|
This article: Employees are our most valuable asset (snigger) considers employees from an IT perspective. It starts with my favourite Dilbert cartoon – on the home page of my website – about employees being an organisation’s most valuable asset (actually, not…).
It points out the wider applications of an HR database – for example, for picking a time when many people are on holiday to upgrade the IT system and ensuring that a PC is on a new employee’s desk from Day 1 – never experienced that myself!
The quote from the Head of HR about retaining work for the 50-strong admin team rather than automating the process is regrettably familiar, as many HR departments seem to focus on the administrative processes at the expense of the added value activities like ensuring businesses have the skills and capabilities they need. HR systems have their place but I believe that they should not necessarily sit within HR, especially in large organisations. HR’s added value is their professional rather than administrative expertise. Having said that, it is important to use the information in the system to identify trends and potential problem areas – like the fact that senior managers are all within 5 years of retirement age.
It also identifies the advantages and pitfalls of employee self-service (i.e. entering their own information onto the HR system) and the importance of having checks and balances in the system to avoid misuse.
In the middle of the article is an interesting comment – ‘HR is not just there for the nasty things in life!’ In response to my question about what is meant by this, a reference to Yellow Pages was made – emphasising HR’s common role – that of reacting to situations that arise with employees, rather than taking a more strategic approach. Yet another negative perspective on HR…
|