(Month-ending 08/31/2020)
Employee Questions related to COVID-19 into HR Teams Decline by 18% in August
Monthly employee coronavirus-related questions into HR teams (at Dovetail customers) declined by 18% in August, from a total question volume in July of 52,885 to a 43,120 total last month.
The decline is believed to be due to the holiday period and the better understanding employees have of how COVID-19 is impacting them in the workplace - which is thanks to the huge effort HR have made, since the start of the pandemic, in answering employee questions with accurate and clear explanations.
Dovetail HR Services customers have been aided during this emergency period by using the latest in advanced HR Service Delivery applications, including HR Case Management, Employee Communications Portal, HR Knowledge Management (with Knowledge Base) and advanced HR Reporting & Analytics. And several customers have adopted Dovetail Check Track Trace, a health screening and contact tracing solution, specifically designed to respond to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and part of Dovetail's Emergency Response software applications.
Read below for more analysis and insights about how HR are responding to employee questions, requests and inquiries during the COVID-19 crisis.
(Note: Employee cases refer to employee questions, inquiries and requests that are logged as “cases” in the Dovetail HR Case Management solution).
Insight 2 - Employee Coronavirus-related Questions into HR at the Weekend Remain Stable
Insight 1 - 18% Decrease in Number of Employee Coronavirus-related Questions into HR in August Compared with July
There were 43,120 employee questions into HR teams at Dovetail customer organizations in the month of August (Wk 23 - Wk 27), down 9,765 cases (18%) on the previous month.
This is still a large amount of additional employee cases for HR teams, placing time on their time and resources. To meet this challenge, our customers are optimizing the use of Dovetail technologies such as HR Case Management, Employee Portal and HR Knowledge Management to increase the efficiency of their HR operations and the effectiveness of their employee communications during a major, global crisis.
.The chart below shows the total amount of employee coronavirus-related questions Dovetail customer HR teams have received and managed through Dovetail technology since March of this year. 
Click here to find out more about how Dovetail can help your team respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Insight 2 - Coronavirus-related Employee Questions into HR at the Weekend Remain Stable
The chart above shows HR still continue to work on employee coronavirus-related cases at the weekend, however clearly not to the extent we saw in the first few months of the pandemic. This is obviously a good sign which we hope continues.
The weekend data for employee questions is looking predictable, which means HR can more easily plan their resource allocation at the weekend.
Being able to predict the future with a certain confidence level is critical to maximizing the allocation of HR team resources. To do it well, it requires access to advanced reporting and analytics capabilities. Check out Dovetail's HR Reporting & Analytics application to discover how you can use data to help predict the future.
Insight 3 - Rate of Closing Employee Coronavirus-related Questions Averages 87% in August, Up Slightly (1%) on Previous Month
The Coronavirus-related Employee Question Close Rate increased slightly (by 1%) to 87% last month compared to July. This is an improvement and shows HR's continued commitment to finding the answers to employees' coronavirus-related questions quickly and efficiently. Dovetail's Employee Portal with searchable Knowledge Base technology is particularly beneficial as it can reduce inquiries in to HR by up to 50% (as employees can self-serve and find answers to their own questions).
Click here to find out more about Employee Portal technology.
Insight 4 - Email and Phone Channels Are Used by Employees to Contact HR for Over 96% of Coronavirus-related Questions
Email and Phone remain the predominant forms of communication for employees when they are contacting HR for answers to their coronavirus-related questions, requests and inquiries.
As written about in previous blogs, email and phone are ideal for complex, multi-part questions, which explains their popularity. However, there perhaps needs to be more awareness of Live Chat, which can help HR teams improve operational efficiency while being an effective communications tool for employees, particularly the Millennial audience.
Conclusion
The good news in August is the steady decline in the volume of employee coronavirus-related questions into HR. However, with over 40,000 cases being created last month by Dovetail customers in the United States and the rest of the world, it is clear that HR need to optimize processes and operations to increase efficiency, even just to stand still.
Dovetail's HR Services technology that includes HR Case Management, Employee Portal, HR Knowledge Management and HR Reporting & Analytics applications, as well as Emergency Response tools, such as Dovetail Check Track Trace, provide HR Service Delivery teams with the tools they need to increase the efficiency of their employee service management, and protect their employees as they return to work.
In particular the Employee Portal with self-service capabilities enables employees to search and find answers to questions for themselves, without the need to contact HR. Our customers report this can decrease the total number of cases by up to 50%.
To stay updated on how COVID-19 is impacting HR teams, click here to view Dovetail’s Daily & Weekly COVID-19 Updates for HR.
