Dive Brief:
- ADP and Paychex have entered separate partnerships with Facebook, connecting their human capital management (HCM) systems with Workplace, the social media giant's enterprise platform, according to emails sent to HR Dive. The integrations were announced at Facebook's F8 Conference. The social media giant is expanding into HCM through enterprise partnerships, using its technological expertise to offer end users an experience the company hopes will expand the platform's usefulness, reports TechCrunch. Other SaaS platforms also announced integrations, including Jira, SurveyMonkey and Sharepoint.
- Employees using the ADP integration — which links the ADP Virtual Assistant with Workplace by Facebook — will be able to access their pay statement summaries, pay deductions, time-off balances and other pay-related information. They'll also be able to get notifications on when they've been paid, and generally can access this information from anywhere and on any device that supports Workplace.
- In partnering with Workplace, Paychex is introducing a social collaboration tool to its HCM suite, Paychex Flex, the company said. Users will communicate through familiar Facebook tools, such as news feeds and chats. Those that use Flex through Workplace will also have access to Paychex Flex Assistant, a virtual assistant that answers employees' most commonly asked questions in real time.
Dive Insight:
The next big HR tech trend may be in these partnerships and integrations, especially as HR practitioners struggle to independently vet each tech solution out there. Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and others have sought to expand into the HCM and recruitment tech space, giving HR practitioners a large spread of options as well as jump-starting some innovations in the space.
Facebook, for example, aims to give employees a social experience similar to those they have in their personal lives in order to enhance engagement. But experts have cast doubt on whether these innovations will last for the long-term due to the HCM space's slow, reactive nature.
Generally, the tide is likely turning toward all-in-one tech that can present a solid "backbone" to employers — forming a sort of jumping off point for other integrations while allowing a streamlined experience. That goal is, at least, the stated core strategy of some HR tech solutions, such as Zenefits. Other companies, including BerniePortal, are also expanding their offerings beyond their core business strategy in order to provide employers with a strong user experience across interfaces, be it for benefits, recruiting or otherwise.
