Dive Brief:

• Employees rate their experience with HR more highly when they have a single point of contact within the department, an ADP survey released Sept. 30 found. Those with a defined HR contact are twice as likely to say the department is "value-promoting" as those with multiple HR contacts. They're five times as likely to give the department such a rating as those with no HR contact.
• ADP's research revealed that employees' ratings correlated with numbers of interactions, as well as points of contact. Employees were seven times more likely to view HR positively when they had at least seven interactions with the department, compared to those who never interacted with it.
• HR service use impacted worker scoring, too. The more HR services employees used, the higher their score rose, ADP found. Those who used five services from HR were 11 times more likely to find HR "value-promoting" than workers who never used department services.

Dive Insight:

Employers remain focused on filling jobs and retaining workers. At the center of that effort is the HR department, according to Sreeni Kutam, ADP's chief human resources officer. 

The results of ADP's study point to the areas organizations can enhance to ensure good candidate and employee experiences, Kutam said. He identified one particular part of the employee lifecycle that is ripe for improvement. "As companies continue to ramp up hiring, HR has an opportunity to refocus efforts on the onboarding process as this is a critical touchpoint," Kutam said. 

Onboarding has long been an important moment for HR. The pandemic provided many employers a reason to revamp onboarding when it forced many organizations to adopt widespread remote operations. 

For remote organizations — or for employees starting in remote roles — onboarding is more important than ever, HealthJoy People Director Megan DePorter wrote in an opinion for HR Dive. Remote onboarding is HR's chance to set up a strong communication channel — something that may influence a worker's good relationship with the department, according to ADP. DePorter emphasized the importance of long-term onboarding and recommended 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day check-ins, which provide employees a chance to give feedback.