With the amount of information available at any given time in organisations, it is no wonder reporting and subsequent compliance reporting causes havoc in HR Departments. Information is often stored in different platforms, applications and even drawers and files!
Creating a single platform from where information can be accessed, stored and altered, remains a challenge which often leads to an inability to present an exact and true reflection of Human Resource Departments actual objectives and achievements of such. This has an even bigger cascading effect on the organisation, as it will be impossible to directly link each employee’s impact on the organisation’s bottom line.
Keeping track of proper documentation in HR remains cardinal, and should always remain a top priority within the Department. The reason for this is twofold:
- South Africa’s labour law requires that employees keep a thorough record of each employee;
There can be no doubt that meticulous record-keeping and proper preparation is 90% of the battle in CCMA matters. Poor record-keeping can result in only one thing – sloppy preparation. And in such circumstances, you have lost before you even start. (The South African Labour Guide: The vital importance of keeping records.)
- Human Resources should, with a click of a button, be able to draw a dashboard of all activities relating to employees, at any given moment. This ensures that the function within the organisation is aligned to organisational objectives, and taken seriously at boardroom level.
Information stored into one platform could include:
- employee personal profiles;
- job profiles;
- competencies and competency dictionaries;
- skills needs and skills gaps;
- learning needs;
- training & development plans;
- employee performance records;
- information tracking formal and informal learning; and
- employees’ direct contribution to organisational objectives (similar to a balanced scorecard).
In order to obtain a Business Intelligence Dashboard with a click of a button, data which is stored at a central place, can be accessed at any given time (as per HR protocol). Reporting should then happen automatically and accurately. Reporting could vary from legal compliance to internal reports for executive management purposes, and could include, Learnership Agreements; B-BBEE-Reports; Safety & Compliance; Professional Registrations; Performance Management Reports; and Competency Frameworks.
With data stored in one location, and HR Protocols clearly stipulated, the next step would be to adopt an inclusive approach with regard to giving employees access to their own development. With self-directed learning and development, the onus becomes the responsibility of the employee. Employers will continuously have access to this information, which allows for interactive communication between employer and employee. Furthermore, learning and development will get greater support and momentum, and will ultimately add to the bottom line of the organisation: be that increased productivity and/or profits.
It is not the generating of reports that causes nightmares in HR Departments, it is in fact, the lack of planning and implementation of a logical solution to convert information into relevant data. Once thorough planning has taken place to centralise all HR data, in all its different forms such as Excel; .PDF’s; Word docs; and loose pieces of information in a file somewhere, HR should be empowered to produce relevant reports at any given time.
HR metrics that are accurate and reliable in any organisation is crucial, not only for reporting purposes, but to ensure development of all people on all levels in the organisation and to ensure that organisations and employees alike remain transparent, accountable and ethical at all times.
Should you require more information on Skillogical or to arrange for a live demonstration on the solution, please contact us on 010 020 5600 or visit the website at www.skillogcal.com.
April 2019
COMPILED BY : ANNERINE RIGA
ON BEHALF OF : SKILLOGICAL – www.skillogical.com
CONTACT : 083 381 5025 / 011 675 0912
