Contact Tracing is a solution for investigating, tracing and preventing the spread of infectious diseases. It involves combining the expertise and capabilities of human Contact Tracers, who are accomplished communicators and skilled in contact tracing techniques and ethical standards, privacy laws and confidentiality regulations, with the latest in advanced contact tracing technology.

Introducing the all new Dovetail Monthly News Roundup for 'on the go' HR professionals.

Containing the latest thought-provoking research, articles and blog posts, on topics as diverse as rethinking the employee experience (McKinsey), accelerated digital transformation, and the future of work, as well as industry insights, you'll be able to stay up to speed with the latest thinking in HR. 

Continuing education is also a theme, with recommendations for HR-related books and courses. Check out the most recent HR books to hit the shelves.

And don't miss our Culture & Entertainment section. This week why not take a virtual Essentials Tour of the Art Institute Chicago, and experience, from a new angle, some of the finest artworks by Chagall, Seurat and Hopper.  

Workflow Automation refers to software technology that automates the series of actions through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion, eliminating manual steps that are often time-consuming, error-prone and duplicated.

"Dovetail was an instrumental tool during the switch to remote working, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During COVID-19 when HR staff went remote, Dovetail was utilized much heavier (than before), and even became a main tool that we used for the unfortunate reduction in force process we had. It helped get those employees who were impacted their answers quickly and documented."

Tina Aquilini-Batten, HR Operations Manager at Tower Health

Are you developing strategies to protect and communicate with your employees as they return to the workplace? Has your HR Services team recently become a remote working team? Do they have the right tools in place to carry out their activities effectively? And, as an HR leader, do you have the Reporting & Analytics technology in place to ensure you can manage your team’s performance?

If you’re managing HR services using outdated technology, such as spreadsheet trackers and a shared inbox, it’s likely the transition to remote work has not been smooth sailing. All the usual pain points, such as losing track of employee cases, lack of workload visibility, and the time-consuming collation of data for reporting, are all exacerbated when taking your team remote, that is, unless you have the right Cloud-based tools in place.

Tools like HR Case Management, Employee Portal, HR Knowledge Management and HR Reporting & Analytics include features and benefits that enable HR teams to effortlessly make the transition to home working.

Read below to discover 5 reasons why HR Services technology can help your teams perform better in a remote working environment:

Are you developing strategies to protect your employees as they return to the workplace? If your business operates in a sector where staying in business means staff having to go back into offices or onsite, then this blog post is for you! 

Our research shows that as lockdown eases, there is an expectation among many companies that a large proportion of workers from across many sectors of the economy will return to the workplace. Recent surveys by CNBC of senior technology sector executives, indicate that as many as 50% of employees, and potentially more, will return to the workplace in September. The coming shift back to the office for many workers was also indicated by Chief Financial Officers in a May survey of the CNBC Global CFO Council. For companies whose employees are going back onsite, it is the priority to put health and safety procedures in place to protect employee safety.

There will be many things to consider, such as:

• reviewing the workplace to ensure employees can maintain a safe distance between each other
• determining how to manage meetings, interviews and other interactions and what arrangements need to be made about communal areas, such as canteens or kitchen areas
• and perhaps even the staggering of working hours, so that not all employees are onsite at the same time

However, even though these matters are all important, the most crucial aspect to resolve is what should your organization do if an employee, or multiple employees, become infected with COVID-19? How can you take care of their well-being and limit the spread of the virus among your workforce and the wider community?

One way to mitigate these risks is to deploy a Contact Tracing solution that aims to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among your workforce.

Contact tracing is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as follows:

Contact tracing is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing people who have been exposed to a disease to prevent onward transmission. When systematically applied, contact tracing will break the chains of transmission of COVID-19 and is an essential public health tool for controlling the virus.

We believe companies that combine this process with the latest contact tracing technology, can take control of protecting their employees and business(es) today, without the need to wait for government intervention (See reason 6 below). But that's not the only reason. Read below for our 6 reasons why your organization needs to adopt a Contact Tracing solution now.

(*Note: In the case of universities, the same applies to students coming back to work and campus safely).

As of the end of March 2020, more than 846,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in over 200 countries and territories, resulting in approximately 41,000 deaths. 

Traditionally, HR Helpdesk software was used by HR Service Advisers and their managers to track and manage employee inquiries, issues and questions coming into HR from the business. Employees would call or email HR, and the Adviser would use the HR Helpdesk software to log and track details of the employee’s inquiry. The HR Manager would then use the Reporting functionality to monitor KPIs, such as call volume, number of cases open/ closed, and call handle time. From a technical standpoint, the HR Helpdesk included a software interface (or Console) with searchable Knowledge Base, which enabled HR to search and locate answers to employee questions quickly and efficiently. In recent years, the traditional HR Helpdesk has evolved into a far more sophisticated HR Service Delivery solution. For example, HR Helpdesk software now incorporates an Employee Portal application with ‘self-serve’ functionality, making a searchable Knowledge Base available to all employees.

We cover the following topics in this article:

• What is HR Case Management?
• Dovetail's HR Service Delivery Experience
• HR Case Management
• HR Knowledge Management
• Employee Portal (including AI Chat & Live Chat)
• Reporting & Analytics
• Employee Relations
• Remote Working for HR
• Conclusion

What is HR Case Management?

HR Case Management enables HR to improve the quality of employee services, by using advanced features, such as Case Tracking, Workflow Automation and Reporting & Analytics to track, manage and resolve employee HR/Payroll issues, questions and requests into the HR function.

The Employee Portal (that integrates with HR Case Management) enables communication with employees across all channels, including email, self-service, phone, and Live Chat. The word “Case” is the name of the record used to track an employee’s conversation with HR. It does this by collating items such as notes, emails, phone calls, live chats, attachments, tasks, and more into a single view.

Discover more about HR Case Management by viewing the following Dovetail HR video.

An Employee Portal, sometimes known as an HR Portal, is an online employee engagement platform that puts a range of HR services at the employee’s fingertips. From providing employees with access to helpful HR content and self-service functionality that answers their questions, to Live Chat and case tracking, an Employee Portal enhances the employee service experience, which increases employee satisfaction and engagement levels. It is also a communications and change management tool, enabling HR to effectively engage with their employees and support the management of change and development within the organization. Additional benefits include increased workforce productivity and greater efficiency of HR operations.

Watch the Employee Portal video for a greater understanding of how an Employee Self-service Portal can help your organization.

Diagram 1 - Dovetail Multi-Tiered HR Service Delivery Operating Model

HR Service Delivery is the HR function responsible for providing employees and line managers with a wide range of services, including (among many others) payroll processing, employee benefits and onboarding.