HR Solutions
And now for Human Capital Management By Rob Bothma anaging resources through technology could be written with regards to most spheres of business today, irrespective of whether these resources are seen as suppliers, clients, customers or employees.Technology has invaded every aspect of our life and has pretty much become an integral in most of our day to day activities, whether we are banking, shopping, being entertained or communicating with family, friends or business associates. However in the workplace the dependence on technology has become far more critical, if you find an ATM machine that is down, you could always find another, but for the bank, should their ATM system go down, the costs of lost business through ATM fees could be astronomical. Within the HR space, technology is changing the way employees interact with the HR team forever. No longer should employees walk down to the HR department or contact HR with regards to mundane administrative tasks such as a change in dependents or a change of address. HR now has the means to provide all employees with access to an HR portal which will enable their employees to dynamically interact with HR online, enabling employees to effectively transact with regards to their own specific information stored on the core HR system. In the past number of years we have seen HR’s role evolving from that of Personnel Management to Human Resources Management and then to Human Capital Management (HCM) which is currently evolving into a more sophisticated discipline, that of Talent Management (TM). Is this just another play on words changing the name but not the function? – Well the IT department went through various name changes from being labeled the Data Processing Department (DP), to Information Systems (IS) to Information Technology (IT) through to Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Certainly the role of IT has changed over the years from one of providing some form of online access with reporting through a mainframe to that of managing open communications for a multitude of portable devices that staff utilise to access the organisation’s information systems. To answer the question posed above, No, this is not just another name change for HR, as the core functions of the HR department have been evolving over the past number of years. Human Capital Management differs from that of traditional HR in that HR was always a more central function run from within the HR team, where HCM is everybody’s responsibility within the organisation.This may seem like a very strange statement to make, but yes, all staff should be responsible in one way or another with regards to HCM. For example: Employees are expected to ensure that they keep their current skills set updated on the HR system, as well as playing an integral role in the performance management cycle by interacting through the portal and updating information where relevant.
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Service offering includes Executive Search and Selection of Specialised Skills, Board Services, Assessment of Human Capital and Coaching Services.
Line Managers are required to start managing those HR functions that deal directly with the employees in the workplace. In addition they should also be play an integral role of continually assessing and recording the continued growth in skills and experience of their employees as part of the performance management cycle through on-the-job assessment. The HR team is required to assist the executive, line managers and employees by setting up the relevant policies and procedures with the necessary system configuration around functions such as Job profiling Recruitment, Succession Planning, Performance Management and Training and Development. HR will also play a role in the analysis of results at the end of the assessment cycle for input into subsequent cycles. The Executive need to keep their finger on the pulse of the organisation, through integrated HR dashboards displaying pertinent indicators with regards to staff such as employee productivity, overtime, absence and various other cost indicators. In summary, the huge asset base the company has through its employees is contained in the “talent” these employees have – broken down into those components more traditionally referred to as Skills, Competencies, Knowledge, Qualifications etc. What organisations now need to focus on is how to optimise these assets to be able achieve more with these assets through their existing resources. The only way for HR to get to grips with this challenge is to ensure that they have the right solution based on the right technology available at their fingertips 24/7, and therein lies the challenge, with so many new products and solutions out there, it is fast becoming a mine field for the HR team to navigate through. So, with all of this in mind, the challenge that faces the HR team is selecting the right HR Information System (HRIS), and in this process you will not only be faced with the challenge that the selected application meets the functional requirements of your organisation (at the present time, as well as for the projected growth in the organisation), but also the demands from IT department with regards to the selected system fitting in with their current technology strategy. In conclusion, with the focus to maximise the return on investment on those investments made by the HR in relation to employee selection, performance, development and then through to termination, forward thinking companies are integrating their separate HR initiatives into a cohesive “hire to retire” Human Capital Management strategy through the implementation of fully integrated HR, Payroll and Time and Attendance solutions. Rob Bothma is an Industry Specialist at Business Connexion and a non-executive director of the IPM. Contact rob.bothma@bcx.co.za
For more information, visit our website at www.talent-africa.co.za Tel: +27 11 771 4800
May 2012 People Dynamics
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