Yesterday, one of our smartest employees did one of the dumbest things ever.  She opened an e-greeting card from someone she didn't know.  Within seconds she knew she had a problem.  It could have been the anti-virus warning that popped up or the freaky image that suddenly became her desktop background.  Either way, the first thing she did was raise the alarm.

You may be asking yourself what a virus outbreak and HRIS Software have in common.  To me, the commonality is in the quality of the response.  Anyone can sell you a talent management system.  In fact, any two pieces of HRIS Software are likely to be very similar.

What's not going to be similar are the people behind the product.  When the virus hit that one user the first thing we did was isolate her from the network (well, isolate her computer, we didn't really do anything to her). 

Then, to make sure there would be no further spread of the virus we took all of our computers off the network.  We did this by simply unplugging the switch that handles all computer traffic.  We left the switch that handles all VOIP up and running.  In short, we had a good plan and were well prepared.  Within minutes we new the extent of the problem, had it isolated and were on our way to better times.

The same can be said of how we provide service.  Maybe you use our employee time and attendance module or our performance assessment module.From the day you kick off your implementation and everyday thereafter the achievant team is ready to answer questions, address issue and help you make the most of the tool you purchased.

Any two pieces of software Human Resources Software are going to be more or less the same.  But the people who support them, who make you successful are not.

Learning management software is a beast unto itself.  It can be a very simple piece of human resource software or it can be a giant, full-blown module.

In my career I have worked on Online Employee Training software that has covered the entirety of the possible range of robustness and complexity.

Because learning management modules can spider their way into so many other aspects of HRIS they can be an integral and important part of any talent management system. Learning management naturally flows into performance management, succession management and even applicant tracking depending on what your on-boarding process is like.


This week Achievant rolled out some new enhancements to its LMS.  Our module for learning management started off life as a lightweight module that though flexible and fairly robust had room for growth.

We've added over 17 new features some of which included:

·         proctoring features for trainers who need more detailed class planning and tracking

·         more robust class rosters and session results

·         the ability to track education credits for both internal and external classes

·         automated notifications for minimum class size not being met

Our goal, as is almost always our goal (and philosophy), as we build out our web HRIS software is to grow it incrementally.  Each time we work within the app we look for areas where we can add new features.  We listen to our current clients, our future clients and our industry to see what needs and wants are out there and we take the opportunity to add them whenever we can.

For us, such a successive refinement approach to all of our modules is not unlike learning management itself: with continuous work and grooming people (or applications) can get better at their jobs.

I just got back from my first prospective college visit to Florida with my oldest son, Michael (because of course why would he want to attend a college with in-state tuition!).  I’ve also been traveling a lot lately for new and perspective clients so I’m becoming quite the airline connoisseur.  Frankly as airfare has sky-rocketed I tend to book whoever is cheapest or works with my schedule, but I do have my favorites.

This most recent trip had me on Southwest Airlines.  Now I’ll admit that as an HR leader I have followed this company for several years.  Southwest is one of the few profitable airlines and has been in the black for 33 consecutive years and has paid a small dividend for 127 consecutive quarters. While its competitors are reducing the number of flights offered and grounding hundreds of aircraft, Southwest will add a few flights daily, will take delivery of another dozen aircraft next year and still plans to grow by 2 percent to 3 percent.  Southwest now carries more passengers annually than any other U.S. carrier.

So, my down time in the airport yesterday had me pondering...how has Southwest been successful?  I think it is based on a few guiding principles –

    * Keep things simple
    * Keep it consistent
    * Manage costs and maximize productive assets, and
    * Manage customer expectations.

These are business strategies that can be applied to most businesses.

Keep It Simple

While Southwest’s competition operates numerous types of planes, Southwest flies just one plane type.  This saves millions in maintenance costs, employee training, parts, etc.

Business Application – Do one thing and do it well

In the technology world, Human Resources software providers are trying to be all things to all people.  At Achievant, we have determined what we do is provide HRIS software solutions to small and mid-sized companies.  Achievant is not a payroll company, but we work with your payroll company to manage your employe data.  We have seen numerous companies try to meet all needs by bolting together the components of a human capital management system (i.e., HRIS system, time and attendance tracking, learning management, performance management, applicant tracking, and succession management) together with a payroll system and try to pass it off as integrated.  As a result these providers are adequate at many things, but not really good at anything.  Don’t get caught up in a feature/function comparison….who has the prettiest screen, bell, or whistle.  You should evaluate the entire package.

Keep It Consistent

I have to admit that I have not always been a fan of Southwest's approach to assigning seats.  Which is…..there are no assigned seats. You just line up according to an assigned number and you choose an open seat as you board the plane.  As someone who is slightly a control-freak (ok, maybe a little more than slightly), this was initially unsettling to not have a seat assigned specifically to me.  But, as I have flown with them more I have come to appreciate the control of choosing my seat...the one that is not next to the crying child or the chatty person, and have relished the opportunity to get a seat with extra leg room or no one sitting next to me.  Best of all, they still provide beverages and snacks for free!

Business Application – Manage the brand experience

At Achievant we work very hard to manage the experience our clients have with us and our Human Resources software solution.  Every time they contact us we want to respond to them in a friendly way, on a timely basis, and in a way that is relevant to them.  

No fees, no frills

As other carriers have removed perks and added fees, Southwest has kept its customer proposition streamlined and unchanged. The airline only sells in a few price "buckets" which allows it customers to understand the fare structure and believe they are getting value for their money. Prices are all-inclusive too, no fees for fuel surcharges, ticket changes, or luggage.  They have looked for out-of-the-box solutions to things like the clunky beverage cart.

Business Application – If customers can’t understand the pricing structure, they can’t understand the value you offer

Most HRIS systems, learning management systems, time and attendance solutions, and payroll providers utilize an ala carte menu for the services they provide.  In addition to the monthly or annual subscription, anything additional you’d like (e.g., a system change, new report) is charged by the hour or project.  This can make it very difficult to manage your costs.  I have spoken with numerous potential clients who when questioned how much they pay their current system provider, respond that they won’t know until the end of the year.

At Achievant, we have adopted a modular pricing model that is very simple to understand and is inclusive.  You are not charged for new version releases, minor system changes, client support, etc.

Management, Happy Workforce

Herb Kelleher finally stepped away from Southest earlier this year after leading it for more than a generation.  Although he was a very colorful leader, the airline avoided fads, shied away from anything that increased costs or complicated the basic travel proposition. Management ranks are lean, but most importantly, productive.

Southwest has embraced a culture of making their work (and consequently our travel) more fun.  They sing, dress in casual uniforms, and allow employees to go “off-script”.  In return, they have employees who are friendlier, seem to enjoy their jobs, and don't strike.

Business Application – If your workers aren’t happy, your customers aren’t happy

It is important to note that there are many intangibles that contribute to how much employees enjoy their job.  Take time to focus on these and you will be repaid for your efforts in higher levels of customer satisfaction.  360 degree feedback can be a great tool for this.

These are important business applications that I think will apply to any industry, not just HRIS software and talent management providers like Achievant.  In the meantime, I will continue to watch the progress of Southwest. 

You are probably aware that employers can protect themselves from liability for harassment under Title VII by maintaining complaint procedures and taking prompt remedial action in response to harassment complaints. However, a recent ruling in the 7th Circuit has clarified these procedures.  It is not sufficient to just have a complaint procedure; the complaint procedure must be easily understandable.

In EEOC vs. V&J Foods, a 16-year-old girl accused the store manager of making several unwanted sexual advances to her. After several complaints from the teenager and her mother to her co-workers and supervisors, the store manager fired the girl. She sued her employer for sexual harassment, but the district court dismissed the case because the plaintiff failed to follow the company’s complaint procedure.

On appeal, the 7th Circuit reversed the district court’s decision after finding the complaint procedure to be inadequate. This procedure instructed employees to report any incidents of harassment to their district manager. However, the procedure failed to provide employees with contact information for the district manager, and it did not provide a clear method for employees to bypass their supervisors when they were the perpetrators of the harassment.

This ruling should be a wakeup call for employers to review their complaint procedures to ensure they are understandable and effective.  It is also an excellent time make employee training on this topic one of your goals.  There are a variety of training options available from online employee training to classroom training.  Either way, be sure to track the completion of this training in your learning management software or HRIS system.  Achievant would be happy to assist you with a training program on this topic.   

Today I am going to take a step back and dial down the detail a level of magnitude or two and talk about what HRIS Software is and what it can do for you.

HRIS, or Human Resource Information Systems, is generally a collection of software modules that help accomplish four specific functions:

1.       Payroll

2.       Time and attendance

3.       Benefits administration

4.       General HR management. 

A strong HRIS system may also cover learning management, performance management and other HR automation.

Payroll: the payroll module should take all of the tasks surrounding employee time and attendance and automate it.  This will include direct deposit information, time and attendance, off-time requests and tracking and all of the small nuances that go into recording employee time and reporting on it.

Time and Attendance: the time and attendance module will automate collecting and managing employee time and labor information.  It should have automated process for requesting time off, tracking time off usage and accruals, calculating overtime and tracking hours worked.  It should have workflows processes for approving or denying timesheets, approving or denying time off, etc.  It should allow all levels of management and employees to have a transparent view of their off-time plans, holidays and hours worked.

Benefits Administration: the benefit module should allow employees to opt in and out of benefit plans, record dependents, record beneficiaries, track coordination of benefits and integrate to a company’s benefit carriers as well as other benefits related tasks.

HR Management: the HR management module should cover a wide variety of HR automation.  It should record all of the personal information one collects on employees, allow for pay raise workflows, bonuses, commissions, transfers, all of that day-to-day HR work that happens inside any company.

Some HRIS Software will have modules for applicant tracking, performance management, learning management (aka: training) and other common tasks.  A good HR Automation package should serve an employee’s HR needs from application through retirement and at all points in between. 

At Achievant we have all of these modules in our HCMS (Human Capital Management System).  We are constantly evaluating, expanding and adding to our functionality as the HR workplace grows and changes.  In fact, one of the reasons we created our blogs was in order to communicate with other HR professionals and generate an on-going dialogue of what is and what is not important in HR software.

Any HRIS Software (and its vendor) should have the staff and expertise necessary to respond to evolution in the HR space.  You can meet the leaders of each Achievant business function via their blogs:  Kit Stolen runs our Consulting Services through which we provide a wide range of HR related consultation.  Sue McMillen runs our Professional Services group and is the lead care-giver for all of our clients.  Joe Barrett is our Sales and Marketing lead and Jim Hill is our founder.  Feel free to visit all of our blogs, make some comments and give us your two cents (or even a whole dollar) about what HR Software is and what HR Software is not.

One of the bigger challenges I see IT leadership facing is participation by other business stakeholders in product development.  Since IT is generally where the rubber hits the road and nifty ideas become reality the IT folks sometimes get left holding the bag for half-baked initiatives.  The next killer app can sound great in a sales and marketing meeting where a 100,000 foot view is as deep as it goes, but when the nuts and bolts need to get tightened down you, the IT leader, can find yourself in a ghost town of participation.

In the performance management, time and attendance, learning management, HR software world such a lack of engagement by all aspects of an organization can lead to software that meets no one’s needs fully and serves the end user (aka: client) only partially.

Fortunately at Achievant our senior staff is locked and loaded and both willing and capable of participating in all phases of product development so that all interests are served and the development process is a rarefied one where the best product emerges at the end due to the engagement of all stakeholders.  If you find yourself in a different environment here are some tips on getting the engagement you need:

1.       ALWAYS invite all stakeholders to meetings where details are going to be hammered out.  You don’t want to exclude a point of view and you don’t want to give someone the excuse they need to not be there when you need their input.

2.       Require review and sign-off on all specifications by all stakeholders.  Physically have them sign a document saying they have read and agree with the details of the new feature.  Having someone put their John Hancock on the dotted line does wonders for participation.

3.       Provide milestone updates once development is under way.  Provide screen shots, partially functionality, etc as soon as you can during group reviews and get agreement from the larger organization that you are on the right track.  This may seem like political CYA, but it’s not.  It gives you the chances to demonstrate progress and verify with the other stakeholders that your development is directionally correct.

4.       Include other stakeholders in the QA process once you’ve done enough QA of your own to ensure the app works at least 90% of the time.  Call it a focus group, call it User Acceptance Testing, call it whatever you like, but make sure the rest of the team has the chance to use and approve the system.

5.       Have stakeholders from other business units’ sign-off on the test plans that will be used to QA the new feature.  This gives them skin in the game and helps ensure they will engage fully enough to ensure what their attesting to is accurate.

6.       Educate.  Unless you’ve done that and been there you may not be equipped to understand what is involved in high quality software development.  Work with other stakeholders so that they get the value of the exercises you’ll be putting them through as you create screen prototypes, functional specifications, etc.  Knowledge is power.  If you find your stakeholders lacking the product development experience necessary to get the job done do your best to bring them along.

Two brains are better than one and four brains are better than two and eight brains are better than four.  Geeks (and I mean that in the nicest way) shouldn’t be deciding what software does, they should be deciding how it does it.  Let your business stakeholders determine how a new feature should look, feel, behave.  They are generally the business experts.  Using them to design the product will yield the best product possible.  If a gap exists in the engagement of that group do whatever you can to bridge it.  You’ll be better off and (much) more importantly your users will be far better off.  Good software is collaboration between all aspects of a business.

So far most of the technology talk in my blog has applied to business and not homes, but if you have a telecommuting workforce or employees who work at home at night or weekends to catch up on work you (and they) should be aware of some basic home network safety. 

For purposes of this forum let’s say you have staff who will work at nights or on weekends from home using your time and attendance, performance management, learning management, application tracking or other HR automation software.  This means they will be accessing and working with sensitive data like SSNs, home addresses, benefits information and payroll information.  Securing that data, even in your employee’s home, is important.

Below are ten tips I share with our own workforce to secure an employee’s home wireless network (a luxury almost everyone has these days):

1.       Change the default password for admin access to your router.  And don’t just change it; make it something hard to guess.  Use upper and lower case letters, a symbol and a number.  And make it ten characters or longer.  If you want to use your cat’s name as your password “FluFFyC@t2007” is a lot harder to guess than “fluffy”.

2.       Disable SSID broadcast.  You don’t need it and it provides no benefit whatsoever.  Name your SSID something you can remember so it’s easy for you to setup a wireless connection whenever you need to.  Following the example above you could name your SSID “FluffyW1F1”.  You can easily remember it; it’ll help you remember your password and no one will ever guess it.

3.       Use MAC filtering.  This can be a pain when you want to add devices, but it makes it much harder for someone to gain unauthorized access to your network.

4.       Turn off all inbound ports.  This will prevent requests originating outside of your network from getting in.  Any request you make from inside your network will get out and back no problem.

5.       Use the logging features of your router.  These are often kind of weak, but they are handy in more than one way.  You can watch for unexpected activity and it can be a great parental control.

6.       Change your router password every 30 days.  You don’t have to go hog wild when you chance it.  If it’s easy for you to remember fluffy use variations on that theme: Fluffipurrf3ct, 4MyC@tFluffy, etc.

7.       Change the default IP address of your router.

8.       Enable the highest level of encryption that you can.  WAP is better than WEP and WEP is better than nothing.  Change your encryption key at least twice a year.

9.       Set the max number of DHCP users allowed on your network to be the number of computers in your house.

10.   Back-up your wireless router settings.  This will help you quickly restore them if you ever have to.

Most of these things have to be done only once and then you’re done with them.  Take them extra 30 minutes when setting up your router (or even after setting up you router) to secure it as thoroughly as you can.  This is a case where an ounce of prevention... well, you know.  Maybe you don’t do HR activities like payroll integration, applicant tracking, employee performance management, employee training or any of the other common tasks HR automation and HR software take care of these days, but you’ll still benefit from a more secure computing environment.

The passage of Thanksgiving doesn’t just mean “time to start shopping”; it also signals the beginning of the benefits open enrollment period for many employers. Every fall human resources benefits specialists all over the county are responsible for communicating benefit options to employees.  This involves explaining carrier changes, plan changes and yes, of course, pricing changes.  It is that difficult job of explaining to employees why they will be paying more for less coverage next year.        

For many employers, open enrollment also means a lot of paper shuffling; unless of course they use hr software for an online benefits enrollment system.   On an online hr software system (usually as part of a HRIS system) employees can log onto the system via the Internet, view the benefit selections available to them and enroll with a few clicks of the mouse—without any paper changing hands and little training.  Online enrollment is a relatively new technology.  Just 10 years ago, nearly every business was doing open enrollment on paper. But web-based open enrollment has steadily climbed in use. The Society for Human Resource Management’s 2006 Benefits Survey Report found that automated benefits enrollment and management is one of the top trends in human resources.   In addition to eliminating paper, online enrollment systems can improve communication, eliminate errors and save money. Even small companies can realize efficiencies from online open enrollment, and newer delivery models make it affordable and accessible to just about every organization. Web-based applications can do everything a benefits department used to do on paper—plus a lot more.  An online system also makes it easier to communicate with employees in dispersed locations eliminating the need for forms, faxing and filing.   Employees simply log onto the online system and their elections are electronically captured for HR and, as needed, transmitted to the carrier. Reducing the need for paper, handwritten entries and faxing also cuts down on legibility problems and time-consuming errors. There are no materials to store, no forms to file (or lose) and no hard-copy references to update.  An online benefits enrollment system can help any company get more out of its HR staff while providing more efficient, higher quality benefits service.  Achievant is an HR software provider that offers online benefits enrollment and administration.  Our online enrollment allows HR to spend less time on the paper shuffling and more time on adding value to the organization.  Administrators can easily track enrollment to identify whose enrollment remains outstanding and even send electronic reminders. A web-based system also automatically creates an electronic record of all transactions, which makes it easier to resolve issues that arise after the open enrollment period.  The system keeps a record of whether an employee accepted or declined the opportunity to enroll and at what level.  Locating paper documentation a year after the fact can often be a problem.   With an online system, past records can be called up in a few seconds. Don’t think you can afford an online system – consider: 1.      Savings by eliminating printing and distribution 2.      What you are spending to administer your benefits today3.      The follow-up required by errors, invalid elections and incomplete submissions4.      Time spent to identify and follow up on missing elections5.      Calls taking up HR’s time with questions Adopting an online enrollment system may look like “a spend”, but you may already be spending that much today on paper processes and be much less efficient.   

We’ve talked about the purpose that turnover serves in an organization, why employees leave an organization and what you can do to encourage them to stay.  But another important component in turnover is tracking it.  Your HRIS software should have the ability to track reasons for separation and provide reporting on these to support your retention efforts.  Here are some commonly used separation codes broken down into voluntary and involuntary to incorporate into your HR software solution.  

Voluntary	Involuntary
·        Another job·        Returned to school·        Disliked job·        Disliked supervisor·        Did not return from leave·        Personal reasons·        Salary·        Relocated·        Retirement·        Hours·        Job Abandonment·        Lack of advancement opportunity	·        Poor performance·        Poor attendance·        Policy violation(s)·        Death·        Job elimination·        Insubordination·        Reduction in form·        Unable to  return from LOA·        Theft

 The annual turnover rate is the rate at which employees enter and leave a company in a given year.  Turnover is like golf, you want a low score.  A 100% turnover rate means as many people left the company as were hired.   To calculate annual turnover, first calculate turnover for each month by dividing the number of separations during the month by the average number of employees during the month and multiplying by 100.     The annual turnover is then calculated by adding the 12 months worth of turnover percentages together.  Do you know what your turnover rate is? This is just one of the many metrics you should be tracking. 
 

Although you will make every effort to retain your employees, some turnover is inevitable.  But let’s be clear, not all turnover is bad.  Turnover provides you an opportunity to upgrade your talent and helps you move out mediocre performers.  However, it also carries with it direct and indirect costs associated with both the separation and replacement of employees.

You can manage quite a bit of your voluntary turnover. Investing in an HR software solution can assist you tracking those reasons for separation.  Retention solutions that result in even a small percentage reduction in your company's turnover rate can realize substantial reductions in turnover expenses in the long term.

Studies have estimated direct turnover costs per employee at 25-30% of an individual employee’s salary/benefits package, with hidden costs inflating that figure substantially.  That can add up quickly if your turnover rate is 20 or 30%. 

 Typically, a combination of things will influence an employee’s decision whether or not to stay at their current job. Contributing factors include how satisfying is their work, do they have a sense of job security, are there clear opportunities for advancement, and do they feel challenged. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about what you can do now to improve these factors.