Companies need flexible HR practices to attract, retain millennial workers

JOB FAIR. The business process outsourcing industry in Cebu particularly call center companies joined Saturday’s 1st Cebu City Grand Call Center Job fair 2017 at the Cebu City Sports Center. Hundreds of applicants showed up at the one-day fair organized by the Cebu City government as part of the celebration of the 139th birth anniversary of Don Sergio Osmeña Sr.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

WITH the stiff competition for workers, companies need to rethink their human resource (HR) practices to be able to attract and retain millennials in their workforce.

“Today’s more mobile and technologically savvy workforce recognizes that the blurring between work time and personal time is permanent, as companies compete in a hyper-active and constantly-on world, said Joe Mercado, chief executive officer of Konsum Technologies. Cebu-based Konsum Technologies has developed a new cloud-based payroll platform called Ashima.

Mercado cited the need for a significant paradigm shift in human resource, especially on the aspect of payroll, due to demographics.

“The Philippines is one of a handful of (relatively) significant economies where the workforce is getting younger. Younger means tech savvy and socially engaged workers,” he pointed out. “These knowledge workers require a more participative and collaborative work environment,” Mercado added.

By 2020, the number of young people in the Philippine workforce will hit 10 million, according to a study conducted by the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS).

On the other hand, the Philippine Statistics Authority’s employment study showed that 26.7 percent of the 39.8 million employed in October 2015 was in the age group 25 to 34. Millennials are those aged 15 to 35.

A study on millennials found that a major factor that they consider in choosing a job is its flexibility. Given the extremes of traffic congestion and transportation issues affecting Metro Manila and other urban centers in the country, flexibility also seems more and more advisable and may even be a boost to productivity and cost reduction, the study noted.

Younger workers also expect engagement and transparency, which has become key result areas for HR. In payroll administration, this would mean real time, accurate and immediately actionable information, he explained.

Because of this, payroll administrators need to transition from back-office data entry and historical processing of historical records – such as timesheets, leave applications, and pay slips – to leveraging technology to capture information as it occurs.

According to Mercado, Ashima is a user-friendly platform for a company’s workforce. It integrates HR processes from employee onboarding to payroll management and is geared towards a young and tech-savvy workforce. He added that the platform is suitable from start-ups to corporations.

The platform addresses three major components of payroll administration – time and attendance, scheduling and pay interpretation.

At the same time, Ashima effectively spreads the responsibility of payroll administration across the entire organization. Under this platform, every individual is accountable for the accuracy and timeliness of input that goes into the computation of his or her compensation, he pointed out.

The platform also allows multiple time entry, whether through kiosk, work station, web and mobile check in. For employees who check in through mobile devices, their location will be determined by GPS, he explained.

Aside from these features, Ashima is built for flexibility such as multiple shifts whether regular, compressed, flexi and split shifts. It also empowers employees through real-time timesheets, self-service requests for shift changes, leaves, time adjustments and overtime.

He disclosed that their company decided to develop Ashima, an application for workforce management, because the branded HR application they used for their own company was ineffective. A team of 30 people took two and a half years to develop the platform.