Which Comes First: The Process or the Technology? 

The age old question of every HR Technology consultant, which came first: the process or the technology? Luckily this is not a difficult philosophical question. The answer is the process.

HR Technology as a whole is relatively young where processes, policies, and procedures are not within an organization.

It now makes sense why an HR team would search for a tech solution to match every one of their processes and policies because those came first. However, the “technology as a solution” mindset does not work if HR is closed to changing policies and processes.

There are times when it is recommended to look towards technology to improve your HR team, and other times when a simple policy change is needed. Below are a few examples, sourced from real Slate clients, when the recommendation was to change the technology or change the process.

Example 1: Hospitality Group has a long reconciliation period post payroll because tipped employees are unable to cover their medical insurance every payroll. HR is continuously tracking and sending invoices to employees. Hospitality Group asks if there is a way to automate this process instead of hiring a new employee. They would like to solve this using technology.

Recommendation: An automated solution was possible, but it was costly. Slate did an analysis of Hospitality Group’s process and found it was paying any tips that an employee received via credit card transaction at the end of their shift through a cash payment. This was the preferred tipping method by diners and tips are the majority of the employee’s taxable paycheck. The solution here was fairly simple. It was to have all credit card tips paid out on the employee’s weekly paycheck. Hospitality Group worked with one of Slate’s Change Management professionals to draft timelines and communications for this to go into effect. After this simple policy change was made, Hospitality Group was averaging about 1 missed medical payment per month.

Example 2: Financial Solutions has an advanced IT team. They are optimizing their HRIS but looking to integrate it with other systems in the organization. They are unsure of all the capabilities of their HRIS and the HRIS vendor sales is unresponsive to inquiries for non vendor related solutions.

Recommendation: Financial Solutions utilized Slate’s Subject Matter Experts (SME) to help map out the capabilities of the HRIS. It was agreed that manual updates to downstream systems was not sustainable. Slate’s SME worked with developers to map data points and lead the testing of the custom integrations. Because of Financial Solution’s knowledgeable IT team, any future unforeseen issues with an integration can be resolved in-house which also saved the forecasted budget for foreseen integration updates.

Example 3: Industrial Professionals is a manufacturing company undergoing a large acquisition. They are taking several smaller, independent companies, and merging them. Each company is on their own HR and payroll system, and also has their own PTO policies.

Recommendation: Industrial Professionals and Slate partnered to find a new HR system that all companies could switch to. During the RFP process, they specifically looked for a system that could accommodate multiple pay rules and PTO policies as well as specific permissions for all the various HR users. Slate’s change management specialists worked with the Industrial Professionals’ executive team to propose new policies and timelines to changes. This led to all companies adhering to the same policies within 12 months of their acquisition date, and a standardized process for hiring, onboarding, and terminations amongst all businesses.

Navigating a process vs. technology change isn’t always straightforward or easy. Slate has the experience, network, and resources to help you find the best way to make a positive change within your organization.

*Company names have been changed for client confidentiality.

By: Julianna Fricchione