ADP Canada invited some of its top HR leaders to share their insights in a panel discussion to answer the question – what are “The Top People Priorities for 2024 and Beyond”? The webinar was designed to gather HR expert opinions on key insights and business strategies to help leaders better understand how to positively impact change in their organization.
“Organizational design changes, skills, and culture are having global impacts,” says Denise Manoney, HR Executive Consultant, ADP Canada.“I really see (organizational design) as the cornerstone for HR. This is how we set the stage,” she says.
Culture and strategic reskilling, through the creation of cross-functional teams, are factors that can differentiate an organization and make it stand out from the rest of the crowd.
“We're talking about pulling people with expertise in different departments and creating teams that can come together, collaborate, bring their best ideas, bring diversity to the table, and definitely help solve business solutions and come up with innovative ideas,” says Mahoney.
Mahoney noted that researchers are seeing that by 2027, over 60 percent of workers are going to need to be reskilled and upskilled. “Is it easy? Absolutely not. Is it necessary? Definitely. Lots of work to get done to get them ready from a skills perspective. Don't forget, however, to implement and evaluate the change once you've made it,” she says.
Mahoney adds that it’s also important to ensure measures and checkpoints are in place, that milestones are met, and that you understand whether they are being met. “This is a marathon, not a sprint. We're doing the long run on this one, so make sure that you have a short and a long-term strategy in place,” she says.
Stacey Hummel, HR Executive Consultant at ADP Canada, recommends that organizations that have adopted ADP Workforce Now Comprehensive Services use the time saved to strategize the employee experience.
Hummel stresses the importance of leveraging existing technology and partnerships. She refers to the Forrester Total Economic Impact study, which found that ADP's Workforce Now Comprehensive Services clients saved hundreds of HR-related hours annually. That’s a significant amount of time back for HR teams to focus on workplace culture initiatives as research continues to confirm that positive workplace culture has a direct correlation to higher financial returns.
Employee well-being also needs to be considered.
"We are aware that according to Mercer (Research and Insights), high-performing employees, and especially high-performing applicants, are seven times more likely to work for a company that prioritizes employee well-being based on the ROI of employee well-being," said Hummel.
What business leaders are prioritizing in 2024
According to Hummel, there are two very distinct priorities. The first is to strengthen investments to allow for the increased use of AI, which is expected to occur across most industries and roles. Companies may need to explore how AI will affect and support their businesses, as well as their existing employees.
The second priority is to address a significant gap in labour and skills by investing in and developing workforce skills to keep up with the changing daily demands and preferences of customers.
Additionally, business leaders may also want to consider making internal changes to their product or business offerings to remain competitive in the industry.
4 ways companies saved time and money on HR-related tasks:
Highlights from the Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Of ADP Workforce Now Comprehensive Services
- Improved employee retention savings
The turnover rate for hourly employees in the prior environment was 50 percent. After deploying ADP Workforce Now Comprehensive Services, the retention rate improved by 10 percent.
The replacement cost of hourly employees is 30 percent of their annual salary, including the cost of hiring and training a new employee. - Payroll-related labour savings
In the study, the payroll specialist from ADP assisted an in-house payroll administrator with 75 percent of the payroll accounting tasks. As a result, the weekly time spent by the in-house payroll administrator on strategic payroll tasks decreased from 4 hours to 1 hour.
"I used to have to close my door and spend a whole day doing the statutory holiday calculation because we have around 200 staff in the summer. But now it’s generated online. It only takes me less than five minutes now," says a general accountant interviewed. - Employee performance evaluation savings
The study discovered that teams were able to save time, effort, and labour when evaluating employee performance using the ADP performance module. With the implementation of ADP Workforce Now Comprehensive Services, 60% of time was saved thanks to the templated performance evaluation form in the system and improved process management. - Legacy system cost savings
The study revealed that organizations using ADP Workforce Now Comprehensive Services were able to replace their outdated payroll tools, resulting in cost savings that could be reallocated for other purposes. - Easier recruiting and onboarding processes
ADP Workforce Now Comprehensive Services includes a recruiting and onboarding module that allows organizations to post job descriptions, swiftly onboard candidates, and standardize the recruitment and onboarding process. This eliminates the need for HR to manually input information for new employees, boosting productivity and reducing the risk of errors.
“I don’t think I ever met with any vendor that had both payroll and HR functions, and then on top, also had people that you could call within the system to ask questions about HR policies or payroll or things like that,” says an HR manager in interviewed for the study.
What is Talent Mapping?
Talent mapping helps organizations assess whether employees and leaders have the potential to progress to new roles.
According to Hummel, investment in training might be necessary to prepare employees to become strategic decision-makers. The first step is to define the organization’s needs and objectives, and then evaluate the skills of employees.
“If they don't have the existing skills, you may want to look at and evaluate different types of learning and development.” Says Hummel. “You may also need to carry out succession planning, consider employees’ future abilities, and ask yourself, are they high-functioning employees? Are they going to be able to make those tough decisions?”
Evaluating current performance and defining benchmarks can also help measure an employee’s skills to transition into decision-making roles.
Learn More
Watch the on-demand webinar to learn more about the top people priorities for 2024 and beyond
For more product information, go to ADP.ca/HRO
