Today’s economic challenges are pushing business leaders to create an employee experience that’s on-par with their personalized customer experiences, a tremendous undertaking if the change is to have the increases in morale and productivity that employers are looking for.

A survey by transformation/automation specialist Jitterbit found that half of organizations regard their HR function as a top priority when it comes to business process automation. HR emerged as the highest priority choice for automation , second only to IT departments, the survey said.

Despite that emphasis, only 11% of respondents said their HR department has reached the highest level of automation within their organization. This, Jitterbit said, suggests that many organizations still face integration challenges even as they recognize the importance of automating HR processes.

Key Challenges

One of the key obstacles to companies face in their quest to gather improved business insights is the difficulty of accessing and consolidating data from the different applications used to manage the employee experience, the report said. More than one-third of HR executives cited application proliferation and manual data management as significant challenges that hold them back from progress and innovation.

Increasing productivity is the top priority for HR management, the survey found, which may reflect larger business goals for the entire organization. In terms of integrations, four systems emerged as nearly identical priorities: learning and development, recruitment, compensation management and onboarding/offboarding. This could be a result of strategically prioritizing a consumer-grade employee experience throughout the employment lifecycle, Jitterbit said.

“Our survey reveals the strategic significance of integrating HR systems to boost productivity, enhance morale and build a workforce that thrives in the digital age,” said Vito Salvaggio, Jitterbit’s senior vice president of product management. “While there are challenges to overcome, the data shows a clear commitment to increasing automation and integration within HR departments.”  

Read the full report here.