HR and Remote Work

Working remotely has become a normalized and routine practice for many organizations. Whilst working from home was pushed upon us by the forces of COVID-19, there has been a realization that the office is no longer the epicenter of all work activities. 

This shift in how we interact with work has driven the need for better guidance on managing HR from a remote setting. In the following chapters, we will break down the full process, empowering any HR department to establish a robust and effective system for handling the various aspects of people management.

HR and Remote Work is an e-book that will be extremely useful for not only HR professionals but also any leaders trying to establish how to maintain a high-performance culture without the intimacy of in-person social interactions. Throughout this e-book, the reader will be instructed on a range of processes that can be introduced or improved to ensure that all employees are well-engaged and motivated by their work.

## Summary of HR and Remote Work

### Performance

A continuous performance management system will not only allow HR leaders to keep track of contributions from their employees, but it will also facilitate employees in better understanding where their efforts should be focussed. A regular and predictable routine for the various aspects of performance management will give employees the best opportunity to perform to a high standard and fulfill the expectations put upon them by managers or leaders.

Recognizing that the approach to performance management has had to adapt to the remote environment, there has been a need to alter the processes it involves. In this chapter, our focus is on the maintenance of an effective approach to performance management that can withstand the additional challenges of working remotely.

### Engagement

Employee engagement surveys are crucial for improving any organization. Making the most of feedback is dependent on how responses are collected and evaluated. In any organization, employees form the foundation blocks, and so much more, for the realization of its interests. As a result, employee engagement surveys must be used to understand how the organization is perceived by its employees and how much they are engaged by their work. Implementing an engagement survey that brings employees into the discussion, whilst also gathering informative data, will enable any organization to monitor variations in motivation and increase productivity.

In this chapter, we discuss the various survey types that can be used to promote employee engagement. Tracking and reacting to the responses to these surveys will enable HR to maintain a company culture that can motivate employees. Regardless of the location of employees, engagement can be promoted through demonstrating a commitment to and support for the whole team.

### Development

When it comes to making a successful team, the steps taken in preparing and executing a development plan are crucial for ensuring that all involved are prosperous and grow as result. By taking the time to properly assess and enact a plan that has can fulfill desired outcomes, HR will have the best chance of producing more engaged employees, and therefore, a more productive workforce.

In this chapter, we highlight the significance of planning ahead and establishing a clear route for employee development. In the face of the additional pressures caused by COVID-19, having a development plan will provide employees with the vision that is essential to their personal growth. Working from home has prevented many team members from being able to look beyond their immediate situation, as a result, many have lost the drive for self-improvement. As long as remote working sustains, this hurdle will present difficulties for many individuals. Through creating a robust and achievable development plan, employees can once again realize their aspirations and improve their professional skills further through learning and training programs.

### Onboarding

The move to remote-work led HR to rapidly adapt their onboarding strategies. Virtual onboarding programs require additional planning but they can be very impactful. The process is a new one, yet, this does not necessarily mean that it can’t be as successful. Employee retention is significantly affected by the experience of onboarding, therefore remote teams must take further steps to ensure a positive remote employee onboarding process.

In this chapter, we break down the process of ensuring an effective onboarding process. With a focus on the significance of managing remote onboarding as a long-term solution, the reader will become far more adept at developing and running the onboarding process remotely. For new joiners, the prospect of starting a new job can be a daunting prospect - having to do so whilst working from home presents even further challenges. We demonstrate how HR and leaders can facilitate a less stressful onboarding experience for employees through a number of practices.

### Culture

Culture is the working environment at a company. It’s the stories told about what it means to work for an organization. It’s how employees relate to each other, and the long-term intentions of the brand. Sustaining these concepts and ideals about a company has become difficult with remote work. Nevertheless, the change needn't be considered a hindrance to company culture. Reflecting on the move to remote work as a new opportunity to redefine culture is a far more constructive and productive mindset.

It is precisely this mindset that we promote in this chapter, focussing on how to use remote work as a leaping point to prosper and establish an even stronger company culture. With a reduction in the opportunities for individuals to get out and socialize amidst a pandemic, work becomes a significant place for employees to communicate with others. Ensuring that your company culture encourages employees to share a sense of camaraderie and togetherness is crucial to the mental and social well-being of your team.

### Wellbeing, Diversity and the Future of Work

In these remaining chapters, we explore the importance of improving the experience of remote work through a variety of approaches. The key message that carries throughout is the tenable link between communication, supporting remote employees and resultantly, their productive output. As you will see in the e-book, there is much more to be said for each of these principals of HR.

## Download your own copy here!


The challenges of remote work have created the potential for some great success stories in response to this seismic shift in how we approach work. For HR, the focus for the future of working remotely must be centered on ensuring that all team members are prepared for any occasion. This e-book will provide HR and leaders alike with essential guidance on how to successfully manage HR and remote work. With insights on handling all core aspects of HR, readers will develop a greater appreciation for how to maintain great performance and engagement whilst working in a remote team.

PG Remote Work Guide 

HR and Remote Work is an e-book that is extremely useful for not only HR professionals but also any leaders trying to maintain a high-performance culture without the possibility for in-person social interactions.

HR and Remote Work: PeopleGoal's Guide to the Remote Office

Diving deep into the 4 core pillars of HR, PeopleGoal has set out to provide HR departments, all over the world, with the guidance and tools necessary to implement an effective HR strategy that will enable teams to thrive in a remote working environment.

Modernising Performance Management

In today's fast paced business enviroment every organisation needs an employee performance management system to engage and manage employees. We have created a guide on how to find and implement a new performance management system.

PeopleGoal - Modernizing Performance Management

Modernizing Employee Performance Management in Medium and Large Organizations

In modern business it is no longer sufficient to just “manage” employee performance. You must strive to improve employee engagement and give employees the right tools to develop and perform.

PeopleGoal - HRIS in 2019

In a rapidly evolving work environment it’s very difficult for companies to have the right Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) in place, in order to adapt to these changes. Last year alone __$11 Billion__ was lost due to employee turnover, despite large companies using on average __11 systems__ to manage people processes ([Bersin 2019]([https://joshbersin.com/2019/02/the-employee-experience-platform-a-new-category-arrives/)). 

## But why it’s so difficult to engage, retain and develop your employees?
To answer this question we have to take a step back and try to understand the work environment dynamics from the different perspectives: 

![Human Resources Information Systems in 2019](//images.ctfassets.net/6g4s9n00xmsl/7M39j3wPQbInwDllIcwXU0/c5c4e0d889b48154bf371fe371698830/Human_Resources_Information_Systems_in_2019.png)

### Organizational dynamics
Many organizations are looking to introduce a data driven people process when it comes to talent needs, however the number of companies that is actually doing it is low. [Deloitte](https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2015/people-and-hr-analytics-human-capital-trends-2015.html) reports that people analytics are the second biggest overall capability gap for organizations. CEO’s recognize the need for a data driven strategy but are slow in implementing such processes and that is primarily because organizations are new to this discipline and often enough HR professionals do not have the required skill set to analyze the data. Enter Human Resources Information Systems, the majority of the HRIS vendors offer an analytics package that can fill the gap. However, introducing a new system it does not mean it will immediately fill the people capabilities gap.

Another interesting observation about today’s business landscape is the increasing tendency for companies to look to reinvent their business model. Digital technologies are penetrating all sectors, resulting in revenues and profit shifts, and therefore a lot of businesses are looking to re-invent their business model and introduce digitization.

Finally there is a clear preference to Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) applications. In fact, according to [BetterCloud](https://www.bettercloud.com/monitor/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/05/2017stateofthesaaspoweredworkplace-report-1.pdf) 73% of their apps will be SaaS by 2020.

### Workforce trends
The millennials are taking over, 75% of the global workforce will be millennials. They are tech savvy and choose their place of work carefully. Millennials tend to change jobs every two to three years and they put a lot of emphasis on learning and development. They expect mobility and workplace benefits and many traditional organizations are struggling to adapt.

Millennials grew up during an economic boom, hence the lack of fear of changing roles frequently. They are seeking experiences and they tend to choose brands that share their values.

On the contrary, Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2010) tend to be more pragmatic and are focused on saving money as they grew up during a recession. Gen Z is also entering the workforce slowly and we will start hearing more about them really soon.

The current workforce is not silent they are expressing their needs. They want to know and understand their company’s goals, strategies and values. They want their feedback on the company to be heard and acted up on.

Organizations try to respond the best they can on their workforce needs with flexible work schedules, employee benefits, mobility and engagement survey.

### Management and HR Leaders
CEOs are more open to adopt a flexible, open career model with meaningful assignments, projects and experiences over a set career path. With an open career model it’s easier to keep the workforce engaged as they are having a say on what assignment to do. Also, it allows for organizational agility and building a talent pool that has a variety of skills.

HR leaders are feeling the pressure with their current workforce. One quarter of HR leaders are not confident in their ability to transform their workforce according to KPMG and only 36% of HR executives feel capable keeping up with current talent issues ([Deloitte](https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends.html)).

Furthermore,  both HR Leaders and CEOs anticipate a war for talent when it comes to specific skill sets such data science, digital marketing, Web design, network engineering.

### Human Resources Information Systems
Traditionally Human Resources Information Systems are focused on HR processes only: time management, holidays, and absence tracking and performance management. This changed to include engagement surveys, succession planning, internal communications and employee on-boarding. In addition most vendors offer enhanced reporting and analytics.

Most Human Resources Information Systems vendors are moving towards an employee experience platform where they integrate all human resources processes that cover the employee lifecycle into one robust package with the option to switch on and off modules. Moreover, Organizations are starting to  recognize the need for an employee experience platform and the HR system vendors trying to adapt their products to the demand. Their solutions focus on employee engagement, employee retention and performance management.

## So, how a Human Resources Information Systems can help organizations to engage, retain and manage employees?
Enter employee experience platform, the HR system architecture going forward will be focused on the entire employee lifecycle in an organization, from on-boarding to off-boarding. CEO’s and HR leaders recognize the need to treat their employees as customers as its very easy for them to find another job. Millenials are seeking experiences in their workplace and they are advocates of a 2-way communication between them and their leaders. A connected platform that covers the entire employee lifecycle will capture all the data required to understand behaviors and needs of the employees.

It’s very difficult for all these to come from a single HR systems vendor. To tackle this, big players such as SAP and Oracle are investing heavily on its own start-ups to maintain the position as the core HR system ([Bersin 2019]([https://joshbersin.com/2019/02/the-employee-experience-platform-a-new-category-arrives/)) and smaller vendors and HR start-ups are building integrated solutions and overarching frameworks that can be easily adapted to future innovations.

## Who is going to win the Human Resources Information Systems race? It's too early to say.

If you would like to find out more out more about the changes in Human Resources Information Systems in 2019 download our Human Resources Information Systems PDF. Also, we would love to hear your feedback too so feel free to reach out.

In an increasingly digital work environment, large companies use on average 11 Human Resources Information Systems to manage people processes.

Although it doesn't have a physical presence, it is quickly becoming the face of the HR department with it's own name, associated log-ins with varying password requirements and it’s own set of annoying habits.

PeopleGoal - Human Resource Information Systems in 2019

Human Resources Information Systems in 2019

Large companies are using on average 11 different systems to handle, process and disseminate Human Resources Information Systems. A quick search of vendors reveals thousands of companies touting the best solution for your needs.

Whitepapers.

HR and Remote Work

Diving deep into the 4 core pillars of HR, PeopleGoal has set out to provide HR departments, all over the world, with the guidance and tools necessary to implement an effective HR strategy that will enable teams to thrive in a remote working environment.

Modernizing Employee Performance Management in Medium and Large Organizations

In modern business it is no longer sufficient to just “manage” employee performance. You must strive to improve employee engagement and give employees the right tools to develop and perform.

Human Resources Information Systems in 2019

Large companies are using on average 11 different systems to handle, process and disseminate Human Resources Information Systems. A quick search of vendors reveals thousands of companies touting the best solution for your needs.

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