Businesses have accelerated their moves to digitalisation, prompted largely by the global coronavirus pandemic. Research among 3,800 global c-suite executives found six in 10 organisations had increased and accelerated their digital transformation during the recent pandemic and 66% had completed initiatives that had previously accounted resistance. Yet a study by Harris in June found 49% of companies were still using manual and paper-based processes – and particularly when it came to HR processes like offers and termination, some 75% were using paper-based processes still. 

A modern HR department should be focused on the employee experience and the value it is adding to the business. Chief executives now expect their HR teams to be actively finding ways to improve employee happiness and engagement. Yet study after study finds HR is still spending the vast majority of its time on administration (one study claims up to 73% of HR time is spent on admin).

Digitalisation is one way of freeing HR up to move away from the traditional administrative and transactional approaches into a strategic partner. But as we have seen, the move to digitalisation in HR has been slow. EASY Software conducted a survey just before the pandemic and respondents admitted that failure to keep pace with digitalisation makes them vulnerable to significant risks. Some 47% stated reduced efficiency while 42% cited lack of business agility and 40% believed their lack of digitalisation in HR was a competitive disadvantage for them. Meanwhile 36% said it resulted in a less than optimal relationship with their employees and 24% thought it was affecting talent retention.

Providing a frictionless workplace experience by deploying intuitive technology and anytime, anywhere information access is a no brainer to satisfy today's employees, who expect an experience that mirrors that in their consumer lives. They expect to be able to book holidays, monitor goals or see their payslips on their mobile phones. It should not be difficult to get that information.

But digitalisation also helps HR to move away from costly, risky paper files and to concentrate its time on that all important employee experience. So why has it taken a pandemic to accelerate digital adoption in HR? Well, there are a number of barriers: easy integration with existing technology, cost, and mindset and culture being some that immediately jump to mind. Overcoming these are key to enabling the digital transformation of HR.