Choosing a HR system: Thinking Gen Y

“If you don’t begin to understand and adapt to this generation, in a few years your business will be in a very difficult spot” Huffington Post

Choosing an HR system is no easy task. There are so many options out there: ERP, BOB, Saas… it’s hard enough to just get your head around the abbreviations. There is lots of good advice already available about choosing performance management systems, but we want to give some advice regarding the people that, in fifteen years time, 75% of your workforce will be made up of. Generation Y.

Is it easy to use?

“The need for instant gratification is not new, but our expectation of ‘instant’ has become faster, and as a result, our patience is thinner”.

Generation Y expects to get what they want when they want it. They won’t settle for waiting around whilst pages load or confusing navigation sends them to the wrong content. So when choosing a performance management system it’s essential to consider how fast it loads and, importantly, how easy it is to use.

If your system is frustrating to use your workers won’t persevere; they’ll switch it off and never return.

Is it accessible on the go?

“Gen Y is digitally literate and constantly connected, so your company must be too” Huffington Post

Increasingly, trainees will expect to be able to access their materials and placement information on the go. If you’re looking at a performance management system, or in fact any sort of HR software, it is essential that it can be accessed on the go and from any device. And this doesn’t just mean iPhones – users are increasingly using a whole range of other devices to access web applications.

Does it allow collaboration?

“Naturally collaborative, talented and open-minded, flexible and they thrive on social media” Psychology Today

Gen Y wants to get their opinion known and they want to collaborate – but in big organisations, this can be difficult. Your performance management system needs to address this. Social functions such as chat, a forum and transparent appraisals are a must in a time when connection and communication is everything.

Let them demo it

Of course, every organisation is different and every workforce is different. Not all of these traits will apply to every individual, but they are useful as a starting point.

The only way to truly know what you need from your performance management system is to ask the people who will be using it. Try a demo yourself, but why not give this demo to the managers and trainees that will be interacting with it every day?

Once you know what your users require from the system you will be in a better place to make a well-informed decision.