MAY 2016HR TECH OUTLOOK9challenge and opportunity; the world of municipal government. As a career development move, it was absolutely the best move for me. Having a once in a lifetime opportunity to work for a newly elected Mayor of the fourth largest city in the Unites Stated was both exciting and intriguing. The allure of being a public servant was something that had always appealed to me. I had watched many members of my family work as public servants and I was ready to join the ranks.I looked forward with eager anticipation about what new technology and processes I was going to learn, as the Chief Human Resources Officer. Unfortunately, what I encountered was a team trapped in the analog world of the past. A team that was strictly transactional. (I suspect that may be the same reality of some of you reading this article). More paper and manual processing than you could ever imagine. I reflect on my first day when I walked into the department, employees were still using typewriters and carbon paper forms to complete processes; we were very paper intensive. The department's transactional focus made us spectators trapped in a technology time-warp within a world that was outpacing us by leaps and bounds. With a workforce of over 22,000 employees (66,000 counting our retirees), I had no shortage of obstacles to overcome. Addressing technological deficiencies and increasing innovation became a cornerstone for progress.We started our transformation by understanding the importance technology needed to play in our future with declining budgets and increased demand for services. I partnered with the IT function to determine what solutions were available and what best practices should be implemented.In 2016, after years of deliberate and intentional actions, the City of Houston Human Resources Department is at the forefront of HR technology. We are currently going through a records automation process and converting over 2 million benefits documents in the months to come. Our HCM usage of our ERP system has moved from thirty percent to over eighty percent. Employees are now able to track changes through our Employee Self-Service (ESS) web portal; and the use of wireless technology and smart apps is in a development stage. This new technology will help us leverage the ability to track health outcomes. We are anticipating a deployment date of late 2016. Next, we laid out a multi-year approach with incremental actions to move us from transactional to transformational
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