The role of HR tech in building better employee experiences

The challenges of delivering an optimal employee experience have grown into a front-and-center human capital management issue for organizations of all sizes since the workforce upheavals of the post-pandemic world.

Making and strengthening the employer/employee relationship has never been more difficult or important as the shift to remote and hybrid work has altered touchpoints and interactions. It’s also changed workers’ expectations of their jobs and organization’s purpose, brand and culture.

Increasingly, the solution to effectively managing the growing complexities of delivering a quality employee experience lies with HR technology. It’s an expanding world – projected to grow by 8.45% annually through 2027.

HR tech’s evolving capabilities in today’s employment environment should motivate HR leaders to consider their tech investment objectives through the broader lens of the employee experience. Ultimately, this will enable them not to replace their culture with technology, but to better use technology to enhance it.

Here’s how to think about it.

Building the right HR tech stack

The original intent of investment in HR technology has been to enable the human resources team to do tasks accurately, faster and more efficiently. Those are the outcomes sought from the basic administration tools, benefits and payroll management, and compliance tracking.

What adds a whole new dimension to HR tech, though, are add-ons that also boost and enhance HR’s capabilities and effectiveness. This includes recruitment support and application tracking, workforce management and succession planning.

To get the most out of these add-ons requires the tech strategy to be tied to the employee experience. And that involves more than just adding communications tools like texting or robust search capabilities to the stack – as important as these are. A process for using the technology must be built, and employees shown how to engage with it. If they don’t trust the technology or know the process it won’t be used, and the employee experience suffers.

How tech and the employee experience connect

Today’s is a tech-driven society, and that certainly extends to the workplace. At any time, the average person has at least three devices connected to the internet; by 2030, 75% of jobs are expected to require employees with technology skills.

As wired as people are – working and communicating on cellphones, laptops, tablets and apps – the more significant the role of HR tech becomes. It solidifies the connection between employees and the organization by delivering an experience that meets or exceeds their expectations.

Related: ‘Rewiring’ the health care industry: How tech plays a key part in 2024

Start with the company website, the most prominent representation of what the company stands for and the culture it has worked to support. If looking though the hiring posts and the application process, what’s the experience? Easy to engage? Or discouragingly complicated and time consuming?

Or consider a person has been hired and HR technology has made onboarding inclusionary, and a positive experience that’s started even before the official start date. Messaging provides details about new teammates, day-to-day work tasks and confirms that payroll and benefits are set up and ready to go, making the experience easy for the new employee.

HR technology has an important role in enabling a strong employee experience. But for the best results, the tech strategy should be married to the broader employee engagement strategy, all aligned to the organization’s mission, vision and values. The end result will be more successful businesses and employees.

Andrea Goodkin, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is Executive Vice President of People & Technology Consulting at global insurance brokerage Hub International.