HRD Asia 5-Star HR Software 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

2021

HR SOFTWARE HRD Asia celebrates the 20 tech companies whose innovative, elegant solutions are helping HR navigate a new and complex world of work

CONTENTS

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Feature article .............................................. 2 Methodology ................................................ 2 2021 Winners ............................................... 4 Profile ............................................................ 5

SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR AWARDS 2021: HR SOFTWARE

TECH SOLUTIONS FOR THE DYNAMIC WORKFORCE PREDICTABILITY WAS a pre-2020 phenomenon. Since the onset of COVID-19, the new reality has consisted of flux, tumult and uncertainty. However, this period of unprecedented change isn’t just presenting new challenges, it’s also leading to some pretty smart solutions. In no sector is this more relevant than in HR software.

As Rita Tsui, founder of HR news and business intelligence portal Asia HRM, told HRD Asia: “The HR tech and software

rethink how and where employees carry out their jobs, making more urgent the need for innovation to help figure out this new way of working. Luckily, investment in the HR technology sector is buoyant, tracking upwards even throughout the pandemic, says Tsui.

Notable examples are the USD153m investment in the upskilling platform startup DegreeD, the EUR122m funding for internal communications platform Staffbase and the USD300m investment in workforce

“In the same way our cars tell us where we need to go and our watches tell us how to improve our diet, predictive intelligence will guide our HR decisions and help us stay one step ahead” Rob Squires, Ceridian industry has been evolving steadily over the past decade. But the speed of change accelerated with the pandemic – to the extent that the future of work is now.”

The 20 winners of HRD Asia’s 5-star HR Software Awards represent this precocious leap into the future, delivering solutions in HRIS, reward and recognition, payroll and recruitment. Their tools and platforms excel across all our survey criteria: speed, great user experience, value for money, seamless integration, customer support, and good compliance, functionality and features.

The pandemic has forced organisations to

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management platform Workrise.

Tsui says that funding and acquisitions in the HR tech space point to organisations’ focus on two areas: software to address current problem areas and tech that prepares for the future of work.

The former includes enhanced employee attendance management systems, productivity tools, ongoing listening solutions, employee engagement tools, health and wellbeing platforms, upskilling platforms, and HR analytics tools.

The latter consists of employee experience platforms, performance management

METHODOLOGY The HRD Asia 5-star HR Software Awards winners were selected according to a survey conducted by the magazine’s research and intelligence team over nine weeks, from March to May this year. The team sought the opinions of HR professionals. Companies that scored a rating of 80% or higher on criteria across all four categories (HRIS, payroll, recruitment, reward and recognition) were declared winners. Survey participants were asked to name their software of choice for each category, and to rate them according to a range of criteria common to all categories, such as ease of use or ease of use for HR, customer support and value for money. Then, for each category, the criteria are the following: HRIS: employee experience, ease of implementation, customisation, streamlining of processes, value for money and customer support Payroll: level of automation, compliance features, customisation, seamless integration, time saving, value for money, customer support, functionality and features Reward and recognition: employee experience, real-time analytics, peer-to-peer recognition, time saving, value for money, customer support, functionality and features Recruitment: candidate experience, time saving, ease of integration and implementation, functionality and features

BREAKDOWN OF HRD SURVEY RESPONDENTS

By company size

Large

58.3%

(over 1,000 employees) Medium

25%

(100–999 employees) Small

16.7%

(less than 100 employees)

frameworks and tools, employee self-service models delivered through existing systems; adoption of AI and machine learning (ML) to solve HR problems, and people analytics tools.

Tsui says that funding and acquisitions in the HR tech space point to organisations’ focus on two areas: HR software to address current problem areas and tech that prepares for the future of work. The former includes enhanced employee attendance management systems, productivity tools, ongoing listening solutions, employee engagement tools, health and wellbeing platforms, upskilling platforms and HR analytics tools. The latter covers employee experience platforms, performance management frameworks and tools, employee self-service models delivered through existing systems, adoption of AI and machine learning (ML) to solve HR problems, and people analytics tools.

By HR software purchasing timeline

45.8% 6–12 months

37.5%

3–6 months

16.7%

12+ months

Integration leading to enterprise As the HR software space continues to grow, HRD’s research has shown certain patterns in demand and usage for technology.

“With the rise of remote working, organisations across Asia are not only prioritising technologies – such as recognition software – that connect people. They demand ease of use to create a seamless employee experience,” says Alan Heyward, Asia-Pacific managing director at OC Tanner, which offers Culture Cloud employee recognition software and service awards.

“As a result, there’s a growing focus on integrating recognition features and functionality into major HRIS players like Workday, SAP, Bamboo HR, and enterprise social platforms such as Workplace by Facebook, to ensure recognition is available in the natural flow of work.”

Particularly in Asia, there’s a demand for speed in implementation, but Heyward

cautions this must be balanced with other needs.

“A key differentiator of a successful program implementation and launch is in the careful alignment of a program to the organisational culture. Organisations that fail to do so will find themselves degrading the employee experience.”

Tech-based flexibility Rob Squires, Asia head of sales at Ceridian, sees rising demand for cloud-based technologies such as the company’s comprehensive human capital management (HCM) cloud platform Dayforce, something which chimed with HRD’s internal research. What’s more, global clientele who operate in Asia seek solutions to tackle recent regulatory changes, driving growth of the HCM market. Companies also want tools to keep track of contract employees for regulatory compliance and scheduling optimisation.

“Managers can use HCM technology to provide more flexibility. Self-service functionality allows employees to view their schedules on any mobile device, update their own availability and trade shifts when unavailable to attend. Rosters are updated in real time, further reducing the administrative load. This functionality mirrors how employees use technology in other aspects of their lives, where everything is at their fingertips and on-demand, and they expect the same from their workplace.”

Squires says that in recruitment, AI plays a particularly impactful role, helping to ensure decision-making is fair and equitable, reducing administrative burdens and speeding up the hiring processes.

“With AI and machine learning (ML), there is tremendous potential for predictive intelligence. In the same way our cars tell us

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SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR AWARDS 2021: HR SOFTWARE

“With the rise of remote working, organisations across Asia are not only prioritising technologies – such as recognition software – that connect people, they demand ease of use” Alan Heyward, OC Tanner

2021

HR SOFTWARE PAYROLL Ceridian Phone: +65 6761 9450 Website: ceridian.com/au ADP

where we need to go and our watches tell us how to improve our diet, predictive intelligence will guide our HR decisions and help us stay one step ahead.”

A shift in attitudes Heyward believes that behind the slow uptake of software lies a misconception about what HR is and what HR does. Many organisations perceive HR as more of an administrative, rather than a strategic, function.

However, he also sees more progressive organisations realising the strategic cultural value of recognition.

“For these employers, software is merely the enabler, and they use recognition as an important lever with which to build leader capability, and influence important culture metrics (eg talent retention, attraction, employee engagement) and bottom-line results.”

Employee wellbeing Research from HRD found that wellbeing is at the heart of organisational strategy in 2021. The pandemic prompted employers to act decisively to safeguard employee mental health, meaning HR leaders relied increasingly on software to help facilitate the process.

“There has been a growing demand for software that facilitates employee wellbeing and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives,” says Heyward.

“Our research confirms that when recog-

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nition is integrated well, organisations are four times more likely to have highly engaged employees, and 44% less likely to have employees suffering from burnout.”

Squires sees a central role for technology in ensuring the fluid, hybrid workplace puts physical, mental and financial health first.

“This can be achieved by applying disruptive technology to create experiences that engage and empower both employees and employers to embrace a more intelligent mode of working, creating quantifiable value for companies.”

Info-Tech JustLogin Payroll Module Ramco Timesoft

RECRUITMENT Bamboo HR Bullhorn Enboarder Freshteam

What lies ahead

HireVue

A permanently dispersed workforce will expect a better-designed user experience, says Squires and, importantly, will pay attention to how these experiences are delivered.

“Mobile technology underpinned by predictive analysis is a key part of building a tailored and connected experience for a hybrid workforce and will continue to be an imperative in the future,” he reveals.

Heyward sees the continued trend of more start-ups in Asia challenging the dominance of established market players.

“We’ve seen new technology with a lot of bells and whistles, and for some, really clever marketing. As the HR tech market in Asia matures, organisations will wise up to these tactics, and will select proven partners with a strong track record in delivering not only implementation and sustained innovation, but also alignment to their organisational needs and objectives.”

PeopleStrong Workday

HRIS Adrenalin eSystems Cornerstone Enabley HRPro SAP SuccessFactors Workday

REWARD & RECOGNITION IBM Rewards OC Tanner SAP SuccessFactors

CERIDIAN

I

Phone: +65 6761 9450 Website: ceridian.com/au

n a reshaped reality where workforces are dispersed across the globe, Ceridian has all the bases covered. The human capital management (HCM) and payroll provider’s reach is extensive; headquartered in Toronto and Minneapolis, Ceridian operates across North America, Europe and the AsiaPacific Japan (APJ) region. It employs close to 6,000 people and has customers in 50 countries.

Ceridian continually seeks opportunities to expand, with recent acquisitions including APJ-based Ascender, the leading HR and payroll solutions provider in the region; Ideal, a market leader in talent intelligence; and Singapore-based HCM service provider Excelity.

“Together with Ascender and Excelity, Ceridian serves a combined 1,600 customers and 2.5 million employees across 30 countries in the APJ region,” says Rob Squires, Ceridian’s regional vice president for Asia.

“By combining Ceridian’s award-winning Dayforce platform with both Excelity and

Ascender’s reach, expertise and leadership, we are now laying the foundation to support our customers’ current and future human capital needs.”

Comprehensive HCM cloud platform Dayforce is a one-stop solution for organisations who are rethinking how they operate in a constantly shifting, borderless, data-driven world. With more than 5,000 customers live on Dayforce, the flagship platform delivers on the brand promise – Makes Work Life Better™ – by offering a single solution for multiple HR pain points. “Dayforce provides human resources, payroll, benefits, workforce management and talent management functionality in a single solution to ensure organisations have a holistic view of their workforce that improves process efficiencies and mitigates risk through a focus on compliance,” says Squires.

“Increasingly, [our customers use] Dayforce as the foundation for evolving and fluid work environments, including the shift for many to hybrid models of work that incorporate both virtual and in-office experiences,” says

Squires. Ceridian’s customers include some of the world’s biggest and most recognisable brands, including Henkel, NewsCorp, Harley-Davidson, Danone and the Hanover Insurance Group.

Bold, innovative and intelligent is how Squires describes the brand. Thanks to the new AI capabilities of Ideal, Dayforce customers can make more accurate and fair talent decisions. Ceridian’s own employees are also highly satisfied with the company’s inclusive and flexible culture. Employee engagement scores show 93% of its people are proud to work at Ceridian and 88% would recommend the company to others.

“The new ways of working across the globe see businesses needing to continuously reimagine how they enable and develop their workforce, whilst finding commercial efficiencies from more productive business processes and increased workforce insights all geographies. Our HCM and payroll solutions are well positioned to enable the rapidly evolving future of work,” says Squires.

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SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR AWARDS 2021: HR SOFTWARE

2021

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