Today’s HR leaders have to do more with less. They need to prove the value of employee programs – and not drown in data. They have to be technology experts who can sniff out winning solutions from dozens of similar and overlapping technologies. This isn’t easy.
To be successful in HR today, CHROs need to understand the technology trends impacting people management. Here’s a look at four HR technology trends that CHROs can’t afford to miss:
1. Apps
Specific point solutions are ubiquitous. Some offer unique benefits, and some don’t. Today, there are employee apps that do everything from guided meditation and nutrition coaching, to expense tracking, performance management and travel booking. But who actually has the time to weed through hundreds of technologies to pick winners? Certainly not today’s CHROs.
CHROs don’t need ten more apps and vendors to manage. They need a more integrated, not just aggregated approach. A suite of acquired and cobbled together technology from the HR technology behemoths of bygone eras isn’t useful anymore.
2. Productive partnerships
Savvy HR technology vendors recognize the need to help CHROs make sense of the plethora of individual point solutions. It may be obvious, but too many options are overwhelming. Providing hundreds of options results in “choice overload” a term coined by American psychologist, Dr. Barry Schwartz.
That’s why vendors are forging productive partnerships that offer proven solutions to CHROs. My company, Limeade, offers a curated partner network with our Smart Hub, and we’re not alone. Recent announcements like the one between rewards store, OC Tanner, and global step challenge company Virgin Pulse, also reflect this trend.
3. Progress to a Platform
Platform plays are on the rise. In enterprise software, suites assemble, become unwieldy and then break up again into breakout point solutions. Consolidation is cyclical – and we’re in this phase. The question is, who will be gobbled up? And when?
When it comes to workforce management, employee engagement is a hot topic. The race to become the top integrated engagement platform is on. Potential winners come from different places – well-being, rewards and recognition, engagement measurement – maybe even learning or talent management.
The winner will be the company with the deepest conviction on how to serve employees in a way that creates a supportive culture. Employees won’t tolerate systems that serve shareholders and executives at the expense of people and purpose.
4. People Analytics
Today’s CHRO needs to prove value, which requires more sophisticated measurement tools. The surge of people analytics points to the underlying need to understand people and culture, prove value and optimize a workforce. But this overabundance of data with potential insights leaves CHROs drowning.
The reality is that CHROs don’t need more data. They need better data, more frequent data, better-visualized data and technology that gives them meaningful insights to act on.
Today’s CHROs are tasked with caring for a company’s greatest asset – its people. While HR technology may have a reputation of being “behind the times” today’s new point solutions, coupled with productive partnerships and smart platform plays, make HR technology a vital component of a great employee experience.
What trends do you see hitting today’s CHRO?
About the Author: Henry Albrecht
Henry Albrecht founded Limeade in 2006, with a mission to improve well-being in the world. Using a values-driven approach, Henry crafted an intentional culture of improvement at Limeade elevating it as a model employer for its engaged, high-energy and high-performing workforce. Limeade is an employee engagement platform that inspires commitment by elevating culture through immersive technology focused on the whole person, whole company and whole ecosystem. As CEO, Henry is an irreverent thought leader, writer, and speaker discussing topics like the importance of well-being, employee engagement and cultural alignment.