Hmm another HR Service Management blog, maybe I need to get out more?
Although, I've not actually seen the HRSM acronym in use anywhere; and, for once, Google didn't educate my outside-IT naivety. Maybe I should stick with enterprise service management or "the applicability of IT service management (ITSM) outside of IT" ?
I've written about both before, but never drilled down into the weeds of HR or any other corporate service provider. And, for HR, it doesn't get much weedier than the HR Joiners/Movers/Leavers process. Take a look at the simple on-boarding example below …
The complexity of multi-provider service delivery
I don't expect you to be able to read the shrunken flowchart but it's a simple, yes simple, on-boarding or joiners process. Which requires different business functions to work together to deliver a single outcome — an employee who is able to work on their first day. And will involve a single new starter request being split into multiple service requests, or tasks, such as:
- For HR: Collecting and verifying employee personal data, the signing of contracts and other official forms, agreeing to a start date, providing HR policy information, and arranging induction training.
- For IT: Providing telephony and IT equipment, software, access to corporate IT services, instructional information, and corporate usage policy information.
- For Facilities: Providing suitable working accommodation, a security pass, and maybe a new network point in conjunction with IT.
- For Fleet: Arranging a company car and maybe working with the facilities group to arrange parking facilities.
And for leavers we have to almost do it all in reverse — reclaiming or closing down products and services.
The labor of manual processes
Done manually, it's not easy. And unfortunately for all those organizations that get it wrong, it's a bad first impression of the company for a new recruit that doesn't have a building pass, or access to email, or a mobile phone. Or is lumbered with a stop-gap laptop that looks as though it was bought in a fire sale. Such process failures might also have an adverse affect on business operations depending on the new employee's role.
If you stop to think about it, Joiners/Movers/Leavers is not just a complex process that spans across multiple business functions, with inefficient often manually-intensive processes. It might also involve the use of disparate data management systems that probably don't work well with each other and offer up another source of errors and delays.
Thus a positive result, from the Joiners/Movers/Leavers process, might be last minute rushes and a poor service experience for both the recruiting manager and the new employee, say. But at least the latter has everything they need on their first day, right?
In the words of Bananarama and the Fun Boy Three — or, if you prefer, Ella Fitzgerald — in a consumerized world:
"It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it."
The root cause of the issue?
If you're as old as me, you'll remember that 20-25 years ago, like most corporate departments, HR had the intra and inter-office mail system and of course the telephone. Hopefully everything was logged, nothing was lost in the mail, and every service request was delivered against (maybe with a little chasing after a week or so).
Then Microsoft personal productivity tools revolutionized how we worked in the office — with email and spreadsheets added to the mix to aid communication and organization. But these were, and still are, PERSONAL productivity tools, not service management or service automation tools. They help but they don't help as much as they could. They don't help as much as HR needs them to.
There's still too much manual intervention required (including the requester having to chase up request status), a lack of governance, and a lack of insight into operations and overall performance. Whether that be insight into throughputs, service level achievement, costs, or anything else that it's important to understand about service provider operations. In this case how well the Joiners/Movers/Leavers process is operating.
Extending the IT service model to Joiners/Movers/Leavers
You could argue that, in terms of dealing with service requests, HR is where IT was 20+ years ago before it adopted service management and automated as much of it as possible with fit-for-purpose tools.
What I'm trying to say is that HR's service management capability has only evolved so far; and, in relation to IT's, it's antiquated. Using a manually-intensive service model, there are potentially a number of extra and unnecessary activities — to get additional information from the requestor or where the requestor is checking the status of their request. It's inefficient, full of potential failure points, and a poor service experience.
For a joiner, say, this is multiplied by an order of magnitude given the number of discrete activities that need to be undertaken, organized, and managed across multiple departments.
Using ITSM technology to facilitate the Joiners/Movers/Leavers process
It's possibly the traditional best-case scenario for HR organizations — the use of a traditional ITSM tool, and the service request process, to log and manage some of the Joiners/Movers/Leavers process' key activities, linkages, and responsibilities. But it's a forced fit and uses language that isn't matched to HR terminology and operations. Thus it can be a poor user experience.
HR needs more than a forced-fit of ITSM technology, with following key building blocks tailored specifically for HR and processes such as Joiners/Movers/Leavers:
- An employee self-service portal — to deliver a consistent end user experience to employees that provides an HR storefront with 24x7 access to HR information and services.
- Automated case assignment — where requests are directed to a specific individual or group via rules. And this is groups inside and outside of HR for Joiners/Movers/Leavers.
- Reporting and dashboards — so HR specialists and management can assess performance, and determine areas for improvement or opportunities to drive operational efficiencies.
So consider the benefits of service automation for Joiners/Movers/Leavers
I've probably not done a great job in describing the common issues associated with the Joiners/Movers/Leavers process in text alone. This Joiners/Movers/Leavers webinar does a better job and also shows service automation in action (please note that the demo recording within the webinar was corrupted and can instead be watched on YouTube).
But I'll leave you with a benefits list, and who doesn't love lists in these days of social shallowness?
- The acceleration of process execution, from cradle to grave and across business functions
- Better collaboration within and across disparate business functions — drop fewer batons
- Greater insight into performance — to spot bottlenecks and other improvement opportunities
- A potential reduction in the cost of operations
- Reduction in human errors and the unwanted consequences
- Freeing highly skilled and knowledgeable staff from repeatable, and possibly mundane, tasks
- The ability to rapidly adapt processes and services as business needs and regulations change
- A better service experience for recruiting managers and new starters, and probably also for those involved in providing the services
- Better control and governance. Whether that be compliance in regulated industries or the protection of business assets that get "lost" as employees move within or leave the business.
So why wouldn't you automate the Joiners/Movers/Leavers process or other HR services?
That webinar link again (registration required) or demo video on YouTube
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