Maximizing HR Productivity With HR SLA in Case Management and Helpdesk Tools
Do you use an HR Case Management or HR Helpdesk tool to enable HR to deliver services to your employees? Are you benefiting from the HR Service Level Agreements (SLA) functionality that these systems provide? If not, you are missing an opportunity to improve services for your employees and increase HR productivity.
What is an HR SLA?
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) in HR, often denoted as an HR SLA or HR Service Level Agreement, is a formal contract that serves as an agreement between two parties. It encompasses a detailed description of the services provided, documents the Service Level Targets (the metrics against which service quality is measured), and delineates the roles and responsibilities of both the Service Provider (typically HR) and the Customer (comprising employees and managers). This contractual arrangement is crafted to establish transparent expectations and mutual commitments, ensuring clarity in HR service scope, performance benchmarks, and specified responsibilities within predefined parameters.
Key components of an HR SLA, often used for optimizing HR service delivery, include:
- Service Description: A comprehensive explanation of the HR service being provided, such as recruitment, benefits administration, or performance evaluations.
- Service Level Targets: Measurable metrics detailing the expected quality and timeliness of service delivery, including response times, resolution times, and accuracy benchmarks.
- Responsibilities: Clearly defined roles and obligations for HR (the service provider) and employees or managers (the customers) in the service provision process.
- Communication Protocols: Guidelines outlining how communication will be managed between HR and employees or managers, encompassing channels, updates, and reporting methods.
- Escalation Procedures: Established processes to follow when the service does not meet the predetermined SLA targets, including procedures for escalating issues to resolve them promptly.
- Performance Metrics: Methods for quantifying and reporting on HR's performance, tracking adherence to the SLA targets, and facilitating continuous improvement.
- Termination or Amendment Clauses: Provisions specifying how the SLA can be terminated or modified if necessary, ensuring flexibility in response to changing circumstances.
HR SLAs are fundamental for promoting transparency, accountability, and efficiency in HR Service Delivery. By setting precise expectations for HR and employees or managers, HR SLAs contribute to consistent, goal-aligned HR service provision. This enhances employee satisfaction, productivity, and the overall effectiveness of HR operations.
In a nutshell, an HR SLA is all about improving the quality of service you provide your employees. It is the HR Case Management SLA functionality that provides the means by which you can achieve this.
Example of the Benefits of Using an HR SLA: If an employee does not receive their pay on payday, that is likely to be considered a high priority, and in some organizations HR will want to rectify this issue the same day, or within 8 hours. Therefore the HR SLA resolution time would be 8 hours. You might also record how often you should keep the employees updated on the progress of their issue, in my example, I would suggest hourly updates. The applied SLA on this case will help HR keep track of these hourly updates and the total time used to resolve the employees question.
As you can see from this example, having SLAs automatically applied to incoming cases within your HR Case Management tool will provide great monitoring and tracking benefits.
But that’s not all. There’s a multitude of benefits to your organization. Here I list my top 5:
1. HR SLA Improves Employee Service Management
An HR Service Level Agreement (SLA) may be automatically applied to any incoming question or issue that an employee raises with HR. When this happens the SLA will prompt the HR case owner when it is time to update the employee, and to keep the case on track for resolution within the agreed SLA timeframe. Not only can the SLA automatically prompt the owner, it may also prompt HR management who might be required to step in and assist the case owner before the SLA is breached (uses all of the resolution time allowed). The result is a focus on the employee, and their level of service after they have logged the question or issue with HR and an improvement in the service delivered to your employees.
2. Uplift in Employee Experience
Today, employees expect the workplace technology experience to match that of their consumer lives. Employees’ experience of interacting with Google, Facebook, Instagram and other consumer tech is driving this demand. And HR Service Delivery need the tools to replicate this ‘consumer-grade’ technology experience at work for their employees. An SLA is one such tool. By providing HR with the means by which they can deliver faster response rates and greater case transparency to their employees along with the visibility they need to continually improve HR services, an SLA helps meet the expectations employees now have of their workplace technology.
3. HR Service Level Agreement Increases HR Productivity
Imagine you are an HR Service Center advisor managing 20 open cases. How do you decide which case to work first from which employee? The one shouting the loudest or the one with the most urgent issue? How do you determine the most urgent issue? With SLA management, the HR Case Management tool not only applies the most appropriate response and resolution time allowance, but also sorts and displays the cases in a list by predetermined priority levels. This results in the HR team focusing their efforts in the correct order, making HR more productive and enables HR to deliver higher SLA Compliance ratings.
4. HR SLA Leads to Efficient Resource Allocation
Are you having difficulty meeting or exceeding your SLA targets? A probable cause is that resource allocation is not optimized or that you don't have enough resources to satisfy the demands of the SLA . Using the SLA Management feature of an HR Case Management solution, you will gain visibility of resource constraints. These new insights can be shared with senior management, making the case for changes in SLA targets or allocating appropriate resources to meet SLA demands.
5. Improved Team Performance and Morale
SLA Management sheds light on which teams and individuals are your true champions, and areas of potential training and coaching opportunities. Monitoring your results also enables you to adjust targets appropriately in order to better serve your employees. For example, if you consistently deliver above 95% on all priority one cases that have an SLA of 24 hours or three business days to resolve, perhaps it is time to increase the target, and aim for 16 hours or two business days. Using SLA management will allow you to spot trends and take action that creates a team culture of achievements and success, where organizational/ departmental goals, and rewards may also be a result of the team performance.How do you feel about my top 5 benefits of using HR Service Level agreements in HR Service Delivery? Comment below and tell me what your top 5 benefits are.
"The Global HR Services team places significant reliance on Dovetail as their primary case management system, particularly for the efficient monitoring of HR SLAs. Employees can effortlessly initiate cases by sending emails, and Dovetail seamlessly allocates them to the appropriate Service Center according to the employee's location. This feature streamlines the Team Lead's ability to effectively oversee and allocate cases, while also facilitating real-time tracking of case status and adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs)."
Sheryl Li, the Global HR Services Director
HR Service Level Agreements and HR Case Management
Incorporating HR Service Level Agreements (SLAs) into your HR Case Management or HR Helpdesk tools can revolutionize the way HR services are delivered. These agreements not only improve the quality of service provided to employees but also enhance HR productivity and streamline processes.
With HR SLAs, you gain the ability to automatically apply response and resolution time allowances to incoming cases, ensuring timely updates and resolutions. This not only benefits employees but also allows HR teams to prioritize and manage their workload efficiently.
The advantages of HR SLAs extend beyond immediate service improvements. They lead to an uplift in the employee experience, aligning workplace technology with the consumer-grade tech experience employees expect. Additionally, HR SLAs result in increased HR productivity, efficient resource allocation, and improved team performance and morale.
By monitoring SLA compliance and adjusting targets accordingly, organizations can foster a culture of achievement and success within their HR teams.
Read the following case study to discover how a global technology company optimized their HR Services with Dovetail HR SLA functionality.
If you are ready for a demo of how to use an HR Service Level Agreement in an HR Case Management system, then please request a demo. We'd love to hear from you!
