3 things to look for in an HRMS to fuel employee engagement

Almost every HRMS on the market has some degree of employee self-service functionality. Given that this means pretty much every member of the workforce is able to log on to the same system, this positions your HRMS ideally for employee communications and connections and that means… your HRMS is a key engagement tool. So, what functions should you be looking for in an HRMS in relation to employee engagement?

1) Feedback mechanisms

If you still have traditional top-down communication channels in your organization then a modern HRMS can help broaden the ‘direction of travel’, hosting tools for upwards, sideways and of course, downwards communication through the job-related structure of the business.

The opportunity to give and receive real-time feedback is a significant driver of employee engagement and a wide variety of vendors are now incorporating instant messaging and other dialogue tools into their offerings. Such tools also lend themselves to ad-hoc group communications allowing a crowdsourcing approach to problem solving in which potentially every member of an organization can contribute their insight, whether the issue in question lies in their area of responsibility or not. It’s fast, it’s transparent and it’s easy.

2) Self-driven learning

These days, learning management modules include far more than a simple course directory and booking form. They used to be a tool purely to automate the training administration function but now they offer an arena in which individual employees can engage directly with their chosen learning, at a time that is convenient to them.

Recommended Reading: HRMS Self Service - Find a self-service HRMS to help drive employee engagement

Combined with performance and talent management data, the latest HRMS system might guide a member of staff through a number of options before finding one that suits their skills and knowledge needs, availability, and personal learning preferences. From downloadable bite-sized podcasts and ‘cheat sheets’ to massive open online courses (MOOCs), the right learning module can transform every employee’s experience of corporate learning. And the better the experience in this critical element of the workplace, the better the engagement levels.

3) User experience and interaction

If engagement with the organization is influenced by engagement with the software then your HRMS needs to be… ‘engaging’. And the key determinant of whether somebody uses software enthusiastically or not is the user experience.

A good UX largely depends on the familiarity of the interface (the more familiar it is, the more intuitively the user can operate it) and how easy it is to use (put simply, one click to access a function is far, far less frustrating than four, or five). And finally, there’s the mobile element. In a world of BYOD and 24/7 access, your user interface must be mobile-friendly. Online accessibility isn’t enough; you need an HRMS designed by a vendor to look and feel good on the screen of a smartphone or tablet.