The People Bulletin

There are over 100 different payroll packages in the UK and nearly 50 human resource systems but there are less than 15 integrated HR & payroll systems available in the UK. Even with the integrated systems, time and attendance is usually a bolt-on.

I have sent out four RFIs (Requests for Information) for integrated HR and payroll systems for different clients in the last 12 months and the responses have been dismal. I mentioned the fact that few payroll developers were considering extending their systems to fully integrated solutions at the last Softworld event in October[1] and one of the payroll developers in the audience suggested to me that it was not what customers wanted. I haven’t been asked to advise on a stand-alone payroll system for over three years now! Talk about ostriches burying their heads in a storm!

'Self-service'

Not only are customers looking for integrated solutions they are also looking for a ‘self-service’ capability for employees and managers. One of my clients installed HR self-service into their 400 employee charity three years ago with a little apprehension of how it would be taken up.  They were concerned that staff would complain about the extra work; they worried that managers would not see the need for it. How wrong they were. The employees much preferred it to sending e-mails and hand-written notes that often got mislaid.  Managers liked the idea of electronically collating their holiday and absence information for their departments. The problem that my client had was that this was a stand-alone HR system that did not pass the information to the payroll system. This meant multiple keying of information; reconciling of databases and a separate system for recording time and attendance. They had a separate time and attendance system to the HR and payroll systems. In the end they decided to replace the stand-alone HR system, which they had only had for three years, with a fully integrated HR and payroll system to enable much wider use of ‘self-service’ than was possible with stand-alone systems.

Cloud computing

We have also seen the rise of cloud computing for HR and payroll systems[2]. I suppose payroll was the first application to really use cloud computing – it is just that 25 years ago it was called a ‘bureau service’.  But we now have several integrated HR & payroll systems available as a SaaS (Software as a Service) function over the internet.  This allows diverse organisations with many subsidiaries (sometime outside the UK) to link to a central HR and payroll system cheaply and securely. One of my clients had been using a SaaS-based HR and payroll system for four years.  They had operations in the UK, USA, Europe and China. But unfortunately the self-service front end was very clumsy to use, especially for time and attendance.  It was not intuitive and seemed to be a last minute bolt-on. Whilst the staff loved the idea of a cloud solution they frequently complained about the poor user interface.

My client decided to continue with a SaaS-based solution but this time they would be a little more choosey about the usability of the user interfaces. The beauty about HR and payroll solutions is that they are very easy to replace. Unlike finance and accounting systems which can be very difficult to replace; HR and payroll systems usually have spreadsheet interfaces to output the data from one system, reconfigure the data in the spreadsheet and then import it into the new system. A process than can take less than a week.

Unsuitable solutions

Unsuitable solutions were a recurring problem expressed by a large number of delegates that visited my ‘clinic’ at the Softworld shows. Their companies had replaced either the HR or the payroll system in the last few years only to find after using it that many were inflexible to their requirements. The refined tender process of public organisations has added to this problem with most purchasing departments uneasy about undertaking conference-room pilots before making a decision on the purchase.

I suppose it’s because we are still defining the scope of integrated HR and payroll solutions. The early developers were eager to market their new integrated software and show that it ticked all the boxes on the specification of requirements. They couldn’t see how time and attendance could be easily linked so it was left as a stand-alone solution. Unfortunately few customers had used integrated HR & payroll solutions before and had nothing to compare against.  Only now are we seeing a second generation of integrated systems with the flexibility and user friendliness found after trial and error. The self-service concept screams out for integrated time and attendance.

The software industry employs some of the finest sales people in the world.  They are very good at convincing customers to buy from them as individuals rather than look too deeply into the product. Unfortunately after the sale the sales person is nowhere to be found.  Nor, as I have mentioned is it any good going out with just a check list. How do you check on usability and flexibility? In my experience (nearly 30 years) this can only be done by getting your users to try out the system before you buy it.

As I found in the four integrated system assignments that I undertook last year, whilst many suppliers claim to have an integrated HR and payroll system, few actually have a fully integrated system. None had a sophisticated time and attendance system that could cope with complex shift patterns. It's only when you look deeper into what is being offered that these semantics are discovered. It’s not just the unknown small suppliers that are trying to pull the wool over potential buyers, some of the biggest well-known names are also guilty.

The answer has been the same for the last 30 years – buyer beware!

[1] www.softworld.co.uk/hrp

[2] See also: 'Up to the atmosphere' in The People Bulletin, 3 December 2009