While recruitment is still the preferred module among most HR tech companies, businesses are showing a propensity towards tools that help in managing performance intuitively. With businesses benefitting from the renewed focus on integrated human resource management systems (HRMS), new platforms are emerging to capitalize on the shift from cloud to mobile, analytics and artificial intelligence. Word is around about wearables in the workplace, social recruiting and video-based conscription replacing traditional HR systems. Surprisingly, all these developments fade in comparison to the technology trend that is reshaping HR: performance management.
Although there are tools that assist in goal setting and rating work-related behaviors and tasks, automating all performance-related functions and connecting them to enterprise reso\urce planning systems place HR tech on a new level. Innovative HR tech companies are helping businesses realize the importance of automated performance management and its role in driving higher productivity, enabling collaboration, reinforcing positive workplace behaviour and creating a culture of excellence. Applications such as PeopleWorks step in to provide quick and easy meaningful intervention focussed on the employee.
Performance management is a core HR function riddled with many grey areas, which can only be set right by enterprise-level customization. Some customizations are dynamic and may require manual intervention to set the tool on track. For instance, assessing personality types and matching them to job profiles are both open-ended and subjective. To bring in a semblance of intuitiveness and automation, applications must have assessment layers, activity streams and even gamification features for building an ideal job-candidate fit. This allows for dynamic team management, easy resolution of issues, and even management of difficult conversations among other factors. Being data-driven, applications such as PeopleWorks help in incorporating development plans based on historical data, thereby making goals transparent and easy to manage. By building a connected organization, PeopleWorks develops workforce morale by addressing possible areas of concern and identifying opportunities for lateral hiring. HR applications are also leveraging the impact of always-on, pulse-based feedback systems relating to work, growth and organizational change. As these systems integrate into a versatile platform, they become more human interaction centred and experience oriented. Having such a platform brings enterprises closer to their staff, thereby contributing to increased productivity and data quality.
Performance management function, as part of the larger HRMS platform, helps in reducing the cost of managing talent. According to a PeopleStrong survey reported in Mint, India Inc. spends nearly $500 million annually towards managing its employees, and this figure is expected to shoot up dramatically in a year or so. By integrating tools for workforce productivity with the larger HRMS platform, HR tech has primed enterprises to meet the challenges and demands of a new stream of disruption that is making waves: continuous performance management.
