Survey highlights the science of HR can help to futureproof businesses

In the era of digital transformation the HR function of most businesses is still way off putting technology at its heart, according to research undertaken on more than 200 HR professionals and 2,000 employees.

The survey, commissioned by Access Group and carried out by Arlington Research, found that manual processes are still predominantly being used by HR professionals (43% for appraisals and 54% for recruitment). This is despite 63% of respondents agreeing that using technology on a daily basis to recognise and evaluate employees would be a valuable business tool.

As more millennial employees enter the workforce, HR professionals can expect an increasing demand for HR information to be exchanged and analysed digitally. These employees have deeply embraced technology and believe in its ability to solve any issue in the context of their moment of need. As digital natives, millennials take a self-service approach to technology. Arguably HR professionals can use this attitude to mould new, intuitive methods of interacting with these future-fit leaders.

The research highlighted that more intuitive methods of interaction would also support the desire from the profession and from employees for a greater focus on continuous performance evaluation. 70% of HR professionals said their organisation is likely to use continuous evaluation of employees as a substitute to annual performance and 80% agreed it has the potential to be more valuable than traditional annual reviews. More than half of employees stated they would rather have continuous evaluation than an annual performance review.