5 Expectations Your Employees Have From HR Technology

Too often as HR leaders and pros we only think of HR technology from one angle, "What's this going to do for ‘us’?" ("Us" being HR and, maybe from a high level, the organization.) Rarely do we concentrate on the individual contributor employee level.

I mean we say we do, but when we get right down to selection, the entire focus almost always is on how this is going to work from “our” side, not from the employee side. Many times when I'm testing HR technology, I'll ask a vendor to take me out of the tech and show me what this would look like if I was an employee.

You would be shocked at how many times they are unable to do this within their demo! The reality is, they are often not asked to even show this in a demo. It's easy to talk about how a new tool will impact your employees; it's a completely different story when you ask them to show you the employee experience.

The employee experience in HR technology is critical to success and adoption. Our employees have some very specific expectations to make the experience work for them:

1. They can access and use the technology when and where they need to. 

Seems simple enough, but that means 24/7 access and access via mobile.

2. They can get, and change, their login and password information easily.

Another simple element that is often missed by many technology vendors. HR works in the system every day. Most employees don't. So, this ability is critical for them to use it effectively when they finally get an opportunity to use it.

3. Simplicity and limited clicks.

If it takes five clicks to find something, you will lose most people. I count the clicks of the mouse in every process I ask an employee to do in our technology. If it gets over three, I know we'll have a problem!

4. Search and help.

Your technology needs to have a search function, similar to Google, where people can find what they're looking for. For the most part, your employees across all ages know how to use Google. You would be shocked at how many HR technologies don't have this search capability.

5. It saves them time.

I work with a ton of companies that will get new HR technology that actually makes the employees lives harder and takes longer, but it saves a ton of time for like five HR pros in the organization. So, we just increased the time it takes for a thousand employees, but those five are so much happier! Your HR technology must save (all) your employees time.

HR technology and EX: Get the basics down first 

Employees don't expect much when it comes to HR technology. There has been so much bad technology over their career span that we've beat their expectations down to just these few basics. And still, it seems like organizations are missing the mark.

Don't overthink these expectations. Sure employees love software that looks and reminds them of Facebook, or other software they use on a daily basis, but their needs are much more basic than a wonderful user interface. Meet the basic needs first, then move up from there!