidates or an employee’s performance than a computer?
For me, it just illustrates how nuanced these decisions are. As tech professionals, we need to do our due diligence and think through how technology is being used.
Read the full article here.
HR transformation in 2024: Doing more with less
Yes! This article nails the importance of doing transformation strategically, utilizing your resources and your team.
Leverage technology through process optimization
Collaborate with providers
Outsource non-core functions
Maximize cross-functional collaboration
Read the full article here.
Lenny’s Decision-Making Frameworks
I need to do a deep dive on this article because there is so much good stuff!
HR Tech Career Opportunities
Disclaimer: Unless otherwise specified, I can’t speak to the quality of the job or the company. I am displaying jobs I have found online that seem to have broad appeal regarding job requirements and work location. If you have an HR tech job you would like me to highlight, please email it to me.
Director, Global Diversity & Inclusion Analytics - Microsoft - Redmond, WA
HR Data Quality & Compliance Analyst - ABM Industries - Sugar Land, Chicago, Cleveland, NYC, or Atlanta
HRIS Analyst, Business Process & Data - CHS Inc - Inver Grove Heights, MN
More Opportunities to Connect
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/timwhitley1/
Great one and I agree with Amy, it's rare that you have devoted HR Tech. Which is surprising on many levels.