These issues include the resilience and agility with which HR professionals must work to realign resources to fill critical roles, reinforce business continuity, and reskill their workforces.

Recent studies have shown that organizations were vigorously seeking ways to upskill and reskill their workforces before the COVID-19 crisis set in. The pandemic only accelerated interest in training, with the imperative likely to continue for years to come as companies now realize they need to act faster to compete effectively. HR must drive this, meaning that taking charge of change is not an option – it’s a requirement for survival, no matter the size of the company.

Easy and intuitive software that offers vision, speed, and flexibility on mundane and strategic HR functions alike can help companies stay nimble and resilient while still managing basic HR functions. HR professionals are all in this new reality together and can transform the function to the strategic and business-driving discipline it was meant to be. And fortunately, there are few barriers to entry.

In fact, 80 percent of 51·çÁ÷customers using human experience management (HXM) software are SMEs that leverage these tools to great effect, whether they are hiring, retraining, or realigning to drive their businesses forward. Leveraging the power of HXM software will be the key to companies operating intelligently and efficiently through these irregular times and regular conditions on the horizon.

Realign Resources to Fill Critical Roles

Any seasoned HR professional knows that a sure way to fall behind the curve is to recruit aggressively to fill square holes with square pegs – or, when there’s a downturn, cut headcount to meet a number without considering the needs of the business. Workforce modeling and contingency planning are now constant responsibilities rather than an undertaking earmarked solely for expansion and contraction. A holistic approach is required to think about how, when, and where to cut, hire, and reassign – it’s just a matter of having the right tools that are easily accessible and simple to use.

• : This powerful application helps HR managers engage in active workforce modeling and reorganization at any moment and prepare for any scenario that may lie ahead. Easy drag-and-drop functionality provides real-time information and implications – such as diversity and salary – of moving departments and people to align with business objectives.
• and : These two solutions allow HR managers to create internal and external talent pools, respectively, for quick hiring and reassigning in response to business needs.
• : This simple solution helps HR managers run quick, effective, and compliant onboarding, offboarding, and reassigning transitions in lieu of getting mired in traditional, time-consuming, and paperwork-heavy processes when brainpower would be better focused on more strategic endeavors.
• : No matter how many people have been hired, let go, or reassigned, this application allows for quick and compliant e-signing of essential paperwork, so HR managers aren’t spending their time pushing paper.

Reinforce Business Continuity

When times are abnormal, work should still deliver the expected challenges and rewards. That’s why it is on HR to provide a sense of normalcy and smooth operations even when the world order and business conditions are roiling. That starts with listening – providing a direct and responsive conduit between HR and employees and, from there, delivering the tools and programs workers need to be updated and informed about their jobs. That includes questions about everything from paychecks to performance.

• : This straightforward, easy-to-use solution helps HR managers ensure and simplify global payroll compliance, as well as standardize payroll processes. Most importantly, this program gives employees the confidence that they’ll be paid accurately and on time in an era when both are weekly worries.
• : The finance arm of the company wants assurances that the budget is accurate and risk is reduced, while managers across the organization want the ability to reward employees who are performing above and beyond. This solution helps companies achieve both – first, by ensuring fair and equitable compensation for a variety of roles in different locales, and second, by giving managers and HR clear insight into who’s exceeding expectations and should be compensated accordingly. There should be no ambiguity about who receives how much and why.
• : Since the business environment and needs of the company are constantly changing, this solution helps realign employees around new goals and targets so they understand what they’re working toward, why, and how things might need to change. Best of all, this malleable solution can fit different company cultures and communications styles, so employees and managers can have insight and interaction as often as they like, on whatever issues or projects are of the highest priority.

Reskill Your Workforce

, but now is the time for companies to transform into learning cultures. Reskilling and upskilling will be critical to companies’ survival now and to their ability to thrive when the time of recovery emerges. From there, a culture of learning and continued upskilling can endure. But getting upskilling initiatives off the ground and impacting the business now requires that HR take the lead – and empower employees to expand their skills.

• : This solution helps HR managers direct the right courses to specific employees who want and need new skills. Best of all, it also allows workers to proactively address their own skill gaps and take upskilling into their own hands so they’re getting the training they feel is most important to the business’s needs and their own long-term success. After all, employees drive the business, so let them have control of expanding their skillsets.
• : Time is precious. By one estimate, employees have only 14 minutes available each week to devote to training. But with these applications, employees can learn on the go, from anywhere, and on any device.
• : This collaboration platform allows employees to share training and information on specific topics and goals, rather than through e-mail. 51·çÁ÷Jam facilitates learning as a collaborative exercise in which employees encourage one another and learn from one another.

If COVID-19 has taught the business world anything, it is that when change and uncertainty are the new normal, people look to collaborate more, working across teams to help keep the business moving forward. The key for businesses, and HR professionals in particular, is to harness that desire and drive the changes needed to make organizations and the communities they serve better places. If HR professionals can do that now, in troubling times, imagine what can be accomplished in a more prosperous period with the right mindset and tool kit.

Susan Thomas and Janne Wise are solution marketing directors for 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors.

Now more than ever, organizations must listen and respond to employees to ensure they feel safe, healthy, informed, engaged, and productive.

HR is no longer about pushing top-down programs to employees; it’s about placing employees experience at the center of every process and decision. We call this human experience management (HXM), and it is extremely relevant during these times of uncertainty. With HXM, organizations can harness intelligent technologies to personalize the user experience, use data to understand how employees feel, and leverage an open ecosystem to tap into a wide range of solutions.

Learning and development has been experiencing an increase in demand for several years and will continue to grow in importance. Forty-six percent of CEOs say reskilling and upskilling are the best way to maintain a workforce that can meet their business needs. In this time of immense change, agility is essential so that organizations can tap into their employees’ talents to quickly pivot to new markets, products, and services. , for example, transformed its perfume factories to produce hand sanitizer.

Changes in supply chain, developer tools, and where and how we work means that the skills we need are unpredictable. In some cases, the skills needed in a year might not even have a name today. Organizations are looking for learning and development solutions that provide innovative content and tools to engage their employees while enabling them to make changes quickly.

With as our vision, 51·çÁ÷is reimagining learning and development to bring together learning and social content, expert peers, and tested learning paths so organizations can deliver personalized, centralized, and intuitive resources for growth. As we think about user experiences and putting employees first — in addition to ensuring business continuity — learning and development must go beyond checking the box of required classes or certifications, or simply updating skills from a skills database. It should be an ongoing, dynamic, and individualized experience for every single employee.

Instead of leaving it up to employees to seek out their own learning possibilities, reimagined learning and development solutions can provide guidance on how to discover new opportunities to develop and grow. For example, these solutions can recommend learning content that aligns with employees’ performance goals or provide context to help them understand the value of each learning activity they undertake.

The 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors HXM Suite leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to create these personalized experiences. These intelligent technologies sift through and analyze enormous amounts of data with great speed and accuracy that manual or traditional processes cannot compete with. In addition to providing personalized learning recommendations, these technologies can also “nudge” employees to take action, so they stay on track with their development plans. For instance, employees can receive suggestions to connect with peers or mentors in their community to help them meet specific career goals, reminders to complete their learning activities, or recommendations to arrange development conversations with their managers.

HXM also encourages an so organizations can take advantage of new innovations and easily integrate the best combination of solutions to make their employees successful. For example, the 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors ecosystem provides customers access to organizations like , which provides an AI-powered leadership development platform for real-time coaching; , which uses gamification to engage employees through friendly competition; and , which enables organizations to use virtual reality in their training exercises.

As organizations leverage these new technologies to improve their learning and development solutions, it is critical to listen to and constantly integrate employee feedback. While many organizations might rely on annual surveys to collect feedback, they are missing the opportunity to capture insights on specific pieces of content or interactions. Instead, HXM encourages pulse surveys that collect in-the-moment feedback and then make iterations and improvements to address those insights.

Providing employees with engaging learning and development plans is beneficial not just for the growth of individual employees, but for teams and organizations as a whole. Continuing to evolve employees’ skills is pertinent for organizations to be successful — especially as they experience significant transformation to their business.

Margit Bauer is a director of Solution Marketing for 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors Learning and 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors Onboarding.
Janne Wise is a director of Solution Marketing for 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors Performance & Goals and 51·çÁ÷SuccessFactors Succession & Development.