As we begin 2019, we take look at the importance of employee engagement, and how HR solutions can be used to enhance their experience and help increase their well-being whilst at work.

1. HAPPY NEW YEAR,
HAPPY NEW EXPERIENCES?
For most of us the dawn of a New Year brings
with it a motivation to introduce positive
changes into our personal lives.
Setting ourselves new targets, reviewing our
daily practices, and engaging in fun new
activities are all common goals…

2. In the workplace though the New Year
doesn’t always deliver the same levels of
enthusiasm.
For many employees returning to work
means simply picking up the same old tasks
and continuing with the same old processes
that have been around for many years.
Struggling on with inefficiently designed
and unengaging HR systems, and often out-
of-date processes means that for many
employees there really is no New Year
experience.

3. THE IMPORTANCE OF
EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
Underestimating the importance of the
engagement and experiences that your
employees face in work, can result in them losing
the motivation that first attracted them to join.
This can quickly spread outwards generating
resentment and posing a number of much
greater risks to the business.
The likelihood is that as an employee becomes
more frustrated their productivity and quality
levels will decrease, their negativity will grow,
and burnout and/or risk of flight will ultimately
result.

4. THE WIDER IMPACT OF
POOR ENGAGEMENT
We also need to be aware that at the end of the
day it’s not just our employees who are impacted
by poor engagement, but also the subsequent
experience that is passed on to our customers.
According to the 2018 HRD People Leaders
report, British businesses have for quite some
time ranked poorly in global tables for employee
engagement. This has been linked directly to the
fact that the UK workforce has been found to be
15% less productive than the EU average.

5. BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE
TO BE THIS WAY…
Your employee’s general happiness and
their psychological and physical well-being
is without doubt affected by their
experiences whilst at work.
The HR solutions and processes that are
put in place can have a huge impact on
this, as arguably no other set of processes
or pieces of software touch more
individuals within any single organisation.

6. As the Head of People, the CHRO is viewed as the person
responsible for defining a strategy for employee engagement
and then deciding upon what processes and tools are
implemented.
The latest generation of workers are, to some extent, showing
less concerns about financial rewards and putting more
emphasis on job satisfaction and the support they receive
during their development. Regular coaching/mentoring,
recognition of a job well done, and opportunities for
continuous learning are all examples of common expectations.
It goes without saying that happy, satisfied employees will
invest more time and commitment in achieving their goals,
which will then directly (and positively) impact the health of
the wider organisation.
LOOKING FOR GUIDANCE

7. SO WHERE CAN YOU START?
• What level of interaction with your HR systems do your
employees currently get?
• What is the split between their mandatory and voluntary tasks?
How easily are employees able to complete them, and are they
actually happy when using the tools made available to them?
• How old are your processes?
• In a world of continual and rapid innovations in HR software, if any
of your processes have been around for longer than 3yrs then they
could now be out of date. The latest HR technologies can help to
provide you with alternative and often better and more efficient
options.
• Do your HR systems and processes support your employees?
• Your employees are trained and qualified to perform specific roles
that directly impact business performance. Do your HR systems &
processes support them in their daily jobs, or is their valuable time
actually being spent on too much HR Administration?
7
Maybe start by asking yourself a few basic
questions, such as…

8. HR TECHNOLOGY
IS HERE TO HELP!
The latest and greatest HR systems are designed specifically
to engage and support your employees in their primary roles.
Expectations already exist for the interactions we have with
our workplace devices to mirror the experiences we have in
our personal lives, and so technology enhanced HR processes
now need to be as intelligent, as intuitive and as mobile.
One of your main priorities when looking to introduce new
HR solutions, should be to ensure that employees are only
asked to complete what is absolutely necessary, and not just
to simply move the workload from one role to another.
Your selection of HR technologies as your enabler needs to be
focused on supporting and enhancing the existing roles within
your organisation and not primarily to replace them.
Your employees and your technologies will work best when
they are brought together!

9. SO WHAT DO
EMPLOYEES WANT
FROM HR SOLUTIONS?
Our expectations as employees aren’t at all unrealistic
and we understand that there will be a variety of
additional tasks that we need to complete in order to
help keep all the other wheels of the company in
motion.
However, most employees don’t come from an HR
background and therefore don’t think like HR people.
Your employees are quite rightly focused on what’s
required to fulfil the primary deliverables of their
role, and not on items such as when they need to
carry out their next 1:1, or which department or code
they need to remember in order to complete an HR
form.

10. What employees are really asking for are solutions and related processes
that support them in their daily roles and are both efficient & effective.
Systems need to be easy to work with, whether the processes are
mandatory or not, and we want them to be simple and intuitive to
interact with.
We ask our HR systems to guide and support us when completing any HR
related tasks (especially those that come around only a handful of times
each year) and prompts via alerts and reminders because (and let’s be
honest), completing our HR processes aren’t always at the forefront of
our minds.

11. IN SUMMARY…
The processes that we follow, and the HR solutions that we interact with,
need to support us in our daily jobs.
They need to mirror the consumer grade products that we use at home
through engaging platforms & devices, and they must connect us to what
we need to do quickly, whilst being intelligent in their processing.
Ultimately, the right choice of HR systems should help protect your
employees from making mistakes, simplify their required HR actions, and
help to increase their overall well-being and satisfaction whilst at work.
To discover more about how the latest in HR technologies could help you
improve the engagement with your employees visit
edenhousesolutions.co.uk/HR

12. THANK YOU
I began my career working with HR
systems just over 20 years ago.
Specialising in SAP’s HR solutions, I have
experience across a wide range of roles
from initial end-user back in the late ‘90’s
to my current position as a Solution
Architect.
At Edenhouse, my role is to keep abreast of
all the latest innovations and developments
across SAP’s HR portfolio and use this
knowledge to develop and maintain our
services and solutions accordingly.
Ultimately working alongside our highly
skilled delivery teams, as well as providing
the best possible support, guidance and
advice to our customers.
Phil Southall, SAP HR Solution Architect