What is digital HR?

Put simply, digital HR is the integration of digital technologies into Human Resources processes to make these more efficient, effective, and connected. It’s the strategic combination of the HR department and technology that leads to streamlined operations, improved decision-making, enhanced employee experience, and a more agile and responsive organization.

According to Dave Ulrich, the digital HR journey of a company is characterized by four phases:

• HR efficiency: In this stage, organizations invest in technology platforms that efficiently manage HR processes. The key question to ask yourself in this phase is: To what extent do we use technology to streamline administrative HR work? 
• HR effectiveness: At this phase, companies use HR technology to upgrade existing people practices such as performance management, talent acquisition, and training. The critical question is, ‘To what extent do we use technology to innovate our HR practices?’
• Information: Organizations start leveraging people analytics to create business impact. Their data is accessible, and internal data is combined with external data. The most important question to ask in this stage is, ‘To what extent do we use technology to access information?’
• Connection/experience: In this stage, companies use digital HR software and tools to foster a connection between people. Experiences between people are created, social networks are leveraged, and technology enables a feeling of belonging. The question to ask yourself during this phase is, ‘To what extent do we use technology to create connections?’

At the end of their digital HR journey, organizations will have undergone an HR digital transformation, transforming HR operations on the one hand and the workforce and the way work is done on the other. 

How is digital HR different from traditional HR?

Digital HR differs from traditional HR in that it digitalizes manual tasks such as record-keeping, data analysis, and answering employee questions.

The difference between digital and traditional HR is best illustrated with an example. 

Benefits of digital HR 

Digital HR not only gives organizations a competitive advantage, but it also has multiple other benefits. 

Saving time and improving productivity for HR

As we’ve seen in the LASD example mentioned above, digitalizing HR processes can be a huge time saver. This, in turn, will also improve the department’s overall productivity, making it one of the biggest benefits of digital HR.

Streamlining HR processes

Digitalizing HR processes helps to streamline and structure them. Think about recruitment, for example. Rather than manually trying to keep track of your applicants and their process stage, you can use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) instead.

Depending on the ATS, the system can take care of tasks such as:

• Posting vacancies across multiple job boards
• Connecting with candidates
• Scheduling interviews with potential candidates
• Nurturing candidates through the recruitment funnel
• And much more.

Boosting (digital) employee experience 

The employee experience consists of three key components: 

1. The physical experience 
2. The digital experience 
3. The cultural experience.

The massive surge in hybrid and remote work since 2020 and the continuous digitalization of work, in general, have made the digital employee experience more and more important. 

Digital HR can significantly improve the employee experience, for example, by enabling employee self-service. Workers can easily:

• View and download their pay stubs, tax forms (e.g., W-2s), and other related documents
• Enroll in, change, or manage their benefits plans, including health insurance, retirement plans, and other perks
• Update their contact details, address, emergency contacts, and other personal information directly in the HR system
• Clock in and out, log work hours, and track their attendance records.

These self-service features empower employees to manage their HR-related needs efficiently and independently, reducing the administrative burden on HR departments and making their digital employee experience smooth and user-friendly. This enhanced autonomy fosters greater employee satisfaction and engagement.

Better data management

Digitalizing HR processes reduces the risk of data loss. Provided that people know where the data is stored and how to access it, using a software solution such as a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) or an ATS will allow for better data management than using a manual alternative.  

Enhancing talent acquisition 

If there is one area within the HR field that is abundant in terms of digital HR solutions, apps, and software, it is talent acquisition. 

Many aspects of the candidate journey can be digitalized and (largely) automated, from candidate sourcing and job posting to candidate pre-selection, interview scheduling, and onboarding. 

Enabling data-driven decision making 

Most, if not all, of the digital HR software today comes with analytics and reporting features, making it much easier for HR to analyze internal data and make data-driven decisions.

Lower administrative costs 

The use of HR technology can significantly reduce the time HR professionals spend on administrative tasks such as payroll processing, employee data management, and benefits administration. As such, digitalizing HR processes will lower administrative costs.

Digital HR examples

Let’s explore some examples of digital HR in practice, looking at how technology is integrated within HR processes and practices. 

1. Human Resource Information System (HRIS)

The HRIS is one of the most well-known examples of digital HR. It’s a system that stores, collects, processes, and manages employee data. HR teams use it to work more efficiently and make more data-driven decisions.

HRIS features typically include: 

• Benefits administration 
• Employee data management 
• Employee self-service 
• Payroll processing 
• Reporting and analytics 
• Time & attendance. 

Using an HRIS is particularly interesting for organizations of a certain size, starting with companies that have between 30 to 50 employees. 

Some of the biggest benefits of working with this kind of software include: 

• Improved efficiency: The fact that all employee data is stored in one place saves time and increases accuracy. 
• Better record-keeping: At its core, an HRIS is a record-keeping system. As such, it tracks all changes related to the organization’s employees and is considered the single source of truth for staff data.  
• A better employee experience: The HRIS can offer self-service tools to managers and employees. This means that they are in charge of things like requesting leave or updating their information, which, in turn, positively affects the employee experience.   

You can think of the HRIS as the backbone of digital HR.

2. Collecting employee feedback 

Employee feedback has become vital for evaluating the success of nearly every single HR process: recruitment and selection, onboarding, performance management, L&D, and so on. 

There are different ways to gather feedback from people, each with its benefits and limitations. Depending on your strategy, what you want to achieve, the target audience, and the timing of the feedback, the decision about which approach—and platform—to use will differ.

Examples of the digital methods that companies use to collect employee feedback include:

• Employee pulse surveys 
• Point-in-time surveys (i.e., the traditional annual survey)
• Topic-driven surveys
• Exit surveys.

3. HR case management 

HR case management refers to the process that a company’s HR department has in place to resolve the questions and inquiries that employees send to them. 

There are many different issues or queries that employees may run into. Some of these may be related to: 

• Benefits
• Onboarding 
• Payroll and taxes
• Performance
• Policies and procedures

A dedicated HR case management software is indispensable, particularly in medium—and large-sized organizations, to ensure reliable HR case management and handle the volume and complexity of the various inquiries well.   

Benefits of working with this kind of software include: 

• Immediate access: The software gives employees immediate access to HR, so they no longer have to wait for a meeting to ask their questions.
• Quick escalation: The HR case management software collects all the relevant information for each query, making it easy to pass the case directly to the right person or team. 
• Status tracking: The software’s ticketing system allows both employees and HR to follow the status of each case. 
• Workflow automation: Common questions are answered in FAQs and in an HR knowledge base that people can easily access. This saves the HR team a lot of time that they can use on more complex queries. 
• Improved employee experience: All of the elements mentioned above contribute to a better employee experience as they improve transparency, access to HR, and overall problem resolution.

4. AI-based coaching

AI-based coaching involves using artificial intelligence to enhance, support, or take over the coaching relationship.

The coach can use AI to get insights into their coachees’ needs and to provide recommendations. In other cases, employees interact only with AI, for example, through a chatbot.

5. Succession planning software 

An effective succession planning process enables organizations to identify, select, and develop the right people for critical roles to ensure business continuity when an individual holding that role leaves.

In the era of digital HR, there exists an array of succession planning tools that companies can use to streamline their succession planning process. 

The exact features differ per tool and provider, but here are a few examples of what is possible: 

• Proactively identifying critical roles 
• Visualizing your bench strength 
• Creating dedicated talent pools
• Focusing on leadership vulnerabilities 
• Creating a short, medium, and long-term succession plan for each key role.

The process of HR digital transformation 

Leveraging digital in HR is not as simple as implementing a few software solutions here and there. It is a complicated process that requires time, effort, and resources.

So, how do we approach a project of this magnitude?

Stages of HR digital transformation

Every organization engaging in digital transformation will go through six stages. Here’s what they translate to in HR:

1. Business as usual: HR acts on the belief that current solutions will remain relevant.
2. Present and active: In this stage, different experiments throughout the company create digital literacy and creativity.  
3. Formalized: Experimentation becomes intentional, and there is more support from leadership.
4. Strategic: In this phase, multidisciplinary project teams execute most digital HR initiatives. Collaboration increases, leading to the development of strategic HR digital transformation roadmaps.
5. Converged: A dedicated digital transformation team guides digital support of HR strategy and operations.
6. Innovative and adaptive: By now, digital transformation has become the organization’s new ‘business as usual’ and a continuous process.

Understanding these stages is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, it helps organizations assess their current position in the digital transformation journey and identify the next steps to progress further.

Secondly, it ensures that efforts are aligned with the broader business strategy, maximizing the impact of digital initiatives. 

Lastly, it facilitates a structured approach to change. That way, organizations can adapt to new technologies and practices systematically and ultimately achieve the goals they’ve set.

Best practices for digital transformation in HR 

Starting with such a complex process as digital HR transformation can seem overwhelming. The following best practices are the core of your HR digital transformation and will be the key drivers for success.

Assess your current HR processes

Start with an audit of the current situation. Here are some questions to ask yourself and steps to take:

• What kind of HR software or tools are you currently using to run various HR processes? Do you already use an HRIS and an ATS, for example? 
• If nothing is in place yet, then what are the areas where digital HR will have the most impact? Try to see if you can align here with the company’s business goals.
• If digital tools are in place, create an overview of all the current HR solutions your organization is using and whether these systems can communicate with each other. If they can, how?
• How is each solution and tool maintained? Does HR take care of this? Does this happen automatically?

Based on your audit, you can decide what the priorities are right now and where to start.

Develop digital HR skills within your team 

HR practitioners need the right digital HR skills to drive the company’s digital transformation, starting with digital agility. This refers to the ability to rapidly adapt to and leverage digital technologies and tools to enhance HR processes, improve efficiency, and drive innovation.

Here are a few ways to develop digital agility: 

• Familiarize yourself with different types of technology
• Collaborate with other departments on innovation
• Work on your change management skills
• Dare to experiment
• Get certified in Digital HR.

Define clear objectives and success metrics for the transformation 

As with any new project, you should define clear objectives and success metrics before embarking on your digital transformation journey.

The objectives and metrics will differ per organization. Let’s say that your goal is to improve operational efficiency, allowing HR to complete work at a lower cost, in less time, and with fewer people involved.

You could use the following metrics to measure whether you achieved this objective:

• HR cost per employee: This metric calculates the total HR expenditure divided by the number of employees. A reduction in HR cost per employee would indicate that the digital transformation has made HR processes more cost-effective.
• HR service delivery time: This tracks the average time taken to complete various HR services, such as processing leave requests or resolving employee inquiries. A reduction in service delivery time reflects enhanced operational efficiency and faster response times due to digital tools and processes.
• Employee self-service utilization rate: This metric tracks the percentage of HR-related transactions (such as leave requests, benefits enrollment, and personal information updates) completed by employees using self-service portals or applications. A high utilization rate signifies that employees are effectively using digital HR tools to manage their needs independently, which reduces the administrative workload on HR staff and enhances overall productivity by minimizing time spent on routine tasks.

Adopt a phased approach 

A phased approach to digital HR transformation allows you to correct course where needed. Before digitalizing a particular HR process, start with a pilot project. This will enable you to test and refine your HR digital transformation strategy.

Let’s say your company wants to automate its payroll process. Before making the switch for all the employees in the organization, test the new solution first with just one or two teams, starting with your own HR team, for example.

HR tip

Develop your HR digital transformation roadmap. An HR digital transformation roadmap serves as a guide when implementing digital HR technologies at your organization. This document outlines key milestones, timelines, and responsible parties, facilitating a structured approach to adopting and integrating new technologies within the HR function.

Implement scalable solutions

Whether you implement digital HR software or digital HR tools, you want them to be scalable. The process of selecting, buying, implementing, and launching digital tools is too costly, in terms of time and money, to repeat countless times. So, if the organization grows, you want the software you use to grow with it.

Create cross-functional teams 

It is unlikely that you, as an HR team, will be able to achieve a successful digital transformation on your own. Get the right people on board from the start – think of IT, Legal, and other stakeholders – and build a cross-functional transformation team. 

This collaborative approach not only improves the implementation and adoption of digital solutions but also ensures compliance, security, and alignment with broader organizational strategies.

Prepare a change management plan 

Digital HR transformation impacts many people in the organization. HR should consider creating a digital change management plan to prepare people for upcoming changes. 

Elements to think of in that regard include:

• Communicate with stakeholders to understand how the change will impact your company
• Use the decision-making Cynefin framework to navigate your change project with actionable steps
• Base your change communications on the competing values framework
• Use a stakeholder management template to help you manage your various stakeholders.

Focus on employee experience 

Most of the time, the company’s employees are the ones who will have to use the digital tools on a daily basis. Therefore, it is crucial that the software, apps, and other types of technology you roll out improve your employees’ work experience.

To ensure this is the case, involve them from the start, ask for their opinion, and, most importantly, listen to it.

Build an integrated HR tech stack  

There is a digital HR software solution for virtually every HR process. If we had to categorize the various technologies, we’d distinguish three main categories: 

• Core HR solutions: HRIS, payroll, compensation and benefits management software, etc.
• Recruiting: ATS, pre-selection tools, referral software, etc. 
• Employee experience: Onboarding, LMS, performance management software, rewards, etc.

Most companies use software and tools from each of these categories; this is what we call their HR tech stack. 

Make sure you build an integrated tech stack. This means that all your HR tech stack elements should work together. For example, your HR management system (HRMS) should integrate with your payroll software, allowing for smooth data flow and reducing the need for manual data entry.

A set of tools that can’t communicate with each other will be counterproductive. You also don’t want the inefficiency of separate destinations for every HR process.

HR digital transformation examples

Let’s take a look at some HR digital transformation case studies where organizations worldwide successfully used HR tech to tackle a specific business challenge. 

New Moms: Improving efficiency and transparency using an HRIS

New Moms is a non-profit organization based in the U.S. that supports young mothers who are struggling with homelessness and poverty. 

The organization spent hundreds of hours tracking down personnel information, funding stream data, and other essential documents. 

The non-profit then decided to implement a streamlined HRIS that enabled them to store and access all of their data on one platform. 

As a result, New Moms was able to:

• Find and present compelling data on their daily operations to key stakeholders
• Reduce turnover by 37%
• Secure additional funding for their projects
• Shift from a paper-based annual review to weekly coaching for its employees.

Global energy company: Using digital HR to improve EX 

A global energy firm noticed a considerable difference between its external and internal digitalization. For example, their Learning delivery and Compliance training was extremely outdated and ineffective. 

The company’s Interim HR Change and innovation Director decided to shake things up and use gamification to tackle the issue. 

This led to a new training app that allows employees to collect badges and obtain high scores that are visible to the entire employee base.

As a result, the energy company saw: 

• An almost 100% uptake on the tests
• Their compliance training was completed in 3 months rather than in the 9 months it used to take.

KPMG Belgium: Starting the employee journey right after the signature 

This HR digital transformation case study focuses on preboarding, an important yet often overlooked step towards happy and engaged employees.

KPMG Belgium didn’t have a preboarding process for new hires. For graduates, in particular, this could lead to relatively long periods between the moment they signed their contract and their first day on the job.

To solve this problem and to create a more structured process, the company decided to use an integrated and secure onboarding software solution.

Now, the organization’s onboarding—or preboarding, actually—starts as soon as the candidate signs the contract. The app sends new hires all the practical information they need to know before they start, including contact details of their new colleagues.

After two years of preboarding, KPMG saw:

• New hires rate their experience at 4.45 out of 5
• New hires rate their first week at a 4.12
• An app activation rate of 81%.

Digital HR skills

In order to implement digital HR and execute the organization’s digital HR transformation roadmap, HR practitioners need to master specific skills. Essential digital HR skills include: 

Digital agility

This is the ability to use technology to increase the impact of HR and prepare the organization for the adoption of digital practices.

There are three dimensions of digital agility: 

• Technology empowered: HR practitioners who master digital agility are able to integrate technology to build efficient, scalable, and impactful HR solutions.
• Digital aptitude: Digitally agile HR professionals are motivated to learn and experiment with digital ways of work. 
• Digital adoption: HR professionals who have developed digital agility (co) create an environment ready for digital adoption.

Digital agility is one of the five core HR competencies identified by the Academy to Innovate HR; the other four are Data Literacy, Business Acumen, People Advocacy, and Execution Excellence.

These core competencies form a solid foundation for every HR professional to build on and should, therefore, be part of HR’s skills starter kit. 

If we focus more on specific digital HR skills and technical skills, then there are a few more that come to mind: 

HRIS knowledge

As we saw earlier, the HRIS forms the backbone of a company’s digital HR. In today’s digital world, HR professionals must be familiar with and knowledgeable about an HRIS solution.

Knowledge of relevant HR software

Depending on your role within HR, you will need to know how to use specific software.

As a talent acquisition specialist, for example, you want to know how to use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and how to use different social media platforms.

As someone overseeing the organization’s talent management strategy, you want to familiarize yourself with Talent Management Software (TMS).

Cloud technology

Almost every HR software solution out there is cloud-based. This means that as an HR practitioner, you need to know how to operate a cloud-based HRIS, ATS, TMS, or LMS.

Prompting

Prompting is becoming an essential digital HR skill due to the growing use of generative AI-driven tools in work processes.

These tools rely on clear prompts for tasks like generating candidate outreach messages, creating onboarding plans, and analyzing employee feedback. HR professionals need to master prompting to ensure accurate outputs.

As AI tools evolve, effective prompting enables HR professionals to leverage advanced capabilities fully and strategically.

Digital HR trends

What does the future of digital HR look like? These key emerging digital HR trends will shape how HR works. 

Generative AI in HR 

In the future, generative AI will enable true HR business partnering. 

Until now, HR automation technology has mainly focused on highly repetitive and not very complex work. The issue is that a lot of work in HR is neither simple nor repetitive, and that’s where GenAI comes in.

For example, GenAI can assist in crafting personalized employee development plans, analyzing complex workforce data to provide actionable insights, and generating tailored communication for diverse employee needs. This enables HR to become a more strategic partner within the organization.

Personalized employee experience 

Employees today expect to have access to what they need when they need it at the tap of a screen. They want a personalized experience tailored to their needs. In many organizations, this is not yet the case.  

This is why there will be an increased focus on employee experience design, and HR technology will play an essential role in facilitating this.

AI bias awareness 

As the use of AI in HR continues to increase, so will people’s awareness of bias. In hiring, there are some examples of how AI bias has affected decision-making due to biased training data, algorithmic design, or biased human involvement. 

HR will have to mitigate AI bias as much as possible. This can be done using fairness-aware algorithms and improving overall data collection and human oversight.

HR chatbots and virtual assistants 

HR chatbots offer two main advantages. On the one hand, they save HR teams from answering frequently asked questions and providing commonly requested information.

On the other hand, they can significantly improve the employee experience by responding 24/7 to employee queries about, for example, leave policies or benefits.  

Therefore, it is no surprise that the HR chatbot market is expected to grow significantly between 2023 and 2030.

Automating onboarding tasks

Recent employee onboarding statistics show that HR practitioners see technology as the missing piece in their onboarding toolkit, with 68% planning on using it in the near future.  

According to the statistics, organizations with a formal onboarding process have a 50% higher retention rate than those without. This percentage increases by another 16% when specific onboarding tasks are automated. 

Thus, further automation of the onboarding process is likely to occur in the near future.

Digital HR certification 

Completing a digital HR certificate program will help you develop the skills, expertise, and experience needed to lead the digital transformation of HR in your organization. 

If you want to learn about the impact of digital on how, when, and where we work and how HR can capitalize on this to remain relevant and effective, AIHR’s Digital HR 2.0 Certificate Program can help you with this.

The program will teach you how to create a digital HR strategy that delivers an excellent employee experience and efficient HR service delivery.

You will learn:

• How to design effective and memorable employee experiences by applying design thinking methodology
• How to effectively implement digital projects, minimize resistance to change, and drive digital adoption
• How to analyze, optimize, and automate HR processes to increase efficiency and reduce errors
• How to develop the expertise to become a digital innovator and drive digital HR initiatives. 

The benefits of this program are:

• It is self-paced – you can learn when and where it suits you best
• Access to a global HR practitioners community to connect with peers and HR professionals from all over the world
• Real-world projects and case studies to develop practical skills
• Competency assessments that help you track your learning progress and fill your skills gaps
• Resource library full of templates, toolkits, and checklists to help you apply what you’ve learned in your work 
• Accredited, globally recognized education
• Your own personal coach who will be your point of contact at AIHR throughout the program.

FAQ

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In this article, we’ll explore what generative AI (artificial intelligence) in HR looks like, how it works, its impact on HR as a whole, generative AI tools for HR, and how to start integrating generative AI in your HR department. 

Contents
What is generative AI in HR?
How generative AI is used in HR
Top 5 generative AI tools for HR
5 generative AI in HR examples
How to start using generative AI in HR

What is generative AI in HR?

First, let’s explore generative AI and, specifically, what it means for HR. 

What is generative AI?

Generative AI is a subset of AI that primarily focuses on content creation, data analysis, and generating programming coding that mimics human-like creativity and output. 

Traditional AI mainly analyzes and processes existing data to make evidence-based decisions or predictions. Generative AI, on the other hand, produces new content through learning patterns and structures obtained from large datasets. This data can include text, images, videos, music, and more.

What is generative AI in HR?

Generative AI’s application can have significant implications for four main areas of HR:

1. Content: HR professionals can use generative AI tools to increase efficiency and value in various stages of employee life cycle — from creating engaging job descriptions based on skill profiles and writing personalized emails to job candidates to drafting HR policies and creating training content.
2. Data: Generative AI tools can summarize and extract key insights from data. For example, it can help HR analyze and aggregate performance ratings, salary data, and more.
3. Communication: Using generative AI chatbots, HR can improve employee engagement, increase access to the HR knowledge base, and offer individualized learning recommendations based on skills gaps. You can also use these chatbots to improve efficiency and the individual employee growth and development experience. 
4. Coding: You can also leverage generative AI to compile various data sources and analyze large datasets for organizational analysis and planning. Examples include determining the probability of attrition rates, identifying high-potential employees, and pinpointing future skills gaps. 

How does generative AI work? 

In a word, generative AI uses neural networks, which are systems inspired by the human brain. These networks are trained on large datasets to recognize patterns. They then use these patterns to generate new content.

For example, if trained on a large number of images, a generative AI can create new images that resemble the originals. Similarly, for text, it can write new paragraphs based on the style and structure of the text it has learned from.

How will generative AI impact HR?

Generative AI will have a major impact on HR as technology continues to evolve and businesses rely on it more. According to a Gartner survey, 76% of HR leaders believe their organization must adopt AI solutions within two years to ensure organizational success, while 38% have already explored or implemented such solutions to increase process efficiency. 

The more technological advances arise, the more administrative tasks will be automated. However, more administrative HR roles are at higher risk of replacement compared to less repetitive and more complex specialized roles. 

Generative AI holds much HR potential, including greater productivity. A LinkedIn survey suggested it could increase HR productivity by 30% while creating a more strategic and knowledgeable HR organization.

AI will reduce low-level administrative tasks, and many key roles—including HRBPs—will pivot toward storytelling and high-value insights that help drive the business forward. It will also streamline HR processes, including the use of language learning models (LLMs) to craft job descriptions, interview questions, and communication with candidates and employees.

How generative AI is used in HR

Recruitment and hiring 

Some applications, such as ChatGPT, can help create accurate and compelling job postings or generate customizable screening questions tailored to specific roles and candidate profiles for a more targeted and effective interview process.

HR and talent acquisition professionals can also use generative AI to draft various types of emails in the recruitment process, for example, outreach emails and rejection letters.

What’s more, some talent intelligence platforms are now incorporating generative AI functionality that enables you to search within their databases with a question instead of a complex Boolean search string. You can also analyze candidate profiles relative to the job descriptions of your vacancies.

Onboarding 

During onboarding, AI-powered chatbots can act as virtual onboarding assistants to provide new hires with real-time support, answering questions related to company policies, compensation and benefits, requesting leave, and other vital information. This support can enhance the onboarding experience and help new employees settle in more quickly.

Training and development

Combining generative AI and HR can positively impact employee growth and development. For example, generative AI can provide customized learning and development suggestions for employees by analyzing their skills, performance data, and career aspirations.

AI-based coaching is also growing in popularity. AI coaching tools can mimic the benefits of in-person, one-on-one coaching by offering employees real-time feedback, answering questions, and offering insights.

Generative AI technologies are also useful in updating and adapting training materials in accordance with industry requirements. This means learners have access to the latest content, and organizations remain compliant. Generative AI can also be used to create realistic, varied training simulations that operate dynamically based on user decisions. This would facilitate experiential learning and boost decision-making skills. 

Employee engagement

As an HR professional, you can use generative AI to brainstorm employee engagement survey questions that will allow you to gather actionable insights into how you can improve workplace satisfaction, enhance productivity, and address specific areas of concern within your organization.

You can use the already mentioned AI-powered chatbots to engage not only new but also existing employees. They can handle routine employee queries regarding essential company information (such as benefits and policies) and enable HR to offer employees more intuitive self-service applications. This gives HR professionals more time to spend on more valuable face-to-face interactions.

Policy and document generation

Generative AI for HR solutions can be immensely helpful in creating and updating policies and documents. It can help speed up document drafting, provide foundations for contracts and agreements, and accelerate research and writing by drafting documents based on company policy. At the same time, generative AI can help accurately complete forms, reducing typically tedious administrative tasks and paperwork for HR personnel.

HR data analysis

Generative AI can analyze large datasets and uncover key patterns. It can also create visually appealing data insights and images that convey complex information in a simple and engaging way.

An example of using generative AI for analyzing HR data would be looking at anonymized salary data for any trends and anomalies or exploring unusual patterns in employee attendance or performance, which may indicate potential issues that you need to address, such as dissatisfaction or poor management. You can also create scripts for more advanced data analysis with generative AI.

Internal communications 

Generative AI allows you to quickly generate content tailored to the organization’s and its employees’ needs. This includes determining a voice and tone that aligns with company values, personalizing messages to resonate with the individual, and using inclusive language. This helps HR ensure all communications across the business are consistent in tone, inclusivity, and engagement.

Gen AI can also customize messages based on factors like role, interests, location, and professional development stages. Whether you’re engaging with candidates or existing employees, generative AI can help ensure every aspect of your communication is deliberate and effective. 

Speeding up tasks 

If used properly, generative AI enables HR professionals to finish many tasks faster, freeing up a significant amount of time. This allows them to focus on more strategic and value-added activities such as employee development, talent management, and organizational planning. Not only does this help HR teams feel more valued and purposeful, but it also makes them more integral to business growth. 

HR tip

Invest in a course or training workshop to accelerate your AI knowledge if you want to learn more about leveraging popular generative AI tools like ChatGPT to increase HR productivity and business impact.

AIHR’s ChatGPT for HR online and entirely self-paced course is a great example of a practical application course to take.

Top 5 generative AI tools for HR

HR software providers are increasingly incorporating generative AI into their solutions. Here are some AI software and tools examples.

5 generative AI in HR examples

Let’s look at how companies are successfully applying generative AI in HR.

Example 1: Large transport & logistics company

A large company in logistics and services struggled with the scale of HR policy documents that were often difficult to understand. They needed an effective policy retrieval system that would reduce HR’s workload and boost efficiency.

Using generative AI, it created the HR Policy Document Query Assistant. The company used an LLM model to convert text from PDFs and simplify the content of policy documents. Advanced techniques and an orchestration framework (LangChain) improved the HR assistant’s intelligence and responsiveness,

The company saw a 30% decrease in HR queries and a 20% decrease in compliance-related incidents. This led to a more positive employee experience at work, time and cost savings, and improved compliance. 

Example 2:  RingCentral

RingCentral — a cloud comms and collaboration software business —  knew their talent search wasn’t fast enough to meet recruitment targets or DEI goals. Enter Findem’s talent search solution: a generative AI approach to deliver detailed talent insights and trends by combining external and internal data, and automating candidate matching and outreach. 

The advanced talent data cloud with attribute-based search enables RingCentral to find and hire the right talent and create highly targeted and diverse talent pools. They’re also able to gain insight into what could motivate each candidate to consider taking the job, then create targeted outreach campaigns based on their findings. 

RingCentral increased their pipeline by 40%, their pipeline quality by 22%, and increased interest in their vacancies from underrepresented groups by 40%.

Example 3: Manipal Health Enterprises

Manipal Health Enterprises wanted a solution that could provide 24/7 support to nurses, doctors and other employees for all their HR queries. Using Leena, MiPAL was born — a virtual assistant that automatically answers all queries relating to payroll, taxes, leave management, benefits, and more.

This has saved the HR team over 60,000 hours in time manually replying to repetitive questions, reduced the average response time for employees to 24 hours, and reduced the annual new hire attrition rate by up to 5%.

Example 4: Straits Interactive

Straits Interactive is an organization that creates data governance solutions. The company wanted to improve data privacy and governance. Before partnering with Foundry for AI by Rackspace (FAIR), their software helped users to access information relating to data privacy and summarize legal texts. However, trained data privacy experts were needed to interpret the output.

Using GenAI, FAIR created an AI-driven Data Protection Officer assistant to guide global data governance and compliance. Now, anytime anyone has a law-related question, the DPO assistant is available 24/7 to help, no matter how complex it may be. 

Example 5: Heluna Health

Heluna Health — a champion of public health and innovation — was struggling to communicate, collaborate, and engage with a workforce spread across a vast range of projects. By implementing CloudApper’s hrGPT, a personalized communication tool, Heluna Health could deliver targeted, customized messages and updates to specific groups of employees. 

hrGPT is able to mimic human interactions and engage in natural conversations with employees, which retains the quality of human touch without the need for actual human input. This helped improve communication and engagement across the company and create a stronger sense of belonging. Additionally, many HR tasks have been automated and the company has seen improved information consistency, and minimized delays.

How to start using generative AI in HR

Here are some best practices to familiarize yourself with before you begin using generative AI in your HR operations:

Step 1: Start small and experiment 

ChatGPT is one of the amazing free tools you can use to dip your toes into the world of generative AI. Try using it to brainstorm employee survey questions or interview questions, draft emails to candidates, or update a job description. This is a solid way to test the waters of gen AI and get familiar with it before making a significant investment into a generative AI tool.

Step 2: Learn how to prompt effectively

There are three key elements to keep in mind when creating a prompt for ChatGPT:

• Objective: The purpose of the prompt. It clarifies what you want to achieve with your query.
• Context: Any relevant background information that provides a framework for your query. This might involve specifying the topic or including necessary details that can guide the response.
• Format: Specifying any particular formatting requirements (e.g., list, essay, summary).

An example of a prompt would be “Draft a job description for the role of HR Administrator at Mastercard covering responsibilities and what we offer”. Enter different types of prompts for the same purpose to see which prompts result in the most suitable results.

Step 3: Evaluate and refine based on the AI outputs

It’s important to remember that generative AI is always evolving. Review the AI-generated responses, gain insights into the effectiveness of your queries, and identify areas for improvement in prompt crafting to get more accurate and relevant information.

Also, when using AI-generated content, lean on your own knowledge, expertise, and industry standards to assess the correctness of the outputs.

Step 4: Integrate AI gradually

Integrate AI into your workflow at a slow and steady pace. For example, you can start by using it to draft policy documents, then for a simple data analysis a week later. This approach will soften the learning curve for the whole HR team. 

Step 5: Always keep data privacy in mind

As discussed, data privacy is one of the primary concerns when sharing data with gen AI tools. HR professionals have a huge responsibility here, as they frequently deal with sensitive employee information. Ensure that you comply with data protection regulations and maintain confidentiality at all times.

As GenAI becomes more widely used within your HR department and the organization, consider developing a generative AI policy to guide how you work with technology.

Step 6: Collaborate with IT

The final step is to work with your IT team to better understand the technical aspects of GenAI tools. Not only will this help you integrate them properly into your existing HR software and systems, it will minimize technical issues and facilitate smooth operation.

To sum up

As generative AI continues to evolve, it will become an even more integral part of the work landscape. Stay ahead of the curve by implementing generative AI tools and software in your HR operations to help you reduce your team’s admin workload so they can spend more time on work that truly matters.

The post Generative AI in HR: Examples & How To Successfully Start Using AI appeared first on AIHR.

By being strategic about your human resources professional development, you can gain sought-after skills, become a more valuable asset to your organization, and open doors to exciting career opportunities in the future.

So, how can you take charge of your career and maximize your potential? This roadmap will offer tips on how to define your work goals and develop the skills you’ll need to achieve them.

Contents
What is HR professional development?
The importance of Human Resources professional development
Key skills and competencies for HR professionals
Types of HR professional development opportunities
Top HR professional development programs
Creating an HR professional development plan

What is HR professional development?

HR professional development is about equipping yourself with the knowledge and skills you’ll need to excel and advance in your field. This includes formal learning (like completing accredited courses and certifications to enhance your abilities) and informal learning (attending conferences and networking sessions, listening to podcasts, or reading to gain more knowledge).

Successful and highly sought-after HR executives share a common focus on professional development in both HR-specific specialist competencies and broader skills, such as business acumen, communication, leadership, project management, and data analytics. This wider sphere of expertise makes them valuable assets to their organizations beyond HR functions.

Taking a proactive, strategic approach to developing your skills will not only help you succeed in your current role but also enhance your résumé, making you a more attractive candidate for future promotions and job openings.

The importance of Human Resources professional development

As the field of HR continues to develop and expand, continuous learning is your key to remaining relevant and successful. Your HR professional development shouldn’t be seen as a one-off event but rather an ongoing lifelong investment in further developing your skill sets.

Why? Consider the changes constantly reshaping the business landscape and tech advancements. In the past five years alone, the world has experienced a pandemic that has redefined where, when, and how everyone works; frequent regulatory changes that impact workplace compliance; social movements driving diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB); and the rise of the fourth industrial revolution, robotics and AI, and more.

Key skills and competencies for HR professionals

Professionals in any specialized field, including HR, run the risk of becoming disconnected from broader business perspectives and goals. This comes from an overly narrow focus and siloed thinking, which hamper an individual’s ability to add value to their organization on a macro level.

This explains the increasing demand for HR professionals who have expert knowledge in their respective HR disciplines, as well as the ability to collaborate across disciplines with different internal stakeholders on a broad scope of projects.

A professional from this next generation of HR talent is called the ‘T-Shaped’ HR professional. AIHR’s T-Shaped HR Competency Model encompasses the competencies all HR professionals must have to equip them with the versatility needed to tackle complex problems, adapt to changing environments, and succeed in the future.

Becoming a T-Shaped HR professional

Possessing a T-Shaped skill set means building strong HR and leadership competencies, along with a broad range of complementary skills, including:

• Business Acumen: The understanding of the strategic and commercial aspects of the business, as well as how HR can deliver on organizational goals and contribute to the bottom line.
• Data Literacy: The ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data to extract insights for informed HR decision-making.
• Digital Agility: The ease of using technology to improve HR processes and champion digital adoption.
• People Advocacy: The use of productivity, culture, and wellbeing to build a human-centric workplace.
• Execution Excellence: Achieving objectives through problem-solving, stakeholder engagement, and purposeful execution.

Types of HR professional development opportunities

HR professionals can explore a range of opportunities to develop the five core HR competencies mentioned above. There are additional specialist competencies you should develop, namely, Awareness and Attraction, People Experience and Culture, Business Transformation, Talent Growth, Digital HR, and People Operations.

Here are some ways to help you further develop your skill set:

Internal training programs

Internal training programs are structured learning experiences designed and delivered within an organization to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies of its employees. The programs are often tailored to meet the specific needs and goals of the company and help to provide targeted skill development.

These internal courses can help hone your recruitment, compensation, leadership expertise, or talent management skills, depending on the specific needs of your company and employee KPIs.

External HR professional development opportunities

Investing in external development opportunities fuels personal growth and moves your career forward. Venturing beyond internal training can unlock your full potential in four main ways:

Professional associations:

• Become a member: Joining internationally respected organizations like the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) grants access to an invaluable network of HR professionals.
• Access communities: You can leverage their online communities, attend exclusive events, and pursue industry-recognized certifications (see below) to elevate your professional credibility.

Join an active and engaged community

AIHR has a thriving and engaged community with over 25,000+ ambitious HR professionals from all over the world who discuss thought-provoking HR topics, share ideas and learn from one another. We also offer weekly live events to help members stay current with the latest in HR.

AIHR certificate programs:

Formal industry certifications boost your HR career in two important ways. First, they provide a structured learning path, ensuring a strong foundation in the skills and knowledge necessary to take on greater responsibility. Second, these credentials enhance your résumé, showcasing your commitment to professional development and expertise in the field

• Access a wide range of certificate programs: AIHR offers a comprehensive suite of certificate programs designed to hone your HR expertise and provide impressive credentials to beef up your CV.
• Become certified: AIHR’s certificate programs can help you become certified in the areas of HR Generalist, People Analytics, HR Metrics & Reporting, and more. 

Industry conferences and webinars:

• Attend industry conferences to gain knowledge and learn from other HR professionals
• Gain insights into curated topics on pertinent issues impacting the business
• Leverage events like these to connect with your industry peers and grow your professional network
• Although webinars don’t provide credentials you can add to your résumé; they do offer a convenient and cost-effective way to expand your knowledge in specific areas by learning from industry experts
• Some webinars also offer recertification credits — look out for these if you need a refresher course and updated certification.

Top HR professional development programs

Staying ahead of the curve in HR requires continuous learning. Here’s a list of courses and certifications to accelerate your HR professional development journey, including options from AIHR and its esteemed partner organizations. 

1. Expand your horizons with AIHR partner certifications

Earning a global HR certification strengthens your ability to handle HR complexities, including legal and cultural aspects, and proves your eligibility for global HR roles.

• HR Certification Institute (HRCI): Offers globally recognized certifications for various HR experience levels, including Associate (APHRi), Professional (PHRi), Senior (SPHRi), and Global (GPHR). Focuses on HR operations, recruitment, employee relations, and global HR strategy.
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): Offers globally relevant certifications with a strong US market focus. Also provides certifications for HR professionals (SHRM-CP) and HR leaders (SHRM-SCP), and focuses on HR practices related to organizations, people, leadership, and workplaces.
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD): Prominent HR body in Europe and the UK that offers certifications through accredited universities or their membership programs. Its highest ‘chartered member’ level signifies expertise and leadership.
• HR Professional Association (HRPA): A Canada-focused organization offering certifications, including the CHRP, which validates proficiency in Canadian HR practices and regulations.

2. Elevate your career with AIHR’s certificate programs

AIHR certificate programs that align with your career aspirations will provide you with the knowledge and skills to advance your career in the ever-evolving HR landscape. You’ll also earn points and credits toward accredited HR certification from eight professional associations. Click here for more details.

3. Get full access to AIHR’s online Academy 

When you sign up for our Full Academy Access, you’ll be able to:

• Unlock our extensive library of on-demand training content, including 13 certificate programs, 56 courses, and mini-courses covering various HR disciplines and industry trends
• Use our interactive HR career planner to help you tailor your learning path to suit specific goals and interests
• Have access to a dedicated coach to help you reach your professional learning goals
• Interact with our community of 25,000+ HR professionals
• Get access to hundreds of off-the-shelf templates, playbooks, and tools to enable you to create more value in your current HR role.

HR tip

Be publicly accountable for your goals. A study on goal achievement that involved five diverse groups found that the group that had created written goals and action plans, as well as publicly informed and updated a supportive friend on these plans, was most effective. They accomplished significantly more of their desired outcomes than the other groups did. So the next time you commit to a goal, like completing a certified training program, enlist the support of a trusted colleague or friend or announce your plans and post regular updates on social media. 

Creating an HR professional development plan

Take control of your professional development with this five-step guide to creating a personalized plan that aligns with your goals and unique strengths and interests.

Step 1: Identify your strengths

Start your journey by reflecting on your strengths. Consider past performance reviews, feedback from colleagues, and successful projects. Determine if you excel at communication, data analysis, or strategic planning to identify strengths you can leverage in your desired career path. 

Step 2: Align your passion and values

Let your values and interests guide your career choices. Which areas of HR are you most passionate about, and what type of work do you find most stimulating and rewarding? Answering these questions will help you identify an ideal career niche.

Also, think about the kind of work environment you thrive in and what your non-negotiables are in a company culture. Reflect on values like trust, respect, collaboration, work-life balance, and continuous learning to identify the organizations that appeal to you most.

Step 3: Define your career aspirations and set SMART goals

Define your career aspirations — consider your key strengths, passion, and values, as well as what position or specialty you want to explore. If you’re wondering how to develop yourself as an HR professional, AIHR’s Career Mapping tool provides an easy, intuitive way to visualize various career pathways to help you define your journey.

Once you’ve mapped a clear career pathway, draw up your HR professional development goals using the SMART goals formula:

• Make your goal specific by defining it precisely. For example, ‘become a Compensation & Benefits manager’ is more specific than ‘get a promotion in HR’
• Ensure your goal is measurable by establishing metrics to track your progress. For instance, ‘obtain a certification within 12 months’ sets a quantifiable target
• Choose an attainable — it should be challenging yet achievable, based on your skills and resources
• Make sure your goal is relevant by aligning it with your strengths, values, and overall career aspirations
• Set deadlines to stay focused and ensure your goals are time-bound. For example, ‘complete a Compensation & Benefits certificate program within 10 weeks’ creates a sense of urgency.

Step 4: Identify skills gaps and development opportunities

Compare your current skills with those needed for your target career to achieve your goals. Take AIHR’s T-Shaped HR Competency Assessment to pinpoint knowledge areas that need development. This online assessment evaluates your depth of HR expertise alongside your broader business acumen, digital fluency, and data literacy needs.

Step 5: Build your action plan

Finally, create a concrete, step-by-step action plan using AIHR’s Career Aspirations Template to map out specific activities, timelines, and resources to bridge your skills gaps and reach your development goal.

Take the next step

Ready to unlock your full HR potential and propel your career forward? AIHR’s certificate programs are your springboard to success. Earning an AIHR certificate shows your commitment to your professional development and positions you as a valuable asset in today’s competitive job market.

Start with individual courses or sign up for Full Academy Access for unlimited access to our extensive library of HR professional development courses, templates, resources, and more. Enroll today to build the HR skillset to take your career to the next level.

The post How To Advance Your HR Career With Human Resources Professional Development (In 2024) appeared first on AIHR.

In addition to increasing productivity and decreasing turnover rates, a well-structured employee incentive program can attract quality candidates to a company. It shows them that the employer appreciates and seeks to reward employees who exceed expectations, and it would likely motivate them to join the organization and perform well.

Contents
What is an employee incentive program?
The benefits of employee incentive programs
21 examples of employee incentive programs
– Wellness incentive programs
– Points-based incentive programs
– Sales incentive programs
– Gift card incentive programs
Developing an effective employee incentive program: Best practices

What is an employee incentive program?

An employee incentive program is a concrete way to recognize and reward employees for outstanding workplace performance that exceeds expectations. These could include exceeding sales targets, creating novel solutions, exceptional customer service, or going above and beyond to help fellow employees. Top performers may receive rewards in the form of financial bonuses, gift cards, extra days off, or professional development opportunities.

HR professionals can implement employee incentive programs regularly (monthly, quarterly, or annually) or on an ad hoc basis. They can also design these programs to cater to individual, team, and departmental achievements, with specific types of rewards for employees in these different categories.

For instance, individual awards celebrate outstanding performance by individual employees, while team rewards recognize team effort and promote collaboration. Departmental rewards, on the other hand, acknowledge excellent results from specific departments, fostering a sense of ownership and accountability within each one.

Generally, employee incentives come in monetary or non-monetary forms to suit diverse preferences.

• Monetary incentives, like bonuses or profit-sharing, offer employees concrete financial rewards
• Non-monetary incentives, such as public recognition or paid time off, can further motivate employees and make them feel valued.

The benefits of employee incentive programs

Apart from improved employee morale and motivation, employee incentive programs present a few other significant benefits:

• Greater productivity: Employees who feel valued usually also feel more motivated to be productive and perform to the best of their abilities.
• Cost reduction: While employee incentive programs require financial investment, they ultimately help companies save money by decreasing turnover and absenteeism, improving efficiency and work quality, and enhancing customer satisfaction.
• Talent retention: Companies with high employee satisfaction can avoid unnecessary hiring costs, as their turnover rates tend to be low. Employees who know they’re appreciated are more likely to stay with a company. 
• Greater talent attraction: A robust employee incentive program signals to potential hires that your organization invests in its employees’ success, making it even more attractive to them. 
• Improved company culture: Employee incentive programs can help create and reinforce a culture of motivation, self-management, ownership, belonging, and responsibility among employees. 
• Strategic goal achievement: Employee incentive programs can target specific goals to support your organization’s strategic development
• More effective collaboration: A variety of incentive programs aimed at individuals, teams, and departments can encourage employees to collaborate cross-functionally and more effectively.

21 examples of employee incentive programs

Below are 21 employee incentive program examples to inspire you when developing similar programs for your organization. They fall into four broad categories:

• Wellness incentive programs
• Points-based incentive programs
• Sales incentive programs
• Gift card incentive programs.

Employee wellness incentive programs

Employee wellness incentive programs usually cover physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing initiatives. They revolve around the idea that when employees feel their best, they are much more likely to give their best at work.

1. Fitness incentives

Employees receive free or discounted gym memberships or subsidies for exercise classes like spin, yoga, or Pilates. Organizations also provide company-wide fitness challenges or sponsor local races, creating a sense of camaraderie and healthy competition among employees.

HR tip

When working on fitness incentives, highlight their benefits and communicate their availability to employees. Offer flexible hours for exercise schedules to increase participation rates.

2. Health incentives

Employers reward employees for adopting healthy habits and achieving health goals. Some examples include losing weight, normalizing blood pressure, lowering cholesterol levels, or quitting smoking. A RAND Corporation study found that employers who offered their employees health incentives reported a 22% higher average participation rate in wellbeing programs than employers who didn’t offer similar incentives.

3. Mental and emotional wellness

Companies can offer Employee Assistance Programs that provide confidential counseling to help employees manage work anxiety or personal challenges. It can also include conducting mindfulness workshops to teach mindfulness techniques and stress management strategies. Employees may also get paid mental health breaks or free access to meditation or mindfulness apps to support mental wellbeing.

4. Financial wellness

Financial wellness incentives usually cover financial literacy, goal and debt management, and retirement planning. Companies may host budgeting, saving, and debt management workshops. They may also offer financial aid to assist employees in managing their student loan debts or provide emergency relief funds to support them through sudden financial loss.

5. Social and community wellness

Some companies grant employees paid time off to volunteer for causes they care about, fostering social connection and purpose. They may also host charity events requiring company-wide participation to promote philanthropy, social interaction, and team bonding.

Points-based employee incentive programs

Points-based incentive programs reward employees for goal achievement, project completion, or exceptional performance. Employees can earn points for their accomplishments (similar to how customers earn points with loyalty programs).

6. Milestone rewards

Employees receive rewards in the form of points when they hit major career milestones, such as work anniversaries or significant contributions to important projects. Employees can cash their accumulated points for monetary or non-monetary rewards like cash or gift/dining/shopping vouchers, etc.

7. Peer-to-peer appreciation

You can encourage your employees to appreciate and reward their peers with points for exceptional teamwork or cooperative behavior. These points can then be redeemed for a range of gifts or perks. This type of employee incentive program enhances collaboration and promotes company culture among employees. 

8. Meeting customer satisfaction goals

Employees who consistently receive high customer satisfaction ratings earn points redeemable for experiences like spa days, weekend getaways, or buffet dinners. Some companies may also allow these employees to exchange their points for additional paid time off or exclusive company merchandise.

9. Employee referral program

Employees who successfully refer their friends and colleagues (former or current) to their employers for open positions can receive points they can use for cash gifts, additional paid time off, or company merchandise.

An employer may decide to reward points for referrals on a tiered basis, meaning an employee receives points when their referral:

• Completes and submits a job application
• Completes or passes an interview
• Is hired
• Completes their onboarding process.

10. Learning and development program

Employees get points for completing online courses or attending workshops. They can then redeem these points for subscriptions to industry publications, professional certifications, or coaching sessions.

Employee sales incentive programs

This type of incentive program rewards sales staff for performing at a higher-than-expected level and exceeding their monthly, quarterly, or yearly sales targets. Often part of a broader sales compensation plan, a sales incentive program may offer specific rewards for particular achievements (e.g., a 10% increase in conversion rates).

11. Role-specific incentives

Such initiatives reward sales reps based on their capabilities using a tiered monetary incentive scheme, which features a higher reward for every subsequent milestone reached. The purpose of this type of initiative is to motivate sales leaders to outperform themselves.

12. Omnichannel sales incentives

Omnichannel sales incentives reward sales representatives for their contributions at different stages of the buyer’s journey, including interactions through digital sales channels. The aim is to recognize and compensate the reps not only for closing sales but also for their roles as online consultants and advisors during the early stages of the purchasing process, even when they are not involved in the entire transaction.

13. Sales commissions

Sales commissions are rewards for sales staff based directly on their sales volume. Commission structures and amounts vary by industry and are typically calculated as a percentage of each sale amount (in addition to fixed monthly pay). You can also arrange tiered incentives for exceeding targets or achieving sales for specific products. 

14. Sales spiffs

These entail short-term bonuses for achieving specific goals within a limited timeframe. An example of this is awarding cash bonuses to sales reps for selling a certain number of high-margin products in a single week.

HR tip

Implement a leaderboard that tracks individual sales performance to create competition and excitement in your incentive program. Top performers can win prizes, bragging rights, and early access to new products or sales territories. You can also gamify the process with points, badges, and virtual challenges. 

15. Team sales goals

Some sales managers or leaders set collective sales targets for their whole team and reward them once they reach these targets, with possible additional rewards for exceeding them. This fosters collaboration and a sense of shared responsibility, ownership, and success across the entire sales team.

16. Team profit sharing

This involves implementing a profit-sharing model in which team members share a particular portion of the profits generated from team sales. This directly links their efforts to financial rewards and motivates sales reps to hit and even exceed their targets.

Employee incentive gift card programs

Many companies use employee incentive gift card programs, allowing staff to choose rewards. 69% of employees say they would appreciate gift cards from their employers.

Here are some examples: 

17. Closed-loop gift cards

Closed-loop gift cards are exclusive to one specific store or brand. You can arrange their issuance and distribution via a partnership between the organization and other businesses (usually retail, F&B, tech, or grocery stores).

18. Open-loop gift cards

Typically branded with a credit card network like Visa or Mastercard, these gift cards can be redeemed across multiple brands (unless specifically restricted). Unlike closed-loop gift cards, employees have the flexibility to redeem these wherever the affiliated cards are accepted.

19. Employee of the Month gift cards

Gift cards are a popular choice of reward for employee of the month programs as they allow the recipients to choose rewards they personally appreciate. Some online retailers, such as Amazon and eBay, offer these types of gift cards.

20. Perfect attendance gift cards

Some companies use gift cards to reward employees who achieve perfect attendance, either for a whole quarter or a year. These gift cards are often for relaxation or entertainment purposes (e.g., spa days or cinema vouchers).

21. Spot bonuses

Some employers issue immediate digital gift cards or gift certificates to top-performing individual employees for on-the-spot recognition of their outstanding work. Known as a spot bonus or spot award, this is a quick and easy but effective way to boost employee motivation and morale, as it typically leads to greater productivity and job satisfaction.

Developing an effective employee incentive program: Best practices

Determine your goals

The first step in creating the kind of incentive program your company needs to develop is to identify what you are trying to accomplish. Remember that the employee incentives you develop should support the business’s overall objectives. For instance, if your company strives for innovation, the program could reward employees who introduce new ideas.

Find out employees’ priorities

Employees have different needs and preferences, so a one-size-fits-all approach rarely works. Understanding what your staff values can help you craft an incentive program that resonates with them to get the most out of it. 

Use employee engagement surveys to help you decide on the most effective incentives: cash bonuses, gift cards, or additional paid time off. Do your company’s employees value entertainment perks or flexible work schedules? And do they prefer public recognition programs or more private types of appreciation? 

A flexible package may be the best option, as it would allow employees to choose the incentives they like most. Include a mix of financial incentives, time-off options, wellness perks, and professional development opportunities. Communicate how the incentives work and how they can choose the rewards. 

Evaluate your options based on gathered data

Understanding employees’ priorities helps you make informed decisions about your incentive program. It’s essential to identify which incentives fit their needs while ensuring they align with your organization’s goals. For example, if the main objective is to boost company sales, prioritize incentives that motivate employees to close more deals. 

Other things to consider when designing your incentive programs include:

• How much are you willing to spend to get the most value?
• How easy is it to implement your incentive program?
• Can it be adjusted to accommodate changing business needs or a growing workforce?

Get feedback on your shortlisted ideas

Once you’ve narrowed down your options, get employee feedback on your program ideas to decide which one to develop and implement.

Be sure to get employees’ opinions on each aspect of your different program ideas so you can get a well-rounded, comprehensive picture of what they want (you can use conjoint analysis for this). Once you’ve evaluated your options, consider pilot testing them first to identify any issues early, then introduce them in stages so you can adjust them based on continued employee feedback.

Ensure fairness throughout the process

Ensure rewards and incentives are distributed fairly to avoid demotivating employees, which would reduce your incentives’ effectiveness. Establish clear and transparent criteria for earning rewards to ensure fairness in your program.

For instance, if the goal is to improve sales, rewards could be based on exceeding sales targets. Communicate the program rules, criteria, and reward distribution process openly to all employees and apply them consistently. 

Maintain and update the program regularly

Request feedback regularly so you can modify or update the program according to your employees’ changing needs. Track which incentives are the most effective so you can continue using them, and eradicate those you find to be the least effective.

If possible, automate feedback collection to make submission more efficient and convenient. One way to achieve this is to distribute surveys at regular intervals.

To sum up

A well-designed employee incentive program isn’t just about handing out rewards. It’s about understanding your workforce, aligning incentives with company goals, and fostering a culture of recognition and appreciation.

By prioritizing employee needs and preferences, ensuring fairness, and measuring program effectiveness, you can create a powerful employee incentive program to motivate your team, boost morale, and drive business success.

The post The 21 Best Employee Incentive Programs [+ Real-Life Examples] appeared first on AIHR.

Fair compensation is necessary as it is a fundamental driver of employee morale and job satisfaction. Consider that 44% of organizations lose employees because they don’t provide competitive salaries, while employees who believe they are paid fairly are 30% more likely to be satisfied with their jobs.

Contents
What is salary benchmarking?
Why is salary benchmarking important?
How to benchmark salaries
Best salary benchmarking tools and free calculators

What is salary benchmarking? 

Salary benchmarking — also known as compensation benchmarking or pay benchmarking — is the process of evaluating a company’s internal salaries based on their external value. This involves comparing job descriptions and pay ranges with those of similar positions in other organizations within the same industry.

Organizations use compensation surveys, government labor databases, and compensation consulting services to gather accurate job market data. This data helps establish competitive salary packages that ensure employees receive pay comparable to what competitors offer for similar roles.

HR professionals use salary benchmarking to assess and enhance the competitiveness of their organization’s compensation packages. Collecting and analyzing this data allows them to create salary packages aligned with company budgets, helping their organizations remain productive and profitable.

Factors that influence salary benchmarking

1. Industry: Salaries can vary significantly between industries due to differences in market demand, profitability, and the complexity of roles within each sector.
2. Geographical location: The cost of living, availability of talent, and local economic conditions in different regions can significantly influence salary levels for similar positions.
3. Company size: Larger organizations often have more resources and may offer higher salaries than smaller companies, which usually have smaller budgets.
4. Education levels: Positions requiring higher levels of education and expertise tend to command higher salaries.
5. Cost of living: Companies with offices in areas with a higher cost of living often offer higher salaries to attract and retain employees.
6. Scope of responsibilities: Jobs with broader or more complex responsibilities typically offer higher compensation to reflect their heightened expectations of employees in those positions.
7. Specialized credentials or required skills: Roles that require unique skills or certifications tend to offer higher pay to attract individuals with the necessary qualifications and expertise.

Why is salary benchmarking important? 

Salary benchmarking is essential to help your organization remain competitive and retain top talent by providing you with crucial information on the salaries your competitors offer. Understanding these benchmarks will help you develop attractive compensation packages, streamline your recruitment process and minimize the need for prolonged or aggressive hiring efforts.

Offering competitive salaries based on benchmarking data also boosts employee morale and job satisfaction. When employees feel they are compensated fairly and in line with industry standards, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated, leading to improved performance and retention.

Regular salary benchmarking keeps your organization’s pay structures fair and aligned with current market trends. This is vital in a dynamic job market as it helps you remain responsive to changes in industry pay standards. Additionally, it helps you determine costs associated with new hires so you can develop effective strategies to attract and retain top talent while remaining within budget constraints.

Understanding market compensation trends enables you to make informed decisions on salary offers, ensuring both competitiveness and financial prudence. Salary benchmarking is also crucial for compliance with state and federal labor regulations. It ensures your company’s pay practices meet legal requirements, reducing the risk of potential disputes or penalties arising from compensation discrepancies.

HR tip

While sharing salary information amongst industry peers can be risky and sensitive, you can obtain such information through less conventional methods, like Reddit threads. However, do bear in mind that this is just one source of data you can use in your salary benchmarking research — you should not treat it as a single source of truth.

How to benchmark salaries

Develop a salary benchmarking plan

A comprehensive salary benchmarking plan is essential for a successful benchmarking process. You must clearly define both long- and short-term objectives and align them with your organization’s strategic goals. Establishing and adhering to a strict timeline is also crucial for salary benchmarking, especially in a rapidly changing job market where data can quickly become obsolete.

Include a detailed budget to ensure you have sufficient financial resources to acquire quality data. This might include subscribing to salary surveys, investing in benchmarking software, or engaging consultants. Identifying necessary resources (including team members, tools, and technology) can help prevent delays and facilitate the smooth execution of each phase.

Create clear job descriptions

Clear and accurate job descriptions form the basis for comparing your internal roles with external market benchmarks. Detailed descriptions outlining responsibilities, required skills, and relevant qualifications help you match internal positions more precisely with similar roles in other organizations. This precision is critical because job titles alone can be misleading, often encompassing different responsibilities across different organizations.

In-depth job descriptions also enhance internal clarity by aiding employees’ understanding of their roles, which can boost job satisfaction and performance. Regularly updating job descriptions ensures they align with current industry standards and evolving role expectations, enhancing your benchmarking data’s relevance and applicability.

Consider your data sources

Appropriate data sources are crucial for effective salary benchmarking, as the quality and relevance of your data directly impact the accuracy of your benchmarks. Using multiple reliable sources—such as industry-specific salary surveys, government labor databases, and aggregated employer-reported data—provides a comprehensive view of salary trends across different sectors and regions.

Employee-reported crowdsourced data offers additional insights into broader market trends and emerging salary expectations. Regularly updating your data sources ensures your benchmarks reflect current market conditions. This helps you align your compensation strategies with prevailing salary norms and maintain organizational competitiveness.

Analyze compensation data

Effective salary benchmarking starts with identifying roles that require benchmarking and then gathering relevant data from reliable sources. Comprehensive data collection helps your benchmarks accurately reflect market conditions. Additionally, prioritizing roles of strategic importance or with high turnover rates allows you to focus on positions that significantly impact organizational success.

Using multiple sources, such as salary surveys, industry reports, and data-sharing networks, provides diverse salary data covering different aspects of compensation. Benchmarking software, like Pave and Hibob’s compensation management tool, can facilitate efficient data aggregation and analysis, simplifying the interpretation and application of setting attractive salary ranges.

At the same time, regular updates to data collection methods and incorporating emerging data sources will ensure your benchmarks remain accurate and relevant. Trusted salary data sources include surveys from Mercer, Payscale, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Establish a compensation strategy

Aligning salary benchmarks with your organization’s goals is essential for developing a strong compensation strategy. This alignment ensures that salary structures support broader objectives like growth, retention, and competitive positioning — all while remaining financially sustainable. HR professionals can integrate benchmarking data to create salary packages tailored to the organization’s needs.

HR tip

Use exit interviews to understand why employees leave, especially if there are compensation-related reasons. This feedback can provide direct insights into whether your organization’s salaries are competitive. Ask departing employees about their new offers and what influenced their decision to leave, then use this information to adjust your compensation packages and increase your chances of retaining future talent.

Balancing competitive salaries with budget constraints helps attract and retain talent without compromising financial health. Consider factors such as company size, geographic location, and current salary structures to ensure salary decisions are in line with market conditions and organizational objectives.

Set salary ranges

Setting salary ranges involves defining the minimum and maximum pay for each role based on market data and job requirements. This process ensures competitive and equitable compensation, which is crucial for attracting and retaining talent. Using benchmarking data, you can set salary ranges that reflect market values while accommodating different experience levels and skills.

HR tip

Regularly review competitors’ job advertisements to understand the salary ranges they are offering for similar positions. This provides a benchmark for your own salary structures. Set up alerts on job boards and company career pages for roles similar to those in your organization to monitor changes and trends in offered salaries, ensuring you remain competitive in the job market.

Creating salary bands for entry-level, mid-level, and senior positions within each role provides both flexibility and structure, ensuring fairness and internal competitiveness. Regularly reviewing and adjusting salary ranges also helps maintain alignment with market trends and internal changes, as well as overall fairness.

Additionally, adjusting salaries for geographical differences aligns compensation with cost-of-living variations. However, do note that this practice is now changing, as some companies with remote workforces tend to keep salaries for similar positions the same regardless of their employees’ locations.

Document everything

Documenting your salary benchmarking process and its outcomes is essential for transparency and organizational trust. A detailed report must outline your methodology, data sources, and findings in order to support salary adjustments or recommendations with solid evidence.

Maintaining detailed records of surveys, data sources, and analyses ensures consistency and provides a valuable reference for future salary reviews and adjustments. This thorough documentation is critical for demonstrating that salary decisions are not arbitrary but grounded in rigorous analysis.

Sharing this documentation with management and stakeholders helps build understanding and support for proposed salary changes. It ensures everyone involved is informed about the basis of these decisions and bolsters the credibility of the salary benchmarking process.

Best salary benchmarking tools and free calculators

To sum up

Salary benchmarking helps build a stable, motivated workforce and reduces employee turnover costs. By aligning your compensation plans with market standards, you make employees feel valued and satisfied. Competitive salary packages help attract top talent, streamline the hiring process, and enhance overall employee morale and job satisfaction. The results are higher engagement, better performance, and improved retention rates — all crucial for organizational success.

Salary benchmarking also ensures compliance with state and federal labor regulations, reducing the risk of legal disputes or penalties related to compensation discrepancies. Regularly updating your salary benchmarks keeps your pay structures fair, competitive, and aligned with current market trends. This helps your organization stay responsive to changes in industry pay standards, supporting broader organizational goals and building a culture of fairness and transparency.

The post Salary Benchmarking Guide: How To Pay Your Employees Fairly appeared first on AIHR.

In this article, we’ll dive into what disciplinary action is, some examples, and the steps you need to take to handle it in the best way possible. 

Contents
What is disciplinary action?
Reasons for disciplinary action
Disciplinary action examples
Disciplinary action process steps
How to write a disciplinary action for an employee
Disciplinary action form (Download)
Disciplinary action letter (Download)
Disciplinary action policy best practices
FAQ

What is disciplinary action?

Disciplinary action is a corrective measure a company takes when an employee fails to meet performance expectations or behavioral requirements set by the organization’s policies, procedures, and laws. For example, an employee might receive a verbal warning from their manager or HR when they are late for work.

The primary goal of disciplinary action is not to punish the employee. It’s to correct the employee’s behavior while documenting the issues in case the problem happens again in the future. 

Depending on the organization and available resources, HR’s role in workplace disciplinary action varies. In some companies, HR is only involved in more serious disciplinary actions. In other organizations, they may be involved in all disciplinary meetings. In both cases, HR is responsible for outlining disciplinary action policy and formalizing procedures for responding to actions that go against the company’s rules. Generally, these policies are outlined in the employee handbook.

Reasons for disciplinary action

While your organization has its own norms around desirable and undesirable workplace behavior, there are some examples of behaviors that are unwanted in any business:

Employee misconduct

There are two kinds of employee misconduct: general and gross. General misconduct is behavior that does not mean to harm others or the organization. Examples are not following a manager’s orders or smoking in a non-smoking area. These kinds of misconduct do not require immediate termination.

Gross misconduct, on the other hand, earns immediate termination in many cases. These are behaviors such as theft or intentional property damage.

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment in the workplace constitutes unwanted sexual behavior that causes someone to feel sad, frightened, offended, or humiliated. In the United States, sexual harassment is illegal but does not always result in the termination of the perpetrator.

Discrimination

Workplace discrimination is when an employee is treated differently or less favorably because of their gender, race, sexuality, religion, pregnancy, or other characteristics. Discrimination can happen between employees or between employees and employers. A formal non-discrimination policy helps fight discrimination in the workplace.

Absenteeism issues

There are many different types of work absenteeism, but simply put, absenteeism is when an employee doesn’t show up for work when they are supposed to. It’s normal to miss work due to illness or an emergency, but absenteeism is usually unplanned and often happens without notice. It can become a substantial problem when it impacts other employees’ work.

Absenteeism is often a sign of deeper workplace issues like poor management and employee burnout.

Work performance

When an employee fails to reach or maintain a company’s work performance criteria tied to their job’s responsibilities, it can result in disciplinary action.

Sometimes, support from the team and managers can help underperforming employees improve. Still, other times, performance issues reveal more serious problems, such as disengagement or unhappiness in the workplace.

Bullying in the workplace

Workplace bullying is targeted behavior directed at one person or a few people. It can happen between employers and employees or just between employees. Bullying can be verbal or physical and is intended to offend, mock, or intimidate.

Some examples are:

• Harsh criticism in front of other employees
• Extreme performance monitoring
• Insults or name-calling
• Deliberate exclusion of specific individuals from meetings or team events. 

Tardiness

Unlike absenteeism, where the employee does not show up, tardiness is when they show up but are consistently late. Irregular lateness getting to work is unavoidable due to unforeseen circumstances. However, chronic tardiness can damage the team’s morale and be a cause for corrective action.

Disciplinary action examples

Employers have multiple options for disciplinary action. Usually, the goal is to correct poor performance or behavior by identifying the problems, causes, and solutions rather than punishing the worker.

This requires you to have a progressive discipline policy in place. That means that the corrective steps begin with the lowest severity and become increasingly severe when an employee fails to correct the situation after being given an opportunity to do so.

Here are some examples: 

Disciplinary action process steps

A disciplinary action needs to follow a number of specific steps to ensure it’s fair and legal. Let’s take a look.

1. Identify the issue 

The first thing that you need to do is to recognize and clearly define the employee’s behavior or performance as problematic. You can refer to the employee handbook to compare between what is acceptable and what happened. Make sure to be objective and specific when identifying the issue to maintain clarity and fairness. You should: 

• Observe and document specific instances of problematic behavior or performance
• Note down details like dates, times, and what went down
• Focus on concrete facts rather than interpretations or feelings. 

2. Investigate the issue 

A disciplinary action can’t take place without a formal investigation. The goal of this step is to determine what happened, when it happened, where it happened, why it happened, whether anyone else was involved and whether someone witnessed the incident. 

An investigation involves gathering relevant information and documentation (e.g. performance reports, emails, and other communication). You might also need to speak with witnesses to gather additional insight. Depending on the nature of the offense, it might take you a couple of days to a few weeks to investigate the matter.

This is especially important in more serious cases of misconduct.

3. Have a disciplinary hearing

Less severe instances of undesirable workplace behavior won’t require a formal disciplinary hearing. In other cases, the hearing shouldn’t take place too long after you finish your investigation. However, there should be enough time for the employee to be informed and prepare for the hearing. You’ll need to send an invitation to the employee, either by mail or email, with the following information: 

• The alleged misconduct or performance issue and the potential outcomes
• All the evidence you’ve gathered from your investigation
• When and where the hearing takes place 
• The employee’s right to be accompanied by a colleague or a union representative 

During the hearing, both the employee and employer will have the chance to make their case. At the end of the hearing, the employer needs to give the employee an estimation of when they’ll find out the outcomes.

4. Decide and implement disciplinary action 

After the hearing, work together with the manager to decide if any disciplinary action should be taken and what this would look like. Make sure to: 

• Assess how serious the issue is and whether there have been any previous related incidents
• Refer to the company’s disciplinary policies to choose an appropriate course of action
• Consider any mitigating circumstances. 

To implement the disciplinary action, the employer can give a verbal warning, a written warning, or a performance improvement plan. This would depend on the severity of the issue. You can refer to the previous section for a list of disciplinary action examples and what each of them means. 

Make sure that you clearly communicate the action and the reasons for it to the employee. You’ll need to document the incident and the disciplinary action to protect both the employee’s rights and the organization’s interests. 

5. Explain the appeal process 

Don’t forget to inform the employee of their right to appeal any disciplinary decision. You should clearly explain the process they need to follow, including whom they need to contact, the deadline for submitting an appeal, and the steps involved in the review process. This allows you and the organization to maintain transparency and fairness and helps the employee feels they have a chance to be heard.

6. Monitor and follow up 

After the disciplinary action has been enforced, make sure to actively monitor the employee’s progress. You can schedule regular follow-up meetings to discuss the employee’s performance or behavior, give feedback, and make adjustments to the improvement plan as needed. This ensures that the employee can smoothly reintegrate into their role and improve their performance or correct their behavior. 

7. Escalate when needed 

In cases where the problematic behavior or performance doesn’t improve post-discipline, you may need to escalate the matter. This involves more severe disciplinary actions (e.g. additional warnings, suspension, or even termination). These are harsh actions, so make sure that they are justified and carried out in line with company policies, and well-documented to avoid potential legal issues.

How to write a disciplinary action for an employee

An important part of the disciplinary process is to issue a disciplinary action for an employee. Here are some tips to help you write a fair, objective, and clear disciplinary action: 

• Be specific: Describe the behavior or performance issue in detail. Include information such as dates, times, the context of the incidents, and any parties involved. For example, if an employee was repeatedly late, list the dates and times when these incidents happened.
• Describe the impact: Explain the broader implications of the employee’s behavior or performance on the team, department, or the company as a whole. For example, coming back to our previous example, you can explain how consistent tardiness can disrupt team workflows, delay projects, and lower team morale. 
• Refer to past actions: Bring up details of any previous disciplinary actions related to the current issues. This shows that the employee is aware of the issue previously and has had opportunities to correct their behavior. 
• Clarify expectations and actions to take: Clearly outline the expected behavior or performance from the employee moving forward and detail specific actions the employee needs to take to improve. For example, if the employee needs to improve their performance, work with the manager to set clear, achievable goals, and offer them additional training, mentoring, or more frequent feedback sessions. This helps the company set clear standards and shows commitment to the employee’s development. 
• Outline possible outcomes: If the employee doesn’t improve, clearly state the potential consequences, including further disciplinary actions up to and including termination. It’s crucial the employee understand the seriousness of the situation and the potential impact on their employment status. This helps manage expectations and highlights the importance of following company standards.

There are two ways that you can approach issuing a disciplinary action. You can send a disciplinary action form, which is a streamlined way to address disciplinary issues. You can also opt for a disciplinary action letter. Make sure to document this letter to protect your company against legal risks in cases of termination.

Disciplinary action form

A disciplinary action form template provides a consistent and fair way to handle employee misconduct while clearly recording and documenting the incidents and actions taken.

Disciplinary action letter

Using a disciplinary action letter ensures clear and formal communication of the issues, expectations, and consequences to the employee, reinforcing the seriousness of the matter. It also provides documented evidence of the steps taken and the employee’s awareness of the situation, aiding in legal compliance and future reference.

If you’re not sure how to write this letter, here’s a template that you can use:

Let’s take a look at two examples of disciplinary letters addressing specific workplace issues.

Disciplinary action letter for workplace theft

Disciplinary action letter for not following instructions

Disciplinary action policy best practices

Employee disciplinary action can be one of the most demanding aspects of HR. The best way to set the HR team up for success is by establishing expectations for the team and always documenting the disciplinary process from the very beginning. Here are some best practices to get your team started: 

Carry out an HR investigation

Carrying out an HR investigation is especially important when dealing with serious issues like bullying, harassment, or gross misconduct. You need to conduct an investigation to effectively address the issue and take relevant disciplinary action.

In addition, you ensure that everyone involved is treated fairly while creating a safe work environment for all employees.

Create a clear progressive discipline policy

Employees must know what behaviors constitute disciplinary action at your organization. You might want to include concrete examples in your policy. For instance, describe what would be considered misconduct at your company. You can refer to our guide on employee misconduct for more information. 

Include the disciplinary policy in your employee handbook or intranet pages and make it easily accessible. You might also consider making the reading mandatory or asking the managers to discuss the policy with their team members. Additionally, it would be a good idea to include a training on employee conduct and disciplinary action in your employee onboarding process. 

Communicate your disciplinary action policy

Employees must know what behaviors constitute disciplinary action at your organization. You might want to include concrete examples in your policy. For instance, describe what would be considered misconduct at your company.

Include the disciplinary policy in your employee handbook or intranet pages and make it easily accessible. You might also consider making the reading part of your onboarding process or asking the managers to discuss the policy with their team members.

Explain how to appeal the decision

Your employees must know how they can appeal a disciplinary decision and what steps they can take to do so. You also have to make sure that they know you’re taking them seriously and that you want to hear their side of the story even after you’ve made the decision.

Educate managers

Any time a supervisor does not discipline an employee with the same procedures as another team member, you set yourself up for legal action for discrimination and unequal treatment.

Your role as an HR professional is to educate managers on the disciplinary action policy and how to apply it. You also need to ensure that they’re using it consistently and correctly. You can do this by holding regular manager training and creating a system that allows you to review disciplinary write-ups easily.

Document your disciplinary actions

Documenting everything will help you manage progressive actions regarding employee discipline and create a legally defensible process. Make sure to keep everything in a secure employee file.

Keep the policy updated

Regularly review your disciplinary action policy to ensure it is still relevant and see if there’s anything you should add. For example, when moving to a hybrid/remote setup, you might want to give examples of what certain unwanted behaviors, such as bullying or harassment, look like in a virtual setting.

To conclude

Taking disciplinary action is not pleasant for any of the parties involved. However, having a clear disciplinary action policy with outlined unwanted behaviors and steps to take will help you ensure that you can handle the matters fairly and transparently.

FAQ

The post Disciplinary Action at Work: An HR’s Guide [+ FREE Form] appeared first on AIHR.

In this article, we will describe what job enlargement is, review its benefits and drawbacks, explain some best practices, and share a few examples of job enlargement in the digital age that show its relevance in today’s and tomorrow’s world of work.

Contents
What is job enlargement?
What is the objective of job enlargement?
Types of job enlargement
Job enlargement vs. job enrichment
Job enlargement advantages and disadvantages
Job enlargement examples
How to implement job enlargement
FAQ

What is job enlargement?

Job enlargement is expanding the duties of an existing role while maintaining its level within the organization. This means that a person will handle new responsibilities that fall within the scope of their current job title. For example, an employee will now take over the work planning that was formerly done by their manager.

The goal of job enlargement is to enhance employee satisfaction and performance by expanding the variety of tasks and responsibilities within their role. It is a key technique in job redesign, along with job enrichment, job rotation, and job simplification.

Job enlargement was born out of the need to overhaul what the early 1900s wave of job specialization had generated. Job specialization means that employees develop specific skills to work on a narrow set of tasks. The thinking here is that the individual will be highly effective in executing these tasks. Although boring and repetitive, specialized jobs made good business sense at the time due to their increase in output and profit.

One of the most famous examples is the Ford Motor Company. Because of the highly specialized assembly line created at its factories, the company was a leader in the marketplace. As a result, the company was able to offer workers a much higher minimum wage and give them more time off.

Job enlargement was popularized in the 1960s and ’70s as the opposite of specialization job design. During that time, increased attention was on factors that made a job motivational. There was a realization that traditional mass production assembly lines were monotonous and deeply dissatisfying work situations.

Although the concept of job enlargement has been around for decades, it remains entirely relevant. Today’s business climate is filled with fast-paced growth and continual changes in the nature of work. Organizations now expect employees to adapt to new methods and shifting priorities and be flexible in how they do their jobs. A job enlargement model is one way to ensure that added and evolving responsibilities are covered.

What is the objective of job enlargement?

Job enlargement aims to boost employee engagement and organizational effectiveness by broadening the scope of an employee’s role, thereby increasing the variety of skills used and reducing job monotony.

Taking on the challenge of new responsibilities often results in higher job satisfaction and the capacity for more career path options. This strategy not only benefits employees by making their jobs more interesting and promoting their professional growth but also helps organizations build a more skilled and motivated workforce.

Types of job enlargement

There are two main types of job enlargement which are described as horizontal and vertical. Here’s what these mean: 

• Horizontal job enlargement: This involves assigning additional but similar tasks to a role that will keep the job at its current level of responsibility. For instance, expanding a salesperson’s territory to increase the company’s sales opportunities and boost the employee’s commission. Another example is giving an assembly-line worker more parts to install on a product to add variety to their job while consolidating production.

• Vertical job enlargement: This entails adding tasks to a role that will increase an employee’s scope of responsibility and autonomy. For example, authorizing an administrative assistant to propose and maintain the budget for team-building activities or putting a food service worker in charge of training new hires. By augmenting employees’ responsibilities and accountability, they can find more fulfillment and offer a greater contribution to the organization.

Job enlargement vs. job enrichment

Job enlargement is often confused with job enrichment, but they are not the same. Job enlargement involves adding more tasks to an employee’s role to increase the variety of work, while job enrichment involves enhancing a job’s responsibilities to make the work more engaging and meaningful.

This means that job enlargement is one way to execute job enrichment but not all job enrichment activities are also considered job enlargement. 

Here are examples of each to illustrate the difference between the two concepts:

Job enlargement advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

Enlarging highly specialized jobs can lead to a number of advantages for both the employee and the employer, such as the following:

1. Reducing monotony by creating a wider range of activities: In essence, job enlargement is about adding responsibilities to existing roles to combat boredom. Varied activities decrease monotony and make a job more interesting. Instead of doing one highly specialized task all day, employees are more involved from end to end. For instance, taking a single product through multiple production phases or even managing an automated assembly belt.
2. Promoting skill development and career growth: Additional job responsibilities require training and give employees the chance to explore new interests and expand their work experience. The skills and knowledge they acquire equip them to secure more career growth opportunities with the potential to earn higher wages.
3. Inspiring employee engagement and satisfaction: Additional and varied responsibilities can be motivational factors. Employees who are being challenged and learning often experience personal growth and find more fulfillment in their work. They may also develop a sense of loyalty to the organization when they view it as being committed to their development.
4. Improving efficiency and productivity: When employees are trained to handle extra tasks, they become more proficient, flexible, and inventive and can adapt as needs change. They’re able to come up with creative solutions, pick up the slack caused by absences, and pitch in when the workload increases. Job enlargement allows organizations to tap into their existing workforce for new or altered duties and avoid the cost of outsourcing or hiring.
5. Gaining more autonomy, accountability, and responsibility: Even though increasing the sense of autonomy isn’t the primary goal of job enlargement, being responsible for multiple related activities gives employees more freedom over how they do their work. In addition, when they have increased interaction with a single product or service, they become more accountable for product quality and mistakes. This drives them to take ownership of their responsibilities.

Disadvantages

Although job enlargement can certainly benefit employees and the organization, there are some possible drawbacks. HR needs to be aware of the challenges job enlargement poses and be prepared to meet them before deciding whether it’s the right technique for your workforce.

Some disadvantages of job enlargement you should deliberate include the following:

1. Lower efficiency: Job enlargement decreases specialization. When highly specialized workers do one activity all day, every day, they soon learn to do it very quickly. In some cases of job enlargement, adding tasks may hinder efficiency. This is especially true at the onset when employees are learning their new responsibilities. 
2. Lower quality: If workers are stretched beyond their capabilities, output quality can be affected. Also, reducing specialization can affect the level of expertise within your workforce. However, as we’ve already discussed, repeating the same specialized task all day can lead to boredom and a lack of attention to detail. Furthermore, if employees are only responsible for a small part of the product, they don’t have a whole product concept and may not have a sense of ownership and willingness to improve.
3. Job creep: Job creep is a continuous increase in workload as more and more tasks are added to a position. If this isn’t executed well or employees don’t find the new tasks meaningful, job enlargement can make the role feel overwhelming and potentially lead to stress and burnout. This is even more likely to happen if employees are not being recognized or paid more for taking on extra duties.
4. Increased training levels and costs: Because job enlargement involves the adding of tasks and responsibilities that the employee didn’t have before, it often requires an increase in training levels and training costs. In addition, employees need time to overcome the learning curve and reach their optimum productivity.

Since job enlargement has both advantages and disadvantages, organizations must individually assess whether or not it is the right option. An HR business partner or an organizational development specialist can consult with managers on what job redesign strategy the most sense according to the unique circumstances of the job.

Job enlargement examples

Seeing how job enlargement plays out in the real world is a good way to understand it better. Below are three examples of job enlargement in practice: 

1. In a hospital setting

As robotized surgeries increased, surgical procedures were affected. Surgeons began controlling a robot through a console, usually located in the corner of the operating room. When a major U.S. hospital implemented this, they found that having the surgeon away from the operating table hindered communication.

Traditionally, the surgeon dictated the procedure and given instructions. However, with the surgeons physically distanced from the operating table they didn’t have a full overview of what was happening on it and the area nearby. It became necessary for an operating assistant to take over part of the surgeon’s customary role. 

As a result, this assistant was trained in how to communicate with the rest of the team and in the execution of different activities that would otherwise be performed by the surgeon. 

2. In corporate communications

Another job enlargement example comes from the corporate communications team in a large multinational fast-moving consumer goods company. This firm had specialized advisors to manage communication around the implementation of new digital tools. Despite this, the adaptation of tools remained low. 

After looking into it, they discovered that corporate communications did not always align with the purpose of the tool and its functionality because the team was not always fully informed. They resolved this by enlarging the jobs of the communications team. The team was included in the initial conversations and research around the purpose and main functionalities of the tools, as well as user interviews and drafting design criteria. 

The expertise of the communications team proved helpful in this stage. It enabled them to draft a communication strategy earlier that connected with the user problems that the new software tool was solving.

3. For extending social media reach

A multi-location property management company wanted to make better use of social media for marketing purposes and communicating with its apartment buildings’ residents. Instead of hiring a full-time social media director, management selected one willing leasing agent from each location to create/film a few social media posts per week.

This increased the company’s social media presence while customizing content for each building individually. It also provided certain employees with the opportunity to take on an innovative responsibility that allowed them to be creative and develop new, transferable skills.

How to implement job enlargement

Each organization must take its own approach to job enlargement based on its industry, workforce structure, and business needs. While job enlargement may look different to every organization, there are some universal best practices HR can adopt. 

Here are several ways HR can effectively support the job enlargement process: 

• Communicate clearly and involve employees: Employees will be resistant to change that they don’t understand. With regular communication about the purpose of job enlargement and how it will benefit them and their career, employees will be more likely to accept and embrace the concept of taking on more responsibilities. Provide periodic updates, actively involve them in the decision-making process, and address their concerns and questions. When employees feel informed and included, they’re more comfortable giving their buy-in.

• Set employees up for success with thorough preparation and training: Job enlargement typically requires employees to acquire new skills and/or knowledge. Implement comprehensive training and development programs that will equip employees to navigate their expanded tasks and responsibilities effectively. These may include online courses, hands-on simulations, seminars, workshops, or mentoring.

• Take a measured approach to implementation: Introduce job enlargement gradually. Employees need time, support, and resources to get familiar with and adjust to juggling new responsibilities. Add new tasks incrementally, ensuring employees get up to speed without feeling inundated and frustrated. Managers should closely assess employees’ capacity and proficiency levels and provide supportive guidance as necessary.

• Keep the workload balanced: When left unchecked, job enlargement can make a role feel overwhelming. Added tasks must be balanced with existing responsibilities to keep the workload manageable and prevent burnout. The process must allow leeway for altering priorities, redistributing tasks, and supplementing resources.

• Monitor performance and outcomes: Job enlargement initiatives should be evaluated for effectiveness in achieving your goals, whether it’s reducing monotony or productivity. You can reveal the overall impact of job enlargement and identify improvement areas by establishing viable performance evaluation and feedback mechanisms that track employee progress and gather constructive input. Ensure there is flexibility for making necessary adjustments that will maximize employees’ success and satisfaction with the enlarged job roles.

• Recognize and reward employees: Acknowledging and showing employees appreciation for taking on job enlargement requirements goes a long way in keeping them motivated and fostering engagement. Put a reward system in place that salutes effort and showcases employees’ contributions, for instance, public recognition, celebratory events and activities, or gifts and bonuses.

On a final note

Job enlargement may have originated as a remedy for the tediousness of highly specialized assembly lines, but it is still pertinent in today’s digital world. With an increasing number of tasks being automated or digitized, roles will naturally shrink and become more specialized. 

With job enlargement that is well-supported by HR, employees can embrace new responsibilities and become more agile. Once they feel the reward of being challenged and growing their abilities it will reinforce their engagement and willingness to perform at their highest level.

FAQ

The post What Is Job Enlargement? [A Guide + 3 Examples] appeared first on AIHR.

A PESTLE analysis can provide valuable insights into external market dynamics, enabling you to proactively align your HR strategies with broader factors and internal business goals to address emerging challenges.

Contents
What is a PESTLE analysis?
The 6 factors of a PESTLE analysis
Why use a PESTLE analysis?
SWOT vs. PESTLE analysis
How to conduct a PESTLE analysis
PESTLE analysis templates
A PESTLE analysis in action

What is a PESTLE analysis?

A PESTLE analysis (sometimes called PESTEL analysis) is a strategic tool that organizations (and Human Resources) can use to identify and analyze the external factors that impact their operations and decision-making processes. 

The acronym PESTLE stands for: 

1. Political
2. Economic
3. Social
4. Technological
5. Legal, and; 
6. Environmental factors. 

This comprehensive analysis helps you to understand the broader environment in which you operate, allowing you to anticipate changes and adapt your strategies accordingly. 

As an HR professional, you can use a PESTLE analysis to better understand your market, labor changes, and regulatory requirements.

The 6 factors of a PESTLE analysis

The PESTLE analysis factors explained

Let’s take a look at each of the six factors in a PESTLE analysis.

1. Political factors

Political factors include government policies, political stability, and organizational regulatory changes. In the HR environment, political factors might include changes in labor laws, such as new regulations on minimum wage, working hours, or employee benefits. 

For example, a government mandate increasing the minimum wage would require HR to adjust compensation structures and possibly re-evaluate staffing budgets.

2. Economic factors

Economic factors relate to the broader economic environment and its influence on your business. These factors typically include changes in the job market, inflation rates, and economic downturns. 

While an economic recession could lead to budget cuts and require layoffs or hiring freezes, the cost of living also directly impacts employees and candidates. In this case, HR would need to develop strategies for maintaining morale and productivity during tough economic times.

3. Social factors 

Social factors examine societal trends, cultural norms, and demographic changes that impact organizations. These factors could include shifting workforce demographics, such as an aging population or increasing diversity. 

An aging workforce, for example, might prompt you to focus on succession planning and knowledge transfer. Increasing diversity could lead to the development of inclusive hiring practices and diversity training programs.

4. Technological factors

Technological factors focus on technological advancements and innovations. For example, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in HR will require further digital transformation.

Adapting to new technologies is important for remaining competitive and attracting top talent. 

As an HR professional, you may not be the decision maker when it comes to investing in new tech, but you can make a business case for HR to stay ahead of the technology game. For example, you can ensure employees are adequately and continuously trained in the use of generative AI.

5. Legal factors

Legal factors encompass the laws and regulations that govern organizational operations. In HR, legal factors include compliance with employment laws, health and safety regulations, and labor standards. 

For example, new data protection regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), require HR to ensure that employee data is securely managed and that privacy policies are strictly followed to avoid legal repercussions.

6. Environmental factors

Environmental factors involve ecological and environmental considerations that can affect organizations. HR typically includes corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and sustainability practices. 

As an HR professional, you might develop programs to promote remote working to reduce the company’s carbon footprint or implement policies encouraging recycling and waste reduction.

Why use a PESTLE analysis?

Anticipate changes in the external environment

One of the primary benefits of PESTLE analysis is its ability to help HR professionals anticipate changes in the external environment. For example, new labor laws or economic downturns can significantly impact staffing and training programs. 

By conducting a PESTLE analysis, HR can identify potential legislative changes and economic trends early, allowing them to prepare and adapt their strategies accordingly. This foresight helps mitigate risks and ensures the organization is not caught off guard by external shifts.

Align HR strategy with business goals

PESTLE analysis also aids in aligning HR strategies with overall business goals. If you have a macro view of the factors affecting your organization, you can develop initiatives that support and enhance the company’s strategic objectives. 

An example of this in action is understanding technological advancements and their potential impact on your industry and business, which can guide training programs, recruiting skilled talent, and adopting new HR-related tech.

Enhance decision-making

You can use a PESTLE analysis to enhance your decision-making processes. The data gathered from analyzing the six key factors offers valuable insights that can inform HR decisions. Whether planning for workforce expansion, developing employee retention strategies, or implementing new technologies, understanding the external factors at play ensures that HR decisions are well-informed and strategic, leading to more effective and sustainable HR practices.

Here are a few other key reasons why you should regularly conduct a PESTLE analysis:

• Recognize and proactively address threats early
• Capitalize on identified opportunities
• Enhance organizational resilience through dynamic and responsive strategies
• Look beyond internal metrics and consider external influences that impact your workforce
• Promote a holistic view of the HR environment
• Develop well-rounded HR policies and practices.

SWOT vs. PESTLE analysis

A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is an established strategic tool organizations use to identify risk and growth areas within the business. While both are strategic tools, they differ from each other. 

Let’s examine where SWOT and PESTLE analyses overlap and differ and how you can leverage both to increase your value within your organization, solve key challenges, and unlock opportunities.

How to conduct a PESTLE analysis

Step 1: Identify the purpose and scope

Before beginning the PESTLE analysis, clearly define the purpose and scope. Determine what you want to achieve and which specific aspects of the business or HR strategy will be analyzed. This step ensures that the analysis remains focused and relevant.

→ Do this: Define the HR objectives you want to address with the PESTLE analysis, such as improving employee retention, planning workforce expansion, or adapting to new regulations.

Step 2: Gather relevant information

Collect data and information on each of the six PESTLE factors: political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental. Use reliable sources such as government reports, industry analyses, market research, and expert opinions.

→ Do this: Use HR analytics tools and external sources to gather data on workforce trends, such as changes in labor laws, economic forecasts, and technological advancements. This includes recruitment, candidate and employee reports, and surveys from respected sources.

Step 3: Analyze each PESTLE factor

Examine the data collected for each PESTLE factor. Identify how each factor might impact the organization and, specifically, the HR function. Consider both current influences and potential future trends.

→ Do this: Create a list of potential impacts on HR per factor in your PESTLE analysis template. Some factors may be more urgent and topical than others. You don’t need to address all six factors at once.

Step 4: Identify opportunities and threats

Based on the analysis, identify the opportunities and threats posed by each PESTLE factor. Again, there may not be an urgent opportunity or risk per factor. As you become more familiar with using your PESTLE analysis, you can prioritize which factors should be addressed now and which are longer-term focus areas (as discussed in step 5).

→ Do this: Develop a matrix for HR opportunities and threats. For instance, an opportunity might be the availability of advanced HR software, while a threat could be new data protection regulations requiring changes in HR data management.

Step 5: Prioritize the factors

Assess the significance of each PESTLE factor and prioritize them based on their potential impact on the organization and the HR function. Focus on the most critical factors that require immediate attention or present the greatest opportunities.

→ Do this: Rank the identified opportunities and threats based on their potential impact on HR objectives. Prioritize those significantly affecting workforce planning, employee engagement, or compliance.

Step 6: Develop strategic responses

Develop action plans that leverage the opportunities and mitigate the threats you have identified, ensuring that HR strategies are adaptable to external changes.

→ Do this: Create specific HR action plans for high-priority factors. For example, if technological advancements are a priority, plan for HR technology investments and employee training programs to enhance digital skills.

Step 7: Monitor and review

Monitor the external environment regularly and review the PESTLE analysis to ensure it remains current and relevant. Update the analysis to reflect any new information or changes in external factors.

→ Do this: Establish a schedule for periodic reviews of the PESTLE analysis, such as quarterly or bi-annually, to ensure HR strategies remain aligned with the latest external trends and developments. The world of work moves far quicker than previously. Strategies are only as relevant as the current economic, social, and legislative environment – not to mention the acceleration of technology. 

PESTLE analysis templates

These free downloadable PESTLE analysis templates in Word and Excel formats are designed to assist you in evaluating the external factors that may influence your business operations.

PESTLE analysis template: Excel

PESTLE analysis template: Word

A PESTLE analysis in action

Let’s now look at a hypothetical example of a PESTLE analysis performed by HR. 

Political factors

• Government initiatives aimed at reducing unemployment, such as subsidies for hiring unemployed individuals or tax incentives for creating new jobs, can positively impact recruitment efforts.
• The local government is stable and provides a conducive environment for business growth. However, upcoming elections may result in policy changes.

HR’s focus: Monitor the political environment regularly and update HR policies accordingly. Develop contingency plans to address potential labor policy changes.

Economic factors

• An expanding economy leads to increased business opportunities, requiring more hiring and training programs.
• Low unemployment rates, linked to a growing economy, have led to talent shortages, requiring HR to enhance recruitment strategies and employee retention efforts.

HR’s focus: Invest in employee development to retain talent during competitive job markets. Focus on proactive recruitment to meet the demands of a growing business.

Social factors

• An aging workforce requires more focus on retirement planning and succession planning.
• Shifts in societal values, such as the growing emphasis on work-life balance. Growing societal calls for improved Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace have influenced the expectations of younger employees and workplace culture.

HR’s focus: Promote a culture of continuous learning and development to accommodate different career stages and a transfer of knowledge that supports succession planning. Implement inclusive policies and programs that cater to diverse employee needs.

Technological factors

• Advancements in HR Technology: Innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) and HR analytics are streamlining HR processes, from recruitment to performance management.
• The rise of remote work technologies has transformed the workplace, making it essential for HR to manage remote teams effectively.

HR’s focus: Invest in cutting-edge HR technologies to enhance efficiency and data-driven decision-making. Develop robust remote work policies and provide training for employees to adapt to new technologies.

Legal factors

• Regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require stringent data protection measures, impacting how HR manages employee information.

HR’s focus: Conduct training sessions for HR staff on the latest legal requirements and data protection practices regarding personally identifiable information (PII) that impact how employee data is collected, stored, and archived.

Environmental factors

• Promoting remote work to reduce carbon footprints or implementing green office practices. 
• At the same time, increasing environmental disruptions, such as floods and large-scale wildfires, disrupt workflows.

HR’s focus: Develop and promote sustainability initiatives within the organization. Create emergency preparedness plans to ensure business continuity and employee safety during environmental disruptions.

Getting started

A well-structured and regularly conducted PESTLE analysis is not just a strategic tool; it is a game-changer for organizational growth and the strategic importance of the HR department. By systematically examining political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors with a PESTLE analysis template, HR professionals can proactively address external challenges and seize emerging opportunities.

This foresight lets you align HR initiatives with broader business objectives, ensuring that the organization is agile, resilient, and prepared for the future. The insights gained from a thoughtful PESTLE analysis can empower you to make data-driven decisions, enhance employee engagement, and support a culture of continuous improvement. 

Ultimately, HR professionals should use a PESTLE analysis to elevate the HR department from a support function to a strategic partner, driving the organization’s long-term success and sustainability.

The post Free PESTLE Analysis Templates and Actionable Guide  appeared first on AIHR.

This article will explore both training and development models in detail, including their key advantages and disadvantages, when to use which model, and best practices for HR professionals when using instructional design models.

Contents
What is the ADDIE model?
What is SAM?
Benefits and drawbacks of the ADDIE Model
Advantages and disadvantages of SAM
ADDIE vs. SAM: Key differences
ADDIE vs. SAM vs. Agile Models
When to use the ADDIE Model
When to use SAM
Using instructional design models: Best practices for HR professionals

What is the ADDIE model?

The ADDIE model is a systematic instructional design framework consisting of five consecutive phases:

• Analysis phase: Discovering what training or learning your team needs.
• Design phase: Defining learning objectives based on your findings.
• Development phase: Developing appropriate learning modules.
• Implementation phase: Rolling out your training initiative and giving employees access to the learning modules.
• Evaluation phase: Measuring the skills and knowledge employees have gained and collecting feedback from them.

Florida State University (FSU) developed the ADDIE training model in 1975 for military purposes, which is why it’s built on a precise and cumulative approach. ADDIE is sometimes known as a “waterfall” design method because each step builds on the previous one, meaning each model phase must be carefully completed before moving on to the next.

For this reason, the ADDIE learning model suits methodical workers. It works well for structured, comprehensive projects that need a measurable model. However, unexpected changes to project goals can move you back to the analysis phase, and discovering mistakes later on can make it tricky to pivot due to a lack of flexibility.

The ADDIE model could also call for a significant investment of time and money because of the upfront analysis and planning.

What is SAM?

Dr. Michael Allen created SAM (Successive Approximation Model) as a quicker, more creative training model. It’s a rapid development model that opts for a continuous iterative approach throughout the development cycle rather than ADDIE’s linear, step-by-step approach. 

The SAM model consists of three main phases:

1. Prepare: Gather information.
2. Design: Design appropriate training based on the findings, make a prototype, and then review it (continuous process).
3. Develop: Develop, implement, and evaluate the training module (continuous process).

This agile model relies heavily on quick solutions, testing, and pivoting directions as you go. It suits employees or teams who think well on their feet, embrace change, and work on tight deadlines.

SAM is particularly useful for developing dynamic and engaging training programs, especially when building soft skills. However, the model requires continuous collaboration and communication, which can make it slow and unpredictable. Because of this, it cannot guarantee clear or consistent results.

Benefits and drawbacks of the ADDIE Model

Depending on the kind of project you’re involved in and how structured you want it to be, ADDIE has several benefits and drawbacks.

Benefits:

• A linear, sequential model
• Suitable for larger, long-term projects
• Focuses on producing a high-quality final product
• Aligns with learning objectives 
• Clear objectives, metrics, and parameters for success
• Suits learning with strict parameters (e.g., compliance).

Drawbacks:

• Unsuitable for smaller, short-term projects
• Requires more thorough upfront analysis and design 
• Fewer collaboration opportunities due to siloed tasks.

Advantages and disadvantages of SAM

Like ADDIE, SAM has its advantages (like greater flexibility and quick solutions) and disadvantages (such as final product quality and more required resources).

Advantages:

• Suitable for smaller, short-term projects
• Accommodates flexible and adaptable requirements
• Circular and iterative model
• Responsive to learner feedback
• Great for tight deadlines
• Offers solutions quickly
• Works for soft skill or self-care training that’s hard to measure
• The process can repeat until a perfect solution is found
• Suits an in-house collaborative environment.

Disadvantages:

• The quality of the final product is usually lower than it would be in the ADDIE model
• Requires more resources for continuous improvement throughout the process
• Learner feedback is harder to quantify compared to clear metrics
• Continually iterating but not seeing an ROI.

ADDIE vs. SAM: Key differences

In addition to the advantages and disadvantages of both ADDIE and SAM mentioned above, HR professionals should be aware of a few key differences between the two models.

Timeline

• ADDIE: Suited to a project with a longer deadline and lots of time to find the perfect solution. 
• SAM: Suited to short deadlines and situations where a solution is needed quickly. 

Objective

• ADDIE: Uses clear metrics and parameters, including ROI analysis, to determine effectiveness. 
• SAM: Relies on difficult-to-quantify learner feedback. 

Type of learning

• ADDIE: Best suited for training and development areas that have strict parameters, such as health and safety training or legal compliance.
• SAM: Effective for training that is hard to measure, including soft skills like communication and teamwork. 

Design trajectory

• ADDIE: Linear approach that involves choosing and developing one solution.
• SAM: Cyclical or iterative, meaning it entails testing multiple solutions quickly until it finds the most suitable one. 

Stakeholders

• ADDIE: Offers clear objectives and easily replicable results, making it suitable for vendors. However, there is also less opportunity for collaboration.
• SAM: Suitable for a collaborative environment where people can test and amend solutions to maximize their chances of success.

ADDIE vs. SAM vs. Agile Models

Let’s explore the differences between ADDIE, SAM, and Agile models.

HR tip

No matter which model you use, make sure you have enough time and a large enough budget to discuss the effectiveness of all parties involved and how to improve things.

When to use the ADDIE Model

The ADDIE model should be used:

• When you have a strict deadline
• For complex, long-term training programs
• When the aim is to produce a high-quality, “perfect” final product
• When conducting training with strict parameters
• For employees who learn best in a methodical, structured way.

When to use SAM

The SAM model should be used:

• For projects with a short deadline and quick turnaround time
• When you’re more confident in the development process
• For projects that will benefit from SME involvement
• In adaptive learning environments
• When conducting training that is hard to measure using metrics
• For employees who embrace change and like to think on their feet
• When you want regular feedback.

HR tip

SAM is particularly useful for updating courses, training programs, and other learning materials based on new feedback or policy changes.

Using instructional design models: Best practices for HR professionals

Here are some best practices HR professionals should apply when using instructional design models like ADDIE and SAM to develop and implement training programs.

1. Understand your needs

Understanding the specific needs of your organization and its employees is the first and most important step. This includes training complexity, objectives, timeline, and budget. 

For example, if your vision for the training program is set in stone, the ADDIE model will help you build a clearer, more comprehensive program. On the other hand, if your vision is more flexible, SAM will help you develop a dynamic program that is more responsive to feedback. 

2. Opt for the best of both models

In many cases, choosing one model and sticking with it is not the best approach, as both have their limitations. Many organizations opt for the best of both worlds by combining the strengths of both models.

For example, you might use ADDIE to build the initial curriculum for your training program, and SAM could then be used to design the best course that will engage your learners and help you fulfill your objectives. 

HR tip

Take a hybrid approach and switch between both models during different phases of your training development process.

3. Aim to move your project forward

If you decide to use the ADDIE model to develop and implement your training program but later realize you need to do more iteration, you can still return to the previous phases. However, remember to maintain thorough documentation of each phase (including modifications), reevaluate training objectives, and ensure learning objectives remain aligned with overall business goals.

As long as you observe the above tips, you can revisit the previous phases as often as you need—there are no hard and fast rules here. What’s most important is creating and delivering an effective training program that helps you achieve your goals.

To sum up

When it comes to weighing the pros and cons of ADDIE vs. SAM, neither model is inherently better or worse. Your choice should depend on your organization’s objectives and employees’ needs. Use the guidance in this article to make an informed decision, and don’t be afraid to pivot along the way based on your findings.

The post ADDIE vs. SAM: Key Differences To Master Training & Development appeared first on AIHR.

According to a Skynova survey of 600 full-time employees with staffing responsibilities, 71% think poaching employees is simply part of doing business. The same percentage also see it as an important hiring strategy.

As an HR professional, you’d benefit from familiarizing yourself with employee poaching — from its definition, legality, and ethics to its different causes and effects.

Contents
What is employee poaching?
Is poaching employees illegal or unethical?
10 employee poaching strategies to retain your talent
How to deal with employee poaching
Tips on how to poach employees ethically
FAQ

What is employee poaching?

Employee poaching refers to the legal practice of an employer approaching an employee of a competing company to try to get them to join their company instead. HR, recruiters, hiring managers, and even employees can be involved in this practice. To sway and entice potential employees, the poaching party may offer higher pay, better benefits, more career advancement opportunities, or anything else the poaching target might want. 

While employee poaching is more common in industries where it’s challenging to find talent — such as tech and customer service — it certainly isn’t limited to those sectors. Any company can and will, from time to time, engage in talent poaching.

Poaching employees is also not limited to external employees. Internal employee poaching works the same way but involves approaching existing personnel at your own organization to convince them to fill a different role within the same company.

Whether internal employee poaching is acceptable depends on the organization. To avoid conflict and maintain a healthy work environment, establish and follow a specific set of rules regarding internal poaching (e.g., always speak to an employee’s manager before approaching the employee themselves).

HR tip

Create a policy on internal poaching and communicate this with the managers in your organization. Emphasize the importance of everyone playing by the rules and encourage people to speak up when something bothers them or they notice anyone not playing by the rules.

Why does employee poaching happen & what is its impact?

Talent poaching often has several causes and has significant effects on both the originating and receiving organizations. Below are some common causes and effects of employee poaching.

Causes:

• Strong market demand for skilled workers amid a weak supply
• Economic factors, such as wage differences between competing companies
• Employee referrals — while not every referral involves an existing employee at another company, some do
• Technological advancements — developments in sourcing and recruiting make it easier for recruiters and hiring managers to scout for and engage with new talent
• Employee disengagement — disengaged employees are usually more open to being poached than those who are content with their jobs and employers.

Effects:

• Loss of knowledge, which happens almost every time an employee leaves a company
• Market dynamics may change, especially if companies poach high-profile personnel
• Potential legal implications — if the poached employee has a non-compete clause or a no-poaching agreement in their existing contract, there may be legal consequences for them and the company poaching them
• Financial implications — for instance, if a small to medium-sized company loses its top-performing salesperson, the business may suffer significant financial loss
• Risk of spreading insider information — when a competitor successfully poaches an employee, the risk of that employee revealing their former employer’s company secrets to their current organization arises.

While these effects are largely negative, as they affect companies whose employees are poached, it’s important to remember there are two sides to these effects. The companies responsible for the poaching will reap the benefits of the same effects, such as gaining knowledge and a competitive edge or improving their financial situation.

Is poaching employees illegal or unethical?

The ethics of employee poaching are debatable and often depend on the circumstances and how an organization goes about it. It also depends on whom you ask, though the vast majority of hiring professionals see it as par for the course. However, a manager who loses their top-performing customer service staff to poaching, for instance, would probably feel very differently about it.

Poaching employees is not illegal in most countries, meaning there is no specific law against it in the U.S. or elsewhere.

“In my opinion, as long as you don’t overdo it, ethical poaching is a smart, strategic recruitment practice, especially when conducted thoughtfully and respectfully. Employees at your competitors not only bring valuable industry knowledge but possess the skills that make them the complete package.”

Chloë de Jonge, People Ops & Office Specialist at AIHR

Can you be sued for poaching employees?

While employee poaching is not illegal, it can have legal implications. These implications are most likely to arise if an organization poaches an employee from a competitor with whom the employee had signed a non-solicitation agreement but ended up breaking it.

A non-solicitation agreement, usually between an employer and employee, prohibits the employee from maintaining professional contact with the employer’s clients and customers upon leaving the company.

However, you should also note that some companies’ actions to prevent employee poaching, namely non-compete clauses and no-poaching agreements, have recently become illegal in the U.S.

Many employers include a non-compete clause in employment contracts to prevent employees from joining competitors for a specified period of time after leaving the company. A no-poaching agreement, on the other hand, is an agreement between competing companies not to poach each other’s employees.

In the U.S., the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have taken a strong stance recently and have filed charges against several companies that have made such agreements. In the EU, the European Commission issued a policy brief in May 2024, stating that it is likely to view wage-fixing and no-poach agreements as having an anti-competitive effect.

The FTC also issued a final rule banning non-competes nationwide in April 2024. The move was made to help “promote competition, protecting the freedom of workers to change jobs, increasing innovation, and fostering new business formation.” The FTC expects this nationwide ban to result in, among other things, over 8,500 new businesses a year and higher earnings for employees.

How to deal with employee poaching: 10 HR strategies

Poaching employees is an undeniable aspect of recruiting. In fact, 74% of hiring professionals admit to having poached employees, with 66% considering effective poaching a competitive advantage.

However, as an HR professional, you can still take steps to lower your organization’s chances of losing its employees to poaching. 

Consider the following strategies:

1. Address employee needs

Happy employees are less likely to want to leave the company. Understand employees’ concerns and needs through regular pulse surveys, conversations with their managers, or stay interviews. Then, address these needs and concerns as quickly and effectively as possible.

2. Offer competitive compensation

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, the top reason people leave their jobs is low pay. Poor benefits also rank high on the list. Offer employees a competitive compensation package to increase the likelihood of them staying.

3. Provide career development opportunities

The same study revealed that a lack of advancement opportunities is the second-biggest reason employees resign. Consider implementing a career progression framework to give employees a visible career path and growth opportunities. This will help motivate them and strengthen their long-term commitment to the company.

4. Include a non-compete clause in employment contracts (outside of the US)

This is a more direct way to avoid employee poaching. A non-compete clause usually states that the employee cannot work for a competitor for a certain period (often a couple of months) after resigning from the company. 

In reality, however, it often just postpones employee poaching instead of totally avoiding it. Recruiters still successfully poach employees who have signed such contracts — they then resign and go on garden leave at their employer’s instruction.

As mentioned above, the U.S. has banned non-competes, but they are still quite common in certain roles in the rest of the world. In Europe, for instance, they are deemed legally binding as long as their limitations are reasonable in terms of the geographical area and the time period during which the poached employee cannot work for a competitor.  

5. Consider making a counteroffer

If a competitor poaches one of the organization’s top performers, you can consider making a counteroffer to get them to stay. This isn’t ideal for two main reasons: the employee’s co-workers may perceive it as unfair, and the company should have prevented the circumstances that caused the employee to want to leave. Still, in reality, many companies make counteroffers to retain top talent, and it sometimes works.

6. Have employees sign a non-solicitation agreement

This is a more indirect way to avoid employee poaching and is mainly used for salespeople. A non-solicitation agreement prevents employees from contacting their former employer’s clients. This means they must build their client base from scratch if they resign, which can discourage them from leaving their current employer.  

Non-solicitation agreements are enforceable as long as they are reasonable, though what is considered reasonable may vary from one jurisdiction to another. An organization may want to engage an experienced attorney to determine what is and isn’t reasonable before proceeding.

7. Develop an incentive plan

A well-designed employee incentive program can boost retention and engagement, thus reducing the chances of talent poaching. Use these employee incentive ideas to help you implement a comprehensive, successful employee incentive program.

8. Foster transparency and regular communication

When managers are transparent and regularly communicate with employees, they’re more likely to thrive in their current company. They’re also more likely to tell their managers if any competitor tries to poach them.

9. Increase employee autonomy

Autonomy in the workplace increases employee engagement and motivation, in turn lowering turnover rates. Employees who have the autonomy to decide when, where, and how they want to do their work—to the extent that doing so is possible—are less likely to seek employment elsewhere.

10. Emphasize employee recognition

A study by Gallup and Workhuman found that companies that doubled their employee recognition efforts saw a 22% decrease in absenteeism rates. Creating an effective employee recognition program can help you minimize turnover rates and maximize retention rates.

Tips on how to deal with employee poaching 

Despite your best efforts to retain employees, your organization is likely to experience employee poaching at some point. Here’s how you can deal with it:

Thank and congratulate outgoing employees

It’s important to be gracious towards employees who tender their resignation so they leave on a positive note. Congratulate them on their new job and thank them for their contributions to the company.

Give them a great offboarding

Offboarding presents a great opportunity to ensure employees remain on amicable terms with the organization. These employees are more likely to compliment the company and even return in the future. Check out our offboarding checklist to help you polish your offboarding process.

Determine why they are leaving

The exit interview is an integral part of the offboarding process. It enlightens employers on why an employee has decided to leave the company. It also informs them about the employee’s experiences during their tenure, giving them an opportunity to learn more and minimize the chances of poaching in the future.  

Stay in touch

Ask leaving employees if they want to stay in touch. If so, add them to the company’s alum page on LinkedIn, include them in your talent pool, and add them to the alumni mailing list. This way, they will be updated on the latest news and developments within the organization.

How to poach employees ethically

As the stats reveal, recruiters do use poaching employees as a strategy to attract top talent to organizations, particularly when it comes to highly specialized roles. If your talent acquisition team uses this strategy, consider how you can do it ethically without burning any bridges. 

Here are some steps you can take to poach employees ethically: 

1. Identify the right talent: Examine potential candidates’ online presence, such as LinkedIn profiles and industry-specific forums. Use advanced search filters to narrow down your options and compile a list of potential candidates. Attend networking events and industry conferences. These events can help you connect with professionals and observe how they engage with others in their field. Personal recommendations from current employees can also be a gold mine for identifying top talent.
2. Initiate contact: Proceed with caution and respect. Begin by reaching out through professional platforms such as LinkedIn or industry-specific forums. Personalize your message to show genuine interest in their skills and experience. Avoid spamming candidates with generic messages, as this can damage your credibility.
3. Respect the employee-employer relationship: Ensure your communication with potential candidates is discreet and confidential. Avoid pressuring them to make hasty decisions or disclose sensitive information about their current employer.
4. Understand their career aspirations: Encourage open and honest discussions about their career goals and aspirations. Show empathy and understanding for their current commitments, and emphasize that your primary goal is to support their professional growth. By maintaining this respect, you build trust and credibility with each candidate and their current employer.
5. Offer clarity during the recruitment process: Begin with a thorough and transparent interview process. Clearly explain the steps involved, from initial screening to final decision-making. Provide each candidate with a realistic timeline and keep them informed throughout the process. Avoid making false promises or exaggerating the role’s benefits. Be honest about the challenges and opportunities that come with the position. 
6. Prepare a compelling offer: Your offer should go beyond just salary; consider the overall value proposition. Highlight opportunities for growth, work-life balance, company culture, and any unique benefits your company offers. Provide examples of how current employees have thrived within your organization to make your offer more enticing.
7. Be transparent: Transparency is key when presenting your offer. Clearly outline compensation packages, job responsibilities, and growth opportunities. Be prepared to answer any questions candidates may have to build trust and demonstrate your company’s commitment to their professional development.

“When considering poaching, never approach multiple members of the same team simultaneously. Colleagues talk, and discovering that multiple team members are being targeted can lead to a loss of credibility and potential reputational damage. Instead, focus on individuals who are the best fit for your organization.

Chloë de Jonge, People Ops & Office Specialist at AIHR

HR tip

Be the best employer you can be so your employees won’t want to switch to competitors.

To sum up

While you cannot avoid employee poaching entirely — whether your company’s employees are the targets or your company is the one poaching competitors’ employees — you can prepare yourself for this eventuality in order to handle it as well as possible. From being attuned to employee needs to setting contractual obligations against talent poaching, you can minimize the potential negative impacts of poaching on your organization and its workforce.

FAQ

The post What Is Poaching Employees? The Legalities & How To Deal With Employee Poaching appeared first on AIHR.