Innovation: Your most powerful tool of experience

Principles and initiatives

In terms of business development, innovation has become a driving factor. Therefore, it must be part of HR’s DNA, so it may be facilitated and encouraged.

For its part, the digital movement has upset our lives more so than the technological revolution. So much so, in fact, that is has changed our perception of professional practices and management. Generations entering the labor market no longer have the same aspirations or expectations, and much less the same communication methods as their predecessors – which requires innovative HR practices. For example, the rise of social networks has led to a complete redesign of the recruitment processes.

Start-ups have flourished by this principle. According to the “Talent Trends, HR technology disruptions for 2018” study conducted by Deloitte, 50% of large companies in the United States and 51% of SMEs will increase their spending on HR technologies.

Increase candidate experience

The Thalès Group, uses virtual reality to walk candidates through a “day-in-the-life” experience; making them feel the work environment, either at their headquarters, in sales offices or at the factory in Portugal.

If it is possible to have candidates visit the company, then it is also possible to test them virtually on their workstation – exactly how it’s done with airline pilots!

As absurd as it may sound, serious games have become another important innovation in recruitment. Accenture, for example, offers one to discover the profession of consultant; the candidates can then identify benefit from an internship, apprenticeship or a fixed-term contract. Alternatively, at Adecco, the Planet EXE game invites candidates to put themselves in the shoes of a recruiter…

Renew training

Continuous improvement requires that employees will have to devote part of their career to training alone. E-learning and the development of MOOCs offer an increasingly personalized training experience. Tutorial videos, which allow the transference of know-how, also have an important place. Faced with growing retirement rates, many industries produce videos to retain proper use of equipment. At Saint-Gobain, for example, video is used to help operators understand risks.

Innovate dialogue

Establishing dialogue and breaking down hierarchical barriers to communicate, is an essential step to empower employees, thus changing the role of management. Many companies innovate with this principle

For example, Mars Chocolate hosts It’s Discussed: an appointment organized every six weeks in which the CEO answers questions from his colleagues. At India’s HCL Technologies, the President commits to answering employee questions via a forum.

The Californian software company Intuit, organizes the Feast of Defeat; an open forum used to address and solve the company’s failures. Similarly, Air France encourages its employees to recognize their mistakes and to report those of others – by pledging not to punish those who have made them.

Innovate management

Allowing employees to own company shares is one way to make employees feel naturally responsible for the proper functioning of the company. The chosen path of European home improvement giant Leroy Merlin.

Defining objectives as closely related to the field as possible, is also a way to get employees to join in and get involved – according to the principles of the Free Company. Moring Star, an American tomato processing company, leaves it up to employees to define these objectives via an engagement contract.

Semco, a Brazilian company, goes even further: employees are free to set their own salaries and schedules. Those who wish to do so, however, must commit to and maintain a certain result. In the case of non-compliance, the entire company must be held accountable.

Groupe Poult, the second largest cookie manufacturer in France, has eliminated its hierarchy, involving their workers in all major decisions. They have also developed entrepreneurship programs: sustainable practices, networking programs with schools in the Toulouse region, South West agribusiness clusters, etc.

The fire department of Saône et Loire has created a field intelligence network to solve “problems with no known solutions, ” in which Participants leave their rank in the locker room and everyone is free to express themselves.

In France, Orange offers IdClic, a platform that allows all employees to submit ideas. Experts are actually studying its effectiveness, with aspirations of national deployment. The employee receives an in-store virtual credit, applied to the company’s shops. Since deployment in 2007, 1/3 of employees have submitted ideas (about 122,000), of which, 10% have been implemented.

Revolutionizing the HRD experience

HR has a lot to do (recruitment, talent management, skills, training, promotions, evaluations and compensation) and they need the right adaptive digital tools to innovate. In other words, they need solutions that go far beyond the traditional personnel administration.

Publishers offer integrated employee lifecycle platforms that are accessible in SaaS mode. Among them, Cegid’s comprehensive Human Capital Management Suite (HCM), offers unified administrative personnel management and strategic talent management. Customized to each individual (People Centric), it manages an entire employee’s life cycle: from integration, internal mobility performance monitoring, talent detection and development to the management of compensation plans.

Artificial intelligence is bringing the HRD full circle by way of predictive analyses allowing turnover rates to be calculated and cross referenced; a great way for companies to retain their top talent. Still not convinced? AI has aided in the pooling of aggregate data to effectively compare a company’s salary scale in relation to its industry. How’s thatfor an effective innovation of the HRD and remuneration strategy?

Find out more about how to better manage your workforce from hire to retire, with a modern Talent Management Suite designed to fit your industry best practices.