To do this SAP had to totally transform its HR business. Here is a detailed outline of their challenges and results.
Drivers for Change
- HR must deliver "experiences” to prospective new hires and employees that match the best customer experiences.
- HR is expected to drive measurable change, reporting on impact, not just activity.
- HR must be fluent in data analytics and predict outcomes tied to the business strategy.
- Solutions are expected to operate seamlessly with finance and other business processes.
- Simplification is the key to success as we navigate a world of ever-increasing complexity, change, and digitalization.
Technology to Enable Success and Sustain Growth
For over 30 years, we have used our own on-premise SAP ERP HCM solutions. However, we found that our new business strategy required more agility, a more intuitive user interface, and faster innovation cycles. We needed smarter applications that leverage new technologies such as analytics, cloud, machine learning, and mobile.
We also wanted to drive productivity and sustainability in the business and attract new talent in high-growth areas. To enable our business objectives, we turned to our new SAP SuccessFactors cloud solutions, which are better suited for today’s and tomorrow’s needs.
The Real Story
Naturally, they implemented SAP solutions to fill the technology requirement which is a viable solution but the real story here is the outline of their challenges and how they designed their Corporate Strategy, Culture, and People and is one that I am sure that you can relate to.
Challenges in their HR business:
Talent Management
When we started our transformation, we lacked a comprehensive view of our talent landscape. We were running multiple systems, making it difficult to surface talent.
Our biggest challenge was getting the right people working on the right things, the right way, and providing them the right development opportunities, so we could reach our business goals and they could achieve their career aspirations.
Cognitive Intelligence and Analytics
To realize our new corporate strategy and understand our workforce development needs, we had to continuously ensure our people strategy was aligned to the business. This required a 360-degree view of our workforce, using data from HR and other parts of the organization, like finance and operations. Because data sat in silos, reports were manual, and data security and authorizations were needed. The process was time-consuming and inefficient, and the data was not live.
Total Workforce
A large part of our workforce is contingent labor. Our dependence on contractors requires us to have well-designed processes to identify the best sources of talent, manage their performance, and significantly lower the cost of doing business. However, we did not have a coherent global strategy and management process to handle contractors or visibility of our total workforce.
Core HR and Shared Services
With the fast pace of our M&A activities, we added over 15,000 employees. When dealing with this extreme demand, HR became bogged down with time-consuming tasks that diverted resources away from servicing SAP employees.
It became paramount to simplify and standardize our solution and processes across all companies at the lowest cost and highest quality possible.
Collaboration, Work, and Learning
To foster a strong learning culture and a continuous learning environment, we needed to enable collaboration and the ability to learn anywhere and anytime. However, we had more than 60 learning management systems and over 50,000 learning assets. This complexity made it difficult to find useful assets and track completion.
HR and Finance
In business, there are really only two levers – people and money. Having a joint view across HR and finance to drive smart business decisions has been a key pillar of our HR transformation. Challenges we faced included:
- Highly manual accrual and payroll processes
- Lack of alignment between HR and finance master data
- HR workforce management plan not linked to overall SAP financial plan
- Lack of holistic and forward-looking workforce management
- Limited analytical insights on HR data
Results, Performance, and Global Recognition
In the end, I think you will see that their results are exceptional and continually moving on an upward trajectory. Below are a few tangible results and kudos from industry peers:
84,183 Employees: Added 7,197 employee (full-time equivalents) in 2016
85% Employee engagement index: In 2016 a significant increase of the EEI by three percentage points to 85%
57% Leadership trust rating: In 2016, leadership trust reached 57%, up from 52% in 2015
78% Business health culture index: This encouraging result shows that a health-focused culture has impacted employees in a positive way
93.7% Employee retention: High retention is something they are aiming for as reflected in all of their activities to drive high employee engagement
33% Reduction in administrative tasks: For employees and managers, due to standardized HR best practices.
In 2016 and 2017, SAP received numerous awards for being a globally recognized employer of choice. Below are some examples:
- SAP becomes the first multinational technology company to receive global gender equality certification.
- Glassdoor Best Places to Work (4x) as well as Highest Rated CEO (2x).
- SAP Canada was named as one of Glassdoor’s 2017 Best Places to Work in Canada.
- SAP America was named to Fortune's 50 Best Workplaces for Diversity in 2017
- SAP was designated by the Human Rights Campaign as a top workplace for LGBT.
Here is the complete whitepaper SUCCESS IS SIMPLY HUMAN - INSIGHTS ON SAP’S HR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION – I am sure that you are experiencing similar issues in your organization so I feel confident that this will be a valuable article to digest and well worth your time.
