The success of any business is contingent on its ability to unite its people toward a singular vision. For businesses with a burgeoning workforce or customer base, especially, your ability to stay connected in your work—across departments, throughout leadership hierarchies and with fellow colleagues—is the best way to ensure continued success as you grow.
Human Resources departments, in particular, play a crucial role in unifying their work teams. As the bridge connecting every auxiliary department within the organization, HR professionals are often the only people who actively communicate with others outside of their own department. But when you’re already bridled with your day-to-day work, the added responsibility of maintaining a united front is, to say the least, a daunting task.
That’s why many HR professionals today have resorted to better technology to aid them in their journey toward a more unified work front. We’ve taken some time to list some recent technology innovations to help you learn more about how these services can enable a more connected workforce across your entire company.
As a tool that helps companies better oversee the people that comprise their workforce, Human Capital Management software assists you in creating a better work culture and putting your team at the center of your business. From onboarding to offboarding and every moment in between, HCMs help you organize your approach to how your employees work.
As opposed to paper-based or manual solutions for HR management, this technology helps HR teams digitize their own work processes for a faster, more efficient method for accomplishing all sorts of tasks—ranging from tracking time-off to social engagement platforms for cheering on coworkers and publishing any people changes across the organization. Some HCMs have started harnessing the power of artificial intelligence technology to make certain HR tasks even easier. With the help of automation features, they can execute without any human interference, such as prospective applicant tracking and scheduling new-hire training programs.
But how, exactly, will an HCM system help you unify your organization? The key to unification through HCM technology lies in its ability to standardize your work methodologies. Your ability to create a uniform employee experience is valuable during training and onboarding phases, in particular. HCMs make it possible to track each employee’s proficiencies in their position and assure that discipline leaders are relaying all the tools, resources and information their new hires need to be successful.
The next tool you should learn about during your search for a more unified means of business is Voice over Internet Protocol telephony. Designed to simplify workplace communication channels like phone calls, faxing and texting, Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, serves as a new installment to your pre-existing strategies for connecting and collaborating with your fellow colleagues. It works by relaying your communication information via an internet connection, as this technology is able to convert audio messages into transmittable packets of data.
HR professionals, who spend most of their day in correspondence with both internal teams and external applicants, have found value in VoIP’s ability to streamline their dialogues and develop a digital alternative to their hardwired office phones or fax machines. VoIP powers tools like web conferencing wherever you have access to the internet, making it easier for your recruitment team to conduct remote interviews or preliminary screenings. Other capabilities, such as email transcriptions for incoming voicemails, make it much easier to manage your dialogue with candidates to ensure that no message is left unresponded to.
In the context of better unifying your workforce, Voice over IP assists in bridging any geographical or time-based barriers within your business. Because Voice over IP installs on your desktop, smartphone, tablet or other internet-connected devices, VoIP-powered communication is widely accessible for your remote employees, freelance marketers, traveling sales teams, as well as those working in the office. By giving all of your employees the same access to communication tools regardless of their location, you’ll help prevent the formation of any informational silos and ensure that your teams are totally aligned.
A final innovation that is aiding the unification process at an organizational level are private intranet platforms, which primarily serve as a digital location for sharing all things related to your company. Intranets serve as a secure method for sharing confidential or private company information. Like the internet, intranets connect users over a network—the only difference is that intranet networks are confined to a single company, government, educational facility, or any other private entity. This makes it easy for businesses that are concerned about their online safety to ensure that their information is only in the hands of those they can trust.
From new hire introductions to portals for your timesheets, salary information, and paid time off requests, intranets are an HR team’s best friend when it comes to quickly and easily sharing data. Your fellow employees will no longer need to touch base with you when they need access to their employee-related documents. Plus, because intranets offer the same level of connectivity as an internet-powered service, your team members can view their important files outside of their normal work hours and on the device of their choosing.
As the centralized hub for your organization’s digital information, intranet systems help businesses become more connected through a number of important features. Version creep—or the result of multiple people working on and sharing multiple versions of the same document—is essentially obsolete in companies that use intranet features like real-time file collaboration. Many businesses also utilize intranets as employee directory—in other words, a place for sharing every employee’s name, position, title, contact information, headshot and how long they’ve been with the company. Especially for growing companies or those with a sizable work team, this feature is an ideal way for people to put a face to the names they may email every day, and it can prove the value your company places on the individual people that comprise your office.
By pairing your technology suite with your already existing work culture, you’ll be ready to boost interpersonal relationships, drive meaningful engagement with your employees and build a company that is wholly aligned on its objectives, values and goals.