Mobile Technology will make you rethink your HR strategy

The use of mobile technology is on the rise, with employees using their smartphones on a regular basis. And, if you're an employer, this increase isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Wrike’s 2016 Mobile Productivity Report found, for instance, that 44 percent of the more than 850 professionals surveyed said they checked their phones for work more than 20 times per day.

Ninety percent said they believed that their use of mobile technology was critical to getting their work done. Advancements in tech are inspiring businesses to use tech to improve productivity, engage their employees more and streamline processes to save time and labor. Here’s how mobile technology can be used to augment your human resources function, as well:

1. Put opportunity in everyone’s pocket.

Make it easy for job-seekers to find opportunities within your company. Some employers are failing the mobile generation by sticking with clunky, awkward interfaces, which turn off many candidates. A September 2014 Jibe report found that 20 percent of the 1,000 job seekers surveyed said they would give up on an online job application if they couldn’t complete it on a mobile device. Yet, in spite of 70 percent of job-seekers looking to apply for a job via smartphone, only about a quarter of large companies surveyed said they had optimized their hiring process for mobile devices.

Don't let this be you: Instead, invest in a mobile-friendly application experience to attract good talent. Mobile technology should be a main focus for a social recruiting strategy as well. When investing in expanding outreach through social media, keep the candidate experience in mind. Optimize for mobile devices, and use social media to connect with people. A 2015 LinkedIn report found that 47 percent of the 3,894 HR professionals surveyed called social media an effective employer branding tool.

Don’t make people who are interested in your company dig deep to find important information. Use a social-recruiting strategy that targets relevant audiences, with social media posts about the company, the culture and any opportunities available.

2. Hire with confidence.

When focusing on social recruiting, you'll also find it useful to create an employee-referral program. Since social recruiting and employee referrals are among the most successful sources of hire, use these channels with confidence.

The influx of millennials into the workforce makes it imperative that employers use mobile technology to appeal to them. Create an employee-referral program that allows each participant to access the web-based portal anywhere with any device that connects to the Internet. This will encourage staff to participate in the referral program. 

Additionally, implementing an internal interface for HR professionals will help simplify collaboration. This should be a space for quick, web-based document-sharing, where everyone can weigh in on important candidate information to make decisions faster.

Ultimately, allowing employees and HR professionals to access information on demand will simplify the process of submitting and tracking referrals, screening candidates and making hiring decisions.

3. Onboard new hires.

Welcome candidates with a digital experience. Paperless processes reduce waste and automate document-management, offering convenience to HR staff and the new hire alike. Deliver onboarding information and documents directly to the new hire’s hands with an internal employee portal where he or she can find all company resources regarding processes, policies and the like. No more bulky employee handbooks! Branded portals will engage the new employee with the message and essence of the company in an instant. A talent-management platform will enable your human resources managers to pull reports and share them with their teams, enabling management to measure the quality of onboarding, review performance metrics and identify the overall quality of hire for the talent acquisition program.

4. Provide real-time recognition.

Mobile technology allows for instant communication. That means employers can target employees who are exceeding expectations, and issue a reward immediately. Even if the reward is a simple recognition, like a personal thank-you message, the gesture will motivate all team members and make them feel valued. Provide real-time feedback with performance-tracking so employees know how they stack up against expectations. This keeps everyone on task, so projects can be advanced in an efficient manner.

When members of a team can see the progress of their entire project -- from the small tasks to the big picture -- by accessing the project- management feature on their mobile device, they become more aware of their personal impact.

Rewards are also appropriate for strong referrals. The secret to any successful employee-referral program is a strong incentive system. When employees can track the status of their referrals in real time on their phones, they are more likely to participate and join in to help the company attract qualified talent.

Credit: entrepreneur.com