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As the current pandemic has left employers and employees in a state of chaos, HR departments have become more influential than ever before. A crucial part of their task was to assist businesses in moving to fully virtualized environments. HR, however, was having a hard time with this distributed work as they were responsible for performing routine tasks such as advertising available positions, hiring new remote employees, onboarding them, managing their payroll, investigating complaints, writing and enforcing workplace policies, changing employees' status forms, and managing remote employee training and development.

Furthermore, HR professionals are responsible for ensuring that employees are well and have access to resources to make work a positive experience. As time has gone on, employees' needs have changed dramatically. As working remotely becomes more prevalent in 2022, employees today are looking for their organizations to provide seamless support and quick resolution for their issues.

Because of its varying responsibilities, HR managers have a hard time dealing with every employee's needs manually. They often find it challenging to provide a single, effective solution for employees. As a result, they are more likely to encounter either of these adverse outcomes:  

• There is an overwhelming number of employee requests that HR teams have to deal with.
  
  
  
  
• Employees are frustrated with the HR department and find it challenging to communicate with them
  
  

There is a better way, though. Implementing an HR service desk can resolve this issue. Having an automated HR service desk can help you avoid both of these pitfalls, and to boot, it has an added benefit: It makes HR teams more effective at their strategic roles, enhances the employee experience, and benefits the whole company.

Defining HR Service Desk

In simple terms, an HR service desk is the digital representation of the HR department. It acts as a link between HR managers and employees as well. All the information and resources needed to meet the needs of your employees are stored in a single platform. With an HR service desk, your employees can obtain instant support by simply clicking a few buttons instead of physically approaching support agents. The service desk platform also allows HR personnel to manage inquiries, identify recurring issues, and resolve them effectively. It helps HR teams respond to employee concerns in seconds, improve employee experience, and thereby boost organizational success.

Is an automated HR service desk vital in this pandemic era?

There is no better way to interact with employees than an HR help desk, especially when you have dozens of requests to answer. The platform will streamline your processes and standardize your responses so that you can handle HR-related inquiries efficiently and effectively. These are the top 4 reasons why your HR needs a modern service desk:  

1. Rapidly changing workforce
   
   A growing number of businesses have gone online due to the pandemic, allowing employees at all levels to work at convenient times. Additionally, many businesses have gone international, making it difficult for HR professionals to contact their employees constantly. Occasionally, an employee might come up with a question or an issue that needs to be addressed right away. HR agents are often occupied with other work, making the entire process unmanageable.
   
   
2. The number of questions and requests is skyrocketing.
   
   HRs are in direct contact with employees, so any question relating to the work or the company is asked directly to them, which creates a flood of questions and requests that HR needs to respond to. The following are frequently asked questions by remote employees.
   
   -When are the holidays?
   
   -How to apply leaves?
   
   -Where can I find documents concerning employee benefits?
   
   -When are the holidays?
   
   -Can I find information on resetting my password?
   
   
3. Lack of personal interaction
   
   HR might be busy with their work, which may cause them to overlook some requests or may not be able to respond to a request, or if they do respond, the answer may be incomplete or incorrect.
   
   
4. Pay less attention to other responsibilities.
   
   Answering employee questions and doing some administrative work is not routine work. Other tasks include:
   
   -Selecting and recruiting new candidate
   
   -Onboarding new employees
   
   -Verifying and approving leave requests.
   
   -Training and development
   
   -Strategic Planing
   
   -Keeping track of HR statistics
   
   -Delivering benefits and compensations
   
   

Yet HR gets very little time to devote to these activities. They are mostly focused on providing guidance and solutions to the employees on issues like software installation and educating them on company policies.

Benefits of implementing an ai-powered HR service desk

Listed below are a few key benefits of having an HR help desk that makes it a one-stop solution for employee support services:  

1. Improve employee engagement
   
   Unlike the past, we no longer live in an era when employees are just happy because of money. Today, employees are more concerned about their mental health, company culture, and work atmosphere than their pay. The definition of employee engagement has changed along with these changing needs of employees. To feel genuinely motivated to work, employees need seamless employee support. HR service desks are the best way to achieve this. Using this tool, you can listen to your employees' problems and provide them with solutions that are tailored to their needs.
   
   Relevant Article: Prioritize employee’s mental health to elevate employee engagement.
   
   
2. Enhance employee retention
   
   When an organization cannot solve employee problems, new employees may leave within a few weeks of joining. You can rely on a HR help desk to take care of your employees from the moment they are recruited to the moment they are onboarded. Employees are more likely to remain with your company if all their needs are met and they are provided with seamless HR assistance.
   
   
3. Increasing employee productivity
   
   When employees are engaged and enjoy their work, they will give their maximum and work hard to achieve organizational goals. The result is increased productivity as well as increased dedication, which ultimately boosts your organization.
   
   
4. A seamless onboarding process
   
   HR's biggest challenge is onboarding new employees in this remote work. Implementing an HR service desk can streamline onboarding processes, and employees can adjust smoothly to their new work environment. HR help desk can take care of most onboarding challenges an organization faces, from providing the right digital devices to set up new email accounts.
   
   
5. An employee portal for addressing employee concerns
   
   Human resources help desks often serve as a point of contact for employees and HR professionals whenever they encounter serious problems like workplace harassment or any other issue.
   
   
6. Maximizing HR operations
   
   It is the responsibility of an HR service desk to help HR professionals with questions about company policies and procedures. The platform enables you to engage with your employees and provide them with digital help, which takes your HR operations to the next level. Ultimately, your HR department's services become more valuable.  
   
   

What can you do to enhance your HR service desk?

In a survey by KPMG, around 85% of HR managers said their most valuable capability is employee experience. Thus, it is imperative to meet the changing demands of digital transformation through new technologies. The ability to respond to employees' concerns accurately and on-time is a crucial engagement factor for every HR function. However, most organizations never address or provide their employees with timely support in times of need, despite the tools they invest in.

It is always recommended to integrate a modern AI-based service desk into your HR helpdesk if you are trying to improve employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity. Today, a growing number of organizations are relying on AI-based HR service desks. Employees receive customized solutions based on AI that understands the context of the issues they face. You can optimize your knowledge base and provide exceptional support to all employees. You can automate several processes in a modern HR help desk and communicate with your employees through a single platform. Utilizing a modern HR service desk can help you improve your support services in a variety of important ways:  

1. Integrate with collaborative platforms
   
   From the past three years, collaborative platforms like MS Teams, Zoom, Slack have become progressively more critical as working remotely has become more common. Today, organizations can operate virtually and collaborate with their colleagues on a centralized platform. You can simplify employee and HR manager tasks with the help of an HR service desk that integrates with your organization's collaborative platform. With this platform, employees have access to solutions while still being productive without switching to another platform. Moreover, it helps HR managers automate processes like recruitment, onboarding, etc., on one centralized platform.
   
   
2. Utilizing conversational AI
   
   Basically, conversational AI refers to the technology that enables your employees to interact with AI chatbots whenever they encounter an issue. Having a human-like interaction with a machine allows employees to be productive and efficient. Your employees can access seamless support without needing immediate interaction from human agents when you use conversational AI in your HR service desk. If an employee faces a problem, they can ask a question to the chatbot, which will utilize the Twitter-age knowledge base and develop a solution that most meets the employee's needs. Your employees will then be able to get their questions answered within 15 seconds, getting back to work.
   
   While your employees may have the option to contact a support agent to gain more insight into the issue, AI chatbots can do the same thing for them. The case would be routed to an expert who would communicate the solution to the customer using the chatbot.
   
   
3. Streamlining the ticketing process via Invisible Ticketing System
   
   Employees are often unfamiliar with a manual ticketing system, especially in industries that do not involve IT. Thus, most of them dislike ticketing systems, and others don't understand how they work. Whenever they encounter an issue, they prefer to register complaints by email or by phone. Support agents were also overburdened when answering repeated questions from employees.
   
   A modern HR service desk can resolve this problem by introducing an invisible ticketing system. Since most employees don't want to leave their collaborative platforms like MS Teams, where they spend most of their work time, an AI-driven helpdesk makes ticketing invisible. Through a conversational chatbot, the modern helpdesk allows employees to create tickets, check the status of their tickets, and have a conversation with an agent in MS Teams and Slack. It will automatically create a ticket and keep track of it until the agent resolves the issue. Afterwards, it notifies employees about the progress of their case automatically. The service desk will automatically close the ticket after the issue has been resolved, so the employee can begin working again.
   
   
4. Automate routine tasks and enhance workflow
   
   According to the Uipath survey, approximately 67% of corporate employees feel repeatedly performing the same tasks. Choosing the right workflow approval process can help a company ensure that the right processes are being completed at the right time. The traditional workflow methods can no longer be used because they slow down the entire workflow process in the age of digitization. It is easy for HR personnel to keep track of their tasks with a service desk. If simple tasks can be automated for HR personnel, their workload can be reduced, and they can work more efficiently.
   
   You can automate several repetitive tasks that are complex and multi-step using a modern helpdesk, such as requesting access to documents and checking identities. Employers can obtain information about their health insurance, benefits, and other policies without contacting HR and waiting for a response. HR personnel can then focus their efforts on more complex inquiries.
   
   
5. Personalized employee support
   
   Support tailored to employees' needs is necessary for any employee service desk. Using this tool, your employees can receive support and responses based on their location, job title, and past interactions with the service desk. Employees will benefit from the holistic support of an AI-powered service desk because it understands their context. In addition to taking prior interactions into account, today's employee helpdesk is based on past interactions. This allows it to provide solutions tailored to meet each employee's unique needs.
   
   
6. Microlearning for knowledge sharing
   
   Using a modern HR service desk to train employees is an excellent way to save money on trainers and workshops. In order to provide your employees with relevant training materials, you can add them to your knowledge base and provide them through the same platform so they can brush up on specific skills or learn more about specific topics. HR managers can track their employees' progress and encourage employees to self-train. In addition, you can let experienced employees contribute resources to the knowledge base and share lessons with their colleagues.
   
   
7. Automation of employee surveys
   
   It is important for an organization to conduct surveys regularly to improve its processes and make the employee experience better. Using the modern HR service desk, you can conduct personalized surveys with all your employees and automate the assessment of responses to gain valuable insight into your support services.  
   
   

Conclusion: HR Seizes Big Wins with AI-powered HR Service Desks

It is obvious that employees unhappy with their workplace technology are more than twice as likely to leave their jobs in the next year. Today, it is more important than ever to provide employees with the technology they need to succeed - whether they are working remotely, in the office, or in a hybrid environment. No matter what happens in 2022, there is no doubt that the world of work will continue to undergo significant changes, and HR professionals will have a great deal to do to stay on top of the changes.

Implementing robust tools like the HR Service Desk can boost employee satisfaction, speed up professional development, and simplify support for both onsite and remote employees. An HR help desk can help close the gap between employees, HR and the company, making it more important in 2022.