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The pandemic has highlighted the importance of technology as a means of virtualising the interactions and communication that make business work.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in HR. But what should the ultimate goal of HR technology be? According to ServiceNow’s UK&I HR director Katie Whitehouse, it should be to “replicate the experience that an organisation is looking to give its employees”.
For many HR practitioners, the reality of their experience with HR technology falls somewhat short of this aspiration. A recent ServiceNow survey of 1,500 UK workers found that only 52% were satisfied with their current HR tech tools, with a mere 46% describing the tools available to them as easy to use and enabling greater efficiency at work.
More disturbingly, the same proportion said that their current tools took valuable time out of their day, with 36% saying they did not fulfil their purpose, 29% that their tools were actively difficult to use and a damning 27% thought that they were unnecessary but senior management expected them to use the tools.
Other studies have found similar frustrations with HR tech tools. A Beezy study found that 61% of employees were not satisfied with their tools – this was because they are buggy, unreliable and didn’t integrate with other tools. 58% noted the tools hindered their productivity, while 54% said they struggled to follow workflows using software tools.
The low code answer
Faced with these circumstances, perhaps it is not surprising that ServiceNow’s study finds that employees are keen to have access to low code apps that allow them to adapt and build their own HR tech. Two thirds would prefer their employer created or built an app for them – this is because they felt their views would be considered (46%).
While 33% would take on the responsibility of building the HR tech app themselves – 39% believe doing so would help them be more productive at work, 38% think they could build something relevant to their role and 36% said it would make their jobs simpler and easier.
Given that companies know the experience they want to create, and employees know the experience they want to receive, enabling the creation of bespoke apps built on an enterprise-wide single platform is an attractive solution.
Concerns about low code
Although there was excitement about the theory of low code apps, is this a practical solution?
29% of workers told ServiceNow that designing a HR tech app sounded complex, and 28% did not think they were sufficiently creative. However, 53% said they would be keen to give it a go if they had more than minimum coding knowledge.
But, according to Whitehouse, this represents a misconception of low code capabilities.
“Anyone can develop an app”, including employees that “don’t necessarily have technical programming expertise”. “They can quickly and efficiently build applications on those low code platforms”, but these tools are then sophisticated enough to actually solve problems within their businesses.
Low code goes mainstream
Employee interest in low code, and the potential for innovation it unlocks, mean that the ability to build your own applications on a single enterprise-wide platform simply cannot be ignored. The future of work is going to be different from the past, and HR tech needs to be ready to adapt to the new demands of the global workforce.
Download a survey of more than 900 C-level executives across six industries in 13 countries, our findings distinguish leaders from laggards when it comes to adoption of low-code.
