Signs you’ve outgrown your HR system (and what to do next)

00:02
Hello everyone and welcome to today’s webinar hosted by Ciphr signs you’ve outgrown your HR system. I’m Cathryn, Ciphr’s Head of Content. Joining with me are Amanda, payroll sales manager and Shelley who psykers products Learning Specialist and welcome to you both really appreciate you being here today.

00:21
I got it. Great to be here. Thanks, Cathryn.

00:24
I’m just going to quickly share with you our agenda before we get back into today’s broadcast, we’re going to be covering the five signs that you’ve outgrown your HR system. And these are low engagement with your existing platform, inaccurate data, varying inefficiencies and how you work, limited configuration options and a disconnected HR tech stack. If you’ve got any questions for our panel at any time, please send them in, and we’ll get to them in a q&a at the end. If you’re watching live, this webinar is being recorded and the recording will be sent to you automatically, there’s no further action you need to take to get hold of that. And before we get stuck in if you’re new to Cypher, here’s a little bit about us. We’re a specialist provider of HR, payroll, recruitment and learning software to our HCM platform, like the Kinect observations are used by more than 600 organisations across the UK in a wide variety of sectors. If you want to find out more about any of our products or solutions, you can email us using the email address on your screen now, or you can opt in to find out more in the exit survey, which will be shared at the end of this broadcast. Okay, to kick off, I’m just going to share a quick poll with you. What’s the biggest question of biggest challenge you’re facing with your current HR system, please select one of the five options that’s on your screen. Now. The five options are that people don’t use it enough that data in it is unreliable, that your processes are complex and labour intensive. The your configuration options within your existing system are limited. Oh, that it doesn’t integrate with other HR software that you already use. So Amanda, you talk to a lot of prospective clients about type of solutions and the challenges they’re experiencing with their current HR system. What are some of the common ones that you see time and again,

02:10
very often we’re talking to to people whose they’ve just got too many systems that don’t talk to each other. So that always comes out as a challenge for the majority of new prospective customers that we’re talking to. Also, that there are different teams, you know, there’s not just one HR team, one sort of core HR team, there tends to be different people who need access to HR or people related data. So didn’t have people that need to hold records could be maybe it need an asset register, training teams, learning teams, you know, it’s all recruitment teams, of course, recruitment teams are capturing people data really early. And it’s, you know, it’s really, it’s that flow of data and making sure that everybody in your organisation is able to, to access what they need.

03:09
Yeah, absolutely. And thanks, Amanda. So I’m going to close the poll and share those results for you some really interesting results. So nearly half of you have said that your processes are complex and labour intensive. And if you’ve got the Rachael Ray HR system, that really shouldn’t be the case that should be making your life easier, not harder, which is actually a question we’re going to come on to you in just a moment. And 25% of you said, it doesn’t integrate with your other HR systems, which, although I know we’ve asked you just to select one option here, those those are quite closely then. So a lack of integrations can cause additional complexity with your processes. So hopefully, today, we’re going to give you some useful insight, and maybe some points to think if your HR system is still the right one for you. And with that, I’m going to hand over to Amanda festival and to sort of look at that question of whether your HR system is helping or hindering your work.

03:59
So, you know, when we started looking at sort of putting this presentation together, I started to think why do we have HR systems at all. And what even is the notion that you might outgrow a system or need to replace it isn’t just for names and addresses or booking holidays? Well, I hope we can add some colour from our customer experiences today for the sorts of reasons to change and the challenges that we find people are coping with before they can decipher and how a decent HR solution can help to support your people and their roles. So if the perception of HR solutions within your organisation that it is just somewhere to book your holidays or record sickness, then a journey into exploring great HR systems will be a really exciting one. Your team can help to raise the profile and the culture and the brand of your organisation. And you and your team can create a collaborative platform for employees, managers and leaders to work to Gather and achieve your goals and objectives. And also look at the recognition and reward for that. So, your HR system should be a business critical piece of software. So, but you know, is yours? Sorry? Beg your pardon? I’m so sorry. I lost my place. I’ll be right there. So, yeah, so is yours actually critical to the functioning of your organisation? So yeah, this was a thought as well, if it was turned off, then how long before anybody was known, would actually notice. And that’s a really sobering thought for any HR team. The issue of workarounds is a really strong indicator that it’s time to review. It might be that you have to find additional ways to prepare payroll data, or you discovered every manager has a different method for performance reviews, or perhaps they’re not even doing them at all, let alone not following your guidelines. Any process that requires repetition, like on board as PACs, contract creation, reporting, all of these things can be automated to save you time. Data integrity is a serious concern, as is data ownership. Very often, there will be multiple business systems holding people data, new customers coming to Ciphr often mentioned that they might run into, they might run reports from different systems and get different results for headcount between HR Payroll, workforce management systems and training platforms, because of the manual effort and keeping them updated, and the different teams who are doing that updating. A good platform will help the HR team to make good decisions about managing the workforce. For example, a training manager should be able to quickly and easily tap into a single platform to see skills qualifications, training, objectives, achievements, and be able to plan events, and employee development. A spreadsheet just isn’t going to cut it. An HR information system is a basic necessity for your company, not a luxury. The implications for compliance alone for your organisation makes it vital. Maybe your existing solution has this capability, but managers aren’t engaging. They don’t use it, they don’t like it, or it just wasn’t set up correctly for them. Is there a correlation between this and the staff staff turnover in that department, for example. This is where true HR intervention can help staff improve staff retention, and employee happiness and people feeling valued in their roles. Evolving data entry has to be a great part of any successful review. How much data are your HR team doing? And how much is done by employees, managers and other people in your organisation? So data entry is that, you know, is that a valuable use of your HR teams time? Probably not? Is it great use of their skills? Absolutely not. So can your current solutions scale up with your organisation as your requirements change, issuing a new company policy, for example, and ensuring everyone has read and accepted those day to day communications and workflows will be much easier to track, manage and deliver with a great HR solution. So engagement rates. So just moving on to our next section here. So the engagement rates, low engagement rates with your HR system can indicate that it’s no longer fit for purpose, and it’s time to switch to an alternative system. Low usage rates will almost certainly be resulting in a low return on investment. Low engagement rates can be caused by a multitude of factors, often in combination with each other. So what do we actually mean by that? User friendly as a term we’re all familiar with. As software suppliers. We also talk about the user experience and user interface. systems need to be intuitive and well designed. There have been many studies by large software houses like Microsoft about just where buttons should be and how long a human being will spend on a page before they give up. And they can’t because they can’t find what they’re trying to do. Let’s take the performance review process as an example. It’s a worthwhile exercise to map out what you want to happen, what data needs to be captured, and what follow up and outcomes should be for any review. You can then measure this process map against how your current your system currently supports that. And understanding of the gaps is a great foundation for Will conversations with prospective suppliers. Sometimes companies come to us knowing that their system doesn’t work for them, but not actually understanding why. The first step is for managers and employees to know when a review should happen. The next is to know that the information on the HR system will support the review itself. Perhaps the step by step forms to complete, maybe there are ratings to give a great system is going to provide that that sort of that workflow, workflow handhold. All the information easily accessible means managers will have great conversations with their teams about past performance, current objectives and future goals. Over time, building up a history of one to one meetings performance reviews, means that the HR team get an overall view of a manager and a team’s performance. This gives the opportunity to make key decisions about talent, succession and staff development. A poor system with no data caption, and no engagement misses all of this. And that’s just one area of people, management, employees and managers will start to see the impact of a great system and how it supports them. They are not just doing hrs job.

11:16
Okay, so moving on from some of the challenges that Amanda has raised, how do we address some of those things to improve engagement in the HR system. So as Amanda said, engagement may be low just because the people simply don’t know about the system or how to access it. So think with all aspects of life, communication is so important. So that’s top of the list, because the system itself can be a great comms tool as well, if it’s actively used. So when launching a new system, or perhaps revamping an existing system, this can be a great time to plan plenty of communications, as part of that project, or build some excitement and anticipation of your new people system can appreciate maybe not everyone loves systems as much as we do at Ciphr. But you know, if you can plan your comms, right drip feed some, some fun emails or things that just build some anticipation of you know what’s coming soon, that can really help to build engagement. So typically, a pilot is recommended as part of your project. And this is an ideal time to recruit some champions. So some people from different areas, different teams, different levels within your business, you’ve got good coverage, they can become your subject matter experts. So then they can help their colleagues, someone in the team that people can go to, and help with the system when it’s rolled out. But also, it’s really important not to forget about your newbies. So whilst you may have had this big launch, and everyone’s really up to speed with the system, what happens with the people that then join after that. So it’s making sure that you have some ongoing comms, it’s fed into your onboarding process, so that people are kept up to date as they join. I think another point as well to keep the columns ongoing, is ideally that all essential processes should be built into your system. So that then encourages interaction of familiar familiarity. Consider your policies as well. So are they up to date, so that then are referring to the system where it’s applicable. And ideally, they can be hosted in your system. And then that means you can track that acceptance, as Amanda mentioned earlier, it’s just you know, getting rid of the mall fashions, paper, signatures, emails, things that can all be tracked in the system for you. This is then going to encourage traffic to your system. So ideally, it becomes that central Information Hub, even where you have separate portals as well. So it could be things like a benefits portal, which is provided by an external provider that could be linked to your system with single sign on. So that where people would come to the system, they can then click a link and easily SSL into another system. Or even if the Single Sign On isn’t needed, you could provide a quick link from your system. So it’s just again, encouraging traffic that that’s what we do internally at Ciphr that if we want to go to our benefits platform or other areas, I would go into our system first and then just click the link. It’s really easy. And it signs me in but it’s taking me through the system each time. So I may then look at other things that are going on within that.

14:21
So other things around improving engagement is it’s not just about making plays aware, but it’s helping them understand what’s in it for them. So I think the basics are quite obvious around you know, booking your holidays, viewing your pay slips are the obvious things that will entice someone into the system. But beyond that, it’s kind of thinking about well, what about your learning management system, if you’ve got a system that you can integrate? That could be something where you can actually build Korea Development so employees can come into the system and actually start to complete training that can really help to boost engagement. You can add potential gamification

15:00
And if depending on the system, so that can encourage a competitive spirit where you might have a leaderboard league table tables, badges, that can really drive that competitive spirit and engagement. So it’s just, again, encouraging people to log in, they want to be the best they want to be on that leaderboard, because they’ve done all the training, that training could be around using the system as well as part of the launch. Again, it’s all just increasing that activity. And it’s just then helping you position your system as it’s your organisation system. It’s not the HR system, it’s for everybody.

15:35
Thinking about the look and feel as well. So again, as a new system, or it could be revamping your existing one, it’s where you can really make it feel like your platform. So it’s not just a system that you’ve purchased, it can be branded, in your colours, your name, having photos of your people, that all has a really nice impact. Maybe consider giving your system a name and have a competition, take suggestions from staff that could be part of your initial comps. And it’s just a bit of a fun engagement activity to get people involved. I love hearing about some of the system names from our customers. I just think it’s really nice when it gives it more of a personal touch. But some good examples I can think of is busy bees, they call their system waggle. For thing that’s really funky, but it is because it’s how bees communicate to others. And that’s that’s a really fun one. Or it could be an acronym. So lifetime training. Have Milo. So that stands for my information and learning organisation, organiser. So lots of different options. But I think it’s a it just makes it more fun if if your system has a name. And then finally, think about access. So is it easy to access, I think we all know the frustration of login issues where I forgot my password I can’t get in and then that’s going to take up hrs time potentially if they’re dealing with password resets. And we’re still and people just think, Oh, I can’t log in and I can’t be bothered. So again, having SSO just makes life so much easier. If people can single sign in from say, for example, they’re logged on to their windows machine at work, then they can log straight into the system because it recognises the credentials for that can make life so much easier. But as well think about mobile devices, so we know how much people use their phones nowadays. So it could be that some of your workforce aren’t desk based. So I don’t have a PC. But even for everybody else, I think it can just make life so much easier that outside of work, if you can just go on your phone and check information. Then again, it’s just helping with I know myself that if I’m planning weekend away with the girls, and I just want to check my holidays and think well, you know how many holidays I’ve got, who else is off in the team, I can just do that on my phone, and then you know, agree there and then so it just makes life easier. And again, it is just encouraging engagement.

18:01
Okay, so yeah, let’s have a look at the sign to then all about the data in your system. So if you’re compiling weekly, monthly or quarterly reports, you have to get that from multiple systems and spreadsheets, then your HR system probably isn’t working hard enough for you, probably because of lack of integration with other related systems. And that’s the point that we’re going to dive into a little bit further on in our session today. So when we talk about meaningful data, we’re talking about the data that’s relevant to your organization’s priorities, and the strategic decisions that it needs to make. If you need to know for example, how training completion rates are impacting customer satisfaction scores. And your HR suite isn’t making it easy for you to link training records with performance scores, it’s not fit for purpose. For other organisations, the meaningful data might be more simple around absence rates, or appraisal completion levels. For example, whatever you need to measure, your HR system should be helping you to capture and store this data securely, to compile the reports, and to distribute them periodically to the right stakeholders. So, data is important for demonstrating return on investment. But you can only demonstrate return on investment for a system such as an HR system, if you have goals that you can measure against. I mentioned earlier about process mapping. Even if you don’t have a full map for every aspect of your people management and compliance, it helps to start to document these prior to engaging with suppliers. Sometimes we find ourselves in what appears to be an internal meeting with HR teams. And it’s really clear that discussions have taken place before they start talking to us. Or we’re presented with a really obvious sort of copy and paste list of requirements that actually don’t fit with that company or that org isolations needs. So what are the results that you’re looking for? Data Capture is great, but what are you going to do with it? What compliance issues and mandatory requirements do you have that aren’t well serviced by your system currently work back from that point to understand how to build a great system, that your workforce know what they’re entering? Why? Coming back to that? Why again, so things like approvals and notifications will ensure that when the changes occur to your data that the right people know, and that they can take the actions appropriate for their roles. integrations are really key here to what other data, what other systems share the same data, surely just mentioned, benefits platforms, things like health and safety, school systems, rotor management, the list can be really quite long payroll processes, again, they always start with HR and the people and pay data changes. So the need for timely and accurate updates make the difference between staff getting paid the right amount and on time.

21:10
So how can we improve data capture if we think back to the beginning, so where does a piece of data start its journey. So that point of data entry should be the first and only time it’s entered into business systems. And then ideally, that should populate wherever it needs to be viewed, reported and analysed. So my personal mantra is that if someone is filling in information somewhere, so whether that’s paper form, online documents, spreadsheet, wherever it is, could that actually just be populated directly into the system, therefore spreading the responsibility of data entry for the employees, managers can serve themselves and then hrs responsibility becomes more of that approval role, just checking data where needed, or better still, maybe they don’t even need to check it if the manager can take responsibility for approving stuff. But it’s then again, changing hrs role. So they’re not seen as data entry.

22:05
Consider a new starters onboarding journey. So you may already have captured personal data throughout the application process. So you’ve got the basic information to put the back on the system. But if that new start, I had a long notice period, you know, it could be say, up to six wells up to three months, for example, you know, many things could have changed before that first day. So how do they communicate those changes to you. So it could be change of address, phone, marital status, email, lots of different things, and any such change could have compliance, or employee relation implications. So your HR solution should have an easy way for employees and new starters to be able to send you those changes online, without the need for calls and emails. And with onboarding that gives a better first impression as well that you have slick processes, and it’s more secure as well. So you don’t have personal sensitive data flying around on emails, it’s all entered straight into the system securely. You can also create intelligent, automated workflows. And that can be set up in the HR solution to ensure the right people are aware of changes, and can take the appropriate actions. So when something’s updated, it will alert the right people to go in and approve when necessary.

23:18
configuration of your system is important as well. So it can match your specific processes. So rather than just a generic system, you ideally should be able to hide and relevant fields. So you’ll have standard fields, but you might want to hide some of them because they’re not relevant. And it helps the user then focus on what they need to complete, so things aren’t missed. Or it could be a really bespoke company process that you have, such as a suggestion scheme. So rather than employee perhaps emailing a suggestion form to HR could that form be built in the system, and then the employee is completing and submitting it online. And then it’s simply checked and approved. And then your data is in the system, so you can report on it when you need to. So this is then removing the additional manual tasks, which Amanda talked about earlier, but I think it’s you know, things like an external form might have to be dual entered. So is that being put into the system or worse, maybe a spreadsheet somewhere else, there’s that risk of error with dual entry and then associated email acknowledgement, maybe scanning it, saving it uploading, it all takes time. data entered directly into the system is also again, feeding back to engagement is increasing that interactivity. So again, it’s sharing the responsibility of the data between employees and managers, as well as HR and again, it’s just helping to shift that perception away from it being hrs responsibility. So it’s getting an increased buy into your system.

24:48
So people data is often shared across different platforms. So Amanda discuss sort of different things, but we could have things like workforce management, payroll, school systems learning platforms Bennett

25:00
fits platforms pensions are so many nowadays. And we meet so many organisations who are managing multiple data sources and multiple spreadsheets. So firstly, most cloud solutions nowadays are API enabled for secure and seamless integrations. So what this means is an application programming interface. So this is something that will link apps together. So it can feed information in real time. I think the easiest example I’ve found to explain it is, say a comparison site, where you might go on to a site for car insurance, quote, for example, and you put all your information in, and then you get a load of quotes back from different companies almost instantly. And that is an API arrangement. So it’s feeding data to those different companies to then instantly give you quotes. So it’s really clever stuff. And that can be used in in work systems as well. So the other aspect of this as well is to examine your workforce processes within your business, and reduce or remove the number of spreadsheet workarounds that Amanda talked about earlier. So it could be in I think, when you’re thinking about your data, it’s engaging with your key stakeholders to make sure that they can get the data they need out of the system. So where they might be relying on a spreadsheet, and I know myself, I’ve got an HR generalist background, and I think, years ago, and I had an amazing maternity tracker.

26:27
It’s one of those things that it was great, it had formulas in it. And that was something, it would be hard to let go. So I can understand. But things like that, if you engage with your stakeholders is thinking more, yes, you’re gonna be putting your information in the system, and you don’t have that tracker. But if we can build you a report that will give you that information at the touch of a button, then that’s going to allay their fears and increase again, that buy in so people aren’t losing out on data. Because if there are gaps, and they can’t get the information they need, there’s always that risk that will revert back to those, you know, beloved trackers, which we know we want to try and encourage to move away from. So integration should really mean that all your data is held securely in your HR tech stack. So that’s all of your systems that have your HR information. And that’s just going to make compliance with GDPR. So much easier to say you’re not worrying about spreadsheets and other files and things, I’m wondering where this sensitive data is because you know, it’s all held securely in the system.

27:27
So it’s a worthwhile exercise as part of a new system implementation or revamp to conduct a data cleanse. That’s to ensure the information is correct for when you go live, as any system is really only as good as the data within it. So I think there’s a temptation when looking at a new system to think, got a lovely shiny new system. And it’s going to solve all our problems, but it’s only as good as your data. So you can quickly lose people if the data isn’t accurate. And in some circumstances, it may even be easy to just start again, if data is so questionable, it might be easier. And typically, payroll data is a good starting point. Because we all know pay data’s got to be accurate. And people will soon shout if it isn’t. So that’s always a good starting point.

28:12
And also think about the gaps in your current data, or problems you’re currently facing where you need to capture data that perhaps you’re not easily able to identify at the moment. And make sure that’s in scope when you’re considering new systems and then an implementation. So it could be that your absence levels increasing, and you’re not quite sure it’s not easy to identify why. So something like the percentage of Return to Work interviews will be a really good metric. So are you able to track that easily in the system, make sure that those things are built in. Or it might even be some new metrics to measure the success of your new system. So demonstrating that return on investment, as Amanda discussed earlier, so it could be things like processing times against your service level agreements, have you got the information there, so you can easily track that and report on it. So then once the system is implemented, you can demonstrate the value that it’s adding.

29:10
Lovely, okay, so onto sign three, your HR system is causing inefficiencies not reducing them. So let’s, let’s have a look at that. So when new customers come to Seifer, they are reviewing their systems for a whole range of reasons. And usually, again, that feeling that they’ve outgrown the system, and then it’s not fit for purpose. Any review should, of course, should of course, include a really thorough look at your existing system. It could be that there have been a change of staff and no handover or even new functionality has been added to your existing system and it hasn’t been implemented or you haven’t been aware that it’s there or that simply that there’s a training need. So in these cases, choosing The update and undergo training on your existing system actually might be a more cost effective and time effective process than then completely adopting a whole new HR software. But then some systems are just simply outdated, poorly set up hard to use. So you end up with that low engagement that we’ve been talking about. Often, we find that some are really only used for holiday booking and very little else, even then that could be struggles with holiday entitlements for part timers or different working patterns or, and changes to these as well. So in these scenarios, it really is it’s time to go to market and find out how your people can be better supported with the right payroll, software, payroll software, HR software, can be payroll software, too. So I know we’ve mentioned this already. But preparation before you start talking to vendors is really, really important. Talk to different users of your existing system and find out their thoughts about why they don’t update data like training data, case management talent details, what coping strategies do they have those spreadsheets and forms, maybe Google Docs we come across quite often as well. So maybe the data simply isn’t recorded anywhere, which will give your organisation really serious compliance and audit issues. When managers do develop their own ways of keeping records, you just you lose that cohesion and standardisation of the approach across your organisation. Different managers will always have different styles that should be applauded, that’s great, you know, every everyone’s a little bit different. But a good HR system is going to help support the requirements of their role. And it means again, you’ve got that lovely standardisation of capture. Safeguarding is an ideal example here as well, one central record of employee backgrounds and identity checks that you can easily report on with evidence as well, you know, like updated, uploaded documents and scans, for example. And that’s going to be absolutely vital.

32:17
So the right HR system should be streamlining your work not getting in the way. So not being that clunky hurdle. But something that really does make life easier. So thinking about the first thing is reporting should be easy to compile and be accurate. So you should also be able to configure notifications and reminders such as when holiday allowances are due to run out or when managers need to complete appraisals, the system should be doing that legwork for you. So you’re not having to worry about reminding people or setting diary reminders, integrating HR, software and payroll. I think that’s that’s a biggie really that whether that’s in house payroll or outsourced solution, that should make payroll so much quicker and easier to complete, and more accurate. So it’s ensuring that your people are paid on time, every time process has been built into the system means that managers and employees can take responsibility. As we talked about earlier, it’s about having that shift. So it’s not HR system, it’s not hrs responsibility is everyone’s responsibility for maintaining their areas of data, and reducing data entry. And again, it’s just feeding back to increasing system engagement and activity. So when HR software is intuitive for employees and managers, they shouldn’t need as much training or guidance to access information or documents themselves.

33:39
This should then reduce the volume of queries that your HR team is needing to field because it’s just easier for people to go and find the information themselves. The right HR system will also help you onboard new starters. So we’ve talked about this earlier about just making that process slick. So this is a critical phase for employee productivity and retention their first impression of your organisation. So whilst they’re waiting to start, they can be updating their details online. Reviewing confident company information and policies, you can have some really nice engaging information on there just to keep them warm really whilst they’re waiting to start. And if your systems integrated with services from specialists, third party providers that can help manage compliance related tasks such as digital Right to Work checks, or other background checks, such as dBs, of course, is much more that the right HR system can assist you with these points are just a few of the ways it could help you work more effectively. It’s giving your people team the headspace and information it needs to create an execute organisational strategy and just helping you with the transactional tasks so that you can focus on more value added activities.

34:56
Okay, so on to sign for, which are going to be all about configuring Hmm. So many organisations decide that they need replacement HR software because they’re experiencing difficulties configuring the system that it’s very, you know that there’s just no flexibility to keep the sort of data that they need. For some that, it could be that their existing system isn’t configurable enough. For others, it might be that there’s too many options, and it just leaves them confused, coming back to that user friendly thing again. And then it just leaves the system under under used. So there’s a few considerations when thinking about system configurability. Firstly, fundamentally, it’s got to be easy to use, the more intuitive it is, the more that you’re going to use it. Nobody is trained how to use Amazon, for example, but we will find our way around it. And so really, your HR system should be the same. If your HR software includes a form creator, how easy is that to use? Can you tailor forms as you need to online pages that are going to reflect your processes? If you’re using your solution to manage employee relations cases? Can you configure it to reflect your policies? And how you manage those cases? Will it enable you to assign ownership of those cases? And does it create an auditable history of interactions? So that you have proof? For example, if you if you do have to take something like a grievance to if it goes to tribunal? Can you help make bulk updates? So if your organisation is growing and evolving, you’ve got some organisational development, they’re making manual changes to hundreds of records is gonna take a long time, and actually, frankly, nobody’s gonna want to do it. So the bulk update, if your system can take care of that for you, obviously, you know, it’s clean, nothing’s messed, and you’ve got increased accuracy. And, you know, finally, can all of those changes be made at application level? You need to be able to do these things yourself? Or do you find that you need to pay for expensive consultancy every time you need something changed in your system? The configuration to consider is how the software looks and feels and again, Charlie’s touched on this earlier. We often find that because customers are able to customise their Ciphr HR system with around colours, logos, photos and language. Think performance reviews, not appraisals, that this helps end users accept and embrace the system more readily. If you’re part of a large organisation with a group of companies, can you manage the data for employees across their division these divisions from a single platform? Or is their data held in separate areas? Ciphr hrs multi entity branding and configuration, for example, enables you to offer employees and HR system that looks and feels like it’s part of their brand. Whilst in the background, all of the data is held centrally and securely on the same platform. So the HR teams and managers can access organisation wide data, and that could include international locations as well. So to what extent can you tailor the software experience for different groups of employees, think about different roles, different locations, that new starter onboarding, journey, everything that you can do to tailor your HR system to employees specific needs will help you to create that better employee or user experience. And again, as such Shirley’s touched on earlier, that could include different onboarding journeys, different company policy groups, or different user profiles.

39:08
So what does a good HR system look like? So recapping what I mentioned earlier, it’s important to note that any system will require investment and maintenance to ensure it has good quality data. So it’s only as good as the data that’s in it. And configuration needs to be kept up to date as well. So where your processes might change is making sure that your system doesn’t become outdated. So it’s really important to consider your resource capacity when considering a new system. So it can vary widely between really fancy systems that but are quite complex to versus more smaller, simpler ones. So it’s weighing up you know, what resources do you have?

39:51
It needs to match what’s acceptable to your organisation. So your needs your skill level, your appetite to be tweaking and refining the system on a regular

39:59
asis. So is that to be managed in the HR team, or do you have a specific systems person or perhaps in my team, it’s weighing up kind of what capacity you have. So in the same way that you may wish to give your managers and employees and appropriate level of control over their data, on what access they have what they can do in the system, it’s about thinking about what’s appropriate for yourselves as a team looking after the system and configuring it. So it’s got to match your requirements and capacity. So if you have limited time or experience in house, you may prefer to look at simpler system so you don’t become overwhelmed. Because we all know what it’s like in HR, I think No day is the same. And whilst we plan for things, lots of things go on. So it’s making sure that you’ve got adequate resource. So it may be, say, considering a simpler system, or it could be exploring managed service options. So here at Ciphr, for example, we can support your system use with our dedicated managed service team, so they can support with reporting and configuration requests. So it’s kind of just like an extra member of the team to give you some support when it’s needed.

41:15
Okay, so now we’re coming on to our final sign sign five, which is all about integrations. There are so many benefits to integrating your HR system with the other applications that you’re using. And both Shirley and I’ve touched on this earlier. Particularly those API integrations, those really clever things that make systems talk to each other in the background. So you know, creating that single source of truth for all of your people data, it just, it helps to improve data accuracy, essential tasks, like running the payroll, but also improves the data security. So instead of maintaining multiple systems, or even emails or paper files with personal information in it makes think GDPR. Again, it’s all held centrally in your HR solution. Integrated Systems that’s that feature, the single sign on or Active Directory integration, the ability to switch between applications, without entering a password, easier to use, improving uptake and engagement. And therefore, again, your return on investment. The time you spend on administration should drop. Plus, you’ll be delivering a better digital experience for all of your employees. So with all these benefits, and more, the question is, why wouldn’t you integrate your HR technology with all of your other business systems.

42:47
So if we have a look at which integrations really matter. So there are some fundamentals that will apply to almost any organisation of any sector or site size. So I think the first one that’s pretty obvious is payroll. So linking HR and payroll systems is going to speed up payments and reduce errors. So that can be a massive when an application applicant tracking system or an ATS. So recruitment system, that’s going to enable you to put information about your new starters straight into the HR system. So again, it’s reducing that duplication of entry in the Microsoft Active Directory. So this can help manage access to your IT systems. So when you add a star to, to the HR system that can then feed to it and enable new accounts. So like you Microsoft accounts, for example, email, work, email, and set all of that up automatically.

43:45
electronic signature tool, meaning that employees can digitally sign and accept correspondence. So this can save so much time and paperwork, so things like contracts, any subsequent change letters, anything that that needs to be signed as, like official contractual information, then it’s a great tool, and that can be integrated with the Documents area system, a learning management system, which we touched on earlier, but that can enable instant access, and allows us with HR to view and track training records and progress needs versus performance reviews. But ideally, depending on the system, it could be hosting the content, allowing employees to go into the system and actually complete the information in there. All nicely links,

44:32
a benefits platform as well. Again, single sign on to chosen provider just makes life easier. Employees can have a simple click and go into the benefits provider.

44:45
So there are some integrations that are perhaps more organisation specific, so won’t apply to everyone. But a common one is a time and attendance system. So where you have employees that’s clocking on and off, and you need a more sophisticated tools to

44:59
track all of that. So you’d have a dedicated TNA system. But it could integrate with HR for things like absence. So it may be that employees are using the HR system to book holidays record sickness. So you can have a nice feed between the two

45:16
engagement survey platform. So that could be specialist software that would link to your HR system, but I think actually can be a real benefit. Because I think sometimes it’s a bit more reassuring for employees that it’s an independent platform, I think if they want to remain anonymous, and these things can be quite sensitive, and you’re actually going to get more buy in if it’s an independent provider. But again, they can easily access it through the HR system, expenses, I think, a common one, but it’s just again, easy that it can be linked with SSO, digital rights work or other background checks. So ideally, that can link to the system so that you can then track the progress of screening, particularly with recruitment, or the specialist systems such as school information management system like items. So again, it can be great that that’s integrated. And then finally, I think a massive close point is like an analytics tool, such as Microsoft Power BI, for that can give you advanced management, reporting, management, information reporting. And if you’ve got sort of a varied HR tech stack, it could pull in data from all of those together and give you some really powerful analytics.

46:32
Thank you so much, surely, Amanda, I’m just gonna give you a bit of a brief pause. Now while I have a little recap of our session so far. So if you have questions for Australia, or Amanda, now’s a really good time to send them in using the control panel on your screen. So today, we’ve shared five signs that it might be time to switch to a new HR system. The first was that engagement with your existing system is low. The sign is probably telling you that software is hard to use, or you’re lacking stakeholder buy in across the board, or that you haven’t brought critical processes into your HR system. Be honest, why is your current system underused? And how might changing provider remedy that second one data in your system is inaccurate? If the data in your system is inaccurate, its outputs whether that’s management information reporting, or payroll data won’t be right either. Or the flaws in your data due to lack of buy in, as you’ve mentioned, that data is being held outside of your HR tech stack, or simply that you aren’t keeping it up to date. That one that your HR system is causing inefficiencies. It’s a problem that around half of you highlighted today. If you’re constantly fielding queries of managers, employees about how to use your HR software, and where to find policies pagelets or more, or that you’re spending hours on workarounds because the system isn’t set up how you need it to be, or that it contains, or doesn’t contain the right mix of functionality, it’s time to switch to an HR software that enables your work not hindered. And to number four, the configuration options are limited. It’s important that you can configure your HR software to inseparable degree. And that level of configurability will differ for each organisation. Perhaps you want to add your own branding and customise the menu options. Maybe you want to set up the workplace, your HR system shouldn’t be holding your back. Finally, it’s not integrated with other applications. Thinking of central HR software with other systems used by your HR team and wider organisation brings efficiency gains, better data security and greater data accuracy. If your existing system can’t liquid, the other systems you already use or that you plan to use in the future. And it’s probably time to switch. Okay, with that it’s time for our q&a. So if you have any questions, and then the men and we’ve got about 10 minutes left, but we won’t keep you on the line if there aren’t that many questions. So question for me, but both of you what some of the like, if you can answer them, like most profound differences, you’ve seen people like benefits to customers off switching, or that people have sort of had a look at cyber solutions and gone, well, that’s gonna save me loads of time and make a real difference.

49:05
Open that up to anyone.

49:08
I think personally, my experience is the time that can be saved in the fact of giving employees and managers more accessibility. And self service is such a huge win that they can update information themselves. And it’s just moving it away from it being at an HR system, it’s hrs job, that the fact that say people can manage them stuff themselves. I just think it just saves so much time and just allows HR to be perceived how they should be really and it gives them a chance to work on the stuff that I think is what we should be working on the value added stuff and less of the transactional

49:52
Yeah, I think I’d agree with that. You know, very often we’re talking to people and they are in the early stages of their Review and you know, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know, until you start to find out what a really good HR system can do to support you, you know, you just, you can start thinking about, you know, the your data and your processes in a slightly different way. And that automation of process, that’s that massive time save, you know that a system is going to guide, you know, all of your teams through what they should do and how they should do it. And, you know, I’m often working with payroll teams as well. And again, that automation is amazing for them, you know, just removing that duplication event tree. And it’s, you know, there’s nothing more satisfying than when you’re having a chat with someone, and then they go, Oh, my God, don’t tell anyone, how much the system is going to do. For me, I’ll be out of a job, you know, obviously, a little bit extra, a little bit exaggerated, but you know, it’s just as really nice feedback, you know? Yeah, that’s fantastic. And we’ve been given it the right hsfo has the ability to improve efficiency for HR teams, like how can they sort of go about sort of

51:04
leveraging that to create the business case and make the case to the wider organisation, that there’s wider organisational benefits, and it’s not just the HR system, like we talked about.

51:17
So it’s, it’s really, it’s going to be the vast majority of the points that we’ve raised today. So, you know, if anybody wants to take this as a crib sheet, you know, it’s a really good basis for a business case for change. You know, those five main points, you know, there’s going to be a strong unit that that return on investment, again, there will be an investment, not only in, you know, in money, but but also the the time taken to implement. But the longer term returns for those sorts of investments are always going to pay back in in shovels fall to any organisation.

52:07
Change. Did you have any thoughts on that one, like other former US formerly worked as the HR practitioner, making that case for systems change? Yeah, I think a lot of it is is following on from what Amanda said is, it’s around the time that can be saved. And this was how much time costs? And I suppose the issue sometimes would be if you don’t have that system, it’s quite difficult to compile that data. But I think that’s certainly helped. I think it’s quite powerful. If you’ve can kind of work out even roughly how much excuse me how much time has been spent, and the cost of that, it’s, then that can provide a real business case that actually yes, it is an investment in the system, but look at how much time it’s going to save. And then ideally, if you can have those metrics, and measure that data that can be so powerful, when actually you’ve you’ve gone live with your system, and you think you can then demonstrate how much time is being saved. And obviously, all the associated costs.

53:06
Sure.

53:08
Sorry, Amanda, I was just gonna say, that’s quite tricky to measure. But um, if you’re consulting with system vendors, like Ciphr, we should, they should be able to help you understand those time savings and help you put together that business case. So if that’s an area that you struggle with, approach vendors like Ciphr and ask for a bit of support.

53:30
Yeah, I was just gonna say it’s about helping HR professionals to actually deliver, you know, all of the stuff that they’ve trained to do, you know, everything that that HR role should be, you know, again, you know, rather than constantly chasing people, because they haven’t filled things in. So, or you know, that they haven’t done the performance reviews or, you know, just chasing around after managers or doing data entry, you know, that that isn’t really what the HR role is all is all about, you know, them being able to analyse your data and make really great decisions for your organisation.

54:11
Question from James’s said, can we share some insight into the app functionality of some type of HR system? So as far as I understand it, Amanda, it’s so for HR, but on your mobile rather than a standalone app.

54:24
Yeah, that’s right. It’s mobile optimised so and the for Ciphr, if you’re accessing it from a desktop, or if you’re accessing it for your phone, it’s got kind of like this intelligent gizmo. I don’t know the technical speak for it. But if you’re on your phone, it’s got these lovely big buttons. So you can go straight to payslips or book holiday or dinner, whatever it is that you want to do on there. So you’ve got that really quick, easy access. But you also have access to the whole application there if you need it as well. So again, if you’re on phone or tablet, you can do everything that You need to,

55:01
you know, without having to download an app. I think at some point in the past, we did have an app, but they’re just they’re really limited in their functionality. They always need updating, it just makes a lot more sense for a modern system to be mobile optimised instead. Yeah, just eradicate all about issues with like compatibility with different operating systems or having to run a different version, Apple Android, for example. But having that mobile optimised, access is super important for the flexibility like Shelley was explaining, by just checking your phone, if you’re out with the girls, and you want an Okie if you can take the day off. Or if you’re a deskless worker who primarily works with a mobile or a tablet and isn’t tied to a laptop or PC all the time, you can still self serve and do all those manager employee tasks, like it’s available at manager and employee level on mobile sites. So it’s not, it’s not restricted or unique to a certain subset of employees, which is really helpful.

56:02
It’s one web link for everyone. So it’s the same web address, they don’t need to download the app. So it just makes it simpler for everyone.

56:11
And I was just gonna say we were talking about how much time is valuable to everybody. And we wrapped up all my questions here that I’m in a position to actually give you a couple of minutes back in your day. So I’m just going to wrap up now and say thank you so much, Amanda, and Shirley, for sharing all of their expertise, I really hope that you found it useful, and that you’ve got some food for thought and maybe some points that might help you make your case if you are considering switching to new HR software. And if you’d like to learn more about ciphered HR solution, then you have another solution to be delighted to show you what they are and how they’ve could do for you. So just opt in using the exit form that you’ll see on the screen after the broadcast. That poll also invites you to offer a bit of feedback today. But today, we really do appreciate your thoughts on today’s broadcast, it helps us do better in the future. Our next webinar in February, it’s kind of a companion to this one. So today, we’ve looked at signs that you might need to switch. Next month, we’re going to look at choosing and implementing a new HR system. What’s involved, though, I have caution on meeting with vendors putting up putting together your requirement list. And then also our head of implementation services will be joining us to talk through what that implementation journey actually looks like what’s involved with making that switch. And so if you can please join us then and register picked up nice ash like with us and join us on the 23rd of February. That’s all for today. Thank you again for joining us. Thank you Amanda Shirley, for being such brilliant presented and sharing so much knowledge. I really appreciate it and we hope you have a great rest of your day and that we see you at another webinar again soon. Take care. Goodbye. Thanks, everyone. Bye, everyone. Bye bye