Implementing HR Technology: Is Everyone Really Doing It?

Implementing HR Technology: Is Everyone Really Doing It?

Implementing HR Technology: Is Everyone Really Doing It?

As is the case in every aspect of our lives, technology plays a major, ever evolving role in the world of HR.

Whether it’s figuring out how to leverage “big data” to improve your workforce planning or simply master the latest mobile application for job postings, keeping up with the latest and greatest HR technologies is an ongoing challenge. Even if you are a computer whiz, not only does every new high-tech system and process have a learning curve, but depending on you’re the demographics and culture of your organization, the next big thing, may not always be the right thing.

To illustrate this point, we take a look at how Northeast Ohio organizations are integrating, planning to integrate, or not integrating some of the better established HR technologies into their workplace practices from recruitment to retention.

Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

The most general type of HR technology surveyed, an HRIS is in place at the majority of organizations surveyed in the 2012 ERC Turnover & HR Department Practices Survey. While they are more common at larger organizations, the wide range of metrics and processes that they can perform makes them applicable across industry types with no noticeable differences between use at manufacturers, non-manufactures and non-profits.

Applicant Tracking System

In terms of utilizing formal software applications, Applicant Tracking Systems are somewhat less common than a more general HRIS, only about 30% of organizations in total according to the 2013 ERC Hiring Trends & Practices Survey. Of this 30%, very few respondents are from the manufacturing sector and very few are at smaller organizations (i.e. 200 employees or less).

The primary reasons many organizations are not currently using a formal applicant tracking system are a general sense by respondents that the “existing internal process is sufficient” (46%) or a lack of resources (27%). However, several organizations did indicate an intention to implement such a system at their organization at some point in the future, with 10% reporting that “options are under review” and 8% in the process of implementing their system (it was not yet functional at the time of the survey).

Online Performance Management Technologies

Performance Management processes can fall under several different types of technology based HR systems, including HRIS, Talent Management and Learning Management. Despite these various applications, online performance management systems are not particularly common within the respondents to the 2012 ERC Performance Management Practices Survey. The most common uses cited in this particular survey are shown in Figure 1 below.

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