Better employee experience to take HR transformation journey to the next level

IBM partners with market leaders to offer the right tools to uplift the employee experience.

As companies embarked on their digital transformation journeys, many have earmarked part of their investment into robust human resources information systems (HRIS) along with the entire endeavour. However, HR transformation should not stop at the implementation of an HRIS; the curation of employee experience is a journey that needs to be continuously fine-tuned and responsive to the changing needs of the workforce. 

This is imperative, especially when considering that employees have come to anticipate a streamlined experience in their online work systems, not unlike the consumer experience one enjoys on automation and AI-enabled mobile and social platforms today. These are some of the issues which Joey Woo, Partner, Talent Transformation ASEAN, IBM Consulting had wanted to uncover and spark greater conversations on, which subsequently inspired her to organise the IBM-led forum, ‘What’s Next in Your HR Transformation Journey.’ 

HR Forum

The forum was held at The Dempsey Cookhouse & Bar and attended by over 50 HR and HR IT leaders from 30 leading organisations. 

With the aim of exploring how HR can leverage automation and AI to deliver an integrated and frictionless employee experience, IBM had keynote presenters Samuel Ho, HR Shift to Cloud Practice Leader, ASEAN, IBM Consulting; Peter Guo, HR Shift to Cloud Solution Architect, IBM Consulting; Lauren Huntington, Solution Strategist, Qualtrics; Khoo Choon Yen, Head of People Operations and Systems, APJ, Workato to share their expertise and insights at the event. 

The pre-event survey indicated that 85% of the attendees are seeking to build experiences that create value for their employees at every touchpoint. About 82% aimed to transform and scale the impact of HR through deep industry expertise and an ecosystem of technology partners. 

Meanwhile, 78% are setting their sights on transforming talent operations using rich data and powerful AI technologies, whilst 63% said they would prioritise using a deep knowledge of emerging trends to uncover untapped potential within the HR function.

However, 63% of the forum attendees also indicated that they were held back by high integration complexity on their journey toward implementing disruptive technologies, whilst 45% said they were hampered by a lack of tech knowledge.

Building an Intentional Employee Experience Framework

In his presentation themed “Designing an Intentional Employee Experience Framework”, IBM’s Samuel Ho highlighted that employee experience is created by interactions in three spheres: employees’ physical environments, their social connections and the actual work to be done. 

“In order for companies to improve their overall employee experience, they must apply five leading practices: personalisation, transparency, simplification, authenticity and organisational responsiveness,” he added.

Ho also provided four recommendations for enhancing the employee experience, listening to the voice of the employee, understanding, and investing in differentiation touchpoints, applying rapid, iterative design principles, and building a cross-functional experience coalition.

Supporting these recommendations, Joey Woo, Partner, Talent Transformation ASEAN, IBM Consulting, pointed out that “companies seeking to improve the employee experience can start by leveraging on data and analytics to understand the employee perspective.”

She added that data enables organisations to determine employee needs and measure its impact on the business. “Our research shows that employee experience is an important and complex issue that requires the right tools and relationships on a daily basis.”

Partnerships with Market Leaders

To address changing employee expectations of flexible, easy-to-use, scalable, and adaptable tools, IBM has partnered with Qualtrics and Workato, market leaders in experience management and intelligent automation respectively. 

Nearly 19,000 global organisations use the Qualtrics XM Platform to listen, understand, and take action on employee experience data. Through this platform, HR leaders can gain a deeper insight into their workforce’s beliefs, emotions, and intentions, and be guided into action aimed at better employee retention, engagement, a more positive culture, and ultimately a better brand and product.

Workato, the leader in enterprise automation, helps organisations increase operational speed, scale, and accuracy by automating common business processes. Its low-code/no-code platform empowers HR, Finance and Marketing teams to design automation in collaboration with IT to ensure security. 

With the support of Altimeter Capital, Battery Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, Tiger Global, and Redpoint Ventures, Workato boasts a more than 17,000 client base worldwide including Broadcom, Intuit, and Box.