Does HR Technology Promote Employee Engagement - Workology

Does HR Technology Promote Employee Engagement - Workology Does HR Technology Promote Employee Engagement? Human Resource managers often debate what attracts employees to companies and then what keeps them there. Often the big answer is employee engagement. The definition of engagement however, is elusive for many and will vary company to company. HR offers many solutions such as benefits, pay, work-life balance, time off, unlimited vacation, pet insurance or any number of other things they think will attract and retain employees. What if it was a simple as the technology you use? What device do you offer? Technology has become a major challenge for HR and IT departments. “What do we offer?” and “What effect will it have?” are often questions asked. “How do we track it and control it?” are also of concern. IT-Online published some results of the second Global Evolving Workforce Study by Dell and Intel on January 30, 2015. In the post The future of the mobile worker they revealed that 25% of employees globally “…are influenced by the technology provided to them at work and would consider taking a new position if provided better technology that helps them be more productive.” Have you ever considered that and touted the technology you have in place? Did you think that it might be a source of attraction, or on the contrary, as source of repulsion for candidates looking at your position? For many HR departments and IT departments I suspect that is generally not a consideration. In fact fewer than half of employees worldwide report that “…the IT department takes employ ees opinions into consideration when selecting technology” the study shows “…but those in emerging markets feel they have more influence over the choices that IT makes.” With the numbers we are talking about perhaps HR and IT should pay a bit more attention to what technology is being offered and start to use it as a way to attract employees. Technology also affected by other factors The study also showed that technology use is dependent on position and location of the employee as well as the industry. “Employees in the media and entertainment sector are most likely to quit over poor technology” while managers and employees in emerging markets expect they will have the best technology and will consider leaving an employer if they do not have it. Many employees feel that they technology they have available can really help them be more productive or can adversely affect their productivity. Mobile technology is becoming more important as more workers spend less time in offices and work remotely from home or other locations such as a coffee shop or a customer’s office. Does HR Technology Promote Employee Engagement? The article ends with some areas to consider for all HR and IT departments to consider when looking at employee engagement; these include: Understanding the activity involved with the work; How seamless the access can be made; How secure the connections can be; The diversity of environments the employees can or would like to work in. Without a consideration of these issues more and more employees may be making employment decisions based on the technology they will be exposed to that will help them to be as productive as possible. Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG FreeDigitalPhotos.net .ai-rotate {position: relative;} .ai-rotate-hidden {visibility: hidden;} .ai-rotate-hidden-2 {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-fallback, .ai-list-block {visibility: hidden; position: absolute; width: 50%; height: 1px; z-index: -9999;}