How HR can Tackle a Distributed and Diverse Workforce

How HR can Tackle a Distributed & Diverse Workforce

Human resources managers face an evolving set of challenges brought about by technology and a younger workforce’s changing attitudes to labour.

The bar for talent has risen in industries like retail, property management, F&B, construction, and architecture—new hires come from increasingly diverse demographic backgrounds, are “digital natives”,^[i] and value professional engagement over office perks.^[ii]

How do you track attendance for these increasingly mobile millennials?^[iii] How do you train a distracted, dispersed labour pool? How do you update HR practice to keep up with changing local regulations?

HR managers have weighed their current practices and technology against these challenges… and have found them wanting.

Handling rosters and attendance. Managing a roster has increased in difficulty as trends like flexible staffing become the norm.^[iv] Spreadsheet apps can’t keep up with the unique demands of today’s millennial labour pool

A spreadsheet created for a traditional workforce won’t be able to efficiently collect and process information for more widely distributed locations (like promotion booths), high-turnover contract workers, and mobile employees like lorry drivers.

Worse, such spreadsheets can’t produce data that managers can use to detect and respond to employee trends like increasing tardiness.

Ongoing learning for employees. Parties on both sides of the labour divide recognize the value of effective employee training. Implementation, however, is easier said than done.

A McKinsey survey found that 90 percent of respondents agreed that their company prioritised building capabilities, but less than 25% believed their employers’ training programs improved performance in a measurable way.^[v]

There are multiple reasons for this shortfall—among them a lack of employee motivation; unstructured or irrelevant training materials; difficulty in tracking trainees’ progress and performance; and the inability of the training programme to address the company’s and employees’ needs. 

Compliance with Employment Ordinances. HR managers need to be vigilant, to ensure that their records and procedures remain compliant with existing ordinances… and to adjust when the ordinances change.

For example, in 2019, Macau’s Legislative Assembly passed a bill on minimum wage;^[vi] and the Hong Kong government extended statutory maternity leave to 14 weeks.[^vii] HR departments that don’t adjust to such changes can find themselves paying a high cost in fines or other sanctions.

A single, powerful platform like FUJIFILM Business Innovation Hong Kong’s Human Resources solution can go a long way to address these challenges.

For roster and attendance issues, this application simplifies rostering processes, automates leave and attendance processes, and enhances payroll accuracy.

For employee online & offline education , the platform adapts leading-edge technology like gamification, machine learning, Adaptive learning and data analytics to enhance the learning process .

And the platform automates payroll, MPF calculations and tax form generation, and HR reporting, among others—ensuring your organisation’s continuing legal compliance.

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