Hr and technology

Editor's Notes

• #3: HR has already been deeply involved in leveraging technologies like the Internet to automate many of the transactional tasks assigned to HR. Employees find benefits information, job postings and employee handbooks on company web sites. Time-saving functions like payroll automation and e-reporting technologies have also reduced the time dedicated to processing tasks and has given HR more time to devote to strategic planning and decision making. One of the ways HR professionals can demonstrate their ability to contribute to their organization’s strategic goals is by the insight they can supply regarding employees and trends affecting these employees. These recommendations require close attention to current trends, innovative ideas and legal developments. Of course, monitoring is only half of the process; HR is then responsible for making sure that the proper constituents are informed of the information gathered. HR is also responsible for encouraging communication and collaboration among employees. The physical dispersion of employees is increasing as businesses expand their global reach and continue to embrace flexible employee arrangements. Coordination and communication with these employees requires additional effort and planning. HR should eagerly adopt any technology that can bridge connections across these distances.
• #4: The technologies we focus on in this unit are called Web 2.0. This term was coined in 2004 to indicate a group of web-based technologies characterized by interactivity. These technologies are focused on building connections through the ability to interact and encourage collaboration and community. Thomas Friedman wrote in The World is Flat that these programs are “flatteners,” which make connections possible across the world. He quotes Carly Fiorina of Hewlett Packard who described information as “digital, mobile, personal and virtual.” Digitization makes the information easy to transmit.  This information can be manipulated through many applications where people capture and manipulate data without thinking about the technology. The commonly agreed-on group of Web 2.0 technologies is listed on this slide. We will introduce them briefly here but will frequently return to them throughout this module. Common examples of social networks include Facebook and MySpace. Additional sites such as LinkedIn have a more professional focus. On these sites people have a page that allows them to have a personal profile. This allows for connections with others on the site. Video sharing sites allow users to upload video they have created and provide access to others. Youtube and Googlevideo are the most popular sites that offer video sharing, but there are many others that provide this service. Blogs are short for web logs. The writer, or blogger, provides information in a journalistic format and allows access to read the blog to a select few or all Internet users. Wikipedia, the online user-created and modified encyclopedia, is the most popular example of a wiki. Wikis are web pages with multiple contributors, all able to add and modify content. IMs, or instant messaging, started by enabling contact among computer users. Now the technology has gone mobile and includes the ability to send messages to mobile devices. Services such as Twitter combine this into a what is being called microblogging. Updates or information can be provided to a wide number of contacts rather than being confined to a one-on-one process. Other developments in collaborating technologies are coming online continually. What technologies would you add to this list? (Students may include additional services such as Skype, which provides phone abilities over the Internet. They may also provide names of types of these technologies that have increased in popularity. There is a dynamic nature to technology, which makes listing all the variants impossible.) With changes in technology, many people are already at work on Web 3.0 technologies.
• #5: Once information is gathered HR is responsible for disseminating it to key constituents throughout the organization. Traditionally, this information was distributed through changes to the employee handbook, notes on the bulletin board, newsletters, memos and more recently email. All of these are examples of one-way communication not easily modified after issue. While many companies have replaced the printed employee handbook with a pdf file, this is still a static document that requires downloading to review current changes. Web 2.0 provides more dynamic ways to disseminate information. Virtual documents and networks can be modified in real time, and the documents can include video and hyperlinks to other information. The formation of these documents is much easier also and does not require knowledge of programming. Let’s consider the employee newsletter. When this is sent out either as a hardcopy form or as an attachment to an email, it requires multiple actions on the part of employees simply to update calendar information. The Wiki newsletter could include links to the calendar, as well as other personal touches—for instance-- birthday announcements that are hyperlinked to an email address so a quick note can be sent off to the birthday person. Social networks provide options for forming groups who need to be aware of immediate changes or approve necessary legal updates. Blogs can focus on information important to employees and be a way to answer questions employees have. Communicating with employees is one of the key roles of HR and these applications provide options to increase not just the amount of communication but the quality of correspondence as well.
• #7: In addition to providing a source of information and a method of communicating information, Web 2.0 tools are helpful for collaboration. This is especially useful when dealing with employees in dispersed physical locations, whether that be across town or across the globe. Some examples of these tool include Microsoft Sharepoint, Googledocs and Wikis. Microsoft Sharepoint provides the ability for an organization’s intranet to support web-based applications. The intranet aspect means that the user group can be restricted to organization employees. Some companies appreciate the added security of access being strictly limited and under IT control. Once the service is set up, users can create sites and documents on which they can collaborate with other employees. Companies often use Sharepoint for document coordination, and yet some departments may not be aware of the availability. An HR manager is in great position to discuss with IT the option of using Sharepoint. Smaller companies can use other web-based free or low-cost services. Google provides Googledocs for this purpose. The Googledocs web site provides a video explaining how it works. Play this for the students. Googledocs is not the only free web-based service. Other options include wikis. PB wiki is one of many sites that can be used to create your own wiki.
• #8: The goal of recruiting is to increase the pool of qualified applicants for open positions. Recruiters have always relied on leads gathered from employees as ways to make connections with possible candidates. Recruiters have also focused on making an impact in areas where people are actively searching for jobs, so job sites and college campuses are good sources of potential leads.
• #9: In his web cast, The Best Practices in Online Recruiting: How to Maximize Your ROI* (*Your Return on the Internet), which can be viewed on the SHRM web site, Peter Weddle talks about the different approaches needed depending on the type of applicant. Active applicants are searching for jobs, and the recruiter needs to present a favorable image to attract their attention. However, often the best people for the job are not actively searching for a new position. These are passive applicants, and a recruiter needs to actually seek out these applicants. Web technologies like search engines and social networking sites provide information about people who may fit the job opening.  
• #10: Let’s talk first about resources used by the active applicants and what we can do to attract these people. Job search sites are some of the most popular tools. If you have ever posted your resume online, you’ll know that sites like Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com provide access to a large pool of candidates. Additionally these sites provide a way to coordinate information collection. These work well for standardized jobs, especially when there is a large number of applicants with appropriate skills. Most students will be familiar with Internet job searches. However, for those who haven’t looked at these sites, it is probably worthwhile for the instructor to spend a few minutes on either Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com. Employers also maintain collection sites connected the organization’s homepage. These sites provide information to applicants who already are attracted to the organization. Organizations are able to distribute extra information about the job and paint a realistic picture of the organization. These sites are currently being improved to include Web 2.0 technologies. These days, it is common for sites to include videos or blogs written by employees who discuss the organization and opportunities provided. These sites always help establish the organization’s reputation. Visit one or more of the web sites listed, or if there are companies that commonly recruit from your university, you may want to substitute those companies. This should demonstrate to the students the seriousness with which companies attempt to recruit the best candidates.
• #11: Generation Y has expectations about connectivity and wants to work for organizations that will support, allow and encourage. Videos that demonstrate a workplace community will appeal to Gen Y employees. Videos also allow an organization to visually demonstrate a commitment to both diversity and the types of employees working for the organization. To the extent that this is a realistic preview, it should attract people that value the ideals promoted in the video.
• #12: To incorporate video in the recruiting process, HR should take the time to work across the organization. The IT department can provide information, support and help indicate where the video should be posted. For example, YouTube may be one option, but IT may have alternate recommendations with further reach. Including employees in the video production can also be important. Use departments with appropriate expertise, or create a video design contest so individual employees can express their experience with the organization in their own words. Not only will this add to the reality and believability of the promotion, it will also create positive feelings in the workplace by demonstrating the value your organization has for the ideas of its employees. Outsourcing is also an option. There are many companies that can help produce the video with a more professional and polished appeal.
• #13: Recruiting passive applicants is a bit more challenging, and as a result, many expert recruiters consider social networking sites to be rich sources of information about potential applicants. A 2008 SHRM survey of HR professionals with recruiting responsibilities reported that 43 percent had used social networking sites, though only 13 percent used them frequently or often. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they used these sites to search for passive applicants. Many who don’t use these sites are limited by HR to perform searches. The following statistics are from a SHRM online article by Wright (2009). Facebook has 140 million users and LinkedIn had 28 million as of January, 2009. While LinkedIn had previously been seen as the place for business connections, Facebook is taking over as the social networking site recruiters use. The article also quotes an O’Reilly Media study that states that 35- to-44 year-olds are the fastest growing area of users, followed by 45- to-57 year-olds. (Wright, 2009).
• #14: Once we have recruited a group of candidates, selection is the next step in the process. Again, the Internet and social networking sites provide us with access to an extensive amount of information. Of course, employers are not the only group using these technologies for job searches. Today, some applicants actually use these technologies to reach employers. This CBS report demonstrates the role video resumes play in the modern job search arena (Instructor’s note: play video). Social networking sites can be used as screening tools because of the amount of information provided. Earlier, we talked about the potential of using social networking sites to attract passive applicants. However there are additional cautions if these technologies are used for selection. Some of the reasons are listed on this slide.
• #15: Participants in a SHRM survey on recruiting and social networking sites felt that learning information from these sites would affect the decisions they made. The highest percentage believed that finding contradictory information would make them less likely to hire the applicant. Conversely, involvement in volunteer activities or professional societies was more likely to positively influence decisions. Most respondents had no policy about the use of social networking sites for screening (Bates, 2008).
• #16: One of the reasons HR professionals are hesitant to use these sites is because of the potential to discover information that is not job-related. During the application process, employers want to only collect information that relates to the job; this protects us against discrimination charges. Social network sites are rich areas of a variety of information, and therefore a visit to this site is likely to introduce non-job-related information. Employers will be watching for legal challenges related to these activities, and HR professionals need to monitor developments in these areas. The type of job will influence how important it is to check the type of information that can be gathered from these sites.
• #17: Brandel (2008) provides a list of reasons why employees want to use social networking sites. These seem to be reasons that would also help productivity. Social connections increase commitment to an organization and may help retention. Providing a way for employees to share information about work processes that are successful has been the goal of many information technology systems. Companies are establishing these type of sites for employees. These networks are set up behind the company firewall. Here are the names given to a few of these employee networks. Examples: Microsoft – Townsquare; Deloitte – D Street; IBM – Beehive; Best Buy – BlueShirt Nation (Brandel, 2008). There are some differences reported with these employee-only networks. Researchers on the IBM Beehive site find that employees use it for connections with existing friends but also reach out more to people they don’t know than happens on other sites like Facebook. Career advancement and building support for ideas and positions were additional reasons that people made connections on Beehive. Employees proactively used the sites for career advancement (DiMicco, Millen, Geyer & Dugan, 2008). Brandel (2008) reports that Deloitte found the following benefits from D Street: flexible work arrangement, virtual teams, new employee orientation, increased collaboration and retention.
• #18: When organizations consider designing policies for Web 2.0 use they do not have to start from scratch. The SHRM site we visited earlier provides examples of policies organizations can use as a starting point. In their white paper on blogging policies, Kaupins, Burwell and Spitzer (2007) outline some areas of consideration that can be applied to other Web 2.0 technologies. Issues that should be considered when designing these policies include the following: Purpose: A clear purpose for use should be outlined. Monitoring: These technologies will require monitoring on the part of the organization. Organizations need to decide how that monitoring will take place and who will be in charge. Once the monitoring procedures are in place, employees should be informed of monitoring procedures. Behavior: Specific behaviors both allowed and not allowed should be clarified. Other policies: These policies should be coordinated with other computer and Internet use policies. Ethical constraints: Policies and procedures will have to deal with allowing personal freedom but preventing issues that could bring about legal repercussions. Some possible problems that these technologies could expose organizations to are harassment, privacy, copyright issues, libel lawsuits or trade disparagement. For additional information about blogging, see SHRM’s sample blogging policy at http://moss07.shrm.org/TemplatesTools/Samples/Policies/Pages/BloggingPolicy.aspx.
• #19: This slide provides a final wrap-up of the unit.