HR Excellence in Content Management -...
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HR Excellence in Content Management
iiiCopyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. iiiiii
Table of ContentsExecutive Summary ................................................................................................................... 1
About this Research .................................................................................................................. 2
Definition of Key Terms ............................................................................................................. 3
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4
Current HR Environment ........................................................................................................... 4
Foundational Wisdom: HR Content Management ................................................................... 5
A Fresh Perspective: Tying Electronic Content Management to Employee
Satisfaction and Performance ................................................................................................... 7
Benefits of Electronic Content Management ......................................................................... 11
Key Barriers ............................................................................................................................. 13
The Urgency of Effective HR Content Management .............................................................. 15
Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................................................................... 16
Appendix A: About the Research Partners ........................................................................... 18
Appendix B: Respondent Demographics .............................................................................. 20
Appendix C: Works Cited ...................................................................................................... 22
HR Excellence in Content Management
1Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
HR Excellence in Content Management
Executive SummaryThe Human Capital Institute (HCI) and OpenText Corporation (OpenText) partnered to develop
an original research report examining the use of technology-based content management
and its effect on HR shared service delivery. Despite the evidence, many firms have not
recognized the need for a more comprehensive content management system and continue
to rely on information that is incomplete, difficult to access, and regularly comes from many
different channels.
This research profiles the current state of document content management in organizations today,
and underscores how the adoption of electronic content management can improve business
productivity and increase employee satisfaction.
As employees continue to bring consumer expectations into the workforce, it is imperative
that organizations meet the need for better, more agile data processes and storage so that the
strategic role of content is realized. Long gone are the days of stacks of folders and piles of
paper. Smart organizations have embraced a systematic process of HR transformation initiatives
— digitizing documentation and data while creating a robust method to store and easily access
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content throughout the employee lifecycle. The result is higher quality HR
services and less hassle for employees and their supervisors.
This report describes the current state of content management, as related
to document creation and storage, and the benefits related to effective
implementation of a comprehensive content management system:
Key findings include:
• The number of HR documents being created has increased over the
past several years and employee satisfaction with access to these
documents is only moderate at best.
• The benefits and need for a comprehensive electronic document
content management system is readily acknowledged, however,
adoption rates are low. The key barriers to implementation are a lack of
funding, and content management not seen as a top business priority.
• HR must do a better job communicating the benefits associated with
an electronic content management system, including providing more
efficient access to documents and relying on data within the system
to inform workforce planning practices. In turn, HR will be better
positioned to effectively address and improve upon transformation
initiatives and agile service delivery.
A 26-item survey exploring content management practices and activities was
developed and distributed to more than 10,000 HCI members to produce
the foundational knowledge for this research. More than 270 responses were
received from organizations around the world.
About This Research
The following research report was developed in partnership between the
Human Capital Institute (HCI) and OpenText Corporation (OpenText) in
February 2012. A 26-item survey was distributed to approximately 10,000 HCI
members. Two hundred seventy-four surveys were received, and the results of
the survey form the basis of this research and are summarized in this paper. In
addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with Jason Averbook, CEO of
Knowledge Infusion, and Angela Morrow from the HR Center of Excellence at
OpenText. To supplement the primary research methods, HCI researchers also
reviewed relevant information from a variety of secondary sources, including
white papers, articles, books, interviews and case studies. Many of these are
cited in the report and all are referenced in HCI’s Talent Strategy Practice Area,
to which interested readers are encouraged to visit for additional reading and
online events.
HR Excellence in Content Management
3Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
Definition of Key TermsContent Management In terms of this research, content management refers to the storage and
access management for the following documents as the first phase of an
HR electronic content management strategy:
• Hiring Documents Resumes, applications, job descriptions, compliance forms and
tax forms
• Job Performance documents Performance reviews, productivity reports/measures and
disciplinary forms
• Exit Documents Resignation/termination/separation forms and exit surveys
• General Documents Offer letters, non-disclosure agreements, promotion offers,
payslips and end of year tax statements
• Employee Communications Quarterly business earnings, organizational goals and
employee satisfaction survey results
• Total Rewards Statements Documents showing an employee’s overall earnings, summary
of health and welfare benefits
HR Enterprise Content Management (ECM) All of the strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store,
preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational
processes throughout the entire employee lifecycle — from Hire to Retire.
ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization’s
structured and unstructured information, wherever that information exists.
It should be noted that while this research focused on documents, the term
“content” can also refer to portal content, chat content, text, and email
content amongst employees.
Electronic Content Management System (ECMS)A system that allows authorized users to electronically retrieve personnel
files and documents such as personnel action forms, benefits information,
and disciplinary action, and store them in a secure, central repository. An HR
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4 Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
ECMS is able to pre-populate forms with HRIS system data, automatically route
documents for approvals and upload them into an HRIS to produce employee
communications in batch, creating efficiencies throughout the department.
Introduction
As organizations transition from post-recessionary caution to incremental
growth and expansion, the role of Human Resources is shifting to
accommodate the revived focus on business growth and productivity. HR is
being repositioned in leading companies to oversee the dynamics of quickly
evolving workplaces and changing organizational structures, as well as acting
as a resource to address and rectify operational efficiencies.
Utilizing comprehensive content management practices can provide
companies with the foundation for making operational enhancements.
“[Managing documents is] too often seen as fixed costs of doing business,”
Ken Neal of the Information Management Journal writes. “This is why elevating
document process performance is critical, both as an internal practice and an
outsourcing strategy, to help organizations reduce costs, increase productivity,
lower risk, and build profits.”1
Current HR Environment HR leaders are in a prime position to help foster the achievement of business
goals by helping employees increase their speed and efficiency, and indirectly
impact employee satisfaction — which is strongly linked to employee
engagement. The role of HR has shifted to a more strategic position within an
organization — it is the relative “home” of organizational culture, policy, and
information, and plays an integral role in the knowledge transfer that occurs
within, to, and from an organization.
Contemporary companies understand the effective role HR can play
in supporting strategic deployment and managing organizational
transformations. As noted by an industry observer last year, “HR strategy
triggers and sets into motion a cycle of continuous and dynamic change. It
propels change in all aspects of the HR outlook, systems, beliefs, structure, and
expectation of business and serves the purpose of aligning the HR functions
with the business functions. The HR strategy is interacting with business
strategy lead to a movement in the organizational portion and perspective
through a domino effect.”2
As part of their role as stewards of organizational transformation, HR is faced
with managing access to an ever growing quantity of hard documents, as
1 Neal, Ken, “Driving Better Business Performance with Document Management Processes,” Information Management Journal, November, 2008
2 M. Kalyani & M. P. Sahoo, “Human Resource Strategy: A Tool of Managing Change for Organizational Excellence,” International Journal of Business and Management, 6(8), 2011.
HR Excellence in Content Management
5Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
well as digital content and information. With additional compliance policies
enacted, as well as an increasing number of buyouts and mergers, HR content
has grown in recent years. Additionally, the dynamics of a more agile workforce
is contributing to more HR content, with a 2010 Bureau of Labor Statistics
study demonstrating that the average employee changes jobs eleven times
during their career.3 Changing demographics, including the influx of Millennial
workers and the impending exit of Baby Boomers from the workforce, will also
contribute to the growing volume of HR documents and content that must
be managed within every organization. The business environment has never
been more ready to foster the shifting role of HR, and organizations that make
the commitment to do so will find themselves in a better position to achieve
success.
Foundational Wisdom: HR Content ManagementDuring an employee’s tenure at an organization, many documents relating
to his/her employment will be created. Our survey respondents largely
agreed that, for every employee, approximately 30–50 unique documents
are created. These per-person document numbers add up to large volumes
of total documentation at the organization-wide level, and not surprisingly,
there is a positive correlation between organization size and number of HR
documents. More significant though are the types of documents being created
most frequently. Notably, among organizations of every size, Employee
Communications, Total Rewards Statements, and Exit documents are created Figure 1: Approximately how many of each type of HR personnel documents does your organization create in a given year?
General DocumentsOffer letters, non-disclosure agreements, promotion offers, pay
slips, end of year tax statements
Employee CommunicationsQuarterly business earnings, organizational goals, employee
satisfaction survey results
Total Rewards StatementsDocuments showing an employee's overall earnings, summary of health
and welfare benefits
Exit DocumentsResignation/termination/separation forms, exit surveys
Fig. 1 shows a positive correlation between organization size and document volume. More notably though, is that among all sized organizations, Employee Communications, Total Rewards Statements, and Exit documents are created most frequently, which demonstrates a relationship between content creation and Talent Management components.
3 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Number of Jobs Held, Labor Market Activity, and Earnings Growth Among the Youngest Baby Boomers,” bls.gov, September 10, 2010.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
≤ 49,000 > 50,000 ≤ 49,000 > 50,000 ≤ 49,000 > 50,000 ≤ 49,000 > 50,000
General Documents Employee
Communications
Total Rewards
Statements
Exit Documents
73%
24%
79%
18%
76%
12%
91%
6%
33%
54%
46% 41%
50%
29%
69%
15%
Company Size 1000 - 5000 EEs Company Size 5001 + EEs
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most often. This demonstrates a relationship between content creation and
elements of Talent Management since these documents directly support the
human capital in an organization.
The sheer number of documents being produced and stored can have
significant cost implications for an organization. Based on our survey data,
an average of 40 HR documents are created for every employee in an
organization. Applied to a 10,000-employee company that is nearly half a
million documents that must be created and stored, and each one plays a role
in an estimated 1 million HR document transactions every year. Each of these
transactions comes at a relative cost to the organization, underscoring the
necessity of a systematic process for managing this content. Both employee
time and an organization’s bottom line expenses are heavily influenced
by the cost of governing these processes. More pointedly, these types of
business interactions are only expected to grow when subject to increasing HR
compliance policies and regulations, and a more fluid workforce.
A primary means of impacting HR efficiency is through the development of
enhanced content management, which includes the digitization and online
storage of documents. The ability to pre-populate HRIS forms and streamline
search functions and accessibility to documents can also provide considerable
benefits to an organization as a whole. “Digitizing business records — when
implemented in an organized fashion using best practices — can help ensure
that records are easily retrievable, storage costs are under control, legal
discovery costs are mitigated and the organization is compliant. An effective
electronic document management program spans the capture, management,
storage, preservation, and delivery of document images.”4
In addition to enhanced document access, digitizing records also can impact
the overall value of a company, as evidenced by a 2007 Practice Intelligence
report.“ A firm with a systematized and efficient infrastructure is more highly
valued, due to lower operational and ownership risk, and higher profitability.
Applying these concepts to ROI for a digital document management system
has a dramatic impact on business value.”5
Our research indicates that improved access to document content
management is a commonly identified need. However, the case for document
content management is not being sufficiently presented to enable company
leaders to clearly see the micro and macro benefits. HR leaders must take it
upon themselves to better advocate and require these benefits to clearly show
the impact effective content management can have on strategic business
development and decision making.
4 International Journal of Micrographics & Optical Technology, 28(3), “Digitizing Records: An Untapped Opportunity,” 2010.
5 T. Welsh, “Growing Profits with Technology,” Practice Intelligence, 2007.
“Business documents constitute the lifeblood of an organization. Though often overlooked as red tape, they are vital strategic, financial, and information assets essential to the successful operation of a business.”
Ken Neal, The Information
Management Journal November, 2008
HR Excellence in Content Management
7Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
In an interview for this paper, Jason Averbook, CEO of Knowledge Infusion,
described the paradigm shift that needs to occur in order to apply content
management to issues beyond HR. “The old way of doing things is asking
‘What is the HR case as to why I should have content management?’ but this
is not sustainable in today’s increasing competitive market. HR needs to ask,
‘What is the business case of content management? What is the business case
for collaboration?’ Not being able to apply content management tools to
business beyond HR is very detrimental. HR needs to be champions of business
to champion for their cause. Most HR tools do not have manager buy-in, and,
as a result, people do not take them seriously or use them.”
A Fresh Perspective: Tying Content Management to Employee Satisfaction and Productivity Although a multi-variable concept, employee satisfaction hinges on the ability
of workers to both have the tools they need to do their jobs successfully
and have the knowledge to use those tools. In this vein, a comprehensive
understanding of content management is critical to achieving employee
satisfaction. Both among an organization’s HR department, as well as within
other business units, many organizational employees rely on frequently
accessing and using HR content. This research took a step further in an attempt
to establish how employee performance is influenced by the implementation
of an Electronic Content Management System (ECMS).
Many survey respondents need to access HR documentation frequently in
their positions. Yet, less than one quarter indicated they are very satisfied with
the current access they have to documents related to their employment (See
Figure 3).Figure 2: In your role, how often do you access these documents?63%
24%
13%
57%
38%
5%
51%
25%24%
Monthly or More Often Annually Never
Hiring documents Job Performance Exit Documents0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Fig. 2 demonstrates that more than half of respondents must access HR hiring, job performance, and exit documents monthly or more often.
“HR needs to ask, ‘What is the business case of content management? What is the business case for collaboration?’ Not being able to apply content management tools to business beyond HR is very detrimental. HR needs to be champions of business to champion for their cause. Most HR tools do not have manager buy-in, and as a result, people do not take them seriously or use them.”
Jason Averbook, CEO, Knowledge Infusion
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Furthermore, more than three quarters of respondents (76%) are less than
very satisfied with the ability of employees to access documents, and 71%
are less than satisfied with HR’s ability to answer employee inquiries and
help solve problems. When asked about their company’s ability to transport
sensitive employee records — arguably a process that continues to increase
with growing numbers of decentralized organizations — nearly a quarter of
respondents (23%) reported that they are dissatisfied.
Figure 3: How satisfied do you think employees in
your organization are with their ability to access HR
documents related to their employment?
Thinking about employees in your organization, how
satisfied do you think they are with HR’s ability to resolve questions and
address problems and concerns?
How satisfied are you with your organization’s ability to appropriately transport
sensitive employee records in cases of transfers,
promotions, etc?
These ratings suggest that there is ample room for improvement in providing
employees better access to HR content. A 2010 Information Management
Journal article agrees that the implementation of an ECMS is a fundamental
way to address dissatisfaction with HR inefficiencies. “Records Information
Management (RIM) is one of the most underestimated and effective tools at a
company’s immediate disposal today. Senior management must understand
that RIM lays the four foundational cornerstones of accountability, usability,
business conduct, and regulations/standards/best practices. RIM promotes
records as an organizational resource, regardless of the media in which they are
presented and stored, and it facilitates the use of records to enable employees
to make quicker and better decisions.”6
Averbook cited the intrinsic gains in employee satisfaction and engagement
advantages related to an effective system. “A comprehensive content
management system eliminates frustration, drives engagement and increases
the overall efficiency of being able to find things.” Each of these improvements
Fig. 3 illustrates that 76% of respondents are less than very satisfied with their ability to access HR documents, and 71% are less than very satisfied with HR’s ability to resolve questions and address problems. Only a third of respondents are very satisfied with their organization’s ability to transport sensitive employee records.
6 V. Beck, M. Dionne, I. Koti, T. Loriss, W. McLain, et al., “Making the Case for Merging Document Control and Records Management,” Information Management Journal, 2010.
24% 51% 22% 3%
29% 57% 11% 3%
33% 44% 18% 5%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Very Satisfied Somewhat SatisfiedSomewhat Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied
HR’s Ability to Resolve Questions and
Address Problems
Employee SatisfactionWith Their Ability to Access Documents
Organization’s Ability toTransport SensitiveEmployee Records
HR Excellence in Content Management
9Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
Hiring Documents
17%
24%
29%
30%
All digitized and stored onlineMost digitized and stored onlineLess than half digitized and stored onlineNone digitized and stored online
41% Net all/most digitized and stored online
Job Performance Documents
16%
29%
25%
30%
All digitized and stored onlineMost digitized and stored onlineLess than half digitized and stored onlineNone digitized and stored online
45% Net all/most digitized and stored online
Exit Documents
11%
21%
24%
44%
All digitized and stored onlineMost digitized and stored onlineLess than half digitized and stored onlineNone digitized and stored online
32% Net all/most digitized and stored online
Figure 4A, 4B, 4C: How are the following HR documents stored and managed at your organization?
Fig. 4A, 4B, 4C show that, overall, more than half of respondents do not consistently digitize and store most HR documents. Among that population, nearly a third of respondents do not store any documents digitally.
“Most organizations do not have a good search mechanism for content. One of the things frustrating to employees is poorly functioning search ability. That is not what people are used to in the consumer world, and as those expectations are brought into the workplace, it’s a huge barrier for companies trying to engage their employees.”
Jason Averbook, CEO, Knowledge Infusion
collectively addresses some of the common pitfalls associated with poorly
engaged employees while simultaneously contributing to a leaner, more agile
way of doing business.
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Fewer than half of our respondents digitize their documents in a systematic
way, but even more surprising are the means those organizations that do not
use an ECMS rely on.
Among those that store less than half or none of their HR documents on a
central server, 90% rely on paper files, and nearly two thirds keep those files in
just one central location. In addition to the physical constraints of this type of
arrangement, the safety and privacy of records could be easily compromised.
A reliance on all paper files quickly adds to the physical storage space required
to keep them, as well as a system for cataloguing and referencing all of the
information within those files.
Such issues likely contribute to a slower and often incompetent service delivery
model as individuals have to manually find, access, filter and use the files
required before then having to put them all back again — all of which creates
an environment ripe for legal and compliance issues since sensitive information
can be easily lost, copied, or destroyed using this model of management. This
concept is elaborated on in a Practice Intelligence article. “One overlooked
business cost is the infrastructure and processes necessary to organize, store,
and retrieve paper documents. Digital document management has many
compliance benefits, including enhanced security, disaster recovery/business
continuity and efficient audit preparation.”7
90%
6% 1% 5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Paper �les stored in one or morelocations
Files stored on several di�erent database systems
Files are imaged, but not digital (e.g. Micro�che)
Most or all HR documents in an online repository
Figure 5: If less than half or none of your documents are
stored on a central server, what method does your
organization use to store and access HR documents?
Fig. 5 explores how respondents that do not digitize their HR documents store those files. Most disturbingly, 90% rely only on paper files in one or more locations.
7T. Welsh, “Growing Profits with Technology,” Practice Intelligence, 2007.
Definition of ECMS:
A system that allows authorized users to electronically retrieve personnel files and documents such as personnel action forms, benefits information, and disciplinary action, and store them in a secure, central repository. An HR ECMS is able to pre-populate forms with HRIS system data, automatically route documents for approvals and upload them into an HRIS to produce employee communications in batch, creating efficiencies throughout the department.
HR Excellence in Content Management
11Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
Benefits of Content Management Today’s HR professionals are faced with a sizable quantity of complicated
and dense paper work. Additionally, more mature organizations recognize
that content management arenas for HR extend beyond paper and play a
key role in talent management initiatives that must also be managed. Other
arenas of HR content include social media, employee portal communications,
knowledge collaboration platforms, and recruiting and acquisition campaigns,
among others. To keep on top of this aspect of organization productivity, many
organizations and their HR professionals turn to an ECMS, which has afforded
them encouraging results.
Fig. 6 explores what issues respondents agree effective content/document management would have the biggest influence on, most notably the ability to provide compliance documentation (77%) and the ability to access HR content for audits (71%).
77%71%
63%
57%53% 50%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
HR compliance and the ability to provide documentation when necessary
The ability to access documents and content for HR audits
The service HR is able to provide to organization members and the workforce
The structure and execution of HR shared services
HR transformation initiatives such as mergers and acquisitions
Employee satisfaction with HR service delivery
Figure 6: To what extent do you agree that effective content/document management improves the following?
Percent indicating “Strongly Agree”
An ECMS, which helps streamline the document management process,
including creating, storage, and access can help save time for those who use
them. “The origination of content management began with documents that
grew from the need to mitigate risks and to ensure compliance,” Angela
Morrow, from the HR Center of Excellence at OpenText, remarked. “With
technology as an accelerator, organizations are revolutionizing how they handle
all of their content — whether it is recruiting text campaigns, chat history
from the HR Call Center, or digital assets used in employee branding and
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engagement strategies. Developing, maintaining and updating this content, in
the context of HR business processes efficiency, is critical for HR to stay agile
and responsive to the business needs of the company.”
Encouragingly, more than a third of respondents agreed they already have an
HR ECMS in place, but that still leaves much room for improvement.
To understand the outcomes of adopting an ECMS, we separated
respondents who already use an ECMS from the general respondent pool,
and looked at their likeliness to experience specific operational inefficiencies
and problems.
Among those organizations with an ECMS in place, the percentage indicating
HR efficiency problems occurring “Frequently” or “Occasionally” is lower. This
is true of all problems we listed in our survey.
Specifically, we looked at the prevalence of inefficiencies and problems
regarding HR transformation initiatives and how they are achieved within
organizations. Several survey questions addressed how mergers, acquisitions,
compliance documentation and access, and audit information are influenced
by having a comprehensive ECMS in place. Unsurprisingly, access to HR
documents for compliance requests and audits, and a lack of clarity regarding
how documents are housed and accessed are the two biggest operational
inefficiencies organizations without an ECMS in place are 14% and 16% more
likely to experience (See Figure. 8). In addition, Figure 6 demonstrates that
more than half of survey respondents (53%) strongly agree that having an
Figure 7: Does your organization have an
HR Electronic Content Management System
in place?
Fig. 7 demonstrates that 61% of respondents do not have an Electronic Content Management System (ECMS) in place.
39%
61%
Have ECMSDo Not Have ECMS
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13Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
ECMS in place positively influences the delivery of HR transformation initiatives
and more than 70% strongly agree that an ECMS improves audit compliance
responsibilities and access to documentation.
Figure 8: How frequently do you encounter the following HR operational inefficiencies?
Percent answering “Frequently/Occasionally”
Fig. 8 explores the operational inefficiencies that respondents without an ECMS face more frequently, most notably the inability to find documentation for HR compliance requests and audits, and not having a clear understanding of where documents are housed.
“As employees become more consumer-minded, tailoring the right content and relevant messages to each employee segment along with the appropriate channel (video, e-mail or text) will prove to be a foundational component and underpinning of successful retention strategies and talent management initiatives.”
Angela Morrow, HR Center
of Excellence, OpenText
HR Operational Inefficiencies Occur Frequently/Occasionally
Clearly, organizations using an ECMS can point to real results and experience
improvements in departmental efficiency on a variety of fronts. As one survey
respondent stated, “ECM [systems] are critically important, from daily access
to documents to emergency back-up. HR management must give these issues
greater visibility.”
Key Barriers Although nearly two-thirds of our survey respondents do not have an ECMS at
their organization, an overwhelming majority agree that digitizing HR content
would positively affect HR service delivery. While employees continue to bring
consumer expectations into the workforce, recognizing and streamlining the
components of HR service delivery is critical to fostering an efficient model of
communication and productivity. Among the issues HR service delivery can
improve upon to meet the increasing demands of employees are first touch
problem resolution, case handling time, caller abandonment time, and overall
employee satisfaction with HR’s ability to address concerns and resolve issues.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Have ECMS Do Not Have ECMS
51%
62%
38%
52%
38%
54%
23%26%
30%34%
Individual and organizational HR requests are delayed
Documentation for HR compliance requests is di�cult to �nd
It is unclear where HR documents are housed and how I can access them
I must go through two or more supervisors in order to get permission to access documents
Documents must be re-created and re-signed
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Figure 9: How much do you agree that digitizing
employee records affects HR service delivery by streamlining employee interactions, providing
managers with reliable and easy access to documents, and efficiently addressing
employee needs and resolving questions?
Organizations that have not yet adopted an ECMS face a few common barriers
that prevent them from procuring and utilizing one. Survey respondents
largely agree that an ECMS in HR faces a lack of funding and resources and
is not considered a high business priority by leadership. These findings again
underscore the necessity for HR leaders to build a compelling business case
about the benefits an ECMS implementation can offer.
Funding is not being made available to HR because leaders are not fully
cognizant of the great operational and strategic benefits acquiring such a
system will afford. Many organizational leaders may not understand digitization
as a “worthy” investment because they are simply not aware of how much the
investment can yield and positively influence business productivity. If they see
no benefit, any cost, no matter how low, will appear too great.
StronglyAgree
SomewhatAgree
SomewhatDisagree
StronglyDisagree
Not Sure
58%
33%
4%2% 3%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
There is an obvious and supported value in the digitization and electronic
management of materials for reliable, easy and effective access to documents,
but a concerning lack of implementation among organizations.
Fig. 9 demonstrates that 91% of respondents agree or strongly agree that digitizing employee records affects HR service delivery by streamlining employee interactions, providing managers with reliable and easy access to documents, and efficiently addressing employee needs and resolving questions.
HR Excellence in Content Management
15Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
The Urgency of Effective HR Content Management In large part, the barriers facing content management are founded in the need
for a more comprehensive understanding of what organizational content refers
to, and a recognition that this body of content is growing exponentially.
HR leaders must be clear that it extends far beyond paper or digitized
documents. While document storage is the initial starting point for HR
excellence within enterprise content management, a comprehensive ECMS
implementation involves much more, and has a much greater reach and impact
on business practices. A secondary phase of ECMS addresses content creation
and distribution, followed by consideration of the processes that influence
how mobility and multiple third party vendor platforms such as benefits
administrations are being strategically leveraged.
Applied to a common business function such as talent acquisition, “content”
thus refers to web pages, videos, text chats, social media functions, marketing
materials and employee branding assets — all of which need to be better
Figure 10: How would you characterize the
following challenges related to improving Content Management at your
organization:?
Percent stating “Challenge is Significant”
Lack of resources or funding
Leaders in my organization do not consider an HR Electronic Content Management system a high priority right now
Lack of knowledge to create an online repository for all HR content and documents
The culture of my organization would not support electronically managing and storing HR contents and documents
The challenge of digitizing and cataloging all of the HR documents in my organization are too overwhelming to address
42% 41%
18%14%
13%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Fig. 10 demonstrates that the two biggest challenges facing organizational improvement of content management are a lack of funding, and leaders that do not see ECMS as a high organizational priority.
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managed and streamlined in a strategic way for both more effective means
of productivity. Additionally, improved management of these materials can
help provide defenses of things like EEO and Affirmative Action and other
compliance hiring practices. It would behoove HR management to lead
the charge in educating the senior team about the expansive nature of
organizational content.
Indeed, HR leaders who can secure executive buy-in are much more likely to
gain access to the resources necessary to build this vital capability. Averbook
echoes this sense of urgency: “The overall user experience with content
management tools are a higher priority than just content management for HR.
There needs to be a big picture approach in organizations, and it ties back to
the expectation that the consumer world relies on today. People have access
to the information they need when they need it. Companies need to mimic
that functionality and usability with their content.” HR leaders that can
demonstrate the potential enterprise-wide value of an ECMS to their
leadership may very well find “lack of funding” will consequentially become a
much less significant barrier.
Conclusion & RecommendationsSuccessful organizations need HR to be positioned more as a strategic
partner in business in order to best leverage its role as a driver of efficiency
and productivity. A fundamental first step is to explore and communicate the
benefits offered by an ECMS including:
• Increasing employee satisfaction with HR service delivery
• Decreasing operational inefficiencies
• Increasing compliance requests and audit information
• Easing file transfers and allowing easier access to documentation
Future research should determine how a strategic HR department that actively
works toward achieving these business goals can have an even greater
influence on productivity, including improved workforce planning practices.
The need for HR to play a leading role in organizational change management
while constantly striving to be more efficient is a priority for all companies.
Senior HR management can initiate this plan by capitalizing on the opportunity
before them: creating better management practices and processes for the
constantly increasing body of content that is the vitality of any organization.
Smart companies and smart leaders recognize that organizations are made up
of people. HR’s role in managing employees, efficiently handing transactions,
“The overall user experience with content management tools are a higher priority than just content management for HR. There needs to be a big picture approach in organizations, and it ties back to the expectation that the consumer world relies on today. People have access to the information they need when they need it. Companies need to mimic that functionality and usability with their content.”
Jason Averbook CEO, Knowledge Infusion
HR Excellence in Content Management
17Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
monitoring the reciprocity of information and data, and finding effective
storage solutions for all of those activities and more cannot be undervalued.
Companies that take the opportunity now to build comprehensive systems and
strategies for dealing with this will find themselves differentiated and better
prepared for the future.
53%
39%
25%
33%
16%
21%
6% 7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
To allow authorized stakeholders to easily access documents seamlessly and in real-time, regardless of location
To increase the level of oversight into HR compliance and decrease risk
To positively influence and improve our workforce planning process
Other
Have ECMS Do Not Have ECMS Figure 11: If your organization already has an HR Electronic Content Management system in place, what was the most important motivating factor in implementing one?
or
If your organization does not currently have an HR Electronic Content Management system, what is the most compelling reason to adopt one?
Fig. 11 illustrates that organizations with an ECMS benefit from easier document access, and increased oversight into HR compliance and risk, followed by the opportunity to improve workforce planning. These issues are synonymous with the factors that motivate respondents without an ECMS in place to consider one.
HCI Research
18 Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
Appendix A: About the Research PartnersThe Human Capital Institute (HCI) The Human Capital Institute (HCI) is a catalyst for innovative new thinking in
talent acquisition, development, deployment and new economy leadership.
Through research and collaboration, our global network of more than 138,000
members develops and promotes creativity, best and next practices, and
actionable solutions in strategic talent management. Executives, practitioners,
and thought leaders representing organizations of all sizes, across public,
charitable and government sectors, utilize HCI communities, education, events
and research to foster talent advantages to ensure organizational change
for competitive results. In tandem with these initiatives, HCI’s Human Capital
Strategist professional certifications and designations set the bar for expertise
in talent strategy, acquisition, development and measurement. For more
information, visit www.hci.org.
OpenText OpenText, a global ECM leader, helps organizations manage and gain the true
value of their business content. OpenText brings two decades of expertise
supporting 100 million users in 114 countries. Working with our customers and
partners, we bring together leading Content Experts to help organizations
capture and preserve corporate memory, increase brand equity, automate
processes, mitigate risk, manage compliance and improve competitiveness.
For more information, visit www.opentext.com.
HR Excellence in Content Management
19Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
About The AuthorAubrey Krekeler Wiete, MA is a Senior Analyst at the Human Capital Institute
within the Organizational Development & Leadership Practice Area. Previously,
she worked at the University of Kentucky, where she focused on the use of
social media as recruiting tools and the business imperative of Global English.
Aubrey’s past research publications include understanding the necessity for
cross-generational mentorship and coaching, new executive development
techniques for senior leaders, and recognizing the imperative of career
development plans to foster employee engagement. Her other areas of
interest include leveraging talent mobility and performance, and methods to
cultivate creative business cultures. She earned her bachelor’s degree from
Saint Louis University and a Master’s degree in Organizational Communication
and Health Communication from the University of Kentucky. Aubrey is currently
based in Cincinnati, OH.
HCI Research
20 Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
Industry
50%
15%
10%
8%
17%Less than 1,0001,000-3,0003,001-5,0005,001-10,00010,000+
85%
9%
2%2%
1%1%
North AmericaAsia/PacificEuropeAfricaCentral/South AmericaMiddle East
Number of Employees
Region
Appendix B: Respondent Demographics
11%10%
10%
7%
6%5%
3%
2%
1%
1%
21%
Professional ServicesHealthcareTechnologyGovernmentNon-profit/CharityBanking/Financial ServicesAerospace & DefenseInsuranceOil and Gas
Pharma/Life SciencesIndustrial Metals & MiningRetailAutomobiles & PartsIndustrial Goods & ServicesUtilitiesFood & BeverageReal EstateConstruction & MaterialsLeisureChemicalsOther
HR Excellence in Content Management
21Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
Level
Revenue
HR Functional Area of Responsibility
38%
30%
11%
14%7% HR Operations
HR Business StrategyDevelopmentHR Shared Services
Other
N/A – work in differentfunctional area
23%
27%12%
11%
6%6%
5%
4%1%
1%
4%
Director
Manager
Business Partner
Vice President
Senior Director
C-Level (CEO, CHRO,CIO, etc.)Team Member
Executive
Senior Vice President
President
Other
17%
20%
8%12%7%6%
14%
3%
1%
1%
11%
Less than $10 million
$10-49 million
$50-99 million
$100-499 million
$500-749 million
$750 million-1 billion
$2-9 billion
$10-49 billion
$50-100 billion
>$100 billion
N/A -Government or Non-profit
HCI Research
22 Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.
Appendix C: ReferencesBeck, V., Dionne, M., Koti, I., Loriss, T., McLain, W., et al. (2010). Making the Case for Merging Document Control
and Records Management, Information Management Journal.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (September 10, 2010). Number of Jobs Held, Labor Market Activity, and Earnings
Growth Among the Youngest Baby Boomers, BLS.gov.
Digitizing Records: An Untapped Opportunity, (2010). International Journal of Micrographics & Optical
Technology, 28(3).
Kalyani, M. & Sahoo, M. P., (2011). Human Resource Strategy: A Tool of Managing Change for Organizational
Excellence, International Journal of Business and Management, 6(8).
Neal, Ken, (2008). Driving Better Business Performance with Document Management Processes, The Information
Management Journal.
Savaneviciene, A., & Stankeviciute, Z. (2011). Human Resource Management Practices Linkage with Organizational
Commitment and Job Satisfaction, Journal of Economics and Management, 16 (1).
Welsh, T., (2007). Growing Profits with Technology, Practice Intelligence.