HR managers: what tools are you using to hire, onboard and develop your employees?

HR managers understand that people are vital to the success of an organisation. In today’s competitive workforce, attracting and retaining the right talent—with the right skill set—is crucial for long-term industry growth.

This is why it’s so essential to invest in suitable technology for your human resources department. With the appropriate technological tools, your HR team will ultimately be able to improve the way they hire, onboard, train and manage your employees.

In addition, a commitment to technology shows a commitment to professional development. When your organisation demonstrates a willingness to invest in tech, your company proves it’s devoted to the overall development of your staff. Having relevant, up-to-date technology solutions that are easily accessible is critical for onsite workers. It’s also an essential part of attracting dependable candidates (i.e., competent employees who are willing to remain loyal to your organisation) and in encouraging a high level of performance.

Keeping this in mind, it may be time to rethink your chosen business techniques. What services are you and your HR managers using to hire, onboard and develop your staff members? How well are these tools working for you? Do you have a healthy employee retention rate? Do your employees feel they are given enough resources to function at full capacity? Do your staff members feel you maintain an active interest in their ongoing careers?

Let’s take a look at how proper technology can benefit your individual personnel as well as how it can positively affect your organisation as a whole.

Employee onboarding tools

When onboarding new hires, first impressions are key. After all, the way you introduce team members to their new business community says a lot about the culture of your organisation and will also be a determining factor in whether or not your new hires decide to stay.

The right onboarding technology can help with this transitional period. Carefully constructed, appealingly interactive systems with friendly user interfaces can likewise smooth and streamline the onboarding process for your valuable team members. Given these tremendous advantages, why not consider incorporating a learning management system (LMS) into your onboarding technique?

These days, the best HR teams are embracing technology to automate their recruitment. With an effective onboarding program, you can reduce staff turnover (read more here how this is possible with a good onboarding program) rates, increase employee engagement and allow new hires to reach full productivity at greater speeds. And, with 30% of companies reporting they need a year or more for new employees to reach peak production levels, an investment in an appropriate onboarding LMS program may be your best option for combatting waste (that is, wasted time, wasted money, etc.).

If you’re interested in an LMS, online courses such as those provided by Go1 are readily available. In addition, a reputable education company like Go1 can often customise these courses for you. Comprehensive catalogues should ideally include classes in:

• Workplace safety
• Codes of conduct
• Resilience
• Harassment training
• General compliance
• …And much more

Training and development

As we’ve indicated above, many employees are looking for more from their jobs than just a good salary. Case in point: Team members are likely to be motivated by other additional factors such as company culture and the opportunity for professional development. Staff members need to know their employer is interested in their future growth, and an excellent way for employers to express such interest is through effective training methods and processes. A proper digital onboarding program can not only keep new hires feeling thoroughly prepared and appropriately well informed, it can also help employers to monitor employee progress with an eye towards harnessing talents to foster individual long-term success.

Bernard Marr, author of Big Data in Practice: How 45 Successful Companies Used Big Data Analytics to Deliver Extraordinary Results, provides organisations with expert advice on data, analytics, metrics and the improvement of business performance. “HR departments are generating more data than ever before but at the same time they often struggle to turn their data into valuable insights,” Mr. Marr wrote in Forbes® Magazine, adding, “The tricky part is establishing a system to track capacity without creating huge administrative burdens and without alienating employees with a ‘big-brother’ approach.”

The answer? A good LMS. A learning management system will help you gather valuable feedback and information from staff training, which can in turn be used to bolster levels of employee involvement and increase general performance. Your HR team will have the opportunity to identify the type of training necessary for individual staff members, and will then be able to work with employees to hone their personal skills and expand their list of qualifications. In this way, a LMS can play a critical role in enabling team members to reach company objectives that will lead to positive impacts for your organisation—all while facilitating personal growth and laying the foundation for each employee to enjoy upward mobility in the future.

Using social media to attract talent

Social media can also be a vital piece of your recruitment process. Your website, branding and social media channels are often the front line of your global communications outreach, capable of enticing (or repelling) talent with a single click. It’s quite normal these days for potential candidates to check out an organisation’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and/or LinkedIn accounts, and these platforms can signal whether or not your company is the best fit for a would-be employee (or vice versa). Glassdoor can also be a deal breaker for many potential employees.

Are you using social media tools in the most effective way possible? You should always make sure your social media channels aren’t outdated or poorly managed. And if you’re worried your social media skills aren’t up to par, you may wish to enroll in an online course to help get them there. Some quick tips include:

• Try to integrate current affairs into your Twitter and Facebook posts so visitors know your business is active and up to date
• Search for news items and articles that pertain directly to your industry and share them often; encourage a dialogue where appropriate
• Check your LinkedIn messaging and notifications frequently
• When possible, use pictures of onsite activities that have a personal touch for your Instagram account (stock images often read as though your business is too formal or detached)

As you can see, contemporary tech solutions are an important part of efficient HR management functions. If you’re a human resource professional, you should be constantly thinking about what avenues you could explore to improve the way you hire, onboard, train and manage staff. Hopefully this article has helped to point you in the right direction.

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