Automation’s arrival
of HRBPs’ time is spent on admin
rather than true business partnering,
he added that he would rather his
HRBPs were “out there with the
business and supporting managers in
making intelligent decisions”.
“Technology has got so
sophisticated nowadays, it’s better at
doing repetitive tasks than humans,”
added interim HRD Melanie Steel.
Sector differences
The panel pointed to discrepancies in
HR’s progress on automation across
different sectors.
In the tech sector companies are
now realising the benefits, said Ayton:
“I think it’s making a huge difference.
With technology we’re finally
drinking our own champagne in how
we’re getting things done.”
Meanwhile, the journey is perhaps
taking longer in the public sector,
pointed out Kalim, adding that the
move to automation there requires a
“mindset shift”.
Given this mixed picture it’s
perhaps unsurprising that an
audience poll during the webinar
found that more than one in five
(21%) organisations have not yet
automated any of their HR processes.
The obstacles
There are several obstacles holding
HR back from adding a greater degree
of automation to its processes,
another audience poll agreed,
including lack of investment for
systems (32%), lack of technical
understanding among the HR team
(23%), not knowing where to start
(15%), and ethical and security
concerns around automating the
processing of personal data (13%).
Kalim encouraged HR to use
financial information to secure buy-in
from the business for greater
investment in automation.
“Making that financial case is
important to convince the CEO, CFO
or CMO,” he said. “But to supplement
that, the cultural journey is important
as well.”
When it comes to tackling ethical
concerns, Steel said HR has always
had the complex role of “looking at
things from a wider lens”.
“In HR it’s always difficult as we
need to balance the digital and the
business focus and also be the
custodians of the ethical perspective,”
she said.
But HR has “done this before”,
Steel highlighted. She gave the
examples of people carrying sensitive
people information on trains or
reading confidential documents in
public places.
So HR must continue to see its role
as instilling principles and educating
people on this, she said.
Turning things around
Introducing people analytics
specialists into the HR function is one
way to get started, suggested Ayton,
adding that being able to present
Our webinar explored how far HR has managed to
automate its processes, and how the function can
take this to the next level. RACHEL SHARP reports
When an HR magazine and Sage
People webinar last year
unearthed that just 2% of viewers felt
their HR function was very
sophisticated in terms of automating
processes and introducing new
technologies, alarm bells started
ringing. Worse still, almost half (46%)
reported that their function wasn’t
sophisticated at all.
And yet separate research from
McKinsey estimates that 60% of all
occupations have 30% of activities
that could be automated, highlighting
a significant opportunity for HR to
unburden itself of some of its more
tedious administrative tasks.
It was against this backdrop that a
panel on our recent webinar with Sage
People set out to debate the topic of
‘HR automation: Getting the
transformation right’ and explore
how far along HR is on the
automation journey.
Why automate?
Speakers on the panel explained why
it is crucial that HR focuses on
automating some of its processes.
“If we look at our colleagues’
experiences outside of work… they’re
taking advantage of technology and
from an HR point of view we need to
take advantage of that too,” said Sage’s
people business partner Emma Ayton.
“So I feel we have an obligation to
move with that and at pace.”
Beyond the experience technology
offers, the panel agreed that the main
benefit of automating HR processes is
that it can free up time to focus on
more strategic value-add activities.
“It’s the age-old argument around
creating efficiencies, streamlining
processes…,” said Kessar Kalim,
London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine’s director of HR. Pointing to
concerning figures that 70% to 80%
You’ve
got to
make sure
people
are
taking us
seriously
Watch the
video now
A recording
of the webinar is
available at
bit.ly/
HRautomationwebinar
for those who missed
the live event
HR Technology Supplement HR automation webinar
26 HR October 2019 hrmagazine.co.uk
/hrmagazine.co.uk