The opinions expressed by Entrepreneur authors are their very own.
With rapid changes in HR and technology – especially artificial intelligence – the way forward for work looks very different than it did just a few years ago.
Great progress has been made in the areas of HR, technology, sustainability and culture.
As the founding father of a software company, I have witnessed the evolution of HR firsthand. From being a team of 10 people, to 70-100 people, and now leading a team of over 400 people, I have seen the practices we have adopted and those we have moved away from.
I have also been a part of our journey towards leveraging technology as we mature, recognizing the critical role of automation in our day by day activities.
Additionally, I experienced the transition to distant work during the pandemic – how technology supported us, from worker screening to onboarding, and how we managed engagement programs remotely. This has reinforced the value of technology-enabled HR processes in our organization.
In this text, I would really like to share some ideas on how to use technology to achieve a sustainable culture.
What do we mean by “sustainable culture”?
Sustainability is so simple as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their very own needs.
When we hear “sustainability,” most of us first think of green initiatives and environmental impact. But that is only one leg of the stool.
There are three pillars of sustainable development – the Three P’s:
- Profit (economic)
- Planet (environmental)
- People (social aspect)
These three interconnected pillars are essential to creating a sustainable future for our businesses and our world.
While environmental sustainability has received a lot of attention, organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of focusing on other pillars profit AND People.
Without sustainable profit, organizations cannot ensure a viable future, and without sustainable practices for people, organizations won’t have the option to leverage their most vital resources.
Technological progress and digitalization can significantly impact the three pillars of sustainability in the context of HR.
1. Profit
The Profit Pillar focuses on efficiency and cost reduction, data-driven decision-making and global access to talent.
To increase efficiency and reduce costs, my company adopted a human resource management system (HRMS) to facilitate our HR processes. By automating routine tasks corresponding to payroll and worker onboarding, we reduced administrative costs, saved time and consolidated resources. We freed up our HR team to focus on higher-value tasks corresponding to worker engagement and talent development.
HRMS also helped improve worker onboarding. We do not overload recent employees with policy documents. Instead, we use an AI bot that pulls data about policies, organizational structure, designations, etc. from our HRMS. New employees can use the bot to ask questions that are essential to them, e.g. what to do in specific situations and who to contact for specific kinds of help.
To enable us to make data-driven decisions, we have created a data lake based on the various tools we use. The data lake provides dashboards that provide our Employee Relations (ER) team with a holistic view of our assets, which is particularly useful for performance appraisals and reviews. ER representatives can see how many functions an worker has worked on, what his percentage of defects is, how many times he has been praised by customers and colleagues, etc.
2. Planet
To make our company greener, we focus on paperless operations, distant work/teleworking and sustainable use of resources.
We have implemented a digital document management system throughout the company, which has allowed us to move away from paper contracts. This digital transformation has saved hundreds of thousands of sheets of paper and significantly reduced our environmental impact. It also reduced the costs associated with storing and printing documents.
During the pandemic, we switched to a everlasting distant work model. We operate in a hybrid model, drastically reducing the need for larger office space. This change has reduced the company’s energy use and the greenhouse gas emissions of our employees’ commutes, which is consistent with each our sustainability and financial goals.
Speaking of office space, we have reduced energy consumption by 40% compared to our old space, in part by taking full advantage of IoT. We can now track lighting and cooling data in real time, contributing to our overall sustainability goals.
3. People
The third pillar concerns worker well-being, diversity and inclusion, and continuous learning and development.
People cannot do their best work if they are not healthy – physically and emotionally. Our Employee Wellbeing Program includes a dedicated wellness center accessible via digital platforms. The program provides virtual access to mental health services, physical well-being advice and mindfulness resources. This initiative improved worker satisfaction, reduced burnout, and increased worker retention and productivity.
Another retention-boosting tool is our comprehensive learning management system (LMS), which provides employees with access to online training and courses. By investing in continuing education, we equip employees with skills for future roles while building a more expert and flexible workforce.
It’s about people
Ultimately, people are at the heart of sustainability. Artificial intelligence may also help us make smarter decisions and automate tasks, but we humans still give it meaning. After all, a bot may have the option to onboard a recent worker, but can it really appreciate drinking a good cup of chai with them later?
Sometimes the best solutions come from good old-fashioned conversation.