From Overwhelmed to Empowered: Why HR Tech Support Matters More Than the Software
As Clear Concepts’ Practice Leader for HR Technology, let me begin by saying I love my job! Working with a firm whose only clients are public school systems means I can apply my experience (13 years in public school HR) to the support of different districts every day. It’s personally rewarding to be able to help so many and it keeps life interesting, too!
The more districts I work with, the more I discover similar goals. For example, nearly all are on a mission to eliminate paper processes. But the perception of exactly what that entails, how much paper they’ve already eliminated and the current HR team’s capability and willingness (collectively and individually) to tackle change or new technology differs vastly.
To illustrate these points, here’s a real-life story of a woman who worked in school system HR. (Full disclosure…the woman is me!)
In my second school system HR job, my position as HR Generalist had been vacant for some time. The person who left, we’ll call her Mary, suddenly retired after many years.
On my first day, I showed up ready to dive into my new role. In the first hour, I learned that I was the proud new “owner” of the district’s HRIS system. “No problem!”, I thought, “I’m ready to tackle this!”
So, of course my first question was, who will show me how to use it? Answer: Mary was the only one here who knew anything about it, but there’s no user manual or binder …so, I’m like, “no problem!” (OK, maybe that’s not exactly what I thought.)
What about Sherry (Asst. Supervisor, HR)? Can she help? Answer: Unfortunately, no, she’s pretty new too and hasn’t done much work with technology. Yikes!
Also, Mary has been gone for about 3 weeks, so there is a backlog of things that need immediate attention. Uh oh. I needed to figure out how to make this thing work and do it quickly!
So, my next move was to go straight to the vendor for support. Can I get some immediate basic training on system use? I learned the technology vendor would charge several thousand dollars for additional training – but I could use their call center.
In the end, I spent many hours learning by trial and error, being shuffled around the vendor’s call center and hoping not to cause irreparable damage, all while documenting the steps that worked. I got through it, but I didn’t exactly feel supported or reassured that I made the right choice in accepting the job!
If this story brings to mind your own experience, then you know you’re not alone. So, how do we best help the people facing similar issues? Even if you’re understaffed, or are working through organizational changes, there is hope!
Every day, there are new technology platforms emerging and they all claim to be better or easier. (Cost is another matter altogether!) However, if you find yourself focusing primarily on details of what the technology does, try to refocus on how it helps you support your people.
One of the key requirements of a technology vendor should be support to your team. What level of support is included? What does it cost? How much can I have? How quickly can they respond? Are they simply a vendor selling an application? A partner? An advocate?
Allow me to share a different (also real) story.
Imagine the alarm bells that went off the next time I was told that I’d soon 'own' another district technology platform—this time the Online Job Center. While I was incredibly proud of what I’d accomplished with the HRIS, this triggered old feelings of resentment and abandonment.
But this time, things were different. Not because my manager knew how to use this platform, or because the call center was easier to navigate, but because the technology vendor was overwhelmingly supportive and customer-service oriented.
The single point of contact for this technology actually taught me how to use the system and provided a lot of documentation like user guides, checklists, and cheat sheets for the most common tasks. She was there supporting me every step of the way as I learned and when I needed to troubleshoot future issues. There was no cost to the district for this unlimited support.
This brings me back to why I love my job. Here, we live by, “everything in the client’s best interest, all the time”. From our point of view, we’re not selling technology. We’re selling support for you and your team first, then ensuring the technology is easy to use and functioning – even when the inevitable problem occurs, or a staff member stumbles or leaves. Now, I get to be the person that steps in, solves problems and responds quickly to my clients – which is exactly what I needed when I was in their seat!
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going!
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by HR technology or struggled with lackluster vendor support, you’re not alone - and I’d love to connect! Let’s share insights, tackle challenges, and find better ways to support our teams.