The human resource (HR) department has a significant role to play in employee-management relations. The department liaises between the employees and top management in communicating the company’s key objectives while ensuring employee growth over time. Through the company’s HR team, employees should have an environment where they can voice out their suggestions or concerns that can contribute to their personal and the company’s growth too. 

To do so, the HR department must create an environment where everyone can freely communicate their rights, needs, and assessment as members of the company workforce. Employees value honesty, accountability, and willingness to listen and communicate – and these values are what employees look for to properly engage them in conversation. 

Let’s discuss these further.  

Accountability and honesty on both ends

Practicing accountability is important for any business to thrive. Apart from increasing performance, it also builds trust and employee engagement as they are empowered to work alongside management to achieve company goals. But what is accountability?

Accountability entails being responsible for one’s actions, behaviors, performance, and decisions. This means that employees have an impact on the company through their actions. However, employees find it hard to practice accountability. According to a study in 2015, 82% of the respondents do not know how to practice accountability well. And top management can improve this through their actions. 

Managers should also practice accountability in how they strategize and implement courses of action while also enabling employees to be more proactive. The best way is to lead by example. Managers should be mindful of their actions and how they can improve themselves. By showing this, employees better understand their superiors and at the same time, are motivated to take action too. 

Having an avenue where everyone can practice accountability is important. That is where the HR department takes a crucial part. With the current hybrid work setup most companies adopted, having offline and online communication is key to establishing good communication across the company. And, with the help of a full-suite HRIS and payroll software, the business can better practice accountability and honesty wherever they are. 

Laying out communication points

This brings us to the second point of discussion: communication channels. Finding the best communication channel plays a significant role in creating an environment where employees feel safe to communicate their strengths and areas of improvement. 

Usually, companies hold surveys, one-on-one discussions, or scheduled staff meetings. These are regular communication points companies use to get a feel of the employee’s current morale and perception of the company. The data from these conversations may also be used to create solutions for issues that employees deem important. Hence, HR needs to select the frequency and type of communication channel that best engages the employees. 

Apart from employee communication, it is also best to select the communication channel that enables managers and employees to have the ability to communicate anywhere. In this regard, full-suite HRIS software plays a significant role. This provides a safe, secure, and flexible communications environment.

Creating a conducive communication environment is a start. The next is setting communication points to ensure that the meeting is productive. To do so, it is best to first set expectations and the reasons behind them. This sets the tone of the meeting and ensures that the management and employee do not go overtime or away from the topic at hand. Next is to set deadlines. Doing so enables both parties to practice accountability and create a schedule that works for them. Lastly, accountability discussions are conducted to assess management-employee performance and improvement points. These discussions enable all persons across the board to continue improving their work. 

Protecting employee data and privacy

Part of accountability and honest communication is also ensuring that the workforce’s data are private and protected – from management to the employees. Apart from ensuring that their data is secured, using software that places safety and privacy first is also a good investment. For that, there’s GreatDay HR. 

A full-suite HRIS undergoes tests and certifications to certify its authenticity and data privacy and security. This is one aspect where GreatDay HR shines. The software offers real-time reporting where the leader receives real-time reports from their staff about their ongoing assignments. This feature ensures that the workforce no longer has to use third-party software for communications. 

GreatDay HR is also ISO-certified. This means that the software is fully compliant with all Quality Management System Standards – ISO 9001:2015 and meets all ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management Requirements.

Progress within the organization begins when all parties can communicate openly. Creating an environment where trust, accountability, and honesty are fostered allows candid conversations that help not only the management but also the employees to be more engaged with the company. And for conversations to happen wherever they are across the country, there is local full-suite HRIS software like GreatDay HR that can foster just that. 

GreatDay HR is one of the platforms offered by SunFish DataOn Philippines Inc. (SDP), the leading provider of cutting-edge Human Resources technology solutions used by thousands of companies in the Asia Pacific region, including the Philippines. Together, with its sister companies, Humanica Thailand and DataOn Indonesia, SDP creates HRIS and Payroll Solutions for employee empowerment across the board.  With its 80+ staff and growing in the Philippines, SDP offers a comprehensive and smooth support service to all its valued clients.