Oracle solutions for a better workforce

We’ve heard it time and again. People are the most important asset of a company. In fact, overhead expense accounts for an average 60 percent of the cost of doing business. Despite these truths, however, not too many companies have seriously ventured into developing this valuable resource.

Many companies spend millions on research for product development, expansion projects or product launches. In recent years, more forward-looking companies are finally realizing the gains of investing in human resource development.

In a recent presentation before human resource (HR) practitioners, Oracle managing director Yashi Kant said businesses have started paying more attention to the contributions made by their workers.

"Even though people-related costs average 60 percent of total corporate expenditures, many organizations only pay lip service to this concept," said Kant.

"However, leading firms have embraced the need to better manage their human capital and build a more excellent workforce to drive bottom-line organizational results," he said.

One of these companies is China Banking Corp. With the help of HR solutions from Oracle, China Bank reduced its data processing time by 50 percent for its payroll functions. This resulted in lower costs with the consolidation of all human resources information into a single management system.

Aside from reduced HR administration time through automated processes and elimination of redundant procedures, China Bank improved the overall efficiency of its payroll operations through enhanced reporting systems.

Other leading companies which have leveraged Oracle HCM (human capital management) systems effectively are Jollibee Foods Corp., Aboitiz Transport System, and Philippine Airlines.

"Oracle believes that achieving workforce excellence should be the ultimate goal of the HR function, regardless of company size, industry segment or geography. Achieving workforce excellence requires HR to transform from a predominantly administrative department to a function that develops and delivers programs to improve worker efficiency, effectiveness and productivity," Kant said.

A leader in providing solutions for human resource capital management, Oracle offers tools for every step of the HR function, from recruitment to rewards.

According to George Ho, Oracle ASEAN’s business development manager for HCM solutions, it is important to align the skills of the workforce to a company’s objectives and systematically grow and reward talent as strategic resources.

With Oracle Human Resources and Oracle Self Service, he said a company can rapidly implement jobs, positions, grades and steps using the tools that are designed to help companies set up their organizational structure.

These tools also allow companies to create and manage evolving business structures and quickly redirect the workforce to meet new goals through mass changes in organization structures, compensation and work terms.

They can also manage flexible working arrangements using permanent, short-contract, and contingent workers to staff new projects quickly at the appropriate level of cost and skill.

For new requirements, the Oracle HR helps companies use automation to identify required skills and qualifications, and deploy people to jobs or projects.

It is also capable of planning to meet business objectives by identifying current and future job capability requirements and increasing staff capability through job pathing and structure learning.

Rechelle de la Plana, senior product solutions consultant for HCM applications of Oracle Philippines, said Oracle’s HCM and business intelligence solutions are capable of answering analytical data such as the efficiency of new hires or productivity of area managers and not just counting usual HR queries such as the remaining leave credits of a particular employee.

Another feature of Oracle’s HCM solutions is the Self Service suite which allows rank-and-file employees to update their own records and monitor their own performance such as the number of absences and tardiness, and even the list and details of seminars they have attended.

"The beauty of Oracle HCM is in its flexibility. While it is a packaged solution, it is very much flexible to be tailor-fitted to the specific needs of companies," said De la Plana.