In our second edition for 2024, amongst the many changes we can see happening in the ELMO system, we provide practical tips to overcome frustrations, best practice advice around Expressions of Interest, and melding manual with automated:
System - Report coming to you in 10 mins....
Best Practice - Expressions of Interest
HR Operations - Changing from manual to system... a gradual process
The 10-minute Report
You know the report - you click on the 'download to csv' button and a pop-up appears to advise you that your report is being downloaded, and you will receive a link to the report in the next 10 minutes, or when it is ready...
You groan to yourself - you wanted to work on this thing now... if you wait 10 minutes for the report to be generated, you will have moved on to something else and may even forget to come back to it.
In our circle, this is called the 10-hour report, as that's what it feels like to us!
So, we have recently learned a trick that has changed our (ELMO) lives...
As a Company Administrator, you have access to the Notifications History:
Administration >> General >> Notification History
Before the email has even been sent, you can access the link and the report:
Simply click on the down-arrow of the action button and select "View" this will open the scheduled message and allow you to click on the link; thereby saving you time in the waiting process.
Expressions of Interest
Firstly, let's define an Expression of Interest - because we think there are different types:
An externally posted advertisement that is designed to attract candidates to apply to work with your organisation, even when no vacancy currently exists to match their skills/experience.
An externally posted advertisement for a specific position, but where you are waiting for confirmation of the work (e.g. awaiting the outcome of a contract, or for funding to be approved etc), and where you want to start attracting candidates, but are not yet in a position to offer a confirmed vacancy. In these cases, it would be worded an Expression of Interest, with it being made clear that the roles are not yet confirmed.
An internal advertisement, where it is decided that you only wish to advertise the role internally at the moment and you don't require your current employees to declare whether they have a right to work etc.
It is this last definition that we will discuss.
As you are no doubt aware, there are only two types of Recruitment Workflows - default and position-based; and it is within these workflows that we determine screening questions, approvals etc.
This allows you to be able to create specific workflows for certain cohorts based on their position, e.g. you might need to have different screening questions and approvals for your frontline workers to that of your administration team.
However, for internally advertised roles, there is no way of predicting which role you are going to need as an Expression of Interest, so we recommend the following process:
Create an Expression of Interest position in your Position Library (there may already be one there, even if it has been deactivated)
Create an Expression of Interest Recruitment Workflow with the position of Expression of Interest linked to it.
Choose the screening questions you want to ask, and the approvals required (may not require any approvals).
Once this is created, the Hiring Manager (or Admin), should raise a requisition for the position that will be advertised (e.g. Accounts Clerk) and follow the usual process for gaining approval to recruit.
Then, using the Expression of Interest requisition, create a job advertisement for the role (e.g. Accounts Clerk) and only select Internal Careers portal for advertising.
The job ad will appear on the Careers menu for internal applicants, only with the screening questions you want to include for internal applicants but clearly outlining what the role is.
Those that you want to progress to shortlist / interview / offer (up to you at what point you want to transfer them) can then be added into the applicable requisition for the position and from here the offer can be made using the correct position information and salary budget etc.
There are several advantages to this method which include:
Your reporting and statistics (e.g. time to hire) will still be accurate
If you are unable to identify a suitable candidate internally, you can simply add a job ad to the position's requisition and advertise externally
Your internal candidates won't know they are applying to an Expression of Interest Requisition and won't be bothered by having to answer irrelevant questions.
We hope this process is clear, but if not, reach out to us and we will be happy to walk you through it.
Manual to automated - a gradual process
Getting uptake for your system is the toughest part of any implementation.
The HR/P&C team are usually excited for the opportunity to reduce manual processes and to eliminate the use of printed forms etc and will generally embrace any aspect of the system that allows this to occur.
However, sometimes we find that the users within our client organisations are resistant to this change and as a result, there is limited uptake to various parts or processes in the system.
In these cases, we recommend taking a pragmatic approach.
If you need to wind back the automations and allow the team to remain in their paper-based comfort zone for a little while, if this is going to improve system engagement, then this is what you should do.
We are often deluded by the idea that a system will enable the process; however, in reality, we first need to build the desire and/or habit before the system can truly support the efficiency of a process.
So, if your users are more likely to embrace a process if they can print it and write on it, then let's get them doing that as a starter, and over time they will likely develop more of an appetite to automate it.
Finding the right balance between manual and automation should be the starting point.
For example, what information, as the HR/P&C team do you need to report on? Once you decide on the data points, you can then design a hybrid manual/auto process that facilitates centralised reporting, but still allows the team to maintain their manual process.
Here are some examples of processes that our clients have started with in automated format and then dialled back to re-include a manual aspect and how they have maintained the information they need for reporting:
Performance appraisals - one of our clients received very poor uptake when the appraisal was built into the system. They like their paper-based form and want to continue using it. We worked with the client to work out what they needed to report on; such as employee / manager names, date completed, overall rating, and whether the manual form was uploaded. This allows the HR/P&C team to have centralised visibility of progress, ability to run reports and still allows the team to complete a paper-based appraisal. Another social support business was having difficulty getting their people to complete their monthly supervision in the system. They have reverted to a paper-based meeting template with the responsibility of the manager to upload the completed discussion form to the relevant section of the employee's Supervision plan in the system. This record provides organisational visibility and reporting of Supervision compliance, while increasing the engagement in the process.
Learning - one of our clients has a number of employees who have LLN challenges and/or limited technology skills. For these groups, they have created online learning courses that can be presented in a group format and then a paper-based quiz handed out at the beginning of the session, where participants can answer the questions as the session goes along. This allows all participants to be assigned the course (Face-to-Face), then after the course session is completed, the Admins can load their quiz answers to their record.
Recruitment - a few of our clients struggle to have their hiring managers (and panels) complete interview guides via the system. So many opt to have a "non-system" interview guide that simply requires a response of: preferred; suitable but not preferred; or not suitable - with a comments box for additional information. The hiring manager can then upload all of the hand-written notes from the interviewers into the interview. This provides a rating for the candidate and serves to capture the notes, while allowing the interviewers to capture their notes by hand.
While paper and manual processes are not our favourite way of doing things and we would rather people embrace the opportunities provided by a system to automate as many processes as possible, we also understand that user engagement with the system is the most important goal of any system implementation.... and sometimes you need to walk before you can run!
Content credit: Martha Travis
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