Case study: Engaging staff with a new
HRIS and payroll system at Charles Stanley
Alexander
Mann Solutions
HR Technology Supplement Engagement
a system that delivers business change
or creates business value.”
Hicks looks at systems that have the
necessary features and functions, then
asks people across the business to
choose which they’d prefer. “Then
you’ve got senior stakeholder buy-in.
They are then champions in their
areas,” he says.
In Looney’s experience, it’s often the
case that HR understands the business
problem that the tech will solve, but is
not able to articulate it to the business
clearly enough.
“They are not able to connect the
relevancy of the pain point that HR has
with why this is relevant to the rest of
the business. That’s why, in many cases,
HR has been the transactional function
working like hamsters on wheels to get
the data out to the business,” she says.
HR must talk in a way the business
understands, says Looney, such as by
saying: “With this new tech, you won’t
have to send me an email every Monday.
You can go into it and get your own
report.” However, this does then lead to
a sub-challenge of ensuring leaders are
especially engaged with, and capable of
managing, this data.
When selling an HR project, Looney
often talks about the rise of “self-service
managers” and “direct access”, which
promotes the idea of empowerment,
rather than of adding to workload.
The HR tech provider should be able
to help HR articulate the ROI to the
business as well, she adds.
Harmer explains her acid test for
immediately getting to the nub of where
the organisation may come up against
engagement challenges. She says that a
key question she always asks suppliers
before taking on their products is: what
do people most complain about with
your system?
“If they don’t know the answer,
they shouldn’t be selling the system,”
says Harmer. And, if that’s the case, you
definitely shouldn’t be buying it in the
first place. HR
The HR team at Charles Stanley may well hold the record for the fastest
implementation of an HRIS and payroll system, at just three months. So
they must have got something right in engaging their employees with
the rollout of Oracle Fusion, just over a year ago.
Kate Grif ths-Lambeth, group director of human resources at the
nancial services company, explains that communication at all stages
was the cornerstone for this success; something that began before the
new system was even brought on board.
Prior to the launch, HR ran small focus groups with representatives from
across the business, who would then act as ambassadors of the tool.
To ensure that employees understood the bene ts, rather than just
seeing ‘yet another’ HR system, language was key. This meant spelling
out to employees how being able to access their payslips via an app
would make their lives easier, and showing them the relevant, real-world
bene ts. They would, for example, be able to provide evidence when
applying for a mortgage without needing HR to give them hard copies
of payslips.
It was also critical that the HR team was honest about the fact that the
new system was, in some ways, worse than the old system. For instance,
the absence booking module is clunky compared to the small
proprietary system previously used.
“It was best to be honest and upfront about the issue, rather than
trying to ignore it or pretend that the new system was as good. We
then worked hard behind the scenes to make the module better and,
hence, were seen to have been proactive and responsive to the
constructive but critical feedback that we received post-launch,” says
Grif ths-Lambeth.
The HR team acknowledges that they underestimated the level of
pushback from employees against the new system and that, in
hindsight, ambassadors should have been engaged more and sooner
to help spread the word. But by using a raft of tools, the team was still
able to achieve the critical buy-in needed for such a short
implementation window.
Tools such as roadshows, team meetings, videos, how-to guides,
infographics, screenshots and demos were used to ensure employees
were not left in the dark guring out how to use the new system.
“If you want to make it more fun, you can hide messages within the
system and have a competition for the person who nds them (similar
to a treasure hunt) as a way of getting people to explore. You can
also train local ambassadors to provide support and encouragement
to colleagues and award them in a way that appeals,” explains
Grif ths-Lambeth.
She adds that having dashboards on call to make evidence-based
decisions has been a “valuable sweetener” to compensate for the time
required to learn how to use the new system.
But, while it is important to be sympathetic to employees’ resistance
to change, the HR team decided a ‘stick’ as well as a ‘carrot’ incentive
was necessary.
“We made it compulsory for people to use the system to record
appraisals and training needs. It was announced to everyone across the
company that people with eligibility for consideration for a discretionary
bonus would forfeit their right to a bonus, as would their manager, if an
appraisal meeting did not occur and if it was not recorded on the
system,” says Grif ths-Lambeth.
The result? 100% completion of appraisals for the past two years.
HRDs can expect to
repeatedly come up
against the ‘What’s in it
for me?’ question
6 HR October 2019 e.co.uk