Innovation is changing the HR world today. Technology is bringing improvements in speed, service and quality, however, many HR departments have continued operating throughout the years as they have always done and have not evolved to take advantage of the opportunities available from the new technological developments.

Instead of embedding outdated processes, HR professionals should re-think the way they operate and ensure that they make the best use of technology, systems and communication. The focus should be on innovating new ways to solve old problems. HR needs to re-visit, evaluate and update its processes to ensure that the HR department provides high value-adding levels of service.

What is HR process re-engineering?

HR process re-engineering is all about optimization and continuous improvement. It is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign that leads to an increase in productivity. The aim of process re-engineering is to improve the level of process performance in order to achieve significant and sustainable improvements in the performance of your HR department. Through HR process re-engineering, HR professionals can re-think how they operate and find better or improved ways to provide HR services.

What steps are involved?

HR process re-engineering consists of six fundamental steps as shown in the figure below:

HR process re-engineering starts with data gathering to understand the current activities and processes. It is important to involve the key subject experts at this stage as they know the processes and problematic areas in detail. A focus should be placed on the analysis stage, considering end users and internal requirements to ensure a successful outcome. When re-designing, each activity should be challenged to ensure that duplications and blockages are removed and unnecessary steps and processes are eliminated. Implementation is one of key steps in successful process re-engineering. To effectively implement the HR processes, change needs to be managed effectively and HR should communicate and address issues upfront to obtain buy-in.

What are the benefits and ROI?

There are many benefits of using this tool and some of the expected outcomes include:

• Reduced Cost – There are a number of areas where your company can achieve cost reduction. This includes time-savings and a reduction of error rates. In addition, when a self-service option is provided to employees there is potential saving in cost by reducing manpower requirements.
• Increase in departmental efficiency – Process re-engineering will drive the automation of a lot of repetitive elements and therefore you will be able to remove duplicate steps and parallel processing. The improvement will give the HR team the capacity to focus on value-added activities moving away from transactional to strategic HR.
• Employee engagement – By optimizing your HR processes you can make your employees happier as issues that they are facing can be handled faster through automation.
• Improvement in customer service levels – Process re-engineering ensures that the quality of HR services and information is delivered efficiently and consistently across the business.

When is HR process re-engineering the answer?

Knowing when and how to innovate is a challenge for every HR function. A close and critical assessment of HR processes will provide clarity and focus on whether a re-design of an HR process is required. Some of the red flags include:

• The presence of non value-added activities e.g. using both excel/spreadsheets and I.T for tracking purposes
• Duplication in steps for process completion e.g. multiple data entry
• Deviations in the process e.g. difference in requirements for the same service
• SLAs are not adhered to
• Disconnect between end-user requirements and the services provided

PeopleFirst is experienced in HR process re-engineering. We have worked with a range of clients to analyse their current HR processes and systems and aligned them to business needs, thus helping the organization move forward towards fulfilling its long- term vision. We further provide end-to-end outsourcing solutions through an online, cloud-based portal where we help companies to streamline and automate their HR processes.