When introducing a new piece of HR or recruitment technology to your business, obtaining buy-in from your employees can be challenging.
Perhaps this is the reason why many senior teams don’t consult their workforce before implementing new technology. In fact, just 35% of employees are informed by leadership before introducing new technology within the workplace, according to the CIPD’s Workplace Technology: The Employee Experience report.
However, leaders could be missing a trick when it comes to employee buy-in. While just 20% of employees reacted positively to technology changes when they hadn’t been consulted about them, this increased to 70% when employees had been consulted.
Put simply, communicating changes to your employees and asking them for their feedback can have a huge impact on how engaged they are with your new piece of technology.
But what are the best ways of involving your colleagues when introducing new recruitment technology for your business?
1. Ask for their requirements
Defining your recruitment technology requirements is an important stage in the process as it will help you to make a more informed decision when selecting your software.
This is a prime time to ask for feedback from your colleagues. Extend a feedback request to all employees who will be regularly using the system so you can take their thoughts into account when defining your requirements. Make sure you have representation from HR colleagues of all levels, as well as hiring managers likely to be recruiting most frequently.
You should also consider requirements from a candidate’s point of view. If you already have a way of gathering candidate feedback on your application process, this is a good time to start incorporating some of their comments. If not, ask a couple of your more recent hires about their experience of applying for a role with your company.
By allowing your colleagues to have input into the requirements of your recruitment technology, it’s more likely they’ll use the technology once it’s implemented.
2. Invite colleagues to software demos
Encouraging your team to get involved in demos is a great way of engaging them in the technology selection process. Similar to above, try and get adequate representation for all parties using the system on your supplier demos. This includes HR representation at both an operational and strategic level, as well as a couple of hiring managers who will be likely to use the software the most.
It’s also a good idea to have representation with varying levels of technical ability. For example, if you know that a member of your HR team seriously struggles to pick up technology, ask them to be present on the demo so they can ask questions and assess the usability of the system.
3. Involve employees in the decision-making process
While it’s unlikely that every person will be in complete agreement when making a final decision on a software supplier, ask your colleagues’ opinions on the software they’ve been presented with. They could allocate a score to each supplier which reflects each system’s usability and ability to fulfil your initial requirements.
If there is mixed feedback, it’s important to communicate your final decision and, most importantly, why you have made the decision. This will show that you’ve taken everyone’s opinion into account and there is clear logic and reasoning behind your choice.
4. Choose tech-confident colleagues to help with the software rollout
Rolling out your new piece of technology to the wider business can be the most difficult part. Your supplier can help with training and support but it’s also a good idea to appoint a few tech-savvy members of your team as ‘System Champions’ to assist those who aren’t as confident.
Your System Champions can encourage other members of the team to use your software to its fullest potential. With this encouragement coming from their peers rather than from the leadership team, employees may feel more positive when using your new technology. This will also give your System Champions a sense of responsibility and will further engage them with the software.
Webrecruit has successfully helped hundreds of businesses to implement recruitment technology and we know the importance of collaboration throughout the software purchasing and rollout process.
If you’re thinking of introducing recruitment technology to your workplace, take the steps to ensure a smooth transition for your team by downloading our latest guide, Engaging Hiring Managers With Recruitment Technology.
