Customer Relationship Management in HR

That Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an integral part of all modern businesses is a fairly established fact. Apart from effective product and quality feedback mechanisms and enhancing brand value, CRM also serves a prominent role in the marketing strategy, product development and market research functions, offering vital information into the minds and behavior of the modern day consumers. However, there is another set of equally important stakeholders, the employees, who not only heavily influence the success of the brand, but also play an integral part in creating it. It is thus a decisive responsibility of an organization to ensure their biggest asset, its employees, is well taken care of. Just like the external consumer, an employee to demands care and attention in managing their needs and demands, so as to ensure an efficient and productive work force, which eventually reflects on the end product.

It is no wonder than that most HR managers and heads do relay on modern CRM techniques to engage, supervise and reward their employees. This approach, also known as ‘Employee Resource Management’ or ERM, is an essential business process to bridge the divide between employees and organization, while ensuring a harmonious, productive and satisfying relationship for both parties.

Advantages of ERM:

A well-integrated ERM is one that capture, updates and manages a seamless record of information on all aspects of an employee, thus enabling HR heads and managers to create a better interface to engage with employees. Transparency, timely and accurate communication and trust building are some of the crucial roles taken up by ERM, including:

* Profile Management- Creating and managing an up to date profile of every single employee in the organization, is one of the most basic but significant task that the ERM is entrusted with. The log also allows employees to edit their information from time to time, so at to ensure it is accurate. The nature of information stored here is both personal – like date of birth, address, educational qualification etc., to professional, like designation, reporting authority, days of work and leave etc.

* Payment/Compensation- Maintaining an accurate log of employee payroll and relative rewards/ compensations etc. is another vital role, entrusted to the seamless Business Process of ERM. Again, by a provision of self-attestation and raising concerns/ flagging of relevant data in the system through employee inputs helps build the transparency and trust among employees and organizations.

* Training- Apart from maintaining a record of the training sessions conducted and attended by staff, this feature also provided necessary alerts and recommendations to seniors and HR heads regarding new training sessions organized or modules available, so as to allow employees to choose. A vital step in HR being skill development and up gradation of knowledge processes, this feature of ERM focuses on enriching the knowhow and skill up gradation for employees, resulting in a stronger, more committed and eager work force.

* Leave Management- Apart from payrolls, profiling, training and quality assessments, management of leaves is an important feature of ERM, which allows employees to apply for leave online, after accessing their own records as well as information about their immediate team members, mapping out available days as leaves. It also generates acceptance/ rejection of leave application, basis inputs from the immediate manager, thus making the process automated, transparent and friendly, by empowering the staff and HR with accurate information.

* Meetings and Certifications- Managers and employees can have access to records of upcoming training sessions or schedules of internal meetings/ conferences. These can easily be booked online as well as shared as an invitation to join, receive confirmation of employees attending and also send out prior reminders of the event to the attendees, with details of time and venue. This feature is also immensely valuable in case of online training sessions/ lectures by visiting dignitaries, in which case, online certification for the training is also offered.

* Generate online Letters and data- This feature allows the HR to send out formal written communication to employees through a seamless and automated process. These include offer letters, letters of confirmation; increments, promotions as well as other softer communication like welcome letters and congratulatory letters.

* Online Alerts- As parts of important HR processes, as well as a part of general feedback, customary alerts and notifications are sent out to employees using the ERM. These may range from IT related alerts, like change in password etc. to one related to finance, like submission of investment documents for tax benefits. Sometimes these also include vital update on certain other departments of the organization, like an up gradation servers, security checks, mock fire drills etc. Effectively, the system is also used to carry out efficiency surveys and feedback on newer policies/ reporting structure etc.

Just as CRM has been accepted today as an essential Business Process, so is ERM soon gaining popularity amongst companies and HR firms. With the seamless and insightful operational efficiency, ERM, when applied in conjugation with CRM strategies, is a clear indicator of a successful enterprise that has understood the formula that a ‘happy employee ensures a happy customer’.