How Resourceful
How Resourceful
Self-service technology frees up HR experts for value-adding activities and generates a quarter of a million dollars in savings right off the bat.
Confirming the findings of a recent industry survey that suggested internal business-to-employee portals are one of the most rewarding IT projects enterprises can undertake, Fujitsu Australia has achieved remarkable return on investment from its latest online human resources initiative.
Automating human resources functions has enabled Fujitsu to reduce costs, enhance HR services and empower HR professionals to concentrate on the company's most valuable resource: its people.
The self-service capability of Fujitsu's online system, known as Employ-eVision, has significantly reduced the administrative workload for HR staff. This has given them more time to focus on higher-level operational and strategic issues in the areas of employee relations, talent management, career development, rewards and recognition and leadership development.
Rob Carroll, General Manager, Human Resources, Fujitsu Australia, says the company's e-HR system is a potent "administrivia killer," essentially meaning that it frees up the HR staff from carrying out the mundane-but essential -HR tasks.
"Administration represents a large component of human resource management and Employ-eVision has dramatically reduced the amount of time our HR people spend performing mundane administrative tasks," he says.
The system sits on top of the HR payroll database, extracts information from it and puts it in a format which staff and management can access quite easily, so essentially it operates as a front-end, allowing managers to perform tasks such as putting in requisitions to hire new staff or contractors, and carry out performance appraisals online. It also allows staff to update their own personnel details (address, phone number, etc). In a nutshell, it allows users to carry out traditional HR tasks much more efficiently."
Minimising the administrative workload allowed Fujitsu to reduce its HR staffing requirement, resulting in an instant annual saving in excess of $250,000.
Carroll is convinced that the saving on staffing costs is but a fraction of the overall cost benefit of having the system in place.
"That figure ($250k) doesn't take into account the amount of time managers save because they have a better system which is easier to access, and they don't have to spend time chasing paper-based forms, so I think the savings will ultimately be far in excess of that number."
Yet despite the financial benefits, Carroll regards the primary benefit to be the time business managers save by not having to chase paper or check details with HR staff. "Everything managers need is at their fingertips," he says.
Carroll's comments come after a new survey by market research firm S2 Intelligence in which CIOs rated internal company business-to-employee portals as one of the IT projects that generated most business value in the last 12 months.
"Our experience suggests that view is absolutely correct," says Carroll. "The feedback about our employee portal from all levels of the organisation is extremely positive."
Over the past 18 months, Fujitsu Australia has progressively automated its paper-bound HR processes to increase productivity and reduce operating costs. More than 1,200 staff and about 300 contractors now regularly use the e-HR system.
Based on Fujitsu's own i-Flow business process management engine, Employ-eVision provides access to a wide range of HR-related information via a corporate intranet linked to the company's Teamwork HR/Payroll system. Employ-eVision incorporates a complete staff directory and search engine that includes organisational data, skills and line-of-report information. It also offers features for employees to login and update their own details.
The first stage of the Employ-eVision project went live in April 2002. Today, reporting lines for the entire Fujitsu organisation, from the most junior person to the CEO, are mapped into the system. This streamlines HR functions by automatically routing electronic request forms through the appropriate approval chain without any administrative load on the HR department. With up to 400 contractors on hand at any one time and a constant flow of contract renewals to process, the savings mount quickly.
A range of digital forms cover requirements such recruitment approvals and performance appraisal. Employees can check details about their remuneration and benefits, make career development decisions and more. The system's advanced business process management features automatically route forms to the appropriate person for input or approval.
"What we have today is an intranet with almost full self-service functionality," says Carroll. "We are ecstatic about how quickly people have started using the system. We recently looked at what websites people across the organisation are using and Employ-eVision was number one."
Fujitsu has recently extended its HR automation experience to performance management. Managers and staff still conduct traditional appraisal meetings, but all the details are recorded electronically. They are routed through the system for approval, employee input and recording by the HR team.
"It was important to move appraisals online because everyone is touched by the performance management system. It provides a great opportunity for us to get everyone in the company using Employ-eVision," Carroll says. "We now pull all our training needs analysis from the system."
The Employ-eVision Skills Register allows project managers to assess what skill levels are available across the organisation and identify people with specialist talents for particular projects.
"One area we want to develop is giving managers more reporting capability. Building a full suite of management reports into this system will ultimately empower our managers to generate reports from any data relating to their staff. For example, if our call centre manager wants to review all the salaries of his team relative to their average level of service he can access those reports himself. It means he has the information when he wants it and HR is not left with the chore of having to provide it."
"The more we use the system the more potential we see. The system is really applicable to lots of different internal support functions," Carroll concludes.
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