Speaking at UKG Works: The Painful HR Truth I Validated

I Was Never Told About This Part of HR

A Vital HR Job Duty

I had the great pleasure of speaking at UKG Works this in beautiful Las Vegas. UKG, or Ultimate Kronos Group, is a comprehensive suite of Human Capital Management(HCM) solutions for businesses of virtually any size. Some of their customers include:

• Marriott
• Miami Dolphins
• Tesla
• Sony Music
• A host of others...

The topic of the presentation was: Why Digital Should Matter to "U". Many companies have found in the last few years in order to be most efficient, doing common tasks can be accomplished in a more efficient manner digitally, especially HR related tasks.

My mission was to showcase 1 particular UKG solution's ability to store documents, create visual dashboards for easy reference improve the onboarding experience for those new to an organization.

What I discovered during the Q&A portion of my presentation was just how much technology plays a role in the day to day inner workings of an HR department. Additionally, many in the audience where on an island so to speak with either a knowledge gap or underdeveloped sales and transformation skills.

The Gap Is The Opportunity

What I realized is we in the HR profession are typically not viewing ourselves as "tech people" or "traditional salespeople" but today, these functions are becoming a larger and larger part of what it is we do.

I'll be honest, I hate sales. Well, I used to hate sales because I never felt I was any good at it. I had heard the phrase, natural born salesperson" and I always thought was DEFINITELY not me.

Several years ago, as I was studying how to present on stage and be persuasive while doing it, I actually won a mock sales competition as voted on by the event attendees.

I have taken that experience with me throughout my career and have found it to be more than worth its weight in gold.

But alas, not many human resources professionals have this skill developed in any way, shape or form. Many may have the same beliefs I did, others may be in denial and others have not accepted we are all sales people.

Whether we are selling an employer on our skills so the hire or promote us, getting our kids to clean their room, or even convincing our romantic interest to go on a date with us. We are all salespeople. And though we may not be born salespeople, we can certainly hone that craft and become much more effective.

But let's look at the technology side of our roles.

If you were to take a serious look at your peers in HR or even dig into your past, chances are good you have seen a big lack of some digital, online or cloud based facet of the HR function.

There is simply so much to focus on, stay compliant with and mange it simply is logical to utilize it to get the job done. But I suspect if you are reading this, you want to do more than just get the job done.

This was what I found while presenting at UKG Works. Wonderfully competent people looking to do more with what they have.

Fill The Gap...

There is a term for a gap such as where our revenue is and where we want it to be or how much knowledge we have versus how much knowledge we need: Delta

This delta can be tiny as a micron or as wide as the Pacific Ocean. This is where we can hone our chops and really become significantly more effective.

The technology we use in HR can change depending on brands like UKS, ADP, WorkDay or by type such as background checks, e-Verify benefits etc.

I know for me, I have always been on top of technology, love it and embrace it. It has served me well throughout my career for sure.

The challenge becomes to get it into use and efficiently use it to maximize results.

Take it slow at 1st if it seems too much or overwhelming. Start with using common tools you may already have. You could use Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word to create a simple mail merge to send out a birthday announcement for example.

The goal would be to get past the point of using only Microsoft products and utilize your HR tools already in place.

I spoke to my contact at UKG and she told me the story of a company who has a COVID-19 Vaccination mandate and was tracking everything manually on an Excel Spreadsheet.

Headache can only begin to describe what would happen to me if that was the only resource I had to manage that. Oh, and before I forget, that was a 1000+ person company!

It's funny but I have been accused of being lazy. Not by any company or person I have worked for mind you, but rather by my social circle when they hear tales of what I do and how I do it at work. I challenge that by saying I consider myself highly efficient. When you get the same result or a better result faster, would you call that lazy?

Me thinks not...

That is my challenge for you, the reader of this humble article. How can you become...more efficient...with technology?