Best practices for digital transformation in HR 

It can be intimidating to begin a process as complicated as digital HR transformation. The following best practices are the core of your HR digital transformation and will be the key drivers for success


Assess your current HR processes

Start with an audit of the current situation. Here are some questions to ask yourself and steps to take:

  • What kind of HR software or tools are you currently using to run various HR processes? Do you already use an HRIS and an ATS, for example? 
  • If nothing is in place yet, then what are the areas where digital HR will have the most impact? Try to see if you can align here with the company’s business goals.
  • If digital tools are in place, create an overview of all the current HR solutions your organization is using and whether these systems can communicate with each other. If they can, how?
  • How is each solution and tool maintained? Does HR take care of this? Does this happen automatically?

Based on your audit, you can decide what the priorities are right now and where to start.

Develop digital HR skills within your team 

HR practitioners need the right digital HR skills to drive the company’s digital transformation, starting with digital agility. This refers to the ability to rapidly adapt to and leverage digital technologies and tools to enhance HR processes, improve efficiency, and drive innovation.

Here are a few ways to develop digital agility: 

  • Familiarize yourself with different types of technology
  • Collaborate with other departments on innovation
  • Work on your change management skills
  • Dare to experiment
  • Get certified in Digital HR.

Define clear objectives and success metrics for the transformation 

As with any new project, you should define clear objectives and success metrics before embarking on your digital transformation journey.

The objectives and metrics will differ per organization. Let’s say that your goal is to improve operational efficiency, allowing HR to complete work at a lower cost, in less time, and with fewer people involved.

You could use the following metrics to measure whether you achieved this objective:

  • HR cost per employee: This metric calculates the total HR expenditure divided by the number of employees. A reduction in HR cost per employee would indicate that the digital transformation has made HR processes more cost-effective.
  • HR service delivery time: This tracks the average time taken to complete various HR services, such as processing leave requests or resolving employee inquiries. A reduction in service delivery time reflects enhanced operational efficiency and faster response times due to digital tools and processes.
  • Employee self-service utilization rate: This metric tracks the percentage of HR-related transactions (such as leave requests, benefits enrollment, and personal information updates) completed by employees using self-service portals or applications. A high utilization rate signifies that employees are effectively using digital HR tools to manage their needs independently, which reduces the administrative workload on HR staff and enhances overall productivity by minimizing time spent on routine tasks.