The topic of digitization is currently omnipresent and particularly affects the HR area of companies. In addition to the technical implementation, the accompanying organizational development is also critical to success.

The “digital” in digitalization puts the focus on technology, although at its core it is about massive changes in the life and work habits of employees. For this reason, it is not enough to simply introduce new technologies as a cloud-based HR system; modern tools can only be used successfully if the organizational framework conditions are right and the workforce supports the new solution.

In order to successfully accompany the digitization of HR, we at WAHLER HR see three focal points in projects with our customers:
We have to demonstrate added value for the different user groups, we design trainings, communication measures, organizational development measures actually with the added value for the executives and user groups and importantly we actually accompany and measure the changes to be able to assess the effectiveness of the individual measures.

1. Create acceptance: Make needs and the new roles and added values of the various target groups, HR staff, employees and managers transparent.

For a long time, topics such as change management and training were focused on HR as part of on-premise implementations. Basically, these systems were for the operational HR unit, which had to deal with them, which means that all measures in this regard were naturally also geared to HR. What clients are increasingly finding, especially during projects, is that there is a realization that managers and employees need to be involved. Because self-services are inherent in the new cloud systems, and therefore we can naturally also integrate the most diverse roles into the business processes and provide access to the system. That’s the key change: with the new cloud tools, we address all employees, all managers in the company, give them access to HR data and, of course, also have to get them to use it. A critical success factor in the introduction of new HR cloud solutions is to create acceptance among employees and managers to also use these new tools.

 

2. Demonstrate added value to specific target groups: Adapt communication and training to the respective target groups

The involvement of other target groups, in addition to HR, i.e., all managers and all employees who were not affected at all in the past, must of course take place very early on and over the entire duration of a project. In addition, it requires anticipating resistance from these target groups and breaking it down. The HR employees were often happy to get something new and powerful and were very enthusiastic, but with the managers it is sometimes a different story. We have to work very intensively with them and show them the added value they will have in the future and not just the disadvantages that they are now confronted with more HR processes.

 

3. Select, accompany and measure organizational development measures in line with the culture, framework conditions and maturity level of the organization.

We select suitable organizational development tools and, together with the client, adapt them to the framework conditions and the culture in the company. To do this, we start with an inventory with selected stakeholders, i.e. where do the companies stand in terms of their maturity level, what culture do they have and how high is the readiness for the introduction of HR cloud solutions. Only after that are suitable measures selected and designed. We repeatedly accompany these measures with interim measurements in order to be able to assess their success.

 

For more information on how we can support you in your HR digitization, learn more at our services.