Very frequently businesses need to make decisions about the business. These may be big or small decisions, but they all have one thing in common - tech/systems partners should be included in them sooner rather than later. This is doubly so for HR Information Systems (HRIS) since many highly sensitive things (like payroll) will be impacted, and very frequently the complexity of those systems isn’t fully appreciated by the business.

Oh, right.. we need that.

I frequently joke that IT is an afterthought. After all, no one starts a company to fix their own computers. Eventually, though, someone realizes that yes, you do need someone to manage your IT resources. Once this happens, things tend to get better for IT. The business fully (or at least mostly) realizes the need for IT resources, but this generally doesn’t flow over to HR. This results in HRIT becoming an afterthought of an afterthought - after all, we have HR Generalists / Coordinators / Business Partners to handle running HR, why do they need systems experts?

This is also compounded as HRIT and IT are only cost centers (would love to hear if anyone’s found a way to change that!). Since we don’t obviously increase profits it’s harder to justify why they exist. It’s also hard in some cases to prove their actions save money (how many dollars does a good knowledge base page save?). While it is possible to break down ticket cost etc. that also takes time and money, resulting in a nasty spiral of not wanting to do the work to prove it’s worthwhile since you don’t know it’s worthwhile.

Being a double afterthought results in problems ranging from processes being done manually that can/should be automated (manually emailing new hires vs. automating with free add-ons), to catastrophic problems resulting from the lack of understanding / planning (for example paying groups of terminated employees well after they’re gone). In my experience these problems are brought to the HRIS teams attention… but only AFTER the impact has been felt by the company.

The problem is this is the same as ignoring leaky pipes in a submarine, eventually the “savings” of not pumping up HRIS will result in a massive problem.

Leaky Pipes

Since HRIS is usually the last player to the party (or at least the last invited), we tend to only get looped in at the last possible second (“We need this live tomorrow” is a common request…). What kills me about this is many times I hear that planning for that initiative had been in the works for weeks, of not months, before hand. I very frequently find myself wondering how we can have so many smart and talented folks around, but constantly fail to include critical elements early enough in the process.

Some common things I hear about why HRIS isn’t included earlier, my thoughts, and possible solutions:

1. This project is highly confidential/legal/sensitive, so we have to limit the people involved

   1. One of my favorite reasons (especially the confidential part). I completely understand the need to keep information contained, but every company I’ve ever worked with has had me sign some type of NDA. In addition, HRIS teams tend to deal with highly sensitive information as a matter of course (SSN, pay scales, home addresses, etc). It is expected that we are good data stewards, so your list of terminations is just like any other spreadsheet to us.

   2. Solution - One of the simplest things to do is select one individual from the HRIS team (e.g. the manager) to get advanced warning that things are coming down the pike. They don’t have to get specific details, but a general outline of what is required is enough so they can think through possible fixes. Ideally this person understands both the system and the business ask well enough to make it generic so the team can plan.

2. We didn’t realize the impact on our systems

   1. Any time I hear this one I scratch my head. I find it hard to believe that no one on the project team realized your plan to change compensation for 1,000 people wouldn’t, in some way, impact HRIS.

   2. Solution - Involve your HRIS or IT teams in EVERY major change you consider. You wouldn’t leave Finance out of a discussion where you didn’t know with 100% certainty they’d be needed. At the very least include them in the “I” of your RACI charts (or whichever flavor your company prefers). This way your HRIT teams will at least be aware of whats going on and will speak up as needed.

3. We spoke to so-and-so and they didn’t think we needed to do anything

   1. This generally results from someone on the project team (or their managers) making assumptions about how HRIS operates (similar to “This other place I worked at did it this way…”). The outcome tends to be dramatically skewed expectations from the project team that, at best, will alienate your HRIS teams (e.g. a change should . “only take two hours” but instead takes 4 days and 2 employees to fix).

   2. Solution - This is all about proactive partnerships. Special project teams should regularly meet with HRIS teams to understand basics of the systems such as estimations on standard requests, downstream impacts, etc. Not only will this help alleviate #1 and #2, it will foster better collaboration and build trust.

Plugging the leaks

The best way to get over being an after thought is to build proactive relationships with HRIT and partner teams. This can take the form of a monthly lunch and learn where systems basics are shared, or specific meetings to go over features, or formalized partnerships where team members regularly sit down and go over challenges. At the very least this will help give partner teams a better understanding of just how complex the plumbing is.

I tend to prefer in-person sessions where I walk through specific processes, or demonstrate how specific features work. While I tend to have a plan in mind when we begin, the discussion frequently veers off into different areas based on comments or questions from my partners. Personally this is some of the most interesting discussions to be had about systems. Getting a systems expert and a business expert in the same room is bound to come up with some good topics.

To help avoid last-minute “gotchas” related to HRIS, we all need to remember that every aspect of what we do is complex; often more so than we think. Taking time to help the business understand our complexities, and appreciate the effort required to make “simple” changes, more than pays off. It not only helps strengthen relationships, but will pay dividends in future projects as partners are better equipped to help address challenges before they come up; hopefully bringing HRIS out from the shadows of being an afterthought.