Chris Berry, CEO CIPHR

Increasingly, professional bodies are acknowledging that technology is a key driver behind the HR profession’s evolution.

The emphasis on professional development through technology training shows an acceptance of the real pressures the sector faces, and the need to develop building blocks for meeting future expectations.

Analysing data collection in, say, the recruitment field, is elevating HR’s importance to the business – offering insights on a scale reserved for the marketing and sales teams traditionally. In the future we’ll probably see greater data analysis as a key HR function, rather than a sideline matter, as it sometimes can be now.

Systems currently provided over the internet are automating many tasks that used to take up a lot of HR time, triggering legally required actions, chasing up performance review reports, updating personnel details, making sure professional expectations are communicated and accepted, training arranged, holidays booked appropriately, and so on.

All this is freeing up the HR team to concentrate on the areas of their work that could be seen as having a higher value to the organisation, such as effective recruitment, higher retention of good staff, and managing employees more effectively when things go wrong. Technology is helping here as well. It can ensure sure the way applicants first come into contact with the organisation conforms to the branded experience those orgainisations offer across all their access points. Technology is automating the creation of reports on most HR cost implications, providing visibility on everything from right to work, to staff hours and holidays owed.

The general business environment is one in which HR sees increased legal responsibilities and higher workloads, but, along with every other business function, is pressured to keep costs down. Technology is proving to be the key asset in delivering on these difficult expectations.

So, sparing HR team members for a day while they train up on new technology is going to prove a valuable investment, not just because it future proofs an individual’s employability, but also because it embeds the right skills to future proof the company.

In the case of CIPHR, the Continuing Professional Development Standards Office (CPD) has assessed and accredited each one of our training courses. Since June this year, all CIPHR courses count toward 5.5 hours of formal continuing professional development required by professional bodies, institutes and employers.

This direction of travel bodes well for the whole HR sector, encouraging professionals to keep their tech skills up to date, and raise the value of HR in the eyes of the C-suite.

For more information about our training courses, take a look here:

http://www.ciphr.com/services/training-course-outlines

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Disclosure and Barring Service or visa checks, health & safety certificates, qualifications proof, and so many more pre-conditions to appointing staff are putting extra pressure on the HR team.

New requirements around employment legislation and safeguarding are being added regularly to the HR team’s workload. With less people doing more, there’s an increased risk of human error, as the HR team is busy on so many fronts.

But good technology can mitigate the risk of things going wrong.

We demonstrated a new system developed at the HR Software Show in London on the 14th and 15th of June.

Added to this, ZPG (Zoopla), already using our systems, opened Day Two of the Software Show’s Learning Sessions with a presentation on the pressures of compliance and safeguarding.

Our Head of IT, Peter Hawes says, “New requirements around employment legislation and safeguarding are being added regularly to the HR team’s workload. But good technology can mitigate the risk of things going wrong. We’ve created a system to help prevent essential tasks from slipping through the cracks.”

He says that the functionality was inspired initially to help schools with the evolving Single Central Record requirements. “But we soon found that compliance and safeguarding was a hot topic for all our clients,” he adds.

The ultimate goal is to deliver a one-stop system that automatically creates records showing all the steps taken to ensure safeguarding and compliance.

“We’ll either connect our client’s HR team to their own third-party checkers or we’ll work with partner-checking organisations to provide a holistic solution,” he explains.

“In the case of schools, for example our systems will plug into those companies conducting DBS checks.

We can create a second layer of checking, so once the certificate arrives, you’ll be able to assign it to someone else to verify it. That specialist might not be in HR.

We can make the record available to the staff member or new recruit as well as the HR team. And the system will create a paper trail, showing all the steps the organisation has taken to ensure it is compliant.”

He adds, “To help remove human error from safeguarding and compliance, perhaps an induction won’t be able to continue until the check has been confirmed.”

“Also, it has to be easy for a head teacher to call up the record to check it regularly, and to show the chair of governors that this was being done properly.”

In the case of independent schools, CIPHR is automating the processes, storing the data safely, and making it available as reports at the press of a button.

Many of our clients, not just schools, are finding themselves with new and evolving compliance requirements.

In the coming year the Senior Managers and Certificate Regime will extend to 60,000 new SMEs in the UK. And if that wasn’t enough, every business in the UK will feel the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation from May next year.

The sooner we can prepare our clients for all this with robust systems, the better.

Note: Single Central Record requirements apply to all staff and volunteers in maintained schools and independent schools (including academies and free schools), all members of the governing body, and the proprietors in proprietor-led schools. The checks include: an identity check, a barred list check, an enhanced DBS check, a prohibition from teaching check, further checks on people living or working outside the UK, a check of professional qualifications, a check to establish the person’s right to work in the United Kingdom; and in Independent schools (including academies and free schools), a section 128 prohibition check for people in management positions. Entries in the register must be evidenced by the person making the checks.

About CIPHR:

CIPHR’s SaaS HR systems help UK organisations to flourish, saving time and money, and supporting employee engagement.

We help hundreds of SMEs to manage hundreds of thousands of employees efficiently, here and abroad.

Website: www.ciphr.com

Our clients include: ZPG (Zoopla Property Group), Associated Press, Freud’s Communications, The White Company, Fred Perry, Natural History Museum, NHS24, PlusNet, S4C, The Big Lottery Fund, Greggs, Laterooms.com and M&C Saatchi.

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