New book – Good Work, Great Technology – explores how HR technologies can help ‘humans to be their best’

Featuring insights from 93 experts from 87 different organisations across the HR and people management space, a new book commissioned by HR systems provider Ciphr aims to ‘lift the lid’ on the technology that matters most to HR professionals.

Good Work, Great Technology: enabling strategic HR success through digital tools, written by award-winning HR journalist Jo Faragher, looks at how organisations are using different technologies to attract, engage, develop, and manage their workforce, and the positive impact that’s making to HR teams and the wider employee experience.

The book presents actionable strategies, research and lessons learned from around the world of work, while making the case for the power of integrated people technology – showing how rather than trying to get every single software solution from a single provider, there are significant benefits to be had from selecting the best technologies for an organisation’s particular needs that can easily link with the people data in their central HR system.

David Richter, director of marketing at Ciphr, says: “A big impetus for Ciphr in commissioning this book was to help HR teams see people technology in a new light, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach. Our experience of speaking with many HR teams, is, initially at least, that their first preference is to try and procure everything from a single provider. And that’s great if you can. Realistically though, no single provider is ever going to be able to keep up with the pace of change and innovation across the entire market and satisfy every single HR technology need.

“Instead, why not focus on having an excellent central HR solution, and embracing the possibilities offered by connecting it to the specialist tools and software that are most important to your organisation – that helps your people in their roles. There is so much smart, useful, and innovative technology out there that HR shouldn’t be afraid of experimenting to find what works best for them. Because with integrations you don’t need to shift your entire technology stack – you can just integrate with additional, specialist software, depending on your needs.

“Of course, technology is just an enabler. Organisations should never lose sight of why they’re using a particular piece of technology and the benefits that they expect to get from it, and plan accordingly. For me, the best workplace technologies are those that are designed to enhance and support people to do great work. And, importantly, help alleviate the evolving challenges that HR and organisations face in a post-pandemic world, with different ways of working.”

Ciphr’s 207-page book is broken down into sections covering: HR administration – charting how the market for HR and payroll technology has evolved to encompass remote working, collaboration technologies, and automation; Hiring – showing how the right recruitment technology can support HR teams and enhance the candidate experience; Employee engagement and experience – exploring some of the key elements to creating good organisational culture, including how to understand and measure what employees want from a good place to work; Learning and career progression – looking at how organisations can assess and fill their skills gaps and build learning into an employee’s ‘flow of work’.

Within each section are chapters on everything from analytics to automation, onboarding, wellbeing, collaboration, performance management, pay and reward, and more.

Author Jo Faragher says: “For me, one of the book’s key takeaways is that there really is no perfect template for technology in an organisation – you always have to be led by the business. The HR tech market is growing at such a pace that many of the areas covered by the book will have evolved yet further by the time you read it. But as with every digital wave that came before, the key is to understand where it is you’re trying to go, and how technology can help you get there.”

Good Work, Great Technology: enabling strategic HR success through digital tools, is now available to buy in ebook and print versions at Amazon, WHSmith and other online booksellers.

To download a pdf copy of Ciphr’s book, please visit https://www.ciphr.com/good-work-book.

Ciphr is a specialist provider of cloud-based HR, payroll, recruitment and learning software. More than 600 organisations use Ciphr’s integrated HR and people management solutions to help manage, retain and engage staff more effectively – while reducing the admin burden on busy HR teams.

For more information, please visit www.ciphr.com.