3 ways HR software ensures a smooth return to on-site working in summary:
If your business is considering a return to on-site working, HR software can be a vital asset because:
- HR software systems facilitate the dissemination of important information through multiple channels, such as SMS, personalised emails, and internal workspaces, ensuring employees receive timely updates about return-to-office plans.
- Utilising features like geo-location in time management modules and calendar events, HR software solutions enable organisations to monitor where employees are working from, which is crucial for safety and coordination during the transition back to on-site work.
- Comprehensive HR solutions support ongoing performance management by providing tools for setting objectives, conducting appraisals, and facilitating continuous feedback, helping maintain productivity and engagement as employees return to the workplace.
There’s no denying that home and remote working are popular here in the UK – but the tide is showing signs of turning…
Over the past few months, a number of big businesses have decided to roll back their remote & working from home policies – including Santander UK, Boots and Barclays amongst others. Employees of these businesses are now being asked to work at least 2-3 days in a shared workspace; however, some organisations, such as JD Sports for example, are doing away with remote working all together.
This shift back to working in traditional shared workplaces follows research suggesting that corporate leaders are increasingly eager to see their employees working together in person – and it’s easy to understand why. There’s a number of benefits to working together in person – including better levels of collaboration, inspiration and stronger cultures.
However, there’s potentially two significant issues against the shift: the first, being an unwillingness from employees to return to the office (which we look at in a bit more detail here), and how a company will manage the return to on-site working.
Return to on-site working: the key priorities for HR teams
For organisations who’ve adapted to accommodate a predominantly remote-based workforce, bringing workers back on-site will require careful planning involving internal communications, HR processes, location tracking, performance management and much more besides. It can’t just be a singular email telling employees on Monday, they’re expected to work from their offices again!
Luckily, a good HR software system can be the key in successfully managing a back-to-site transition. Cezanne, for example, has everything HR professionals in growing UK and international businesses will need: from its core People Management module, to integrated Performance Management and Career and Succession Planning software. Here’s why…
How will you ensure important information reaches employees?
Before you start to send communications out to your workforce about your return to on-site working plan, make sure you have a solid plan in place.
What might seem like a given to you in HR, may not be what your business leaders have in mind. So, ensuring all decision makers are aligned before communicating with staff is essential. Avoiding mixed messages will also reassure people who might be nervous about returning, and demonstrate everyone is on the same page.
Once you’re clear on your plan and your messaging, HR software systems like Cezanne can help you deliver your comms across multiple channels.
For short, more immediate messages, perhaps linking back to a longer piece of communication, SMS is a great option. Cezanne customers use SMS for a variety of different messages, and can send SMS to over 120 different countries. Perfect if you have employees located in many different locations.
It’s also easy with Cezanne to set up and send personalised emails and documents – with e-signature if required – so you can make sure important information is received and read. In addition, Cezanne’s workspaces are another channel for employers to communicate with staff.
Like message boards, HR portals and workspaces can be used to deliver and host important important, invite feedback or post announcements, with email notifications sent to staff to prompt them to read the full message on the board.
How will you know who is and isn’t on site?
With your return to on-site working in full swing, it will be very important for HR and line managers to have access to an easy way to see where their employees are working from. This is especially true if you have differing rota patterns, or limited space. Thankfully, there are a few different ways that you can use Cezanne to keep on top of where your employees are located.
Cezanne customers can use the geo-location features in the Time Tracking module to see who has been on site and when.
Calendar events are another way to keep track of staff whereabouts. Because the system is so versatile, it’s easy for employees to update their own calendars with any kind of event, including whether they are working from home, or on site. Alongside showing up in team calendars, this data can be pulled through into the ‘Who’s Off widget’ on the home dashboard, making it easy for everyone to see at a glance who is in, or working remotely up to two weeks’ ahead.
Yet another option is to use Cezanne’s in-built form builder, with HR creating a form (including date fields) that employees fill in to indicate when they want access to on-site working – and that managers can then approve.
Custom searches on forms can then be run to ascertain who requested/was approved to be on site. HR could also schedule a report based on the form’s custom search (the form must include the date field), that runs nightly or weekly, for instance, to stay up to date with who is and isn’t in the office.
Your employees are back on site – what’s next?
As well as the benefits mentioned earlier, bringing employees back to on-site working is also a good opportunity to revisit your HR processes to make sure you’re getting the most value from them. For example, you could use going back to on-site working as a line in the sand for reinvigorating your talent and performance-related processes.
Cezanne’s Performance Management module has both check-ins and goals features, making it much easier to stay on track with performance management. Staff can record their progress, and ask for help or raise anything that might be hindering progress – it’s a very collaborative module.
And, Cezanne’s Career and Succession Planning module enables talent mapping, and the creation of succession plans, so HR and business leaders can ensure they’re ready to meet future business demands.
And lastly … how will you manage change?
Having a modern HR software system in place to help with all the issues raised above means that HR teams have more time and energy to work on more strategic and value-adding operations. It also means that people professionals can stay up-to-date with the latest workforce trends, and devote their time to initiatives that support ongoing business success – rather than just doing the day-to-day operational admin!
For example, want to know how an HR software system can help support your vital talent retention strategies? Just follow this link!
Shandel McAuliffe
Now based in sunny Australia, Shandel is prolific writer and editor – particularly in the world of HR. She’s worked for some big names, including the CIPD and the Adecco Group. And more recently, she’s been the Editor for new HR publication HR Leader.
