Four on-trend HRMS features to consider for new software

The HRMS market does not stand still for long as organizations continue to push vendors to meet their latest business requirements. We’re  over the cloud, big data analytics, social and mobile HRMS - these are the new high-tech HRMS trends are on the horizon.

1. Features to manage non-traditional workers

So many companies don’t bother to store non-employees such as freelancers, consultants and contractors in the HRMS as it’s too much hassle and data to manage. This population constituted 35% of the workforce in 2015 and is expected to increase.

Forward thinking HRMS vendors are meeting this challenge by incorporating functionality to allow for more streamlined recruiting, vetting and hiring of temp workers as an offshoot that complements the HRMS rather than being a data burden. Gone are the days when contractors would be left orphaned in the system until they appeared on the wrong headcount and it was an emergency call to HR to terminate.

2. The replacement of the performance review

Many companies are moving away from the performance review cycle. Organizations prefer to acknowledge on the spot and provide peer comments and frequent manager feedback. HRMS vendors are responding with more interactive and sharing functionality and ‘quick feedback’ options.  Employees are also being proactively reminded by the HRMS to provide feedback at the end of projects and at regular intervals instead of in a managed push from HR during the performance review cycle.

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3. Increased automation and digitalization

For many years, HRMS vendors focused on usability and making an online HR task so simple and intuitive that no instruction was required. Some HRMS vendors are taking it a step further by employing cognitive computing logic that has been making its way into general computing tasks. We’re expecting to see this trend continue to develop, especially in the unstructured data space. As an example, if you send a message to an HR service desk, your response will not be a general automated one but instead a context specific one based on the comments that you provided to it.

4. A renewed focus on engagement

The current workplace can be a minefield for both managers and HR as up to four generations may be working together, each with different drivers and focuses.  A Gallup poll found that 68% of employees were not engaged or actively disengaged.  We are seeing HRMS vendors dusting off engagement modules to link the data into currently functionality. When a certain segment values a ‘work from home’ option or would like to go on assignment, the interest can now be registered in the HRMS. New functionality will see managers entering assignment details and auto matching of potential assignees to those roles.