Mobile Solutions for HR: Maximize Your Talent's Potential
This article was updated on July 26, 2018.
Nearly 80 percent of employees feel positively about the ability to "define their own work schedule," and 81 percent feel good about being able to "work from anywhere the world," according to the ADP Research Institute® report The Evolution of Work: The Changing Nature of the Global Workplace.
What does this mean for HR? It means mobile solutions for HR aren't just "nice to have," they're essential for recruitment, retention and employee happiness.
Hire From a Larger Pool
How are you looking for new talent? Jobvite reports that 45 percent of recruiters use a mobile career site for recruiting efforts. If you give people a way to apply online, attach their resume remotely and connect with recruiters through mobile, you've got a far better chance of attracting top-tier talent. It's also worth noting that mobile application portals are a huge draw to those looking for seasonal work, especially among millennials.
Make Onboarding Easy
Another way to leverage mobile solutions for HR is to ditch hard copy handbooks and other onboarding resources in favor of online portals optimized for mobile access. Especially considering that, according to ADP's study, The Human Touch: Driving Onboarding Success, "only 21% of employees were 'extremely satisfied' with their organization's onboarding effort."
So while it's still important to have new hires sign tangible employment agreements, NDAs and codes of conduct, it's now possible to upload your handbook online, encourage employees to read it on their own devices and then let them digitally "sign off" to say they've read and understood the content.
This also makes it easier for HR to find relevant sections of an organization's policies and reference them as necessary. By opting for online onboarding, you get the additional benefits of real-time metrics, measurements and reports that prove your process is working.
Offer Device Flexibility
If accessing a schedule, punching in and out and messaging a supervisor requires employees — especially millennials — to sit in front of a desktop or write an email, you may find yourself fighting a constant battle to ensure time cards are correctly filled out and supervisors are notified of swapped shifts.
By giving individuals the ability to work wherever and whenever, it's possible to improve staff agility. What's more, giving people the ability to work from home, in coffee shops or even airplanes, can give you a competitive advantage in the hiring market.
Maximize Seasonal Hiring
Competition for workers often ramps up during seasonal hiring periods. This is the same time a lot of millennial mobile-users are off on school breaks and looking for quick-hitter positions. Many times there are more jobs available than skilled students to fill them, so you need to stay ahead to attract the best talent.
By engaging job seekers online — through mobile recruiting portals, quick replies to emails or text messages and responsive social media — it's possible to attract their attention before they get work elsewhere. Because many people work more than one job during the holiday season, it's worth making schedules as accessible as possible. This can keep people from missing shifts or bailing on jobs entirely because information isn't readily available.
HR can't be immune to the pull of technology, so it's increasingly critical for HR to add services that empower employees and make life easier for supervisors. That's why mobile solutions for HR are now virtually a necessity for effectively finding and training employees — particularly millennials. By embracing mobile solutions, you've got a better chance of grabbing new talent, onboarding employees quickly and earning a positive reputation.