hr excellence in content management -...

HR Excellence in Content Management

In partnership withIn partnership with

2012 HCI

Research


iiiCopyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved. iiiiii

Table of ContentsExecutive Summary ................................................................................................................... 1

About this Research .................................................................................................................. 2

Definition of Key Terms ............................................................................................................. 3

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4

Current HR Environment ........................................................................................................... 4

Foundational Wisdom: HR Content Management ................................................................... 5

A Fresh Perspective: Tying Electronic Content Management to Employee

Satisfaction and Performance ................................................................................................... 7

Benefits of Electronic Content Management ......................................................................... 11

Key Barriers ............................................................................................................................. 13

The Urgency of Effective HR Content Management .............................................................. 15

Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................................................................... 16

Appendix A: About the Research Partners ........................................................................... 18

Appendix B: Respondent Demographics .............................................................................. 20

Appendix C: Works Cited ...................................................................................................... 22


1Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.


Executive SummaryThe Human Capital Institute (HCI) and OpenText Corporation (OpenText) partnered to develop

an original research report examining the use of technology-based content management

and its effect on HR shared service delivery. Despite the evidence, many firms have not

recognized the need for a more comprehensive content management system and continue

to rely on information that is incomplete, difficult to access, and regularly comes from many

different channels.

This research profiles the current state of document content management in organizations today,

and underscores how the adoption of electronic content management can improve business

productivity and increase employee satisfaction.

As employees continue to bring consumer expectations into the workforce, it is imperative

that organizations meet the need for better, more agile data processes and storage so that the

strategic role of content is realized. Long gone are the days of stacks of folders and piles of

paper. Smart organizations have embraced a systematic process of HR transformation initiatives

— digitizing documentation and data while creating a robust method to store and easily access

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2 Copyright © 2012 Human Capital Institute. All rights reserved.

content throughout the employee lifecycle. The result is higher quality HR

services and less hassle for employees and their supervisors.

This report describes the current state of content management, as related

to document creation and storage, and the benefits related to effective

implementation of a comprehensive content management system:

Key findings include:

• The number of HR documents being created has increased over the

past several years and employee satisfaction with access to these

documents is only moderate at best.

• The benefits and need for a comprehensive electronic document

content management system is readily acknowledged, however,

adoption rates are low. The key barriers to implementation are a lack of

funding, and content management not seen as a top business priority.

• HR must do a better job communicating the benefits associated with

an electronic content management system, including providing more

efficient access to documents and relying on data within the system

to inform workforce planning practices. In turn, HR will be better

positioned to effectively address and improve upon transformation

initiatives and agile service delivery.

A 26-item survey exploring content management practices and activities was

developed and distributed to more than 10,000 HCI members to produce

the foundational knowledge for this research. More than 270 responses were

received from organizations around the world.

About This Research

The following research report was developed in partnership between the

Human Capital Institute (HCI) and OpenText Corporation (OpenText) in

February 2012. A 26-item survey was distributed to approximately 10,000 HCI

members. Two hundred seventy-four surveys were received, and the results of

the survey form the basis of this research and are summarized in this paper. In

addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with Jason Averbook, CEO of

Knowledge Infusion, and Angela Morrow from the HR Center of Excellence at

OpenText. To supplement the primary research methods, HCI researchers also

reviewed relevant information from a variety of secondary sources, including

white papers, articles, books, interviews and case studies. Many of these are

cited in the report and all are referenced in HCI’s Talent Strategy Practice Area,

to which interested readers are encouraged to visit for additional reading and

online events.



Definition of Key TermsContent Management In terms of this research, content management refers to the storage and

access management for the following documents as the first phase of an

HR electronic content management strategy:

• Hiring Documents Resumes, applications, job descriptions, compliance forms and

tax forms

• Job Performance documents Performance reviews, productivity reports/measures and

disciplinary forms

• Exit Documents Resignation/termination/separation forms and exit surveys

• General Documents Offer letters, non-disclosure agreements, promotion offers,

payslips and end of year tax statements

• Employee Communications Quarterly business earnings, organizational goals and

employee satisfaction survey results

• Total Rewards Statements Documents showing an employee’s overall earnings, summary

of health and welfare benefits

HR Enterprise Content Management (ECM) All of the strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store,

preserve, and deliver content and documents related to organizational

processes throughout the entire employee lifecycle — from Hire to Retire.

ECM tools and strategies allow the management of an organization’s

structured and unstructured information, wherever that information exists.

It should be noted that while this research focused on documents, the term

“content” can also refer to portal content, chat content, text, and email

content amongst employees.

Electronic Content Management System (ECMS)A system that allows authorized users to electronically retrieve personnel

files and documents such as personnel action forms, benefits information,

and disciplinary action, and store them in a secure, central repository. An HR

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ECMS is able to pre-populate forms with HRIS system data, automatically route

documents for approvals and upload them into an HRIS to produce employee

communications in batch, creating efficiencies throughout the department.

Introduction

As organizations transition from post-recessionary caution to incremental

growth and expansion, the role of Human Resources is shifting to

accommodate the revived focus on business growth and productivity. HR is

being repositioned in leading companies to oversee the dynamics of quickly

evolving workplaces and changing organizational structures, as well as acting

as a resource to address and rectify operational efficiencies.

Utilizing comprehensive content management practices can provide

companies with the foundation for making operational enhancements.

“[Managing documents is] too often seen as fixed costs of doing business,”

Ken Neal of the Information Management Journal writes. “This is why elevating

document process performance is critical, both as an internal practice and an

outsourcing strategy, to help organizations reduce costs, increase productivity,

lower risk, and build profits.”1

Current HR Environment HR leaders are in a prime position to help foster the achievement of business

goals by helping employees increase their speed and efficiency, and indirectly

impact employee satisfaction — which is strongly linked to employee

engagement. The role of HR has shifted to a more strategic position within an

organization — it is the relative “home” of organizational culture, policy, and

information, and plays an integral role in the knowledge transfer that occurs

within, to, and from an organization.

Contemporary companies understand the effective role HR can play

in supporting strategic deployment and managing organizational

transformations. As noted by an industry observer last year, “HR strategy

triggers and sets into motion a cycle of continuous and dynamic change. It

propels change in all aspects of the HR outlook, systems, beliefs, structure, and

expectation of business and serves the purpose of aligning the HR functions

with the business functions. The HR strategy is interacting with business

strategy lead to a movement in the organizational portion and perspective

through a domino effect.”2

As part of their role as stewards of organizational transformation, HR is faced

with managing access to an ever growing quantity of hard documents, as

1 Neal, Ken, “Driving Better Business Performance with Document Management Processes,” Information Management Journal, November, 2008

2 M. Kalyani & M. P. Sahoo, “Human Resource Strategy: A Tool of Managing Change for Organizational Excellence,” International Journal of Business and Management, 6(8), 2011.



well as digital content and information. With additional compliance policies

enacted, as well as an increasing number of buyouts and mergers, HR content

has grown in recent years. Additionally, the dynamics of a more agile workforce

is contributing to more HR content, with a 2010 Bureau of Labor Statistics

study demonstrating that the average employee changes jobs eleven times

during their career.3 Changing demographics, including the influx of Millennial

workers and the impending exit of Baby Boomers from the workforce, will also

contribute to the growing volume of HR documents and content that must

be managed within every organization. The business environment has never

been more ready to foster the shifting role of HR, and organizations that make

the commitment to do so will find themselves in a better position to achieve

success.

Foundational Wisdom: HR Content ManagementDuring an employee’s tenure at an organization, many documents relating

to his/her employment will be created. Our survey respondents largely

agreed that, for every employee, approximately 30–50 unique documents

are created. These per-person document numbers add up to large volumes

of total documentation at the organization-wide level, and not surprisingly,

there is a positive correlation between organization size and number of HR

documents. More significant though are the types of documents being created

most frequently. Notably, among organizations of every size, Employee

Communications, Total Rewards Statements, and Exit documents are created Figure 1: Approximately how many of each type of HR personnel documents does your organization create in a given year?

General DocumentsOffer letters, non-disclosure agreements, promotion offers, pay

slips, end of year tax statements

Employee CommunicationsQuarterly business earnings, organizational goals, employee

satisfaction survey results

Total Rewards StatementsDocuments showing an employee's overall earnings, summary of health

and welfare benefits

Exit DocumentsResignation/termination/separation forms, exit surveys

Fig. 1 shows a positive correlation between organization size and document volume. More notably though, is that among all sized organizations, Employee Communications, Total Rewards Statements, and Exit documents are created most frequently, which demonstrates a relationship between content creation and Talent Management components.

3 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Number of Jobs Held, Labor Market Activity, and Earnings Growth Among the Youngest Baby Boomers,” bls.gov, September 10, 2010.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

≤ 49,000 > 50,000 ≤ 49,000 > 50,000 ≤ 49,000 > 50,000 ≤ 49,000 > 50,000

General Documents Employee

Communications

Total Rewards

Statements

Exit Documents

73%

24%

79%

18%

76%

12%

91%

6%

33%

54%

46% 41%

50%

29%

69%

15%

Company Size 1000 - 5000 EEs Company Size 5001 + EEs

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most often. This demonstrates a relationship between content creation and

elements of Talent Management since these documents directly support the

human capital in an organization.

The sheer number of documents being produced and stored can have

significant cost implications for an organization. Based on our survey data,

an average of 40 HR documents are created for every employee in an

organization. Applied to a 10,000-employee company that is nearly half a

million documents that must be created and stored, and each one plays a role

in an estimated 1 million HR document transactions every year. Each of these

transactions comes at a relative cost to the organization, underscoring the

necessity of a systematic process for managing this content. Both employee

time and an organization’s bottom line expenses are heavily influenced

by the cost of governing these processes. More pointedly, these types of

business interactions are only expected to grow when subject to increasing HR

compliance policies and regulations, and a more fluid workforce.

A primary means of impacting HR efficiency is through the development of

enhanced content management, which includes the digitization and online

storage of documents. The ability to pre-populate HRIS forms and streamline

search functions and accessibility to documents can also provide considerable

benefits to an organization as a whole. “Digitizing business records — when

implemented in an organized fashion using best practices — can help ensure

that records are easily retrievable, storage costs are under control, legal

discovery costs are mitigated and the organization is compliant. An effective

electronic document management program spans the capture, management,

storage, preservation, and delivery of document images.”4

In addition to enhanced document access, digitizing records also can impact

the overall value of a company, as evidenced by a 2007 Practice Intelligence

report.“ A firm with a systematized and efficient infrastructure is more highly

valued, due to lower operational and ownership risk, and higher profitability.

Applying these concepts to ROI for a digital document management system

has a dramatic impact on business value.”5

Our research indicates that improved access to document content

management is a commonly identified need. However, the case for document

content management is not being sufficiently presented to enable company

leaders to clearly see the micro and macro benefits. HR leaders must take it

upon themselves to better advocate and require these benefits to clearly show

the impact effective content management can have on strategic business

development and decision making.

4 International Journal of Micrographics & Optical Technology, 28(3), “Digitizing Records: An Untapped Opportunity,” 2010.

5 T. Welsh, “Growing Profits with Technology,” Practice Intelligence, 2007.

“Business documents constitute the lifeblood of an organization. Though often overlooked as red tape, they are vital strategic, financial, and information assets essential to the successful operation of a business.”

Ken Neal, The Information

Management Journal November, 2008



In an interview for this paper, Jason Averbook, CEO of Knowledge Infusion,

described the paradigm shift that needs to occur in order to apply content

management to issues beyond HR. “The old way of doing things is asking

‘What is the HR case as to why I should have content management?’ but this

is not sustainable in today’s increasing competitive market. HR needs to ask,

‘What is the business case of content management? What is the business case

for collaboration?’ Not being able to apply content management tools to

business beyond HR is very detrimental. HR needs to be champions of business

to champion for their cause. Most HR tools do not have manager buy-in, and,

as a result, people do not take them seriously or use them.”

A Fresh Perspective: Tying Content Management to Employee Satisfaction and Productivity Although a multi-variable concept, employee satisfaction hinges on the ability

of workers to both have the tools they need to do their jobs successfully

and have the knowledge to use those tools. In this vein, a comprehensive

understanding of content management is critical to achieving employee

satisfaction. Both among an organization’s HR department, as well as within

other business units, many organizational employees rely on frequently

accessing and using HR content. This research took a step further in an attempt

to establish how employee performance is influenced by the implementation

of an Electronic Content Management System (ECMS).

Many survey respondents need to access HR documentation frequently in

their positions. Yet, less than one quarter indicated they are very satisfied with

the current access they have to documents related to their employment (See

Figure 3).Figure 2: In your role, how often do you access these documents?63%

24%

13%

57%

38%

5%

51%

25%24%

Monthly or More Often Annually Never

Hiring documents Job Performance Exit Documents0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Fig. 2 demonstrates that more than half of respondents must access HR hiring, job performance, and exit documents monthly or more often.

“HR needs to ask, ‘What is the business case of content management? What is the business case for collaboration?’ Not being able to apply content management tools to business beyond HR is very detrimental. HR needs to be champions of business to champion for their cause. Most HR tools do not have manager buy-in, and as a result, people do not take them seriously or use them.”

Jason Averbook, CEO, Knowledge Infusion

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Furthermore, more than three quarters of respondents (76%) are less than

very satisfied with the ability of employees to access documents, and 71%

are less than satisfied with HR’s ability to answer employee inquiries and

help solve problems. When asked about their company’s ability to transport

sensitive employee records — arguably a process that continues to increase

with growing numbers of decentralized organizations — nearly a quarter of

respondents (23%) reported that they are dissatisfied.

Figure 3: How satisfied do you think employees in

your organization are with their ability to access HR

documents related to their employment?

Thinking about employees in your organization, how

satisfied do you think they are with HR’s ability to resolve questions and

address problems and concerns?

How satisfied are you with your organization’s ability to appropriately transport

sensitive employee records in cases of transfers,

promotions, etc?

These ratings suggest that there is ample room for improvement in providing

employees better access to HR content. A 2010 Information Management

Journal article agrees that the implementation of an ECMS is a fundamental

way to address dissatisfaction with HR inefficiencies. “Records Information

Management (RIM) is one of the most underestimated and effective tools at a

company’s immediate disposal today. Senior management must understand

that RIM lays the four foundational cornerstones of accountability, usability,

business conduct, and regulations/standards/best practices. RIM promotes

records as an organizational resource, regardless of the media in which they are

presented and stored, and it facilitates the use of records to enable employees

to make quicker and better decisions.”6

Averbook cited the intrinsic gains in employee satisfaction and engagement

advantages related to an effective system. “A comprehensive content

management system eliminates frustration, drives engagement and increases

the overall efficiency of being able to find things.” Each of these improvements

Fig. 3 illustrates that 76% of respondents are less than very satisfied with their ability to access HR documents, and 71% are less than very satisfied with HR’s ability to resolve questions and address problems. Only a third of respondents are very satisfied with their organization’s ability to transport sensitive employee records.

6 V. Beck, M. Dionne, I. Koti, T. Loriss, W. McLain, et al., “Making the Case for Merging Document Control and Records Management,” Information Management Journal, 2010.

24% 51% 22% 3%

29% 57% 11% 3%

33% 44% 18% 5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very Satisfied Somewhat SatisfiedSomewhat Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied

HR’s Ability to Resolve Questions and

Address Problems

Employee SatisfactionWith Their Ability to Access Documents

Organization’s Ability toTransport SensitiveEmployee Records



Hiring Documents

17%

24%

29%

30%

All digitized and stored onlineMost digitized and stored onlineLess than half digitized and stored onlineNone digitized and stored online

41% Net all/most digitized and stored online

Job Performance Documents

16%

29%

25%

30%



Exit Documents

11%

21%

24%

44%



Figure 4A, 4B, 4C: How are the following HR documents stored and managed at your organization?

Fig. 4A, 4B, 4C show that, overall, more than half of respondents do not consistently digitize and store most HR documents. Among that population, nearly a third of respondents do not store any documents digitally.

“Most organizations do not have a good search mechanism for content. One of the things frustrating to employees is poorly functioning search ability. That is not what people are used to in the consumer world, and as those expectations are brought into the workplace, it’s a huge barrier for companies trying to engage their employees.”

Jason Averbook, CEO, Knowledge Infusion

collectively addresses some of the common pitfalls associated with poorly

engaged employees while simultaneously contributing to a leaner, more agile

way of doing business.

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Fewer than half of our respondents digitize their documents in a systematic

way, but even more surprising are the means those organizations that do not

use an ECMS rely on.

Among those that store less than half or none of their HR documents on a

central server, 90% rely on paper files, and nearly two thirds keep those files in

just one central location. In addition to the physical constraints of this type of

arrangement, the safety and privacy of records could be easily compromised.

A reliance on all paper files quickly adds to the physical storage space required

to keep them, as well as a system for cataloguing and referencing all of the

information within those files.

Such issues likely contribute to a slower and often incompetent service delivery

model as individuals have to manually find, access, filter and use the files

required before then having to put them all back again — all of which creates

an environment ripe for legal and compliance issues since sensitive information

can be easily lost, copied, or destroyed using this model of management. This

concept is elaborated on in a Practice Intelligence article. “One overlooked

business cost is the infrastructure and processes necessary to organize, store,

and retrieve paper documents. Digital document management has many

compliance benefits, including enhanced security, disaster recovery/business

continuity and efficient audit preparation.”7

90%

6% 1% 5%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Paper �les stored in one or morelocations

Files stored on several di�erent database systems

Files are imaged, but not digital (e.g. Micro�che)

Most or all HR documents in an online repository

Figure 5: If less than half or none of your documents are

stored on a central server, what method does your

organization use to store and access HR documents?

Fig. 5 explores how respondents that do not digitize their HR documents store those files. Most disturbingly, 90% rely only on paper files in one or more locations.

7T. Welsh, “Growing Profits with Technology,” Practice Intelligence, 2007.

Definition of ECMS:

A system that allows authorized users to electronically retrieve personnel files and documents such as personnel action forms, benefits information, and disciplinary action, and store them in a secure, central repository. An HR ECMS is able to pre-populate forms with HRIS system data, automatically route documents for approvals and upload them into an HRIS to produce employee communications in batch, creating efficiencies throughout the department.



Benefits of Content Management Today’s HR professionals are faced with a sizable quantity of complicated

and dense paper work. Additionally, more mature organizations recognize

that content management arenas for HR extend beyond paper and play a

key role in talent management initiatives that must also be managed. Other

arenas of HR content include social media, employee portal communications,

knowledge collaboration platforms, and recruiting and acquisition campaigns,

among others. To keep on top of this aspect of organization productivity, many

organizations and their HR professionals turn to an ECMS, which has afforded

them encouraging results.

Fig. 6 explores what issues respondents agree effective content/document management would have the biggest influence on, most notably the ability to provide compliance documentation (77%) and the ability to access HR content for audits (71%).

77%71%

63%

57%53% 50%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

HR compliance and the ability to provide documentation when necessary

The ability to access documents and content for HR audits

The service HR is able to provide to organization members and the workforce

The structure and execution of HR shared services

HR transformation initiatives such as mergers and acquisitions

Employee satisfaction with HR service delivery

Figure 6: To what extent do you agree that effective content/document management improves the following?

Percent indicating “Strongly Agree”

An ECMS, which helps streamline the document management process,

including creating, storage, and access can help save time for those who use

them. “The origination of content management began with documents that

grew from the need to mitigate risks and to ensure compliance,” Angela

Morrow, from the HR Center of Excellence at OpenText, remarked. “With

technology as an accelerator, organizations are revolutionizing how they handle

all of their content — whether it is recruiting text campaigns, chat history

from the HR Call Center, or digital assets used in employee branding and

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engagement strategies. Developing, maintaining and updating this content, in

the context of HR business processes efficiency, is critical for HR to stay agile

and responsive to the business needs of the company.”

Encouragingly, more than a third of respondents agreed they already have an

HR ECMS in place, but that still leaves much room for improvement.

To understand the outcomes of adopting an ECMS, we separated

respondents who already use an ECMS from the general respondent pool,

and looked at their likeliness to experience specific operational inefficiencies

and problems.

Among those organizations with an ECMS in place, the percentage indicating

HR efficiency problems occurring “Frequently” or “Occasionally” is lower. This

is true of all problems we listed in our survey.

Specifically, we looked at the prevalence of inefficiencies and problems

regarding HR transformation initiatives and how they are achieved within

organizations. Several survey questions addressed how mergers, acquisitions,

compliance documentation and access, and audit information are influenced

by having a comprehensive ECMS in place. Unsurprisingly, access to HR

documents for compliance requests and audits, and a lack of clarity regarding

how documents are housed and accessed are the two biggest operational

inefficiencies organizations without an ECMS in place are 14% and 16% more

likely to experience (See Figure. 8). In addition, Figure 6 demonstrates that

more than half of survey respondents (53%) strongly agree that having an

Figure 7: Does your organization have an

HR Electronic Content Management System

in place?

Fig. 7 demonstrates that 61% of respondents do not have an Electronic Content Management System (ECMS) in place.

39%

61%

Have ECMSDo Not Have ECMS



ECMS in place positively influences the delivery of HR transformation initiatives

and more than 70% strongly agree that an ECMS improves audit compliance

responsibilities and access to documentation.

Figure 8: How frequently do you encounter the following HR operational inefficiencies?

Percent answering “Frequently/Occasionally”

Fig. 8 explores the operational inefficiencies that respondents without an ECMS face more frequently, most notably the inability to find documentation for HR compliance requests and audits, and not having a clear understanding of where documents are housed.

“As employees become more consumer-minded, tailoring the right content and relevant messages to each employee segment along with the appropriate channel (video, e-mail or text) will prove to be a foundational component and underpinning of successful retention strategies and talent management initiatives.”

Angela Morrow, HR Center

of Excellence, OpenText

HR Operational Inefficiencies Occur Frequently/Occasionally

Clearly, organizations using an ECMS can point to real results and experience

improvements in departmental efficiency on a variety of fronts. As one survey

respondent stated, “ECM [systems] are critically important, from daily access

to documents to emergency back-up. HR management must give these issues

greater visibility.”

Key Barriers Although nearly two-thirds of our survey respondents do not have an ECMS at

their organization, an overwhelming majority agree that digitizing HR content

would positively affect HR service delivery. While employees continue to bring

consumer expectations into the workforce, recognizing and streamlining the

components of HR service delivery is critical to fostering an efficient model of

communication and productivity. Among the issues HR service delivery can

improve upon to meet the increasing demands of employees are first touch

problem resolution, case handling time, caller abandonment time, and overall

employee satisfaction with HR’s ability to address concerns and resolve issues.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Have ECMS Do Not Have ECMS

51%

62%

38%

52%

38%

54%

23%26%

30%34%

Individual and organizational HR requests are delayed

Documentation for HR compliance requests is di�cult to �nd

It is unclear where HR documents are housed and how I can access them

I must go through two or more supervisors in order to get permission to access documents

Documents must be re-created and re-signed

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Figure 9: How much do you agree that digitizing

employee records affects HR service delivery by streamlining employee interactions, providing

managers with reliable and easy access to documents, and efficiently addressing

employee needs and resolving questions?

Organizations that have not yet adopted an ECMS face a few common barriers

that prevent them from procuring and utilizing one. Survey respondents

largely agree that an ECMS in HR faces a lack of funding and resources and

is not considered a high business priority by leadership. These findings again

underscore the necessity for HR leaders to build a compelling business case

about the benefits an ECMS implementation can offer.

Funding is not being made available to HR because leaders are not fully

cognizant of the great operational and strategic benefits acquiring such a

system will afford. Many organizational leaders may not understand digitization

as a “worthy” investment because they are simply not aware of how much the

investment can yield and positively influence business productivity. If they see

no benefit, any cost, no matter how low, will appear too great.

StronglyAgree

SomewhatAgree

SomewhatDisagree

StronglyDisagree

Not Sure

58%

33%

4%2% 3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

There is an obvious and supported value in the digitization and electronic

management of materials for reliable, easy and effective access to documents,

but a concerning lack of implementation among organizations.

Fig. 9 demonstrates that 91% of respondents agree or strongly agree that digitizing employee records affects HR service delivery by streamlining employee interactions, providing managers with reliable and easy access to documents, and efficiently addressing employee needs and resolving questions.



The Urgency of Effective HR Content Management In large part, the barriers facing content management are founded in the need

for a more comprehensive understanding of what organizational content refers

to, and a recognition that this body of content is growing exponentially.

HR leaders must be clear that it extends far beyond paper or digitized

documents. While document storage is the initial starting point for HR

excellence within enterprise content management, a comprehensive ECMS

implementation involves much more, and has a much greater reach and impact

on business practices. A secondary phase of ECMS addresses content creation

and distribution, followed by consideration of the processes that influence

how mobility and multiple third party vendor platforms such as benefits

administrations are being strategically leveraged.

Applied to a common business function such as talent acquisition, “content”

thus refers to web pages, videos, text chats, social media functions, marketing

materials and employee branding assets — all of which need to be better

Figure 10: How would you characterize the

following challenges related to improving Content Management at your

organization:?

Percent stating “Challenge is Significant”

Lack of resources or funding

Leaders in my organization do not consider an HR Electronic Content Management system a high priority right now

Lack of knowledge to create an online repository for all HR content and documents

The culture of my organization would not support electronically managing and storing HR contents and documents

The challenge of digitizing and cataloging all of the HR documents in my organization are too overwhelming to address

42% 41%

18%14%

13%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Fig. 10 demonstrates that the two biggest challenges facing organizational improvement of content management are a lack of funding, and leaders that do not see ECMS as a high organizational priority.

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managed and streamlined in a strategic way for both more effective means

of productivity. Additionally, improved management of these materials can

help provide defenses of things like EEO and Affirmative Action and other

compliance hiring practices. It would behoove HR management to lead

the charge in educating the senior team about the expansive nature of

organizational content.

Indeed, HR leaders who can secure executive buy-in are much more likely to

gain access to the resources necessary to build this vital capability. Averbook

echoes this sense of urgency: “The overall user experience with content

management tools are a higher priority than just content management for HR.

There needs to be a big picture approach in organizations, and it ties back to

the expectation that the consumer world relies on today. People have access

to the information they need when they need it. Companies need to mimic

that functionality and usability with their content.” HR leaders that can

demonstrate the potential enterprise-wide value of an ECMS to their

leadership may very well find “lack of funding” will consequentially become a

much less significant barrier.

Conclusion & RecommendationsSuccessful organizations need HR to be positioned more as a strategic

partner in business in order to best leverage its role as a driver of efficiency

and productivity. A fundamental first step is to explore and communicate the

benefits offered by an ECMS including:

• Increasing employee satisfaction with HR service delivery

• Decreasing operational inefficiencies

• Increasing compliance requests and audit information

• Easing file transfers and allowing easier access to documentation

Future research should determine how a strategic HR department that actively

works toward achieving these business goals can have an even greater

influence on productivity, including improved workforce planning practices.

The need for HR to play a leading role in organizational change management

while constantly striving to be more efficient is a priority for all companies.

Senior HR management can initiate this plan by capitalizing on the opportunity

before them: creating better management practices and processes for the

constantly increasing body of content that is the vitality of any organization.

Smart companies and smart leaders recognize that organizations are made up

of people. HR’s role in managing employees, efficiently handing transactions,

“The overall user experience with content management tools are a higher priority than just content management for HR. There needs to be a big picture approach in organizations, and it ties back to the expectation that the consumer world relies on today. People have access to the information they need when they need it. Companies need to mimic that functionality and usability with their content.”

Jason Averbook CEO, Knowledge Infusion



monitoring the reciprocity of information and data, and finding effective

storage solutions for all of those activities and more cannot be undervalued.

Companies that take the opportunity now to build comprehensive systems and

strategies for dealing with this will find themselves differentiated and better

prepared for the future.

53%

39%

25%

33%

16%

21%

6% 7%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

To allow authorized stakeholders to easily access documents seamlessly and in real-time, regardless of location

To increase the level of oversight into HR compliance and decrease risk

To positively influence and improve our workforce planning process

Other

Have ECMS Do Not Have ECMS Figure 11: If your organization already has an HR Electronic Content Management system in place, what was the most important motivating factor in implementing one?

or

If your organization does not currently have an HR Electronic Content Management system, what is the most compelling reason to adopt one?

Fig. 11 illustrates that organizations with an ECMS benefit from easier document access, and increased oversight into HR compliance and risk, followed by the opportunity to improve workforce planning. These issues are synonymous with the factors that motivate respondents without an ECMS in place to consider one.

HCI Research


Appendix A: About the Research PartnersThe Human Capital Institute (HCI) The Human Capital Institute (HCI) is a catalyst for innovative new thinking in

talent acquisition, development, deployment and new economy leadership.

Through research and collaboration, our global network of more than 138,000

members develops and promotes creativity, best and next practices, and

actionable solutions in strategic talent management. Executives, practitioners,

and thought leaders representing organizations of all sizes, across public,

charitable and government sectors, utilize HCI communities, education, events

and research to foster talent advantages to ensure organizational change

for competitive results. In tandem with these initiatives, HCI’s Human Capital

Strategist professional certifications and designations set the bar for expertise

in talent strategy, acquisition, development and measurement. For more

information, visit www.hci.org.

OpenText OpenText, a global ECM leader, helps organizations manage and gain the true

value of their business content. OpenText brings two decades of expertise

supporting 100 million users in 114 countries. Working with our customers and

partners, we bring together leading Content Experts to help organizations

capture and preserve corporate memory, increase brand equity, automate

processes, mitigate risk, manage compliance and improve competitiveness.

For more information, visit www.opentext.com.



About The AuthorAubrey Krekeler Wiete, MA is a Senior Analyst at the Human Capital Institute

within the Organizational Development & Leadership Practice Area. Previously,

she worked at the University of Kentucky, where she focused on the use of

social media as recruiting tools and the business imperative of Global English.

Aubrey’s past research publications include understanding the necessity for

cross-generational mentorship and coaching, new executive development

techniques for senior leaders, and recognizing the imperative of career

development plans to foster employee engagement. Her other areas of

interest include leveraging talent mobility and performance, and methods to

cultivate creative business cultures. She earned her bachelor’s degree from

Saint Louis University and a Master’s degree in Organizational Communication

and Health Communication from the University of Kentucky. Aubrey is currently

based in Cincinnati, OH.

HCI Research


Industry

50%

15%

10%

8%

17%Less than 1,0001,000-3,0003,001-5,0005,001-10,00010,000+

85%

9%

2%2%

1%1%

North AmericaAsia/PacificEuropeAfricaCentral/South AmericaMiddle East

Number of Employees

Region

Appendix B: Respondent Demographics

11%10%

10%

7%

6%5%

3%

2%

1%

1%

21%

Professional ServicesHealthcareTechnologyGovernmentNon-profit/CharityBanking/Financial ServicesAerospace & DefenseInsuranceOil and Gas

Pharma/Life SciencesIndustrial Metals & MiningRetailAutomobiles & PartsIndustrial Goods & ServicesUtilitiesFood & BeverageReal EstateConstruction & MaterialsLeisureChemicalsOther



Level

Revenue

HR Functional Area of Responsibility

38%

30%

11%

14%7% HR Operations

HR Business StrategyDevelopmentHR Shared Services

Other

N/A – work in differentfunctional area

23%

27%12%

11%

6%6%

5%

4%1%

1%

4%

Director

Manager

Business Partner

Vice President

Senior Director

C-Level (CEO, CHRO,CIO, etc.)Team Member

Executive

Senior Vice President

President

Other

17%

20%

8%12%7%6%

14%

3%

1%

1%

11%

Less than $10 million

$10-49 million

$50-99 million

$100-499 million

$500-749 million

$750 million-1 billion

$2-9 billion

$10-49 billion

$50-100 billion

>$100 billion

N/A -Government or Non-profit

HCI Research


Appendix C: ReferencesBeck, V., Dionne, M., Koti, I., Loriss, T., McLain, W., et al. (2010). Making the Case for Merging Document Control

and Records Management, Information Management Journal.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (September 10, 2010). Number of Jobs Held, Labor Market Activity, and Earnings

Growth Among the Youngest Baby Boomers, BLS.gov.

Digitizing Records: An Untapped Opportunity, (2010). International Journal of Micrographics & Optical

Technology, 28(3).

Kalyani, M. & Sahoo, M. P., (2011). Human Resource Strategy: A Tool of Managing Change for Organizational

Excellence, International Journal of Business and Management, 6(8).

Neal, Ken, (2008). Driving Better Business Performance with Document Management Processes, The Information

Management Journal.

Savaneviciene, A., & Stankeviciute, Z. (2011). Human Resource Management Practices Linkage with Organizational

Commitment and Job Satisfaction, Journal of Economics and Management, 16 (1).

Welsh, T., (2007). Growing Profits with Technology, Practice Intelligence.

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