Your company has recently purchased a new payroll software-as-a-service (SaaS). Your department is stoked to quickly implement it and see the way it would help to streamline your HR payroll administrative processes, improve employee engagement or support the company’s milestones in future. However, now that the time has come to start using this new payroll SaaS, your subordinates seem to be struggling with understanding the technical aspects. No one seems to be on the same page and you are starting to wonder why you made the decision to purchase this payroll software in the first place.
This type of situation arises more often than not as organisations start to jump on the bandwagon of HR technology. They see the multitude of positive impacts it brings about to the HR department, yet what they fail to see are the vested efforts and time to implement and integrate this new technology in line with the business. Unfortunately, there is no easy way out. The hassle and frustration of implementing a new online payroll software is unavoidable. However, here are five tips to help make such implementations less painful and the technology rollouts smoother.
Be a Beginner again
When you are teaching your employees how to use the new payroll software, it can be easy to forget that you were once a learner at some point. Regardless of whether you attended a professional training session or it was self-taught, think back to those instances and share your insights and learning points with your employees. This can allow you to structure your training sessions such that it is easy for someone with zero background knowledge to grasp.
Interaction and More Interaction
All talk and no play would make any training session a boring one. Provide a live demo to your employees on how to use the online payroll software. Better yet, allow them to play with the payroll tool or complete a few simple exercises that is relevant to their job. By providing your employees with the opportunity to practice, they are likely to feel more confident about using the software and will be more willing to explore it on their own subsequently.
Be Patient
Rome was not built overnight, and similarly, do not expect your payroll SaaS to be seamlessly integrated into your business immediately. Be patient and give yourself and your employees time to familiarize with the new payroll system. Assist everyone at every stage of the learning curve. Be aware that different people have different learning styles. While proper implementation of the payroll software will definitely require a significant investment of time and effort, remember that all these will contribute to a smooth transition into the new HR technology.
Provide Professional Programs
If you do not feel adequately qualified to teach your employees, provide them with professional programs instead. While this might seem to be a costlier option as compared to in-house training, such professional programs typically can be tailored to fit any learning style or level of proficiency. This allows you to save time training your employees, and ensuring that your employees are adequately trained as well.
YOU are the subject matter expert
Do you know everything about the online payroll software that you will be training your employees on? Most likely not. Having said that, you undoubtedly know more than your employees who are seeing the payroll software for the first time. Do not undersell your knowledge. Always keep yourself updated with the software and be willing to share your know-how with your employees. Remember, sharing such information allows your employees to learn faster and this can minimise the likelihood of anyone making mistakes later.
The trick to avoid stressful HR technology rollouts is to ultimately ensure that there is continued support from top management and from your employees as well. It is a combined effort from everyone within the organisation given that a new HR technology such as an online payroll software is likely to have an impact, directly or indirectly, on each employee. Every dollar, effort and time spent on this dreary HR technology implementation goes towards the end goal of a more efficient organisation.
