consultative approach with employees – from clinical staff to the
executive level – was utilized. The aSK HR team was resourced
internally – coming together from different areas of HR and offering
a breadth of expertise and experience.
“We sought employee input at different stages of development and
invested a lot of time and energy ensuring that all employees were engaged
in the development process and communicated with prior to the
launch, both when aSK HR first opened and post-implementation,”
said Clayton. “Our communications efforts were very broad and
tailored to connect with and promote the benefits of aSK HR to different
areas and portfolios within the broader SickKids community.”
The team also engaged employees through an in-house innovation
tool called Wikidea that promotes SickKids-wide
collaboration through an online (Intranet) discussion platform.
Additionally, group forums, posters and emails were also used to
connect with future clients.
THE BENEFITS
Over the past 12 months, both the HR department and SickKids
(as an organization) have benefited in numerous ways from introducing
aSK HR. For instance:
■■ The ability for the HR team to improve the effectiveness of
their responses means that SickKids employees spend less time
seeking HR support. Employees can dedicate more time and
energy towards fulfilling their core responsibilities and helping
the hospital achieve its mission – improving children’s health
through integration of patient care, research and education.
■■ aSK HR has greatly enhanced the HR department by allowing
the different HR functional specialist areas to focus on the
operational and strategic aspects of their roles more efficiently,
while aSK HR handles the high daily volume of general
employee inquiries.
■■ Central service metrics enable the aSK HR team to see trends
and identify opportunities to further improve HR service
capability.
■■ aSK HR has encouraged the HR team to work more
collaboratively through the sharing of knowledge. In the past,
department members worked more independently.
O’Dowd says for companies considering a central service like
this, HR professionals need to keep in mind the unique and complex
needs of their organization.
“Connect directly with employees to find out what type of service
or support they need to be successful,” she said.
For instance, more than 50 per cent of inquiries fall into three
primary categories – recruitment, benefits and payroll – and are
categorized as basic and intermediate level. More complex questions
– making up fewer than five per cent of intake – are triaged
to an appropriate HR specialist.
“Even when non-HR inquiries are asked, our team does its best
to redirect employees to the appropriate area – another central
function or department – within SickKids,” said O’Dowd.
Responses to inquiries (ideally with a solution) generally take
48 hours, although in the majority of cases, clients are acknowledged
the same day.
With aSK HR a resounding success so far – further validated
by a survey the team conducted with clients – Clayton says the
team is determined to keep it this way.
“Over 300 employees who used our service during its first quarter
responded to an April 2014 aSK HR Client Survey,” she said. “The
results were overwhelmingly positive and confirmed what we’d already
heard from individual client interactions: that aSK HR is easy
to contact and provides quality responses with quick turnaround.”
Robert Cesario, director of HR transformation for SickKids
and responsible for HR systems and support functions including
aSK HR, is very pleased with the results so far.
“In the future, we believe that analysis of aSK HR data will help
us to drive further HR process improvements,” he said.
Quarterly “aSK HR update” sessions are also conducted to get
advance notice from the HR subject matter experts on any new
developments or initiatives.
“We continue to grow an electronic knowledge repository of
commonly asked questions and responses so all members of aSK
HR have quick and easy access to information,” said Clayton.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Over the next one to three years, O’Dowd says the team will continue
to promote aSK HR as the primary and central source for
general HR inquiries.
“With the implementation of more sophisticated ticketing software,
we will enhance our metrics capabilities and explore the
feasibility of launching an HR self-service application that will
offer our clients yet another convenient way to access HR information,”
she said. n
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34 ❚ JANUARY 2015 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL