Editor's Note

HR analytics, data management, data providers, analytics training – HR technology space is evolving continuously. Not just the tools, but even the role of HR is something that keeps changing every time. HR Tech conferences held every year precisely shows how companies are using technology to solve problems. It also offers you a glimpse into what you can expect in future and how that can change the way business is done.

HR Strategy and Planning November 2015 Advertisers

HR - Life After HR Analytics: HR as a profit center!

With the global economic challenges that HR have faced over the past five years or so it’s not surprising that HR has tended to focus on process efficiency which has meant ongoing trade-offs between quality and cost. Finance and budgeting challenges will always drive such an approach but this is where data based business cases (based on business assumptions and data trends) has never been more important to HR. Without it the focus is on solely reducing cost whereas the focus should also be upon business growth.

HR Technology: A new wave is disrupting the market

There’s a pattern in the lifespan of human resources (HR) technology companies of the past two decades: they get gobbled up. The pioneering firms in HR technology from the late 1990s to early 2000s were mostly acquired by bigger enterprise companies in need of a few product parts. IBM acquired Kenexa, Oracle bought Taleo and SuccessFactors was acquired by SAP.

Handling Tough HR Conversations: 6 steps to help you

Here are six steps to help you with a difficult discussion (although we suggest getting an HR professional's advice when dealing with critical HR issues).
1. Seek Permission to Give Feedback At the start of less-critical HR conversations, you should ask an employee for permission to give feedback. Opening a two-way channel between you and the employee you are speaking with helps to explore the problem from every angle. For critical HR issues, no permission is necessary.

HR Must Embrace Marketing: Are you ready?

I recently attended a number of conferences focusing on talent acquisition and development. During those roundtables and presentations, it happened more than once that I was surprised that HR were being surprised by things that were obvious to me as a marketing professional. One example was an HR Director for a big telecom corporate talking about a very interesting internal survey tool. She mentioned with pride that most respondents had answered within 2 days which, for a marketing professional, is simply normal: emailing activity usually get 80% of their answers within 24 hours.

HR Analytics: Separating reality from buzz

Based on all the buzz in the media these days, you might think human resource departments everywhere are diving into big data and embracing HR analytics as a means of predicting more successful recruiting and succession planning outcomes with little or no real human involvement in the decision-making process. I would argue that is far from reality, and only the very large or very progressive companies have acquired the ability to truly perform meaningful and accurate HR analytics.

HR Communication Isn’t Working - Survey: 5 ways to make communication simpler

Every time I talk to HR professionals about communication, this is what they tell me: “We work hard to get employees the information they need about pay, benefits and policies. But employees still don’t understand essential concepts; they always come back with lots of questions.” If that’s your experience, too, then you won’t be surprised to learn the results of the Human Resources Communication Study 2015.

The Analytics Ladder: Helping HR teams to climb out of the metrics trap

As an HR leader, you’re often put in a tough spot. It’s not unusual to have to choose between a decision that’s unpopular and one that’s ineffective. For example, a manager of a business unit demanded a meeting with HR. The manager had noticed that more of his employees were resigning than ever before, and he wanted the company to do something about it. The manager had already come up with what he thought was the right solution — raise the base pay for all of his employees by 10% — and he now just wanted HR to execute his idea.

‘Change Management’ Forgotten Statement: This will not change

‘Change management’ usually forgets a vital component: the things that don’t change or need to change, or, indeed, must not change. For every change, you need to decide and articulate what is not for change. For example, your value framework. A great deal of anxiety could be avoided if leaders could equally emphasize ‘the changes’ and ‘the non-changes’.