Making HR a Strategic Value Driver with Connected Processes

According to SSON Research & Analytics, the three top priorities for shared services and GBS for impacting the overall workforce are driving headcount optimization, driving better integration and utilization of technology and driving enhanced performance.

In order to help shared services and GBS understand how they could reach these goals, SSONext welcomed Putul Mathur, Head of Employee Experience Enterprise Services, Intuitive Operations & Automation for Cognizant, to understand how connected HR processes and insights can be the key to talent strategy and organizational growth. 

Digital transformation efforts HR needs to prioritize

Global factors tied to economics and political strife have caused fundamental changes to how businesses operate. According to Putul these factors have driven digital transformation to rates that surpass any in the past. Businesses now understand the technologies that push digital transformation are essential to an organization's ability to thrive in the future.

“Digital transformation is all about how one leverages technology and data to help us steer our people strategy or talent strategy to make our organization's future-ready,” Putul said.

In order to prioritize and deliver a modern HR experience to employees, HR must leverage technologies that enable processes to be managed remotely and across workflows. 

How HR should handle shifts in employee expectations 

The past three years have seen the power shift into the hands of employees, and it has forced the HR landscape to shift towards becoming more employee-centric.

“It is not only about how as an organization we are looking at HR, but also how employees are viewing the HR as a function to enable them to deal with this dynamic situation that they are all in today.” Putul said.

Putul believes that HR should respond to the shift in employee expectations by fostering a culture of flexibility and helping employees manage their work-life balance. This can be achieved by accommodating employee requests for flexibility and providing support for mental and physical well-being. HR should also embrace technology to streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and make their processes flexible and agile to meet the changing demands of the industry. Employee experience should be a focus area for HR to attract and retain the best talents in the market, develop employee skills, and provide growth to the organization. 

Streamlining Hire-to-Retire

According to Putul, the hire-to-retire process can be streamlined by implementing shared services within the talent operating model of an organization. This will enable standardization, modernization, and faster introduction of technology, making HR processes more efficient and agile. This will lead to an improved employee experience, from talent acquisition to benefits management, and employee record management.

If you are interested in hearing more from Putul, including her predictions for future trends in HR, check out the full podcast on Spotify or Apple Music.