Majority of companies digitize, but underutilize the full potential of HR technology
Says research of Delaware, SD Worx, Acerta, Afas, Berenschot and others.
The ultimate Digital Employee Experience that strengthens the Employer Brand, attracts candidates, recruits, supports, develops, values and retains with an attractive experience, insights and analytics. If we are to believe the studies, we are not there yet and the maximum potential of digital HR solutions is underused because often time, resources, expertise are lacking, or the right profiles do not start the search and people therefore think they have already found the right solutions , resulting in sub-optimal choices and high costs.
2021
According to Delaware research HR was not immediately a frontrunner in digitization, but 50% already worked with a digital “personnel file”. With the fragmentation of HR Technology as a policy challenge, the focus was on current processes, not on optimizations through digital HR solutions. Other results that research;
45% were working on digital project, 15% were just rolled out at the time
69% thought both staff and HR were not ready for AI
30% did daily reporting or dashboarding
According to SD Worx research in the same year 37% of the companies considered themselves mature digitised, 30% companies considered themselves to have reached only a moderate level of digitization and 25% companies felt that there was an urgent need to step up a gear. Also according to SD Worx, payroll would be most digitized in 2021. Other results:
30% of companies also considered themselves very mature when it comes to transactional digitization
Recruitment & Selection was digitized the least
At the European level, only 25% also addressed the employees with digitization (EX, self-service, engagement, well-being,...) - Ireland and ... Poland, somewhat surprisingly, have the highest score here.
According to a Belgian HR Analytics Maturity Study by Glenn Walschap turned out to be the most important element with the greatest impact knowledge of HR analytics. More than 3 in 5 of the companies surveyed acknowledged that this is a challenge within their company. The factors 'time' and 'people' to put more work into HR analytics were also given high priority, together with the availability of data and the quality of the data.
According to the survey, most companies thought they had found the right tools by now, because the importance there had fallen sharply compared to 2020.
2022
According to a post-corona Acerta research 31% of companies had invested more in HR digitization during and after Corona than before. 34% planned to invest more in the coming years, which means that Belgium is lagging behind, according to the survey. Other results:
Top three investments: time tracking, expense management, and performance management
7.9% thought employee well-being was worth investing in (40% have a well-being policy)
8.3% were willing to digitize the learning process (a lack of vision in training and development plans was cited as a possible cause of the low figure)
According to SD Worx had a total of 59% still put the focus on digitization of ALL HR processes in 2022, but 53% of the -35-year-old employees and 47% in total thought that digitization in the workplace still needed improvement. Other results from that study:
27.6% of employees thought that fully digital remuneration was quite ok
65.5% of employees still preferred a human approach to learning new skills
On average 20% of the-25year-olds was won over by fully digitized HR processes and HR support.
Striking from the Data & Insights survey by SD Worx is that 75% of European companies indicate that they have developed well in the field of HR data, analyzes and insights, of which 44% also state that they have insufficient in-house expertise to provide the necessary deliver reports and insights.
Also a Dutch study by Berenschot, Performa and AFAS Software observed a decrease in interest in HR digitization among parties where digital support was not yet in order for processes that bring people closer to employees, or where they are busy attracting and recruiting candidates.
According to the researchers, this can be explained by the fact that often only HR administration is involved in digitization and these profiles are used to working without a real focus on the individual employee and/or soft HR.
2023
According to the most recent SD Worx research 66% of Dutch companies use cloud technology for payroll, while in Belgium only 30% provide mobile-friendly access for employees and self-service (while 95% of employees own a smartphone).
It is positive that 72% indicate that they are committed to further digitization with the priorities of training employees in digital experience (33%), the introduction of new products or services (32%) and the effective digitization of the workplace (37%)
In terms of focus on the employee and their experience, according to the same survey, 39% of employees have difficulty with general digitization and 57% expect the most innovative digital applications in the workplace, while 45% of employees believe that the employer still has a long way to go for an optimal digital experience.
The trend of 2023, which is also endorsed by HRTOOLZ.online, is that the majority of European companies want more integration of HR-Tech and less fragmentation, which together leads to additional costs. Finally, Belgium and the Netherlands are the pioneers of Europe in terms of digitization and the Netherlands even ranks second in terms of AI adoption in HR.
Conclusion
HRTOOLZ.online finds it remarkable that companies in 2021 thought to have found all digital solutions for HR, while at the same time they indicate that they do not have sufficient knowledge of HR Analytics and digitization in-house. Also, the right profiles were often not involved and/or an incomplete focus was used. It already raises questions about the way in which the search and selection of digital HR solutions went at the time.
The fact that 72% of Belgian companies are digitizing and that they are still looking for new technologies, with plenty of room for self-service, gamification and AI, already speaks in favor of the working method of HRTOOLZ.online because with more than 1700 providers of digital HR solutions worldwide, of which more than 670 come from the BeNeLux, there is room for a well-thought-out choice.
With an ever-evolving market and new technologies catching up with old ones, the gap between HR challenge and HR solution (or supply and demand) may seem smaller, but it is an ongoing process that needs optimization due to fragmentation and evolutions : the search and selection and/or evaluation becomes a time-consuming process, which increases the acquisition costs on both sides of the story.
It should not be allowed that sub-optimal choices are made within companies only to then determine that the skills are not in-house and that an internal digital HR consultant must be recruited to validate that choice. It almost seems like the world has turned upside down and it should therefore come as no surprise that the results among employees regarding the satisfaction of their digital experience remain below average.
As the studies above indicate, there is still some work to be done in terms of matching needs and expectations with the range of innovative HR solutions. Experience shows that business decisions without prior internal and external research can also inadvertently lead to high costs.
After all, everyone wins with an efficient process flow, which is different for every company.
Tip: do you want an objective, time-saving and cost-efficient purchasing process of digital HR solutions and do you not have enough confidence in your knowledge of HR Innovations on the HR Tech Market? HRTOOLZ.online provides independent strategies, expertise and support for all company sizes, cultures and budgets.