5 ways software can deliver the C-Suite agenda
HR professionals face increasing demands that require them to tackle board-level issues directly. They’re expected to tackle diversity, equality, and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues – all as immediate priorities. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, 77 percent of CEOs reported that the pandemic sped up their companies’ digital transformation plans. Covid-19 has accelerated movements towards greater equality, underlined by #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, the greater focus on work-life balance, which is being amplified by the Great Resignation and mandated working from home.
Everything needs to be measurable, scalable, and sustainable to help businesses remain adaptable in ongoing uncertain times. The Board’s agenda items are tasked to HR itself – from greater diversity to HR solutions that drive efficiencies. Here, we outline five ways that software can help to deliver agenda items for C-suite execs.
1. Remaining agile
Software can provide HR solutions that free up time – cutting-edge platforms that are thriving in a booming market can fuel innovation and agility. PwC’s Technology Survey found that even though 74 percent anticipate that the spending for HR tech will increase, eight out of ten HR leaders struggle with tech adoption challenges. Emerging tech platforms for HR are a busy market. Microsoft has now developed Microsoft Viva, which is dedicated to health and wellbeing, alongside their Microsoft Office suite and Teams, demonstrating the plethora of cutting-edge solutions that HR vendors can choose from.
With the pandemic being the catalyst for embracing new technologies and solutions, this has normalised investment in tech platforms and increased the need for companies to implement strong change management programmes to support their adoption.
“One silver lining from the pandemic is that companies have found they can adopt new technologies much faster than they previously thought.”
McKinsey’s What 800 executives envision for the post-pandemic workforce report.
However, intuitive systems that take little explanation to remote workforces will be of increasing value. Learning how to navigate a new tech platform is a lot to ask of employees who are already time-poor, so making the user experience seamless will drive uptake whilst also supporting hybrid working, helping companies to remain agile in their approach.
“The Great Resignation is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. People have realised what matters to them, and you need to offer them an emotional employee experience where they can feel human.”
PayReview, as an end-to-end solution, can support a growth mindset within the business. The pay review software automates reminders around the pay review process, which removes hours of admin across the business. Customers often describe the software as intuitive to use, and we work closely with clients to support their employees in embracing the new platform. The software also supports hybrid working models by enabling the team to collaborate with confidence, removing the hassle of spreadsheets that come with Excel hell by working from one platform, wherever they are. The team can be reassured that they are accessing the most recently updated version of data, avoiding duplicating work and driving efficiencies.
2. Bolstering cyber-security
As 77 percent of CEOs report that the pandemic has greatly accelerated the implementation of new tech, ensuring that these are managed from a risk perspective is a top Board-level concern. Leaders must ensure these threats are minimised. 35 percent of respondents to McKinsey’s survey of 800 leaders, envisaging post-pandemic working, have said that they will need more workers skilled in automation, AI and robotics, particularly those specialising in cybersecurity to minimise the external threats posed to business information. The disruptive change caused by the pandemic has resulted in a greater demand for workers to fill the increasingly important roles in IT security.
The pandemic also underlined the vital role played by the chief information officer (CIO). Beyond the planning of technology implementation and tech-driven decisions, the wider impact of an effective CIO is increasingly visible in how they steer the business in adopting changing systems and how they can inform the whole organisation’s strategy. They are responsible for providing key business insights that are a competitive advantage for the business – equipping the business with the technical knowledge to make evidence-based decisions.
Security is paramount for PayReview and all data is used in a secure way to protect customer information and help them achieve their goals whilst following best practice. PayReview has been developed with your security in mind – with features like two-factor authentication, separate databases, and encryption-at-rest. These robust security measures mean that you can be confident that your data is safe. With the transformation of remote working meaning that many employees are predominantly sharing business-critical data and information over email, software solutions such as PayReview offer multiple layers of security that is a controlled environment for data to be stored and saved.
3. Building an inclusive workplace
The board of directors, investors and C-level suite executives increasingly analyse their track record on diversity, equality, and inclusion. There are reports that 3 million women have left the workplace since February 2020, the largest decline of women in the workforce since World War II. Bringing women back to the office following the disproportionate impact on this demographic as a result of the pandemic will require mentoring, coaching, reskilling, and upskilling, not to mention challenging gender roles in society. In addition, ethnic minority employment has also been disproportionately impacted by Covid, which the government could not explain.
The pay review process is the opportunity to scrutinise the organisation’s approach and ensure fairness lies at its heart. Using a unified system to monitor your data means that you avoid the struggle of having to make sure that people are sticking to the processes you have implemented. This reduces the chance of subjective decisions as the system provides guidance for pay review budgets and the impact of performance on pay. The pay review is one of the most important business functions of the year – defining the company’s track record on pay equity internally between roles. Having a framework that guides these critical decisions can help to make the process more objective and evidence-based, supporting diversity and inclusion with pay equality.
4. Supporting a global workforce
The pandemic has normalised remote working overnight, with many companies accelerating their digital transformation. Geographical boundaries are also becoming less of an issue relative to workplaces. This enables businesses to access international talent pools – with calls for a greater focus on the employee experience to avoid workplace divisions and facilitate a virtual culture amongst employees. Companies are empowered to support a global workforce – such as Facebook’s plans to build a ‘metaverse’ across Europe.
“We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months,” Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella
PayReview also ensures that the team knows exactly how the data is being used. You can track who changed a particular salary and where records have gone. The software helps to know who has done what – with an audit log to record every change in the software, detailing who made it and when. This keeps the data live and accessible from wherever you are, regardless of geography or time. In addition, your people are kept on track with the process avoiding time-wasting chasing people up. Managers can track budget enforcement, overspend justification and advanced filtering to keep the process consistent across the organisation.
5. Driving sustainability
COP26 highlighted how every organisation is under pressure to show how they intend to hit climate change targets and achieve net zero. A greater adoption of software can support an organisation’s approach towards sustainability and meeting the board’s ESG agenda. Digitisation can ensure that the impact on the environment is minimised. This enables the company to go paperless and reduces the requirement of commuting – with the system being accessed anywhere.
Post-pandemic, software is viewed as a ‘must-have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’. The success of future businesses will be highly dependent on their digital capability. This extends to how they harness their digitisation for social change, through use of HR analytics to monitor KPIs across the business and their equality, diversity, and inclusion strategy. Equally, the governance and operation of the tech platforms will be a key consideration of organisations to ensure that they are operating responsibly, future-proofing their business. Truly embracing the opportunities of disruptive technologies can also help companies avoid accusations of ‘greenwashing’ – painting the picture of being environmentally conscious without taking concrete steps.
PayReview allows the team to log in to instantly access a full picture of pay and pay review budgets for the year. This also keeps everything to schedule, with the team able to access everything instantly, with no paper trail required.
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Board-level agenda items are the collective responsibility of key functions across organisations. Working together, HR professionals can use the opportunities posed by HR tech solutions to drive forward the Board’s key agenda items, as we define what the post-pandemic world of work will look like.
PayReview will let you effectively collaborate across the business, wherever your employees are based. We’ll help you minimise risks to the security of your data and maximise opportunities for collaboration within the team, freeing up their time to do work that pushes the envelope in your sector. We’ll help you implement accurate pay decisions underpinned by a framework that upholds fair pay – both within your business and against the external market to keep your reward decisions competitive. Book your demo today.