Beyond Compliance: Building an Agile HR Engine

Any change in an organization, is almost never restricted to an individual department.

The organization might be opening up a new office, restructuring one or more departments, changing the model of its workforce, changing its process of approving things, or expanding to other markets. All this will require something from team HR.

However, in most Indian companies, operations in HR today continue to rely on static processes, back and forth coordination amongst people and rely on systems that have not changed much in recent years.

This means that the business continues to change, but the HR system finds it difficult to keep up with it.

An agile HR operation aims to bridge this gap by making its processes more flexible.

The Limits of Rigid HR Operations

A rigid HR process can be effective in standard conditions. However, the trouble starts when there is a change.

A new department might need a new approval process. The opening of a new office might have new requirements of shift timings. The alteration of the workforce structure might require HR to adjust the handling of information, time sheets, payroll, or various employee requests.

If each change requires either manual actions or system adjustments, HR becomes less flexible and more dependent on specific teams.

Agility demands another strategy.

What an Agile HR Engine Looks Like

An agile HR engine is not just a set of software tools. Instead, it is a framework for operations that can change along with the organization.

It is possible to configure workflows according to the needs of the moment. Approvers can be assigned according to their roles. Standardized procedures can be followed when needed while other business units adopt other strategies.

The idea is not to come up with a new solution for every situation. The objective is to create a framework that can deal with changes without becoming overly complex.

Designing HR Processes Around Change

Think about an organization entering into a new market.

There might be the requirement for the organization to incorporate new teams, hierarchies, approval procedures, policies, shifts and work processes. An old style HR management environment will cause all these changes to become individual projects within HR and delay the go to market milestone.

A flexible framework enables the HR to provide all these changes without changing the underlying processes.

This is true for any organization going through restructuring, incorporating new groups of employees, and even altering the manner of interaction between management and employees with HR.

One Framework, Different Ways of Working

Agility does not imply that everything within an organization needs to be done differently.

Big organizations may require some level of uniformity at the corporate level, department level, location level, but they can also allow certain business practices to differ based on their location or organization’s needs.

An agile HR framework can help them achieve this delicate balance.

Certain core processes can be kept the same, whereas the workflows, responsibilities, approval processes, and other business procedures can be tailored as needed.

Technology Should Enable Operations, Not Just Record Them

This is a crucial point regarding the way in which HR technology should be approached.

While technology which merely documents employee details will keep the records neat and tidy, it won’t necessarily facilitate the operational side of things.

HR technology today should assist in the operations carried out in conjunction with these records, from approvals, to employee requests, to workflow management, automation, communication and follow-up.

It’s not about who works where or what was done. It’s about facilitating the work being done.

Where Intelligence Makes HR More Responsive

The use of AI and automation can provide yet another level of agility in the process.

Intelligent solutions can assist employees in obtaining relevant information, handle routine requests, manage exceptions, automate repetitive processes, and ensure that tasks follow the right process flow.

In addition, this approach can help avoid unnecessary communication between employees, management, and HR teams.

Most importantly, it enables HR technology to react to operational requirements rather than just record them.

From HR Administration to an Operating Engine

When HR technologies become integrated into operations, there is a shift in their function.

HR is no longer trying to circumvent the system in order to achieve completion of tasks within the process. The system itself becomes part of how the business operates the process.

It enables creation of a responsive operational environment in which changes are introduced faster, automation of routine tasks, and employees have access to services not relying on HR at each stage.

That is what turns HR technology into an HR engine, as opposed to merely employee database.

How TheCloudTree®.ai Enables More Adaptive HR Operations

TheCloudTree®.ai HCM combines workforce process management, automation, self-service for employees, mobile apps, intelligent assistance, analytics, and workflows to accommodate changing organizational requirements.

The goal is not to bind organizations into one approach only. Rather, to establish a system in which HR processes would be able to function in different organizational setups while remaining controllable and visible.

This becomes especially important as companies grow, spread out geographically, and adopt new ways of operation.

Conclusion: Agility Should Be Built Into HR

A business cannot forecast how its workforce or processes will look like next year. This is why the technology used by HR should not cater only to present processes.

An agile HR engine allows companies to adapt as their structure, people, locations, and priorities change.

HR of the future is not about sticking to the perfect set of processes. It is about developing an adaptable framework.

Build an HR Engine That Can Keep Up With Your Business

Is your HR technology built for the way your business works today, or for where it is going next? Explore TheCloudTree®.ai HCM and discover how an adaptive, intelligent HR engine can help your organization respond to change with greater speed and flexibility.