e-hr: becoming the “path of least resistance”

E-HR: Becoming the “Path of Least Resistance”

Thomas J. Keebler and David W. Rhodes

© 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ert.10041

In physics, we learn that electricity alwaysseeks out, and then follows, the path of

least resistance. Employees are a lot like elec-tricity when it comes to choosing betweentoday’s Web-based technology and more con-ventional methods of HR interaction: Theywill naturally choose what they perceive to betheir path of least resistance—the easy route.The challenge for employers is to package andcommunicate their new e-HR processes—information and technology together—in sucha way that employees will seek them out overalternative paths. It’s a challenge yet to befully met by many employers.

When companies first embarked on theircurrent push into e-HR—the much-anticipat-ed evolution from a heavily paper-intensiveenvironment to Web-based employee self-ser-vice (and ultimately self-sufficiency)—theallure was understandably irresistible:

• Increased organizational efficiency, withattendant cost savings,

• A shift in HR focus away from day-to-daytransactional activities to longer-rangestrategic planning—and the chance forsenior HR managers to become an inte-gral part of the corporate planningprocess, and

• A highly visible tool that could be a posi-tive force in attracting, retaining, andengaging current and prospectiveemployees.

Today, electronic technology is nearly ubiq-uitous within the HR function. According to arecent Towers Perrin survey (Web-Based Self-Service: The Current State of the Art), morethan 91 percent of midsize and large organiza-tions in North America have brought HR intothe electronic age in some fashion, typicallyvia the Web. And although most focus oncommunication and information management,just under half also provide some level oftransactional capability to employees andmanagers. Interestingly, though, Web preva-lence hasn’t yet fully translated into Websuccess. Both our experience in the marketand the data from our recent survey indicatethat, so far, the Web is not fully living up toits anticipated value in terms of measurablereturn on investment (ROI).

Exhibit 1 highlights this reality, showingthe size of the current gap between compa-nies’ belief in the value of the Web and whatthey are actually achieving from e-HR todate. As shown, the majority of our surveyrespondents, which included HR, IT, andfinance executives, do not feel they are see-ing the kinds of results that they intuitivelyagree the Web can deliver. For instance:

• Fully 80 percent of respondents agreedthat Web self-service can lower HR oper-ating costs. But only 40 percent believedthat their company is achieving thatresult, in whole or in part.

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Employment Relations Today

• Two-thirds agreed that Web self-servicecan speed HR’s transformation into amore strategic player within the organiza-tion, freeing staff from the burdens ofadministration to take on critical people-management activities. But just 37percent actually felt that they were seeingsome shift in HR’s mission as a result ofthe move to the Web.

• Even in the core areas of efficiency—where there’s virtually no doubt about theWeb’s power to deliver—actual delivery todate falls short of anticipated delivery bymore than 20 percentage points.*

What do these findings tell us? Theanswer is simple: The Web is indeed a valu-

able tool for positive change on many levels.But success demands careful planning,focused implementation, and a full under-standing of all of the implications of themove to online service delivery. Only noware employers beginning to step back andrealize that they may have moved too quicklyand without sufficient forethought to achievethe very benefits they seek from e-HR.

HARNESSING THE POWER OFWEB TECHNOLOGY

Realizing the full potential of Web HR tech-nology depends on providing users—whetheremployees, managers, HR professionals, orcall-center personnel—with:

• Useful content• Ease of use• Functionality

Perhaps most critical is creating a com-prehensive solution—one that directlysupports the organization’s strategic busi-ness objectives as well as meets the tacticalneeds of employees, managers, and HR.This helps companies avoid implementingpiecemeal initiatives that ultimately deliveronly partial results.

In their enthusiasm to implement theirnew e-HR processes, employers commonlyfocus more on day-to-day transactional activi-ty and lose sight of the overall strategicobjectives that began the process in the firstplace. To address this tendency, companiesneed to periodically review their e-HR strate-gies, asking such questions as:

• What do you want the Web to do foryour organization? For employees? Formanagers?

Thomas J. Keebler and David W. Rhodes58

Exhibit 1. The difference between promiseand reality.

Summer 2002

• What role should the Web play, if any, ininfluencing employees’ behavior or affect-ing decisions to remain with thecompany? What role should it play in eas-ing managers’ responsibilities for peoplemanagement?

• What is the right balance between theWeb’s high-tech focus and the interper-sonal “high-touch” approach thatemployees still need in many areas?

• What else needs to be in place to achieveoverall corporate objectives—for instance,new communication processes andchange-management programs? Whatother delivery vehicles (e.g., print) shouldyou aim to reduce or eliminate, if any?

• How do you want the Web to work? Whatkind of functionality is required to ensureeffectiveness and usability? Have you con-sidered the entire transaction?

• Where do you want to head in the future,and what steps are required to get youthere?

By continually referring back to these fun-damental issues, you can modify day-to-daytactics to fit unique and shifting circum-stances—even as the overall e-HRimplementation continues to unfold withinyour organization’s broader strategic direction.

In addition, organizations should considercompleting a formal cost-benefit analysis of anyproposed e-HR processes—before the initiativeactually begins. Experience shows that themore rigorous the up-front economic justifica-tion, the greater the likelihood of ROI successwhen results are measured against cost.

CLOSING THE “EXPECTATIONS GAP”

How can employers begin to close the gapbetween expectation and reality and achieve a

faster, better return on their e-HR investment?A good place to start is with the followingchecklist of five key dos and don’ts:

• Do provide employees with usable infor-mation.

• Don’t assume that transaction technolo-gy—however good—can overcome a lackof quality, personalized information.

• Do provide abundant employee communi-cation.

• Do push all tasks—large and small—ontothe Web.

• Do check out Web sites of Web-savvyretailers.

Provide Employees with Usable Information

When intranet communication became therage several years ago, internal Web sitesgrew exponentially—often in a fragmented,piecemeal fashion. Today, some companieshave dozens, even hundreds, of URLs—manywith overlapping or out-of-date HR informa-tion. Data timeliness, consistency, navigation,accuracy, relevance, usability, and ownershipall vary markedly from site to site, withemployees and managers receiving littledirection in terms of the relative quality orimportance of the various data. And the lackof connectivity among systems means usersoften have to visit multiple sites to accom-plish otherwise straightforward tasks.

“Web Rehab”

For employers seeking a better return ontheir e-HR investment, a critical first step is

E-HR: Becoming the “Path of Least Resistance” 59

Today, some companies have dozens, even hundreds, of URLs—many with overlapping or out-of-date HR information.


something we refer to as “Web rehab”—acomplete inventory and rationalization of“everything e-HR” that currently exists ontheir Web site(s). This work involves evaluat-ing the content and functionality of varioussites and determining what information tokeep, consolidate, or eliminate. It is a signifi-cant exercise, but the payback can besubstantial in terms of enhancing the usabili-ty of online HR data.

Making e-HR information usable has twokey components:

1. A design element—making the informa-tion accessible in an intuitive anduser-friendly way.

2. A content element—populating the sitewith information that is useful to employ-ees and managers and, at the same time,supports the organization’s overall busi-ness objectives.

Design involves various aspects of thesite’s look, feel, and navigation. Here, compa-nies need to focus on the “employeeexperience”—how the company wants itsemployees to feel during and after eachonline visit. Employers going the e-HR routeshould not underestimate the importance of apositive Web experience to current andprospective employees.

Beyond the employee experience itself,there is also a positive economic impactfrom good site design. It can substantiallytrim the time employees spend online withtheir work (a definite cost saving) at thesame time that it reduces the manual work-

load (read head count) of numerous behind-the-scenes workers.

Web content, on the other hand, focuseson the actual information that employersmake available to users—what’s out thereand, equally as important, what’s not outthere. HR executives frequently make themistake of presuming that they already knowthe answer to the question “What do usersneed?” when experience has shown that a bitof informal, qualitative research often indi-cates something completely different.

A client of ours recently approached uswith the challenge of helping it reduceemployee reliance on its call center for HR-related inquiries. The first thing we did wasto review the company’s case-managementsystem and arrange a series of meetingswith service-center managers to determinejust what kinds of calls they were gettingfrom employees. Following that analysis, thecompany was able to populate its Web sitewith precisely the kinds of information thathad previously been most frequentlyrequested via the call center, therebyenhancing employees’ ability to completeroutine HR transactions online withoutinvolving the call center.

Employers should also benchmark theirprogress to monitor the effectiveness of e-HRchanges and enhancements, and make inter-im process adjustments as needed.Service-center managers, for example, shouldmeasure call-center activity—total activity aswell as subject matter—before making anychanges to the Web site, and at regular three-month intervals thereafter, until they areconvinced they have met their e-HR goals.

In the example of the service centerabove, the volume of simple HR questionsreceived at the call center (the ones targetedfor elimination) dropped dramatically after


Employers going the e-HR route should not underestimatethe importance of a positive Web experience to current andprospective employees.

Summer 2002

instituting online changes. And while theoverall volume of questions to the call centerhas not yet changed substantially, both thenature and scope of those questions have.Increasingly, this company’s service-centeremployees are now fielding more complex,in-depth questions about HR plans and poli-cies, along with more technical questionsrelating to online benefit/HR transactioncapabilities and navigation—positive evidenceof growing user sophistication and familiaritywith online transactions.

Personal Development

Another good example of providing employ-ees with usable information involvespopulating the Web with details that make iteasy for them to plan and manage their per-sonal development and career-managementneeds. Most companies don’t look at the Webas a tool for reducing employee turnover andthe associated costs. Still, when employeesbelieve that their employer cares about theirpersonal development—and sees this demon-strated daily in the content and design ofe-HR data—we know this can positivelyinfluence their decisions about remainingwith their employer.

Don’t Assume That Transaction TechnologyCan Overcome a Lack of QualityInformation

When you are trying to establish your e-HRWeb site as the primary source of employeesupport, transaction capability alone is notsufficient. Yet many HR people get so caughtup in the importance of “getting the transac-tion online” (to save costs), they forget thatit’s just one part of a much broader “transac-tion” in the mind of the employee.

Transaction technology is simply the vehi-cle that makes the transaction happen.Employers need to keep this in perspective.Until they begin “wrapping the necessaryemployee information around the transac-tion,” instead of focusing almost exclusivelyon the transaction piece alone, they willnever be able to reduce, or eliminate entirely,other means of communication—such as callcenters, hard-copy benefit handbooks, and soforth—and their attendant costs.

Three criteria are critical to the Web-basedinformation that supports transactions: (1) Itmust be useful; (2) it must be personal; and(3) it must be available to employees whenthey need it. In other words, it must supportthe concept of employee experience we high-lighted earlier.

“Useful” information is nothing more thandata that address employees’ most immediateneeds:

• What’s happening?• What does this mean to me?• What are my options?• What might be the best option for me?• What is the cost?

Only after employees have satisfied them-selves with answers to these and similarquestions are they ready to execute a transac-tion. The challenge for employers is to isolatepertinent information from all of the otherless relevant data that are also available toemployees online, helping make the entireprocess quick, simple, and efficient.


Most companies don’t look at the Web as a tool for reducingemployee turnover and the associated costs.


The Personal Touch

Even after an employer has gone through theinformation-winnowing process—collecting,analyzing, and consolidating useful informa-tion and discarding extraneous data—technology permits a second level of datascreening. And that’s where personal infor-mation takes over. Personal information takesuseful employee data, reduces the clutter, fil-ters out the “noise,” and focuses on theinformation that’s relevant to the task athand—for the employee at hand.

Today’s knowledge-based technology per-mits mass customization of HR data—theability to integrate all company data onlineand create a uniquely personalized experi-ence for every employee—24 hours a day,seven days a week, at work or at home. Theresult is a powerful one-to-one Web experi-ence that gives employees their ownindividual HR information on things likedetailed benefit-plan alternatives and eligibili-ty and opportunities for company-sponsoredlearning and development training based ontheir specific job function, expertise, andprior training. At the same time, managersgain immediate desktop access to a vast arrayof complex benefit and policy topics.

With this increased visibility and accessi-bility of personalized information, employeesgain a greater appreciation of the value oftheir employer-provided benefit and HR pro-grams. For their part, employers have theopportunity to save a substantial part of theestimated $1,700 per employee, per year, that

companies routinely spend communicatinginformation on benefits and HR policies.

Provide Abundant Employee Communication

At most companies, the shift to e-HR froma paper-intensive environment represents afairly significant cultural change, particular-ly for employees. Employers can’t justdevelop new Web-based processes, throwopen the doors, and assume that employeeswill automatically come. Employers need tohelp people become comfortable with Webtechnology as their primary means ofaccess. To that end, employee communica-tion can single-handedly make (or break)the success of even the best e-HR systemsand technology.

Communicating e-HR involves:

• Helping prepare employees for what’scoming,

• Explaining why you are doing it,• Explaining why it is a good thing for

them,• Helping employees through the actual

deployment, and• Going back and reinforcing those things

that continue to be sticking points, inorder to bring stragglers onto the site.

When Towers Perrin client Knight Ridderrevamped its medical-benefit program in2001, its challenges were twofold:

1. Collapse the company’s 119 medical plansoffered at its 35 newspapers into just twonew plan options (no small task).

2. Quickly convert the employee mindsetfrom one of paper-based/call-center tech-nology to that of employee self-service viaan online benefit Web site.


Employers can’t just develop new Web-based processes,throw open the doors, and assume that employees willautomatically come.

Summer 2002

Most Knight Ridder employees were com-fortable making their annual benefit electionsthe way they always had, via numerous andcostly interactions with call-center represen-tatives. Even before the plan consolidationsbegan, call-center costs related to medical-benefit elections were already approaching$1 million per year. HR needed to begindemonstrating a solid ROI for the company’sinvestment in centralized benefit administra-tion and the Web. And the major changesplanned for the medical-benefit program pre-sented an ideal opportunity to begin thatprocess. But without extensive communica-tion to employees, the chances of a quick andsmooth transition were slim.

Knight Ridder opted for a combinationhigh-tech/high-touch approach to communi-cations. The company’s “Choose Health”campaign included posters and postcardmailings to promote the new plans and trum-pet enrollment deadlines. Brochuresexplained the new medical options and howto enroll online, and custom issues of BenefitsBulletin were distributed at each of the 35newspapers. At the same time, the companysignificantly expanded the content on itsintranet site to include information on thenew medical options, including a 90-secondanimated presentation and dynamic FAQsthat included online enrollment hints.

Other high-touch activities began sixmonths before the rollout and included aseries of executive briefings and Webcasts.About a month before enrollment opened,Knight Ridder and its chosen medical planadministrator conducted three day-longregional training sessions for newspaper-based HR staff, providing tips and templatesfor them to use in briefing their own linemanagers. And only one week after theevents of September 11, corporate HR and

vendor representatives embarked on a cross-country tour of meetings with employees toexplain the rationale and advantages of thenew Web-based processes.

For Knight Ridder, the extensive communi-cation plan paid off. Close to 90 percent ofKnight Ridder’s eligible employees mademedical-plan elections during the enrollmentperiod. More significant, nearly 70 percent ofeligible employees enrolled via the Web.

Without extensive employee communica-tion, the incidence of online enrollmentswould not have been nearly as high. In 2002,the company expects to build on its successby revamping and expanding its Web site intoa more full-service portal.

Push All Tasks onto the Web

Another reason that e-HR successes fall shortof some employers’ expectations is the ten-dency toward the “quick fix,” rather than asystemic solution. Many employers, forinstance, simply add some Web-based tech-nology to their existing processes whileleaving everything else the same, and imme-diately go after the quick saves, the“low-hanging fruit,” but stop short of the fullpotential of Web technology. As a result,employers see some savings of staff and/orcosts, but not the total amount anticipated.

Two years ago, a service-industry organiza-tion moved its benefits-enrollmenttransaction process online—but none of therelated minitransactions leading up to theultimate election transaction. Among otherthings, the “new” process still included:


Without extensive employee communication, the incidence ofonline enrollments would not have been nearly as high.


• Paper-based dependent forms with copiesof birth certificates attached

• Paper-based “Evidence of Insurability”forms

• Paper PCP directories and election forms

At the end of the enrollment period, thisemployer still had a boatload of paperforms to wade through. Instead of stream-lining things, it had, in effect, added yetanother channel of communication—andrelated expenses! (Since part of the enroll-ment process was now completed onlineand part still on paper, an entirely newlevel of reconciliation—that of coordinatingand reconciling paper documents with theactual Web enrollment input—had beenadded.) Small wonder that this client wasfrustrated by the apparent lack of successin freeing up staff, speeding the process,reducing costs, or eliminating other chan-nels of delivery.

Just one year later, this same employerprepopulated its online benefit-enrollmentsite with a complete, personalized menu ofplan information, resources, and help func-tions so that employees could complete theentire enrollment process—review, compare,select, enroll, and confirm—without everexiting the Web site. And except for a pair ofpostcard reminders mailed to employees’homes, all other communication took placeonline. This time employees completed theprocess faster and with less frustration, andthe employer reaped the substantial cost sav-ings that online technology offers.

Focusing on the Entire TransactionChain of Events

There is a very close correlation between anemployer’s effectiveness pushing transac-tions onto the Web and its subsequentsatisfaction with e-HR results. Companieswhose e-HR results have been disappointingto date need to:

• List and review their entire transactionchain of events—all of those minitransac-tions that go into the employeedeliberation process before the final e-HRelection transaction is made,

• Determine where the company may havestopped short of getting sufficient infor-mation online for Web access,

• Drive that critical information and thoseoutstanding transactions onto the compa-ny Web site, and

• Discontinue the information’s availabilityvia alternate channels, such as hard-copydirectories and policy and proceduremanuals.

Employee staffing is another good exampleof a multitransaction, highly labor-intensive(read expensive) HR function. Minitransactionsthat fall under the overall umbrella of staffingservices, and that lend themselves to e-HRapplications, include such things as:

• Creating and approving job requisitionsonline,

• Managing postings to Internet job boards,• Matching applicants to open requisitions,• Candidate prescreening, assessment, and

qualification scoring,• Hiring, and• New hire “on-boarding,” or online in-pro-

cessing and benefit enrollment.


There is a very close correlation between an employer’seffectiveness pushing transactions onto the Web and itssubsequent satisfaction with e-HR results.

Summer 2002

Taking all of the various transactionsinvolved in sourcing, finding, and signingnew employees and pushing everything ontothe Web is a significant undertaking. Butthose companies and hiring managers thathave successfully transferred all of thesetransactions onto their Web sites havealready experienced the substantial cost sav-ings and enhanced ROI that e-HR technologycan deliver. And if the qualitative Web expe-rience is a particularly positive one, it canalso become a significant factor in attractingnew employees to the company.

High Tech + High Touch = High Performers

Greater numbers of first contacts withprospective employees (including very talent-ed, high-performing individuals) are beinginitiated via the Web, and far fewer via tradi-tional searches. But transferring the bulk ofstaffing activities onto the Web, while highlycost efficient, can have a depersonalizingeffect on hiring.

At one company, the solution was to cre-atively combine high tech with high touch byassigning an HR “mentor” to high-priority jobcandidates. This mentor makes personal con-tact with the candidate early in theemployer—prospect courtship and then contin-uously tracks the progress of that candidatethroughout the entire hiring process. The men-tor—candidate personal relationship continuesuntil the prospect either accepts or rejects theemployer’s eventual offer of employment. Inthis way, the employer has replaced some ofthe sterility associated with Web-based com-munication—on a candidate-by-candidatebasis—while still reaping the cost savings asso-ciated with online staffing transactions.

Check Out Web Sites ofWeb-Savvy Retailers

To successfully drive employees to the Webfor their e-HR information and transactions,employers need to make it worthwhile to theemployees. Employers need to present infor-mation in such a way that employees can goto the Web and do everything they need todo on the Web, easily and naturally—certain-ly more easily and conveniently than in the“old,” non-Web environment.

The best examples today of user-friendlyWeb sites can be seen at retail channels suchas Amazon.com and LandsEnd.com. Visitorsto these sites can look things up, see pic-tures, get information, and use decision toolsto help find and decide what’s right forthem, and then make their selection/pur-chase—all in one place. These retailorganizations have designed their Web sitesso well that consumers are completely self-sufficient—not needing anyone or anythingelse to complete their transaction. Contrastthis with e-HR today.

BECOME THE PATH OF LEASTRESISTANCE

HR managers need to apply these same Web-savvy rules to their own e-HR strategies andprocesses if they want to achieve the level ofsuccess found among dot-com retailers. Oncee-HR processes become the path of leastresistance, employees will voluntarily aban-don their old ways in favor of self-service.And employers will begin to see the gainsand savings they expected, eliminate theother channels of communication, and freeup staff to do other things.




Thomas J. Keebler is a principal with Towers Perrin’s HR Delivery Solutions practice,where he leads the Alliance strategy and marketing efforts. His areas of expertise includeall facets of administrative solutions, including situational analyses, process review, sys-tems design, vendor selection, implementation assistance, insource-outsource analyses,and project management. Mr. Keebler is located in the firm’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,office and can be reached at [email protected] or by visiting the firm’s Web site atwww.towersperrin.com. David W. Rhodes is a Towers Perrin principal and recognizedexpert in transforming HR organizations and implementing service-delivery models. Hehas led projects focused on understanding HR’s relationship with its customers, changingthe cost structure for delivering HR services, and aligning HR activities with corporategoals. An original member of the firm’s People Strategy practice, Mr. Rhodes is located inthe Stamford, Connecticut, office and can be reached at [email protected].

e-hr: becoming the “path of least resistance”

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