The UX for HR Products is broken!

Ajoke Emekene
Jul 28, 2017 · 3 min read

Question: How might we create HR products that truly delight HR professionals and the people we serve?

What kind of questions should we be looking to answer? How robust should each product aim to be?

How I really feel about the tools I currently have to use.

I’m actually speaking from a place of pain. The amount of online paper pushing that goes on, the repetitive tasks, is just mind numbing. Today, I went for my first UX meetup and it was quite refreshing, the combination of having someone talk to us about the different things to look out for when building a product that will be a delight to use, and the chat I had afterwards got me reflecting even more deeply about the problems we face as HR people. Lately, I have been thinking about my workflow, what my customers at work want from me, and how I can deliver this while eliminating as many repetitive tasks as possible and the truth is, those paper pushing tasks, hunt you everywhere you turn. I was telling my colleague that I would write about the death of the role of the Recruiter, after much banter, we decided the paper CV was the culprit. But that’s just one aspect of HR.

From half baked solutions to solutions that only deal with one problem well, and refuse to talk to other tools, either through Zapier, IFTTT etc or through their own integrations to solutions that only deal with one kind of problem well. It’s quite sad. I could give you a few examples but that would get me naming tools that I’m not sure I’m permitted to, given my position in the organisation I work for. The thing is, with HR tools, we moved from pushing literal papers from desk to desk, to pushing virtual papers from account to account. If I take a simple task, such as initiating a promotion on the system. I would have to go through a good number of clicks to get the job done, plus after all that, I still run the risk of missing a vital step and having to chase reluctant Line Managers.

My face every time, I wish a tool could perform a function it doesn’t! lol

The imperative is simple. We need better tools in HR. Tools that talk to each other seamlessly, allow the users do less paper work and focus on what they do best; ensuring that people(employees) have the best experience at work.

In other words, we have to fix this!

If there’s a HR product you’ve used, that stands out in terms of UX (a joy to use) and has the right integrations, please drop a note below. I know this is a sweeping generalisation, but I have tried a good number of tools and haven’t seen anyone yet that stands out significantly from the rest in terms of experience.

Ajoke Emekene

Written by

Trying to find my place. I’m very keen on problem solving. #HarryPotterFan Alert! Design is magic, and making life easier is the reason we make magic happen.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade