Here is what a unified experience would be like for Recruiter Sarah.
Instead of contacting IT support about the missing field, Sarah goes to her Employee Centre (which provides her with everything she needs to do her job). She uses the search bar to look for the application by name or function and is presented with a list to choose from – much like a Google search. Once she selects the right application, Sarah can report an issue or request a change. Because she needs a new field added, she selects the second option. The form is contextual to the application she wants to change, so Sarah only needs to provide minimal information to answer: What do you need changed? Why do you need this change? And what is the impact of not having this feature added?
Sarah fills in the details and hits enter. From here, there’s no mucking around - the form doesn’t go to IT or a generic inbox that someone must manually triage. Instead, the request goes directly to the app owner who can approve or deny it, or collaborate with Sarah to clarify her requirement. Since Sarah is correct (oops, the missing field was an oversight!), her request is immediately approved, triggering a proven workflow to generate all the necessary tasks to proceed, such as approvals, risk assessment, testing, and compliance. These tasks are marked urgent and appear on the to-do lists of the appropriate teams in the correct order. So, with minimal fuss, Sarah gets what she needs quickly and receives a notification as soon as her field is all go.
This is what a unified experience (and a great first day) would be like for New Joiner John.
Unbeknownst to him, John’s unified experience begins months before his first big day in the office. It starts when the hiring manager, Brian, goes to his Employee Centre and searches for 'New hire'. Brian selects the Recruitment Request form at the top of the search result, completes the necessary fields (about eight of them), and then clicks ‘submit.’
This kicks off a two-level approval process. The first approval needed is from Brian's manager, Trudi. She receives an automated email letting her know about Brian's request, and despite being in the airport departure lounge, she reviews his request on her smartphone and ‘approves’ it before heading off on a well-deserved holiday. Trudi’s approval triggers the second approval needed - by the department head, Grace. Seeing that Trudi’s given the okay, she, too, approves it. This second approval creates a task for Recruiter Sarah, and she receives a notification to go ahead and start the advertising process.
Fast forward through the interview process, where John shines brightly, and Brian decides he’s a great guy and the right person for the job. The HCM (human capital management) system generates a letter of offer to John, which he accepts. Everyone is thrilled, and John’s start date is set.
What happens next is magic. HR submits a new joiner checklist based on John's role, which triggers a complex workflow resulting in sequenced tasks that different departments must complete to make John's first day as smooth as possible. The tasks don’t appear on each team’s to-do list until two business days before John's start date, ensuring that they can focus on what needs to be done until then and do so in the correct order, minimising human error. In John's case, his appointment generates four ICT tasks, seven business applications tasks, four HR tasks, two facilities tasks and three automations. In other words, everything required to make his first day a memorable one for all the right reasons. (To note: The end-to-end process is tracked and audited by HR service owners so they can improve it with every new hire).
The outcome? John's first day is seamless. He has everything he needs for his role and is seriously impressed with the excellent onboarding experience (and he tells all his friends). His fantastic first day results from the continuous improvement resulting from removing the disconnect between the recruitment, onboarding, security, facilities and IT processes. John and everyone else involved has a unified (and much happier) experience. And the IT, HR, and Department Heads are also far happier and more effective because they're not dealing with the 'white noise' of trying to make things happen on the fly.
These two examples illustrate just a few of the many disconnected experiences you can eliminate in your organisation. If you’ve ever requested someone from the legal department to review a contract for you, needed a marketing executive to run an event, or even asked an admin to organise a courier – you’ll appreciate how many unnecessary steps you can go through to get things done. And when you add in everyday requirements that should be simple, like reporting an OSH issue, raising a credit memo, organising catering for a staff morning tea, getting a duplicate payslip, or sourcing a new charging cable, you’ll have a doubled appreciation of the advantages that a unified employee experience can bring.
