HR technology still not being used to its full potential

Less than one in four human resources professionals (24 per cent) reported that their organisation’s HR function is deriving the maximum value from HR technology.

A Gartner survey of 85 HR leaders found that only 35 per cent of respondents are confident that their current approach to HR technology is helping to achieve business outcomes. While two out of three believe that if they don’t take action to improve HR’s approach to technology, their function’s effectiveness will decrease.

This is a worrying sign, as one in two HR managers plan to increase their tech budget, as previously reported on HR Leader.

“While HR leaders believe that HR technology is important and impactful, they continue to struggle with how to gain the most value,” said Mark Whittle, vice president of advisory in the Gartner HR practice.

“The goal isn’t to maximise technology’s value to HR alone, but to maximise the business value the technology can bring to the entire organisation.”

Optimising the technology requires an organisational shift to an approach that allows the adoption of HR technology to flourish. Using the technology to create higher impact contributions boosts not only the value of technology but also the overall business value.

“Strategic business value is generated by bringing humans and technology together, not freeing up employees’ time to do strategic work on their own,” said Piers Hudson, senior director in the Gartner HR practice.

“Poor experiences with HR technology cause low confidence in HR’s ability to drive tech transformation,” said Hudson. “Nearly half of the HR staff we surveyed reported that use of HR technology solutions has damaged HR’s reputation across the organisation.”

It comes down to that trust between stakeholders and HR. Ultimately, having faith in HR’s ability to deliver transformational technology must come from HR leaders proving through small yet important ways that they can deliver. It doesn’t have to be a grandiose transformational goal, but instead small functional achievements that make a real impact on the organisation as a whole.

For example, Gartner stated that HR should prepare scenarios to show how plans can adjust if conditions change, such as financial outlook or the regulatory environment.

“Like many employees today, HR staff are concerned about how evolving technology will impact their jobs and careers.”

“Nearly half of the HR employees we surveyed agree that HR technology has removed parts of their job they liked, and nearly one-quarter of wider employees think AI could replace jobs in the next five years,” said Whittle.

To help HR staff adopt new viewpoints and perspectives around technology, HR leaders need to go beyond training and tangibly illustrate how it supports new high-value work rather than limiting current jobs and activities. By painting a picture that resonates better with key stakeholders, HR leaders can be that point of difference for an organisation and their business outcomes through the utilisation of technology.