Cover Story: Electronic Revolution: How It Has Changed Human Resources

WE LIVE IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTION. Humanity has seen great technological changes in its past: there was the Neolithic Revolution (when we moved from a nomadic existence to settled farming life) and the Industrial Revolution (when machines made factory production and travel much faster, cheaper and more efficient than ever before). But these changes took place over very long periods; there has never before been a time when innovation moved so fast.

In fact, one effect of the electronic revolution seems to have been an essential change in our ideas about technology in the workplace. Once, a young person might have enrolled in a secretarial college, expecting to pick up skills that would last a lifetime. Now, workers at all levels and in all fields know that any electronic tool will be upgraded or replaced in a matter of months, and that the rate of change is continually speeding up.

Look at the history of the Internet itself. Back in 1969, the U.S. Department of Defense and a few academic researchers pioneered the ARPANet (short for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). This system allowed packets of data to be transmitted along variable corridors, so that if one computer system should be destroyed, the data would simply find a different path. Twenty years later, when computer terminals began to appear on the desks of most office workers, the Internet was still mainly the domain of specialist researchers.

But in 1990, physicist Tim Berners-Lee figured out how people working at computers in different locations could connect to one another, and only three years later Marc Andreesen developed Mosaic, the first browser software. After that, it was only a matter of months before early adopters became fluent with web design, and by the turn of the millennium, e-mail and Internet access had become standard means of business communication, replacing the majority of paper letters and memos, telephone calls and fax transmissions.

Now we seem to be poised on the brink of something out of the pages of science fiction. Like the crew of Star Trek’s Enterprise with their “tricorders” or Dick Tracy with his wrist radio, it seems likely that we’ll soon have a single compact, portable, wireless communications device that combines most functions of a laptop computer, a telephone and a television. While we’re waiting to see who perfects it first, it’s useful to take stock of the changes that have already taken place over the past decade.

John Johnston, managing director of Human Resource Management Solutions, divides his time between Ontario and California, assisting organizations to become more efficient by using HR technology. He lists a broad range of areas that have been improved by the introduction of new technologies: “The core HRIS (Human Resources Information System) now has a fairly broad base, particularly among large corporations,” he says, naming PeopleSoft, Oracle and SAP as leading products. “Those three applications probably hold about 80% of the market among major corporations.”

Whatever the product, “Any company that’s not using an HR system will find itself at very great disadvantage. Where these technologies become very helpful is with the introduction of employee and manager self-service, and we see that coming into its own today and being adopted more widely, particularly in the benefits field in the U.S.,” he says, “And we’re seeing an increase in companies who are not buying the software, but simply renting the service.” Among other areas that have been transformed, Johnston names recruitment and training, and, to a lesser extent, compensation and job evaluation.

“I’ve been in the field for over 30 years, and I was on the ground floor when the Internet started to be used,” says Al Doran, president of Phenix Management International in Toronto. “I was at York University as director of HR Management Systems and Payroll, and we implemented PeopleSoft before it was a web-based system. In the university community we were very early adopters.”

“I took early retirement in 1996 and ever since then, I’ve worked with companies that were trying to find the best software systems,” Doran continues. “When I started, HRMS [Human Resources Management Systems] was a bit of a black box, and only a few people would get into it. Now HRMA tools are mainly Internet-based, and they’re accessed by people right through the length and breadth of the entire company, especially managers.”

But, he admits, there are benefits. “The Internet has made it possible for us to do something that we should have been doing all along,” he says. “Now you can at least send somebody an e-mail to let them know their application is being considered.”

E-recruitment “is a victim of being easy,” Johnston says. “Of course, when we first set up web sites, we didn’t expect they would get a lot of traffic. So we’ve seen the rise of recruitment software like Taleo and Brass Ring that powers the back end of the company’s visible web site. They automate the e-recruitment process right from the generation of the requisition through all the approvals to posting it on internal and external web sites and managing the entire selection and background process.” With the right software for their particular needs, properly used and adopted throughout the company “One person should be able to handle twice the load.”

For example, Karey Reilly, now HR programs specialist at The TDL Group Corp., was previously responsible for implementing an online applicant tracking system at Canadian Tire in 1999. “We selected Recruitsoft.com (now called Taleo),” she says. “We had a very robust system already. The problem was that so many applicants were applying online.” Meanwhile, resumes continued to arrive by fax. “For a while we were printing out hard copies and scanning them in,” she says.

“E-recruitment is one of the areas that have grown the most and the fastest,” says Doran. One of its advantages is that it opens every company to international applicants. Whereas some of Doran’s clients fear they may be swamped with applicants whose qualifications do not meet North American standards, he says, others embrace it—like a medical facility that has filled many nursing jobs with excellent candidates from the Philippines.

Doran says that the biggest mistake is failing to automate the process to the point of differentiating good candidates from poor ones. “The poorer way is just to have people submit their resume,” he says, mentioning MedHunters.com as a model of good e-recruiting practice. “One of the areas that really understands how to hire using core competencies is the medical profession. If they’re looking for an operating room nurse, they can fill out point by point all the things they’re looking for. I saw them once fill 19 new job requests in one hour, and 17 of the 19 agreed to fly to Corpus Cristi, Texas in the next week to be interviewed.”

Training has also seen important changes. Johnston recalls giving a presentation about the impact of technology on compensation from a hotel room to participants on three continents, using a product called Webex. “I gave a two-hour presentation using PowerPoint over the web and telephone conferencing,” he says.

At Canadian Tire, Reilly also oversaw the design and implementation of an e-learning network designed to teach store employees about products, and to instill some customer service principles. Unlike the “binder on the shelf,” the Internet is “very nimble and flexible,” she says. “Also, if they want to have access at home, they can.” The company chose a Lotus IBM product now known as Learning Space; it required the installation of standardized computers in stores, and there were some security considerations (“If an employee leaves, you want to cut off access.”)

“When you’re looking at e-learning solutions, they should be able to plug into your database so you can log employee scores,” Reilly says. “You also should be able to develop your own training.” In the case of Canadian Tire, suppliers were eager to produce content free of charge, although Reilly ensured that all components had a consistent look and feel. The system, which appeared in 2001, has won awards and is popular with staff. Reilly expects that Canadian Tire will be able to keep adding and updating components for a long while.

As for other areas, “The Internet has created a huge opportunity—research is a lot easier,” says Turnbull. “The Canadian government in particular has done a good job of making information available on the Internet. The problem is that you can drown in information. Having access to raw information is not the same as knowing how to use it. The danger is that because it seems easier, people may not recognize that specialized knowledge and skills are still required, and reporting is still a huge problem.”

Just as it can be difficult to filter incoming information, there may be a tendency to flood employees with too many e-mail messages and screen pop-ups. “Studies have shown that the constant interruption that we get from e-mail and instant messaging impacts our IQ by 10%,” says Turnbull. “You only lose four points smoking a joint!”

“I think it’s a matter of having a proper marketing effort with employees,” says Richard Rousseau, president of HRMS Professionals Association and director of sales for D.L.G.L. Ltd., a software business located in Blainville, just outside Montreal. “It has to be part of the culture of the enterprise. Then it becomes a habit for employees to look for the information. And it’s better to have more information than less.”

“It’s not really a technical issue. It’s a question of how much information one person can take in,” says Doran. “On the plus side, the communications is so much better that the employee who needs help now is able to search for it in their own home or during a quiet time at their desk. Of course, they’ll still have to step out of their office and meet with someone. You don’t want to say ‘Okay, from now on anyone who’s experiencing abuse at home or who has a drug problem will have to fill out a form online.’”

“You will always have 20 or 25% who don’t feel comfortable or don’t know how, and who just want to talk to somebody in person,” says Reilly. “The Internet isn’t going to replace talking to someone when you have any kind of employee relations issue. The danger is reducing head count so far that you don’t have the people there. Ideally, it will allow you to spend more time with employees on issues where you need to give your time.”

Whether or not they find help on the company web site, employees have learned that the Internet is a quick source of information and even personal support in every possible problem area, from family difficulties to addictions to workplace bullying.

“It’s good for employers, now that the little guy has a tool to protect themselves,” says Doran.

“People are more educated now,” says Rousseau. “Ten years ago, everyone was very curious about what was out there. Today we know what’s available, so people go to the ’net when they have a specific need, and it has an impact on employees, obviously.”

Rousseau says this lays an extra onus of responsibility on employers. “It’s for the employer to be more careful and more fair,” he says. “I think we have to look more on the positive side. What are the tools that are being offered to the employees? The Internet is a way to have access to the intranet, where an employee can access his files, expense accounts, approvals, time sheets, whether they’re overseas, whether they go back 10 years, or whether they want to print them at home.”

Has the Internet created a new discipline problem, with a significant amount of company time being hijacked for frivolous web surfing? “If you’ve got a trusted employee, this should not be an issue, but if you’ve got a new employee, you’ve got to let them know what your policies are,” says Doran. “You should have a written policy, and it should be communicated to employees, and re-communicated.” To enforce it, “You can screen the web sites they visit, the amount of time they spend on the Internet and the content of e-mails that they’re sending and receiving.” (But check your provincial privacy laws first.)

Doran cites a famous case, in which the New York Times fired dozens of people for receiving dirty jokes via e-mail: “That’s going too far. You can’t help what you’re receiving,” he says. “Until you send one, you aren’t really responsible, but if you’re sending big attachments, that’s plugging up the pipeline.”

Although employers have the right to prohibit any use of the Internet that’s not work-related, Doran and several of his colleagues say they believe it’s more productive to allow a certain amount of freedom, because employees can access so much valuable information from their work station. Barring obvious prohibitions, such as pornographic and racist material, says Rousseau, “You have to trust your employees. If there are abuses, this trust has to be reconsidered. I am aware of some cases of abuse, but I would say I see less of these problems today compared to when it was first introduced.”

“Overuse of the Internet is essentially the same problem as the employee using the phone for too many calls,” says Turnbull. “You can legislate against it, but I think every employer has recognized that employees need to use communications devices for personal reasons. The question is: is it excessive?”

Overall, benefits abound. “It’s an amazing field,” says Doran. “One of the battles I had when I started was that I couldn’t get HR managers to listen to me when I said they needed to know about technology. That problem doesn’t exist now. Things have really changed for the better, because HR people are educated in what technology can do for them.”  

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