I'm in HR and I really think the average employee has regressed to 1970s personnel needs.

11 Comments

1. GlennDecember 22,2022 at 6:20PM UTC

   You need to examine which questions are arising recently that didn’t before. If some are more frequent, your FAQ interface may need an update (eg certain terms may seem synonymous to you, but modern equivalents to hybrid, return to work, mental health sabbatical, etc. aren’t captured/surfaced).

2. Renee ChalfantDecember 23,2022 at 3:15PM UTC

   I work for a small non profit, with no HR dept. We use an online provider, and staff hate it ! I am asked, weekly, to help navigate it. These staff all are highly educated, but really want a human to talk to. The provider customer service phone support is rude, and not helpful. I had to hire an attorney, personally, to get an issue resolved. No wonder people don't like these systems.. and I am the point of contact !

3. Elise PilkingtonDecember 25,2022 at 3:59PM UTC

   And...if they are written in "tech speak", realize that not everybody is conversant with that.

4. Paula Manczuk-HannayDecember 24,2022 at 2:29PM UTC

   I love self service, but it’s been my experience that not all self service systems are intuitive or easy to learn. And some aspects that aren’t used frequently may be tough to remember. Perhaps developing tutorials people can watch could be helpful to divert some staff. Maybe deputize people in departments to be experts to help. Build some systems to direct people before diving in- reinforcing the “self” part.

   I am sure it’s frustrating to deal with this on a regular basis.

5. Stephanie F, MSHRMDecember 25,2022 at 9:32PM UTC

   We have toolkits. I have found no one reads them, even though they are short, easy, and intuitive.

6. C AllenDecember 25,2022 at 9:22PM UTC

   No. No I do not like self-service!

7. AnonymousDecember 26,2022 at 12:02AM UTC

   You are CLEARLY not supposed to managed 2500 employees by yourself ….

8. Paula BrantnerDecember 26,2022 at 3:19PM UTC

   Personally, I'm someone who learns best on my own, but I've learned through the years that most people aren't like that. They want to be told what to do and need help navigating to the exact place that has the information they need, rather than enjoying the challenge of "figuring it out." I am not in HR but spend a lot of time helping people navigate resources, and so preparing a few stock answers/canned emails/scripts for the questions that come up over and over will save you time and sanity.

9. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 2:05PM UTC

   Is your company in a position to hire additional HR staff or outsource the customer service portion? Do you have videos or other aids that explain self-service? Most job related decisions are pretty consequential for a person's life so people are probably nervous that they will make the wrong choice and just want some human interaction to help them figure things out. And I agree that people are more needy. As companies have stopped providing the kind of guidance and formative experiences that employees need to thrive, things have gotten worse. Technology does not replace excellent training and development, adequate people management, and actually investing in employees. Things will continue to go downhill until executives realize that the human beings who work for them deserve to be treated with respect and cared for. For example, your company could better care for you by adequately staffing your department.

10. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 4:23PM UTC

    My observation 1) Self-service is rarely designed with more than one thought of how people should navigate the information. If you are not wired that way, then you will have trouble navigating it. 2) Next step is to put an AI on top, problem is not one bothers to train the AI so it is rolled out as dim as brand new HR rep with nothing but on the job training to get them where they need to be. By the time most companies have gone overly lean no one has the bandwidth to figure it out on their own. By the time employees struggle through 1 & 2, understandably they only want to deal with a real person to get the answer to their question.

11. Cynthia Armistead NewmanDecember 27,2022 at 5:10PM UTC

    I greatly prefer self-service. My previous employer used an online HR provider and it was great! Most things could be done via web forms that were designed fairly well.

    I can't imagine that you're realistically expected to manage that many employees alone. Have you spoken to management about getting help?