TL;DR: Generic ticketing or IT systems aren’t built for employee relations, says Deb Muller, CEO of HR Acuity, in this edition of Elevating Employee Relations. Like choosing a heart surgeon over a general practitioner, ER teams need purpose-built technology with proven workflows to manage investigations, reduce risk and protect the organization.
Video Transcript:
[0:00] In my conversations with employee relations leaders, one of the frustrating things—on both sides—is when they hear from their organization that they don’t need technology specifically for employee relations: “Just use what we have, the IT system, the ticketing system, the case-management system.” Organizations often like one size fits all because it’s easier and probably less expensive. So we really talk about why employee relations is different.
[0:30] It’s sort of like the healthcare spectrum: You have your physician, your general practitioner—similar to that all-purpose case-management system. It’s useful, but sometimes you get sick with something more serious, like a heart issue. You don’t go to your general practitioner; you need someone more specialized because the risk of not doing that is just so high.
[1:00] Many times we hear from groups outside HR: “We can build that process for you, we can configure what we have to meet your needs—help us build how to conduct an investigation right in that technology.” I’ll go back to that heart-surgeon analogy: Would you ever want a doctor to say, “You need bypass surgery—let’s work together to figure out the best way to handle that, and when I go into surgery I need your help”? No. You want someone with a proven process, an expert who will configure technology specifically for your organization’s needs.
[1:30] If you don’t do that, the risk of a recurrence—or of hurting your organization significantly—is just too high.
