In the world of HR, change is the only constant. The way we manage our workforce is evolving at lightning speed, and at the heart of this transformation lies Artificial Intelligence (AI). Forget about the ordinary; it’s time to explore how AI is not just changing but supercharging HR departments across the globe.

The AI Revolution in HR: Beyond the Basics

Artificial Intelligence has gone beyond the basic applications in HR. While chatbots for answering employee queries and automated CV screening are fantastic, the AI landscape in HR now encompasses a universe of possibilities. Let us dive into some of the mind-blowing ways AI is reshaping workforce management:

1. Talent Acquisition Beyond Imagination

Picture this: AI algorithms that can predict not only the best candidates for your job openings but also when they’re most likely to be open to new opportunities. This isn’t science fiction; it’s AI-driven recruitment. Algorithms analyse historical hiring data, social media activity, and even personal career trajectories to identify the perfect match for your team.

AI-powered recruitment platforms, integrated with SAP SuccessFactors modules like Recruitment, revolutionise how HR professionals find and attract top talent. These platforms use machine learning to analyse vast amounts of data, identifying patterns that might go unnoticed by human recruiters. This means not just faster hiring but also smarter hiring, resulting in a workforce that’s better aligned with your company’s goals.

2. Employee Engagement Redefined

Engaged employees are your company’s most valuable asset. AI tools can now gauge employee sentiment in real time, identifying signs of disengagement long before it becomes a problem. This means targeted interventions, personalised learning plans, and happier, more productive employees.

Imagine an AI-driven SuccessFactors module that not only tracks employee engagement but also offers real-time suggestions to improve it. Such systems can detect patterns in employee behaviour and recommend actions like mentoring, training, or even team-building activities. The result? A workplace where employees feel heard, valued, and motivated to excel.

3. Learning That Adapts to You

AI-driven learning platforms don’t just offer courses; they create personalised learning journeys for each employee. It’s like having a personal tutor who knows your strengths, weaknesses, and career aspirations. Employees can upskill and reskill at their own pace, boosting their confidence and your company’s capabilities.

SAP SuccessFactors’ Learning module, powered by AI, customises training plans based on an employee’s current skills, career goals, and even preferred learning style. This not only makes learning more effective but also demonstrates your commitment to employee growth, a key driver of retention and performance.

4. The Future of HR Analytics

Remember those endless spreadsheets filled with HR data? AI has transformed HR analytics into a dynamic, predictive powerhouse. It can forecast employee turnover, identify high-potential candidates, and even suggest strategies for a happier and more productive workforce.

AI-driven HR analytics is not just about reporting past data but predicting future trends. SAP SuccessFactors’ module can, for example, predict which employees are at risk of leaving and recommend retention strategies. With AI, HR professionals are no longer playing catch-up; they’re proactively shaping the future of their organisations.

Real-World Magic: AI at Work

Let’s step out of the theoretical realm for a moment and into the real world. Companies like Unilever have witnessed a 30% reduction in recruitment costs and a 40% increase in employee retention thanks to artificial intelligence powered HR solutions. These aren’t just statistics; they’re the future of HR made possible by AI.

The Road Ahead: AI and the Future of Work

As we move forward, AI in HR will continue to evolve. The integration of AI assistants, such as SAP’s Joule, offers a glimpse into what’s to come. Imagine an AI assistant that not only streamlines HR processes but also anticipates your needs, offering insights and recommendations in real time. The future of work has never looked so exciting!

Conclusion: Embrace the AI Revolution

AI isn’t just changing HR departments; it’s supercharging them. It’s time to embrace the AI revolution in HR and explore the endless possibilities it offers. Whether it’s finding the perfect candidate, keeping your employees engaged, or predicting the future of your workforce, AI is the superhero HR has been waiting for.

At Jigsaw Cloud, we’re your partner on this journey of HR innovation. Let’s explore the future of workforce management together. Are you ready to supercharge your HR department with AI?

Are you tired of the complexities and inefficiencies of your current payroll solution? Do you find yourself seeking answers to common questions about a new payroll system? Look no further! At Jigsaw Cloud, we understand the challenges faced by companies like yours, and we are here to provide you with the ultimate solution—SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll. In this blog, we will address the 6 most frequently asked questions by customers considering a new payroll solution, and we’ll show you how Jigsaw Cloud can be your ideal partner in streamlining your payroll processes.

Q1. What are the features and benefits of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll for payroll management?

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll is a cloud-based software that offers payroll as one of SAP SuccessFactors modules. Here are key features and benefits:

Key Features:

Key Benefits:

Q2. Is SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll suitable for my organisation’s size and needs?

Absolutely! Whether you are a small company or a multinational business, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll can be customised to fit your unique requirements. As a trusted provider of SAP SuccessFactors solutions, Jigsaw Cloud has helped organisations of all sizes achieve their HR goals.

Q3. How can SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll simplify our payroll processes?

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll is a comprehensive cloud-based solution that automates and integrates all aspects of payroll management. Research tells us 71% of Payroll processing time is spent running payroll, completing reconciliation, audits, controls, and data entry. By leveraging our software’s advanced features, Jigsaw Cloud ensures accurate and efficient payroll processing, reducing manual errors and saving your team valuable time.

Q4. What benefits does Jigsaw Cloud offer compared to other payroll solutions in the market?

At Jigsaw Cloud, we pride ourselves on being an experienced SAP SuccessFactors partner with a team of highly skilled, SAP SuccessFactors certified, and dedicated consultants. With our deep expertise and passion for HR transformation, we simplify your implementation journey and support you every step of the way. Our focus on passion, integrity, expertise, and simplicity sets us apart from the competition. Data shows 67% of organizations identify technology limitations & data quality as the biggest payroll processing challenge. We aim to reduce that.

Q5. How has Jigsaw Cloud helped HR companies streamline their processes and improve efficiency?

We’ve noticed companies experience significant improvements in their payroll processes within working with us. We have helped organisations automate and streamline their payroll calculations, reduce administrative time through process automation, and provide a high-end employee experience with self-service functionality. Our clients have reported increased efficiency, accuracy, and employee satisfaction by 98.8%.

Q6. What support does Jigsaw Cloud provide during and after the implementation process?

At Jigsaw Cloud, our support extends beyond implementation. Our team of consultants will guide you through planning, costing, configuration, testing, and go-live. We are committed to being your trusted partner throughout your HR transformation journey, providing ongoing consultancy and support whenever you need it.

If you are seeking a new payroll solution, look no further than Jigsaw Cloud. With our expertise, commitment to compliance, and dedication to simplifying your HR processes, we are the ideal partner for your organisation. Contact us today to embark on your HR transformation journey with confidence.

A focus on employee experience will remain crucial for attracting and retaining top talent for your organisation throughout 2023.

Read on to discover best practices to incorporate into your employee satisfaction strategy. 

2022 was another year of record-high resignation figures across almost every industry, and as a result, employee experience is quickly becoming one of the top priorities as we enter 2023.

If managed strategically, positive employee experiences can have huge impacts across your business – such as reducing staff turnover, improving productivity, differentiating your brand to prospective employees, and much more.  Many HR leaders are now focusing on how they can retain their top performers and attract new talent into their organisations in what continues to be a war for talent.

What is employee experience?

It’s how your employees feel about their jobs, their physical work environment, and the culture within your company, as well as their relationships with colleagues, management, and executives. And each one of these elements is crucial to helping your employees remain engaged, satisfied, and committed to staying with your company. 

But despite the value of positive employee experiences, many organisations still aren’t hitting the mark. In fact, Gartner reports that 87% of employees aren’t fully satisfied with their experience today.

To reduce this dissatisfaction, HR leaders need to refocus their efforts on employee experience by accurately measuring the state of their experiences today and designing strategies that truly consider the needs of their employees.

We’ve gathered some best practices to help you design your employee experience strategy for 2023. These cover steps to creating positive experiences at every step of the employee journey, from the moment they join to their everyday working lives.

An employees’ experience starts from the moment they find your company

Employee experience doesn’t begin on their first day – it starts as soon as they see an advert for their role. Research from HR Grapevine’s Employee Experience Playbook shows that 78% of candidates believe the recruitment experience is a good indicator of what a company’s employee experience will be like. Also, 60% of candidates talk about their application experience to others. This means it’s an essential first step to get right – otherwise, you might be jeopardising your ability to attract top talent.

A good place to start is by looking at your application process. According to the research from the playbook, top performers are more likely to begin applications on their mobile phones, so your website and forms need to be mobile-friendly and also up to date with the latest company info. And consider that a job advert should be ‘selling’ the role and the company to the candidates, not a list of duties, or worse, a job description.

Apply for a role at your company so you can actually experience each step of the early parts of the process – is it a positive one?

You’ll also need to give a realistic overview of the job once you get to interview stage, to help manage potential employees’ expectations and allow them to see if they’ll be a good fit for the role. If you can get each of the steps in the recruitment process right from the beginning, it’s more likely you’ll find committed, well-suited employees for your company. 

Dedicated recruitment and talent management solutions can also help with tasks such as signing contracts, completing essential paperwork, and getting new employees connected with your workplace before they’ve even walked through the door. If these administration responsibilities are dealt with upfront, your new recruits will be able to focus on their roles as soon as they start. The slicker and more streamlined the process, the more positive experience they will have.

Gain insights by continuously listening 

Employee experience isn’t just something to consider for new or potential employees. Continuously listening to your current employees, especially at times of change, can help you gain the insights you need to improve their experience and create a culture of high engagement and productivity.

Research suggests that formal, wide-scale surveys are a great approach to take for understanding your employees’ needs. Annual surveys were once the norm but with the ever-evolving world of work, quarterly ones will give a more comprehensive and real-time snapshot. Delivering employee surveys around important events or big changes in the company can also help you gather insights throughout the year, and help your employees feel their opinions are valued. This might include events such as onboarding, quarterly reviews, employee exits, or changes to your working models.

Surveys are particularly important to understanding how your employees are feeling on a broader scale about their roles and your company culture. To ensure you obtain the most valuable information, and the respondents see this as a positive task, you’ll need to consider what questions you’ll ask, how you’ll manage the data you collect, how you’ll action the feedback and most importantly, timely communication of the outcomes and actions. This is again to allow employees to see taking part as a positive experience as the business is showing they have listened and taken action. 

With the right employee management tools, you can also track and manage the data from these surveys and compare it with fluctuations in productivity and output across the year – and even correlate the results to the actions you take to see if you’re on the right path.

With employee happiness comes success 

The employee experience also extends outside the office, with their health, finances, family, and social life all impacting their overall wellbeing and experience at work. 

There’s a fine line as an organisation between where your influence and responsibilities lie. You can’t seek to support every part of your employees’ lives, but all these factors can have a significant effect on their productivity and engagement during their working day so it’s important to acknowledge the importance they hold.

A good place to focus a respect for their non-work time. If your organisation can make all HR related administration tasks easy, simple, and quick to action, this can prevent them from spending additional time outside of their working day on time consuming but necessary tasks.

For example, introducing an employee portal that’s connected to your central HR system can give your employees a convenient and easy way to book annual leave, report sickness and absences, file requests, update their personal information and communicate with your HR team whenever they need to.

You can also help employees to feel satisfied in their roles by offering a clear sense of direction and progression. This can be achieved with regular catch-ups with line managers, or with a dedicated performance and learning management tool that helps employees track their progress towards goals, rewards, and promotions.

Ready to kickstart your employee experience strategy for 2023?

If you’d like to discuss your employee experience strategy, we have consultants with decades of HR experience across a wide range of sectors – please get in touch to see how we can help. 

In the early days of HR, only large businesses had the budget to invest in HR specific tools, tech, and software. But times have changed, and HR management software is now widely available for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at a fraction of the cost of those early systems.

So, how do you choose the right HR software for your SME? This blog post explores some of the important factors to consider before making your decision.

HR Management Software: An Overview

HR software will help your business manage employee data, track their performance, their learning & development as well as streamline and manage payroll and benefits.

It can also help with onboarding new employees and compliance with employment laws.

Most HR management software is offered as a cloud-based subscription, which means you pay a monthly or yearly fee to access it. Some software providers also offer on-premise versions of their software, which means you would need to install the software on your own servers.

On-premise software can be more expensive than cloud-based software, but it may offer more features and customisation options and ultimately be the best option for both your current and future needs.

Factors to Consider When Choosing HR Management Software

There are a lot of different options for you to choose from, and that can easily become overwhelming.

When choosing HR management software for your SME, there are a few important factors to keep in mind.

Let’s look at those:

Your Company Size

The number of employees you have will impact the features you need and the price you pay for your software. For example, if you have a small team of fewer than 25 employees, you may not need all the bells and whistles that come with some of the more comprehensive HR software packages, those elements that support multi location, or even country and the different legislations and bank holidays, for example.

On the other hand, if you have a large workforce, you will need an HR management solution that can handle a high volume of data, multiple regions and employee records.

Your Budget

As with any business purchase, you need to consider your budget when choosing the best HR management software for your SME.

Be sure to compare the costs of different options and get quotes from multiple vendors before making a decision.

The Features You Need

When considering which HR software to buy, make a list of the features you need. Some common features ones to look for include:

Once you understand the features you need, you can start narrowing down your options.

Your Industry

The industry you are in may also dictate the type of HR management software you will best you’re your needs.

For example, if you are in a highly regulated industry such as healthcare or finance, you will need an HR solution that can ensure you can consistently and easily meet compliance requirements.

On the other hand, if you are in a more creative industry, you may want an HR solution that offers more flexibility and customisation.

Common HR Management Issues
It’s also important to understand some of the common HR management issues you may face within your organisation, such as:

Addressing these issues is essential to keeping your employees happy, motivated and your business running smoothly.

The right HR management software can help you address these issues and keep your employees engaged and productive.

Common HR Management Software Issues

Once you have a good understanding of the different types of HR management software available and the factors to consider when making your decision, it’s time to take a look at some common issues which can impact implementation and cultural adoption of this type of software.

These include:

Data security

Whatever the size of your business, when choosing HR software, be sure to select a solution that offers robust security features such as data encryption and user authentication.

Employment Law Compliance

Be sure to choose an HR solution that can help you meet compliance requirements for your industry. This can be even more critical if you have staff in different geographical locations around the world or operate within highly regulated industries.

Integration with other business systems

Lack of integration with other key business systems within your organisation is another issue you may face when choosing HR software. Choose an HR solution that offers the most seamless integration with your existing business systems and consider sourcing an integration partner who can help you with the implementation.

User Friendly Interface

Any company-wide HR management system absolutely has to be user-friendly as, if your team cannot navigate the system properly, it will not be effective. We talk a lot as an organisation about employee experience and any adopted HR software has to offer a good user experience.

Main Features of HR Technology for SMEs

Now that you have a good understanding of the different types of HR management software available and the factors to consider before making your decision, it’s time to take a look at some of the main features of this type of software.

Key features include:

Employee self-service

This allows employees to access and update their own records, put in requests, or record annual leave and sick leave, and other general HR admin tasks. This can be a useful tool for reducing the workload of HR staff.

Performance tracking

This feature allows you to track the performance of individual employees and can be extremely useful for identifying areas where employees need improvement or training and also for setting goals.

Recruitment and onboarding

Automating many of the more time intense activities involved in any recruitment campaign can reduce the workload of HR and streamline the entire process.

Likewise, by offering a consistent onboarding process, this will help new employees get acclimated to your company, quickly up to speed and productive and engaged from the start.

Payroll and benefits management

Being able to streamline and manage payroll and benefits for your employees, wherever they are based can again reduce time and ensure consistency of benefits and timely pay for your entire workforce.

HR Management Software Costs

HR software can range in price from a few hundred pounds to several thousand pounds per year, depending on the features and solutions you need.

However, now that HR software and technology have become more accessible with many offering a cloud-based solution, SMEs can now benefit from the same features and solutions at a fraction of the cost.

To get the most bang for your buck, it really is crucial to fully compare the features and costs of different HR management software solutions before making your decision.

Summary

The bottom line is that HR management software is a valuable tool for SMEs however, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It shouldn’t be complicated, expensive, or time-consuming – the key is to find one that meets the specific needs of your business, not just now but for the foreseeable future too.

Jigsaw Cloud can help you find the right HR management software solution for your business and we offer a free no-obligation consultation so that you can learn more about our solutions and how they can benefit your business.

Schedule your free software assessment today!

The world has changed with employees wanting choice, slick process, and flexibility. From an HR perspective, this means ensuring people are aligned, engaged, and properly skilled. It means having an agile, often remote, workforce that can quickly adapt to change and is more diverse and inclusive. And it means providing experiences that attract and retain top talent and empower everyone to do and be their best in an ever-changing work scenario.

If you are an SME, time-consuming HR tasks can deter from a focus on improving employee performance and an overall increase in productivity. Consider how much time it would free up if you had a streamlined HR system that allows you this focus?

Your people are the heartbeat of your organisation. When they’re engaged – feeling supported, trained, rewarded, and motivated – they’ll do what it takes to win, remain loyal and stay with you.

An automated, streamlined system can also help you to strengthen the connection between HR and operations by bringing together core HR and payroll, talent management, recruitment, learning, people analytics, and employee experience management with other applications and processes within your organisation. As a result, you can ensure employees are aligned with the goals of the business and, in these uncertain times, feel a sense of belonging and recognition. So important, especially if your business has moved permanently to a remote or hybrid working model.

One centralised system means you can continuously listen and act on feedback and drive operational improvements. And you can help shape careers and minimise staff attrition by providing personalised learning and development opportunities.

Put people at the centre of your business

Whether you choose automation for candidates, new hires, employees, managers, or leaders – a centralised HR system will help keep everyone engaged and productive while smoothly connecting HR across your organization to allow your people to feel connected, empowered, and supported.

A robust HR system such as SAP SuccessFactors offers embedded feedback and analytics tools across the employee journey, allowing you to continuously listen and take the right actions to impact engagement; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I); productivity; and innovation. It offers the opportunity for comprehensive insights, analysis, and guided action planning.

Drive efficiency & productivity

Any system you choose should be simple to use and make it easier for your employees to access everything they need from a single-entry point. One intuitive workspace that brings together applications and processes, information, workflows, and communication that everyone needs so they can quickly prioritise work and access what’s most important to them.

If your people could also access career exploration tools, anytime coaching and feedback, personalised learning recommendations, and intelligent mentoring, all could empower them to take charge of their careers. And, for HR, you gain access to a wealth of data and insights into each individual’s capabilities, aspirations, motivations, and preferences, which would allow you to anticipate their needs and take steps to meet and exceed their expectations.

Create a Future-Ready Workforce

It continues to be a candidate driven market so having strategic talent management solutions for your workforce, you can build the skills and agility needed today and for the future of your organisation. A system like SAP SuccessFactors will allow you to upskill and reskill your workforce to fill gaps and mobilise teams quickly, provide individualised recommendations for learning and development opportunities, and enhance the culture of your organisation to allow always-on learning to inspire and engage employees to achieve their goals and also keep staff attrition to a minimum in the current market.

You can also help employees find the best possible work for the skills they have today – and the skills they want to gain. They could have visibility into new opportunities, such as short-term assignments, dynamic teams, mentors, learning recommendations, and role recommendations.

Make informed decisions

With the right system in place, it can help you remove bias from hiring, pay, and promotion decisions. Using company-wide data, you can plan, measure, and improve DE&I and well-being. And you can help individuals expose their current skills and capabilities to allow equal opportunity for growth.

With visibility into your internal and external workers, you can also plan, staff, onboard, and pay your total workforce using a consistent and optimized experience. SAP solutions provide real-time visibility into your workforce so you can ensure alignment of your talent with your workforce plan.

You can also standardize and deliver on-time, accurate, and compliant payroll. With a proven payroll engine, you gain highly reliable payroll data for financial planning and funding purposes, which continuously adapts to the latest compliance standards, delivering an average of 1,700 legal updates annually.

In addition, one centralised HR system means you can have real- time workforce reporting – and can, for example, see which locations and teams are over and underperforming and why. You can also understand how workforce decisions and investments impact organizational outcomes.

Tackle companywide compliance with confidence

A system like SAP SuccessFactors takes the pressure off managing regulatory needs right across your organisation. New regulations impacting HR, privacy, and security are continually tracked globally by SAP who automatically push changes direct to you, allowing you to better meet and stay ahead of compliance requirements, wherever your people are based.

Increase the Strategic Value of HR

When you invest in your people, you increase the strategic value of HR. Why? Because better employee experiences will shape your customers’ experiences – and the success of your organisation.

Automating and centralising HR process and admin, you can maximize the ROI of HR and people investments within your organisation. You can connect HR across your business by integrating, extending, and building applications to fully optimize HR and operations.

You can also align people related decisions with business priorities – the key to improving profitability. Access to real-time, accurate people data to power comprehensive processes and experiences. And by leveraging insights from your chosen system, you can align talent decisions with organizational performance.

An HR system such as SAP SuccessFactors enables you to engage people in new and inspiring ways, create a culture of productivity and purpose, and improve organizational agility to build a sustainable workforce. At the same time, you can run your business more effectively by:

Realize the benefits of a centralised & automated HR system for your SME

A single, centralised HR system such SAP® SuccessFactors® Human Experience Management Suite helps provide individualized experiences designed to keep everyone across the organization happy, productive, engaged, and continuously improving. You can simplify HR compliance globally, build a future-ready workforce, and align people decisions with organizational priorities.

Objectives

Solution

Benefits

Traditional human capital management (HCM) systems were not built with employees’ needs and wants in mind. By transforming HCM into HXM (Human Experience Management) you can help your customers transform the way they engage with their people and deliver the experiences their employees have always wanted.

This industry-leading cloud-based human experience management (HXM) suite uses the latest SAP technology to help you win the war for top talent, connect people to purpose, and drive results across your business.

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central

Do you need a core HR system that meets the global needs of your people and your business? 

Learn the key benefits of SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central during this 60 second product journey video. 

SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Service Center: Serve Your Employees

Watch this short demo video on the SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Center Service Center to learn how to reinvent the employee experience by delivering the HR services your employees need when and where they need them.

In this piece we explore ways to ensure HR leaders meet their responsibilities to support their employees’ mental health and wellbeing.

There’s an abundance of health and safety legislation in place within the UK to protect physical wellbeing, and prevent any discrimination based on it. But when it comes to mental health and wellbeing, the responsibilities aren’t quite as clear – despite stress, depression, and anxiety accounting for 50% of all work-related ill health cases between 2020/21.

Speaking with HR leaders every day, it’s clear that the topic of mental health is one that’s increasingly important in the workplace – which means it’s crucial to understand where you’re responsibility lies.

Your responsibilities as an HR leader

When thinking about HR leaders’ responsibilities, it is best to look at the minimum legal requirements and work upwards from there.

ACAS simply states that employers have a “duty of care”, which means HR leaders must do all they reasonably can to support their employees’ health and wellbeing. Also, CIPD adds that disability discrimination provisions in the Equality Act 2010 encompass many mental illnesses, so they need to be legally treated as a disability.

This leaves HR leaders and employers with very little legal responsibility at all. But we know that most will want to go far beyond this bare minimum to support their people.

We’ve all seen the effects mental health and wellbeing can have on the day-to-day running of the workplace, from lower morale and motivation to poorer performance – and in extreme cases, even conflict. But along with the effects on your workplace culture, there’s also a major cost impact. The Stevenson-Farmer review found that mental health issues can cost employers up to £1,205-£1560 per employee every year, due to combined factors such as absenteeism, presenteeism, and staff turnover.

These are just a couple of the reasons why it’s so important you treat mental health and wellbeing as equally as you do physical health. It’s also a chance to show your employees that you’re invested in them as people, and that they’re a valuable part of your organisation.

Ultimately, this means looking beyond your minimum legal responsibilities and exploring the actions you can put in place to support your workforce.

How to support your employees’ mental health and wellbeing

While you can’t provide all the support your employees will need to manage mental health challenges, you can build supportive structures within your workplace to create a welcoming environment for everyone. Here are three of the key lessons to helping HR leaders address their workforces’ wellbeing challenges:

Team and line managers are a crucial part of driving your mental health and wellbeing strategy and setting the culture within your workplace. That means it’s important they’re effectively equipped to support employees with any issues they might face.

Mental Health Charity Mind recommends normalising conversations about mental health in regular one-to-one catchups between employees and line managers, to build trust and give employees a chance to raise any problems they have at an early stage.

Of course, this means your line managers will need the right soft skills to ensure they’re approachable and confident talking about these topics. Fortunately, there are plenty of convenient eLearning courses available today. SAP Litmos, for example, offers dedicated courses for health and wellbeing, leadership and management, and mindfulness – along with dozens of other courses around soft skills and communication.

After the disruption in recent years, everyday working looks different for everyone. Without the right policies in place, it can quickly lead to additional stress that can have a negative impact on employees managing mental health issues.

One of the Harvard Business Review’s key recommendations for supporting employees’ mental health and wellbeing is to officially update policies that might have become outdated or made obsolete during or since the pandemic. This includes looking at your rules around remote and hybrid working, paid time off, communication, and unpaid leave.

Once you’ve updated your policies, it’s important the changes are clearly communicated to your teams. This is much easier if you’re using a central employee HR system that allows your people to access the information they need whenever they want – and serve themselves when it comes to reporting sickness, booking annual leave, and other essential tasks.

Following the pandemic, many HR leaders and employers placing more of a long-term strategic focus on mental health and wellbeing. In fact, in Headspace’s global study, 71% of employees said their company had an increased focus on mental health due to the pandemic – but only 25% said their employer has maintained that focus in the past year.

To ensure you stick to your mental health and wellbeing goals, I’d recommend incorporating them as part of your company-wide strategy.

This will look different for every organisation, depending on the industry, workforce, and size. But regardless of what your organisation looks like, there are a lot of valuable resources available to help you assess how you’re currently supporting mental health in the workplace, and where you can take actions to improve.

One useful tool is BUPA’s workplace mental health audit – which provides a step-by-step way to assess the policies and procedures in your workplace. Similarly, Mind offers a Workplace Wellbeing Index, a system designed to benchmark your policies and highlight places you can become more supportive.

Discover some of the common challenges HR leaders face with remote recruitment, and see how some of the biggest organisations have adapted to overcome them.

Most organisations had to quickly adopt remote recruitment strategies during the pandemic – sometimes leading to disjointed and makeshift practices. Now, remote recruitment and hybrid working are part of the new normal, organisations need to reflect on their processes and adjust their strategies to make sure they’re in the best position to gain and retain talent. 

According to the CIPD, 43% of organisations are taking an ad hoc approach to recruitment, so now’s the time to get ahead of the competition and ensure your remote attraction, onboarding and retention strategies are effective – to help win the best talent, wherever they are. 

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the most common challenges HR leaders are facing with remote recruitment, and how leading organisations have adapted their processes to overcome them. 

The challenges of remote recruitment: from time zones to dodgy IT 

Remote recruitment offers a unique set of challenges that start before you post your job advert and can last more than a year into employee contracts. Here are some of the most common challenges HR leaders are facing: 

Organisations are spoilt for choice

Endless geographical limits to sourcing new talent mean organisations often get more applications and face more competition. With a large virtual stack of cover letters and CVs to read, HR leaders need to put aside a lot of time to manually sort through them. And when it comes to conducting interviews, HR leaders face new logistical problems like different time zones. 

On top of staying late for interviews, it can be hard to build rapport online. Virtual interviews can feel awkward and unnatural, making it difficult to offer someone a job having met them only virtually. It can take a leap of faith, which can be too much for some organisations. 

Poorly organised onboarding is common 

Onboarding a new hire remotely isn’t easy. They have new working relationships to form, new systems and processes to learn, and people to impress – all while working from home. 

And it doesn’t help when they’ve no idea what they can expect, or have little chance to prepare. With pre-boarding, new hires have the opportunity to learn their company’s systems and meet their teams in advance, accelerating their time to productivity. But this process involves a lot of resources to prepare and relies on the availability of your new hire and current teams.

Unlike working in-person, new hires can’t ask questions or make connections without having to make a call, which can feel more awkward and scary than meeting at the water cooler for a quick chat. And without the right, functional tech, new hires can’t make those calls at all. 

Remote onboarding presents a different set of technical challenges to in-person experiences – from undelivered log-in details to not having the right technology. And it can lead to isolated employees who are at a loose end and waiting on tech support.

If unhappy, employees are more likely to leave 

It’s harder to keep employees engaged, happy and productive when they’re working remotely. According to Deloitte, 39% of people find it harder to stay motivated when working from home, and 33% of people said they felt more isolated or lonely. 

And with 26% of jobseekers not prepared to stick with a job they think isn’t a good fit, even when they haven’t got another offer, organisations need to make sure they’re supporting their employees as much as they can. 

HRGrapevine reports that 90% of businesses believe that employees make their decision to stay within their first year of employment – potentially making it the most important period for organisations to focus on retaining their staff. 

With so much to keep track of, and so many possibilities for processes to go wrong, what does it take to be successful with remote recruitment? 

Learn from the best 

Some of the biggest organisations have faced similar challenges, and they’re working to overcome them. Here’s how three leading organisations have adapted their onboarding processes over the past couple of years. 

IBM

IBM, an American multinational technology corporation, moved all its recruitment and onboarding online in March 2020. When in-person, IBM’s induction groups were as large as 50 people, but to help make virtual experiences more engaging and interactive, the company split its sessions into smaller groups. 

Now, IBM uses creativity to help new hires make connections. Digital virtual collaboration tools help IBM run fast-paced scavenger hunts and ‘draw last night’s dinner’ warm-ups. These induction sessions are designed to be quick and fun, to help new hires stay focused and engaged, and to help them avoid camera fatigue.

As a result of the changes, IBM has seen satisfaction scores for virtual inductions much higher than they were for in-person events – both from the attendees and from IBM’s team of trainers, who now spend less time travelling to different locations. 

Salesforce 

Salesforce is an American cloud-based software company that already had a remote version of its onboarding programme in place prior to COVID-19. And in early March 2021, the company transitioned to a fully remote onboarding experience globally. 

This involved completely revamping its core onboarding programmes to help new employees build connections with different people across the organisation. The new programme introduced networking opportunities for employees to meet colleagues throughout their region, rather than just those in their office – broadening the number of potential connections. 

Also, Salesforce invites its tenured employees to present about the organisation’s culture and showcase different experiences at the company. And the organisation even offers volunteering for all its employees in their first week, to help build new connections within teams. 

In one year, Salesforce onboarded 10,000 people remotely, and feedback scores improved by 4% compared to its in-person programme. 

Vistaprint 

Vistaprint, a design and marketing partner to millions, is a global and remote-first company. Like Salesforce, it also wanted to help its new hires build personal connections, and get a sense of the organisation’s culture and community.

To achieve this, Vistaprint holds a live, virtual orientation day to introduce new team members to the organisation and tell them everything they need to know about HR and IT. It also runs a virtual new hire social on day one that gives its new team members the opportunity to get to know each other using group games, and one-on-one breakout rooms. 

Vistaprint has a remote-first handbook that details different virtual engagement ideas teams can use for ongoing virtual gatherings, to ensure onboarding continues beyond the starting week. The organisation is also in the process of implementing a learning management system, which will allow it to expand and streamline formal onboarding to a 100-day programme. 

What results can you expect?

According to Gartner, organisations with successful recruitment strategies see more than a 20% increase in employees’ discretionary effort and up to 15% in employee performance. Furthermore, committed employees work 57% harder and are nine times less likely to leave.

You can’t guarantee everything will always go smoothly with remote recruitment, but there are steps you can take to minimise disruption and ensure you’re putting your best foot forward as an employer.

In 2022, managers’ roles look a lot different to how they did five years ago. They’re facing new challenges like hybrid working, remote recruitment, and shifting work behaviours. As a result, many don’t feel like they have the tools and skills they need to lead productive teams. In fact, Microsoft recently reported that 74% of managers said they don’t have the resources to make change for employees.

HR leaders have a responsibility to support the development of their managers – and any potential future managers – to ensure they have everything they need to keep teams motivated, whether they’re working in person or remotely.

In this blog, we’ll look at why managers are so important and how you can build an organisation that supports them. We’ll also share some of the best tools you can equip your managers with to help them get the most from their teams.

What impact do managers have on their teams?

Managers have a responsibility for their direct reports’ wellbeing, performance, and motivation – all factors that drive positive employee experiences, and successful individual and team outputs. For example, Gartner research found that managers who drive sustainable performance can help develop employees who are 17% more productive and 1.7 times more likely to stay at their organization than other employees.

But despite how valuable managers can be, they aren’t being nurtured effectively in many organisations. Another Gartner report revealed that 24% of HR leaders believe they don’t effectively develop mid-level managers – which is an even bigger problem considering the new working challenges and growing responsibilities managers face.

For organisations to be successful into the future, HR leaders need to prioritise supporting their managers’ development and streamlining their responsibilities to help them lead productive and efficient teams.

How to nurture successful managers

Creating an effective environment for managers to grow and lead their teams requires support from the very top of your organisation. Your CEO and board members will set the baseline for what’s expected from managers, and managers will look to them for support when they need it.

Senior leaders in your organisation will also be responsible for establishing and refining your approach to behavioural and performance-based rewards. With a consistent, fair reward framework to work from, managers will be empowered to remunerate and reward their team members more effectively – and there’s less likelihood of discrepancies among different managers in your organisation.

You can also nurture successful managers by ensuring you have the right people in managerial roles and beyond. With the right succession development tools, you can identify employees with the skills and potential to become effective managers in your organisation, which can even inform your recruitment plans.

And to help build on the skills current and potential managers will need, you can adopt learning management systems to develop softer, more human skills – which, according to 84% of HR leaders, will be more important for managers in hybrid settings.

Soft skills like communication and empathy can help build stronger working relationships, and establish a shared sense of belonging, community, and trust between managers and their direct reports. This is especially important, as nearly 80% of employees who highly trust their employer feel more motivated to work.

Equipping your managers with the tools they need

In addition to consistent training and development opportunities for your managers, you can equip them with specific tools to help them get the most out of their teams, and manage their own workloads and responsibilities.

In 2020, 1 in 4 companies adopted new technologies to passively monitor their employees, in turn helping managers to lessen their manual workload. For example, a performance management system can help your managers get a clearer view of their team’s performance and cut out some of the additional work associated with overseeing employees.

Using the right performance management system, managers can set goals, identify their best performers, and link employee performance to rewards – automatically visualising the information they need to recognise great work, better motivate their teams, and retain talent throughout their organisation. Plus, it can give managers more time to spend on the development of their direct reports, which currently only makes up 9% of their time.

For new generations entering the workforce, these factors will be incredibly important. Gen Z list positive feedback and recognition, and a manager who will help advance their career, as two of their top five priorities while looking for jobs.
[CTA]

Empower your managers

If you’d like to learn more about how you can develop and equip your managers to lead productive teams, we have consultants with decades of HR experience across a wide range of sectors – just get in touch to see how we can help.

Almost 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days of employment. Business owners know an effective onboarding experience is a must. But many are unsure of how to improve the process to decrease turnover.

That’s where HR metrics come in. By measuring the success of onboarding, they will be able to identify areas of concern and opportunities in their process. Automated onboarding tools and HR dashboards make it easier than ever for companies to gain insight.

Does your company need a better onboarding process? Keep reading to find out how metrics can help.

How Do You Use HR Metrics to Improve Employee Onboarding?

HR metrics help companies understand what is working and what needs improvement. By using metrics, they can determine how to improve the employee experience. They can also measure the effectiveness of new onboarding initiatives.

HR metrics are one of the most important aspects of the onboarding process. A few areas they should measure are employee engagement, employee satisfaction, the number of new hires, and turnover rate.

Why Is a Good Employee Onboarding Experience Important? 

Employee onboarding is the process of making new employees feel welcomed and valued. It is important because it creates a sense of belonging and makes them more likely to stay with the company. Employee onboarding is important for several other reasons:

Employees who have a good onboarding experience tend to be more engaged at work. They also stay with the company longer than those who don’t have a good onboarding experience.

7 Benefits of HR Metrics 

There are numerous benefits to using HR metrics in your organisation. The top seven include: 

1. Improve the Onboarding Process

HR metrics help companies understand how the onboarding process is going. Once they have this information, companies can improve their onboarding process.

There are many benefits to using metrics to improve the onboarding process. For instance, they help identify and eliminate bottlenecks in the process which leads to a better experience for new hires.

HR metrics also provide a detailed view of the entire onboarding process. This allows HR teams to make informed decisions about how they want to proceed with the onboarding process.

2. Understand Voluntary and Involuntary Turnover More Clearly 

Metrics show the voluntary and involuntary turnover during the onboarding process. They also help businesses determine how their employees are feeling during their first few months on the job. You can also use them to measure retention rates of new hires and whether or not they are happy with their work environment.

The benefits of using metrics to measure turnover include:

3. Track Metrics for Each Leader 

HR metrics help businesses measure individual new hire success for each leader. They also provide a better understanding of the return on investment for each new hire.

They can determine whether the company is performing better than the industry average. Or to understand how well the individual leaders are doing. HR metrics help companies understand what their employees need to succeed and what makes them successful.

You can also use them as a tool for evaluating leadership performance. This helps companies make informed decisions about which leaders should stay or go. This helps to improve the profitability and efficiency of operations.

4. Automate Reporting 

Automated reporting provides a better understanding of the company’s culture. They can provide insights into how their employees are doing in a particular job. This helps them to make decisions on what to do next and whether or not they need to hire more people in the future.

HR professionals and business leaders alike use metrics for decisions. They can be a performance management tool to identify growth opportunities. They also make sure that the company’s goals are being met.

5. Increase Transparency

HR dashboards increase transparency for everyone in your company. They are a great way for businesses to become more transparent. They help in making the business more efficient and effective.

HR metrics also help in measuring the employee experience and providing feedback to employees. Businesses that use HR metrics have a competitive advantage over those that do not. Other benefits include:

6. Enhance Communication Across the Organisation 

HR metrics help enhance communication across an organization. They provide a way of understanding the values and behaviors of employees.

With HR metrics, organizations gain a better understanding of employee engagement. They also understand morale and productivity better. Metrics also help in identifying employee needs for training and development.

They provide clear insights into how employees are feeling about their work environment and the company as a whole.

7. Identify Trends 

HR metrics are a part of the employee feedback system. They help companies to identify trends and change their strategies accordingly.

Workplace culture is an important factor in a company’s success. HR metrics help companies to understand what employees like and dislike about the company culture. Leaders can take that information and make changes accordingly.

HR metrics also help companies to identify employees who have the potential for growth and development. At the same time, they provide insights into how well-performing employees are doing in their roles.

How to Use HR Metrics 

Businesses use HR metrics to measure the success of their onboarding process. They also use it to assess the performance of new hires. As a result, HR metrics are now a key factor in the onboarding process.

They can be a tool for individual assessment and group assessment as well. The key is to make sure that the metrics are relevant and useful for the business goals and objectives. A few targeted ways to use metrics include: 

Measure New-Hire Satisfaction

New hires are the most valuable asset for any business. They bring new ideas, fresh perspectives, and new skillsets to the table. What makes them successful is their satisfaction with their position and company culture.

But what are the metrics that can help measure new-hire satisfaction? HR metrics can help measure how satisfied their employees are in their position. These include: 

There are a few reasons why companies should use HR metrics to measure new-hire satisfaction. First, it will help companies ensure that they are hiring people who are going to be happy once they start working at the company. Second, it will help them identify areas of improvement so that their company can become more efficient and productive. Lastly, it will help them understand how well their employees are doing in comparison to other companies in the same industry.

Determine Training Completion Rate

Businesses need to understand their training completion rates. This is to make sure they are getting the most out of their training investment.

HR metrics can help them do this by letting them know how many employees are completing the required training. They also showcase what percentage of those employees are staying with the company after completing the training.

It can determine the effectiveness of their training program and whether it is efficient. Employers should use metrics such as time spent on tasks and quality of work to gain deeper insight into training. 

Assess Engagement Rates 

Employee engagement is an important metric for businesses. It helps them understand how engaged and motivated their employees are and what they can do to improve their engagement levels.

Engagement rates are measured by a variety of factors. These include the number of complaints filed by employees and the number of hours worked per week. They can help businesses make better decisions about their employees and improve performance.

Get Started With New Onboarding Tools Today 

In this article, we discussed the benefits of using HR metrics to improve your company’s onboarding process. We hope you have a clearer understanding of how impactful HR metrics can be for an organisation. 

At Jigsaw Cloud, we have years of experience in helping companies just like you in utilising HR dashboards to improve operations. Our team of experts is available to answer questions or help you get started today. 

Interested in learning more? Check out our SAP SuccessFactors solution that will improve your onboarding experience. 

The Great Resignation has left many organisations struggling to find new talent, and 91% of HR leaders are at least somewhat concerned about rising turnover.

Greater turnover is increasing the competition for new potential hires, meaning it’s more difficult to secure the talent you need. And when you factor in new remote working expectations, the challenges only grow.

To help your organisation attract, onboard, and retain remote talent, here are Jigsaw Cloud’s five steps to successful remote recruitment.

1. Connect with potential candidates

According to the CIPD, professional networking sites are one of the most effective attraction methods. By working with recruiters and talent managers, you can create bespoke messaging and email campaigns to connect with potential talent.

This proactive approach will help to nurture and engage the right kind of candidates, without waiting for them to apply.

2. Use a recruitment management platform

Nearly a third of organisations are reporting an excessive number of applicants – and it’s leading to hours of manual work.

By adopting a recruitment management platform, you can use algorithms to get greater visibility into your applicant pool – finding the best candidate in minutes and giving you the time to engage with them.

Nearly two-thirds of HR professionals report technology speeds up the recruitment process, and 37% say it also helps to reduce unconscious bias.

3. Preboard new hires

Preboarding new hires can help to accelerate their time to productivity. To support your new hires so they’re ready for work as soon as they log in, you can:

Organise paperwork

Provide equipment

Set up training sessions

Have a get-together

4. Regularly communicate

Gartner reported 46% of employees interact with colleagues less when working remotely. And 53% of employees said that their interactions with colleagues were more transactional rather than meaningful – so it’s important to encourage genuine communication, especially during onboarding.

5. Ask for feedback

Without asking, you can’t know how valuable your efforts are. Employee onboarding surveys can be useful for gauging whether you’re meeting employee expectations, and how likely new hires are to stay.

This will be especially important during onboarding, as Deloitte reports that employees with less than two years on the job expressed the strongest intentions to leave.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can improve your remote recruitment, we have HR consultants with decades of experience across a wide range of sectors – just get in touch to see how we can help.

Here at Jigsaw Cloud, we’ve been helping small to medium businesses achieve their HR goals since 2004. With an experienced team of SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Litmos consultants and HR practitioners, we understand how to combine people management, technology, and process together to achieve maximum business impact.