Can You Spell HR Without IT?
How IT can help HR professionals with personnel changes and shifting infrastructure priorities
Posted on 06-29-2020, Read Time: Min
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As HR professionals continue to navigate an entirely new landscape of remote work, they are in an uncharted territory with their IT teams. Previously, it would be extremely rare to on or offboard an employee while not physically in the office, but as we adapt to the new normal in the workplace, companies must equip these departments with the tools needed to seamlessly transition employees.
Due to the nature of our work at Electric, an IT support company, we have seen firsthand some of the technical issues plaguing HR professionals the most in the wake of COVID-19 related to personnel changes and shifting infrastructure priorities. We recently compiled data and found the following insights:
- Offboarding: The rate at which companies have been offboarding new employees significantly increased, taking a toll on HR. Between March 23-27, Electric saw offboarding requests jump 77% above the weekly average. The following week, we doubled the completion rate of offboardings at 102% above its weekly average.
- Onboarding: The rate at which companies have been onboarding new employees significantly decreased in March. When the pandemic hit, Electric saw record lows of onboarding requests (42% below weekly the average), a completely different scenario than what HR is used to prior to this time. This downward trend continued during the week of March 23 reaching a rate 52% below our weekly average.
- Mobile device management (MDM) deployments: The rate at which Electric has been engaging in remote installations of MDM projects dramatically increased. On average, 69% of its monthly remote projects are MDM related. In March and April, the company saw a 45% growth in the number of deployments, as HR works to ensure employees have the proper tech in place to do their jobs.
- Cybersecurity system implementations: The rate at which we have been increasing the security posture of companies increased. We began selling these Malwarebytes licenses for our clients in April 2019. In this past year, 52% of our overall sales were in the first four months of 2020 (as compared with the nine months in 2019). Of the overall Malwarebytes customer sites, we've deployed in the last year, 41% of all deployments were done in 2020.
More than ever, a seamless collaboration is needed between IT and HR to ensure both can do their jobs productively. Here are two important things to consider:
Ensure Data Is Protected
The process of onboarding and offboarding is not only no-value administrative work, but it also contains highly sensitive data. Beyond integrating new employees with their teams, HR professionals are frequently the gatekeepers for maintaining the level of access that employees have to client or consumer data.
For example, if someone gets hired or transferred to a client-facing team, they will require access to a unique set of sensitive customer data depending on their role. In tandem with IT, these teams are usually responsible for greenlighting who has access to the systems that contain this customer data.
Data privacy is of the utmost importance, particularly when offboarding a potentially disgruntled employee. Historically, many data breaches can be traced back to information that got into the wrong hands. With the workforce outside of the traditional office, many are operating on devices not issued or protected by the company. MDM solutions are a critical part of that equation, ensuring devices and work-related applications can be wiped remotely so that access can be revoked.
Every device used to access company systems is yet another endpoint to secure, so it is critical to identify ways to reduce risk. MDM provides an enhanced level of control over employee-owned devices, mitigates the risks with stolen devices and segregates corporate applications from personal applications. This will make the lives of HR teams easier and ensure data and reputational risk are minimized.
Disorganized information management leaves the employee’s personal data exposed. When HR and IT are aligned around document management, this ensures proper permissions and access.
For example, if someone gets hired or transferred to a client-facing team, they will require access to a unique set of sensitive customer data depending on their role. In tandem with IT, these teams are usually responsible for greenlighting who has access to the systems that contain this customer data.
Data privacy is of the utmost importance, particularly when offboarding a potentially disgruntled employee. Historically, many data breaches can be traced back to information that got into the wrong hands. With the workforce outside of the traditional office, many are operating on devices not issued or protected by the company. MDM solutions are a critical part of that equation, ensuring devices and work-related applications can be wiped remotely so that access can be revoked.
Every device used to access company systems is yet another endpoint to secure, so it is critical to identify ways to reduce risk. MDM provides an enhanced level of control over employee-owned devices, mitigates the risks with stolen devices and segregates corporate applications from personal applications. This will make the lives of HR teams easier and ensure data and reputational risk are minimized.
Disorganized information management leaves the employee’s personal data exposed. When HR and IT are aligned around document management, this ensures proper permissions and access.
Automate What Can Be Automated
Self-service systems allow employees to make changes to their personal information without needing to go through HR or a manager. Setting up these kinds of portals will free HR staff from rudimentary tasks like changing an employee’s address or tax information and also reduce the number of internal employees that come in contact with sensitive information.
Especially with teams spread thin, automation is key to maintaining efficient operations for HR teams. There are some elements of the employee offboarding process that will require the human element, but when it comes to re-provisioning company-issued devices or rerouting emails, automation makes the transition smoother and safer.
As organizations adjust and refocus post-COVID, HR teams will have their hands full with enough business-critical tasks that they’ll surely appreciate a lack of IT-related topics on their plates. If tasks could be done in just a few clicks and minutes rather than hours or days, it’ll prevent at the very least a headache, and potentially a far more significant data breach or lawsuit.
Especially with teams spread thin, automation is key to maintaining efficient operations for HR teams. There are some elements of the employee offboarding process that will require the human element, but when it comes to re-provisioning company-issued devices or rerouting emails, automation makes the transition smoother and safer.
As organizations adjust and refocus post-COVID, HR teams will have their hands full with enough business-critical tasks that they’ll surely appreciate a lack of IT-related topics on their plates. If tasks could be done in just a few clicks and minutes rather than hours or days, it’ll prevent at the very least a headache, and potentially a far more significant data breach or lawsuit.
Author Bio
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Ryan Denehy is the Founder and CEO of Electric AI. Visit www.electric.ai Connect Ryan Denehy Follow @DenehyXXL |
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