By Karina Kozera, tax, law & people manager, PwC Polska
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Digital transformation is one of the key aspects underlying the development of companies. Its effective roll-out can build a competitive advantage. Likewise in HR. Until recently the digitalisation of the HR function has been limited to payroll and staff administration systems used to record and store data. Although significant interest in a wider approach to HR digitalisation could be observed, still the HR function was encountering obstacles that limited the actual transformation in the area.

Among these obstacles mentioned most frequently were budget caps, a lack of affirmative decision to transform, insufficient knowledge resources on regulatory aspects, and lack of staff to carry out the transformation.

Today’s transformation process in the area of HR is more comprehensive and ensures the digital processing of all HR tasks. The recommended solutions are:

  • Comprehensively digitalising all processes involved in an employee’s lifecycle in an organisation, from recruitment through employment, personal data changes, job conditions, to termination or retirement. To facilitate this, interactive questionnaires are used and assigned to specific jobs:
    • Managers – job applications, contract extension forms, change of employment terms, etc.
    • Candidates/employees – interactive HR questionnaires and forms as needed throughout the employment cycle, including job applications, insurance or tax information forms, etc.
    • Teams (involved in onboarding/offboarding) – clearance slip, company equipment forms, etc.
  • An adequate workflow ensuring the circulation of interactive forms between their reviewers and approvers, with information automatically uploaded to the system after acceptance
  • Dedicated dashboards for managers and staff to support swift and effective delivery of information requested by employees (e.g. available leave days) and managers (e.g. leave requests, contracts close to expiry)
  • PowerBI customised reports generated on demand and dedicated to HR/payroll teams and other functions that cooperate in terms of data providing (health & safety teams, reporting teams) – this tool also facilitates group-level or multi-company reporting

The introduction of digital solutions also brings advantages that can have a real impact on how efficient HR teams are in the organisation. These include:

    • Reduced risk of errors and omissions thanks to electronic form validation (required fields marking, drop-down lists, filled-in field validation, such as PESEL or bank account numbers)
    • System reminders that can be set to inform about upcoming deadlines for required employer tasks (contract expiry, renewal of health & safety or medical certificates)
    • Fewer repeat queries to HR teams thanks to chatbots and dashboards
    • Improved responsiveness and strengthened role of HR function as a source of data and analysis for strategic decisions
    • Standardised and unified workflows

The digital transformation of business and day-to-day tasks has become absolutely crucial, shaping expectations towards HR teams. Today, the HR function is expected to:

  • Effectively support business and staff in the remote/hybrid work model
  • Build a positive employee experience in the organisation
  • Support the corporate strategy by attracting and retaining talent
  • Deliver data and analysis
  • Help in the implementation of ESG strategy
  • Meet expectations related to AI induction into business processes

These aspects have greatly contributed to the accelerated digital transformation in the area of HR, leading to better understanding the value it entails. It has also impacted the likelihood of approval of the rationale behind such investment.

On the other hand, HR teams now face the challenge of proving the value of HR function for the organisation and the realistic return on investment. Another task for HR has also become the related new management reporting.

With such expectations towards HR teams it is clear that the HR function no longer can operate effectively without an established and coherent digital transformation strategy for HR processes and workflows. This strategy needs to be comprehensive and address many aspects:

    • Team structure (adequate time and competence resources)
    • The purpose and value of the change for the respective stakeholders
    • Involvement of respective beneficiary groups
    • Implementation calendar
    • Choice of technology applied
    • Transformation process KPIs

My role is to develop and implement new digital solutions in HR administrative processes and services, and to support our clients by delivering HR consulting projects. This experience has given me the opportunity to closely observe trends as well as the reality of processes that our clients have carried out in their HR digital transformation projects.

Today, the following trends are worth noting:

    • Recognising the importance of the HR digitalisation process in the context of the digital transformation of the entire organisation
    • A mature approach to HR digitalisation which can be seen in new specialist teams dedicated to handle the HR transformation in the organisation, involving specialists in the field more frequently than before
    • Spotting opportunities that modern technology brings, including the use of AI to ensure standardised and optimised workflows and the development of employee experience

We have been receiving an increased number of requests for advisory support in the area of HR digital transformation. Their examples include consulting on the choice of adequate technology (selection of the system), legal support during changes in progress (e.g. when switching to e-files and e-signatures), support during workflow optimisation, as well as assistance in the area of change management.

We like to draw our clients’ attention to certain key aspects of new technology: the ease of implementing future changes in the chosen technology solution, for example when regulations change or internal company processes are modified, and the need to ensure a positive user experience.

All in all, it is no longer a trend but an absolute necessity to go for digital transformation. Today, organisations have stopped asking themselves whether or not to digitise themselves but rather how to proceed with this process in the most comprehensive and efficient way.

Karina Kozera has over ten years of professional experience in the field of HR, including seven years at PwC as a member of the team in charge of comprehensive HR and payroll services offered to PwC clients. Initially at PwC, she was responsible for the delivery of human resources processes. Today, Karina’s role is to build, sell and provide services involving the digital and other transformation of HR function. She is involved in projects related to workflow digitalisation, personnel e-files, and HR administration consulting projects.