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In my experience working with many Fortune 100 companies, I have noticed that they have tendencies to place more weight upon these approaches than ones that involve User Experience research and customer insights.

Why do you think that is?

Well, traditionally, product development teams are judged by how quickly they can bring a new application, technology or user experience to market—into the hands of the end-user—and on budget. It comes down to two words: Speed and dollars. Working against this measure of success, you are golden if you can code quickly and efficiently. Those may be successful outcomes, but to whom? Are developers creating solutions for their product manager? I think we all know the answer to that question.

Do customers care how quickly a company built an app or how much it cost? Clearly, no. Customers judge applications based upon how well they align to their professional and personal needs. If that is the true litmus test, then companies need to realign their development processes and focus on meaningful outcomes. Success is actually dependent on how research and customer insights are consumed and applied throughout the product development process.

Many companies’ product development processes are inherently rigid. As Haydn Shaughnessy notes in his GigaOm research article, “most large companies have strict ROI or other financial metrics and stage-gate processes that dictate how product development should take place.”

Even a design focused company like Apple can make prioritization mistakes. Take for example what happened with Apple Maps a few years ago. Apple, looking to reduce reliance on Google, decided to build its own Maps product. This was a huge undertaking – Google Maps is one of the most mature GIS applications currently available to consumers and trying to replicate it’s data as well as it’s user experience features approaches inconceivability. But Apple’s business goals outweighed its users’ needs and the app was launched. How’d that go?

At the end of the day, companies that consider the customer an afterthought will ultimately end up spending more money to tweak a product after it hits the market, leaving customers disengaged—even angry—and wondering —“Are you listening to us?” And once they start asking that, they start looking around for a solution that does listen to them.

Here at ADP, when we start planning for a new mobile application or analytics tool, our team of developers, designers and product owners meets for hours on end with our research colleagues, who are armed with human capital management (HCM) data and insights from end-users. These insights inform our brainstorms and ensure that we are taking more meaningful steps forward with production. We see this process as a necessary component of product development, and we’ve found the most success when: 1) The research is viewed as an intuitive guide, not an instruction booklet; 2) It is a catalyst for more creativity, and 3) It keeps the team in an iterative mindset.

Unquestionably, every company tackles product development in a different way. Yet, when research and customer insights are leveraged effectively and serve as a guiding post, it will lead to more meaningful outcomes for both the development team and the end-users. This principle extends well beyond product development alone into areas ranging from customer service to product enhancements, international growth and even future business strategy. As Alain Thys, author of “So You Want to Be Customer Centric,” puts it, “Customers [today] are more demanding, better informed and less loyal than any previous generation. As competition increases, we need to adapt to this new reality. The alternative is irrelevance.”

Carl Collins is a Lead UX Designer at the ADP Innovation Lab in New York City.

Attendees at last week’s ADP Meeting of the Minds got all of the answers when ADP’s Director, Social Selling and Service, Jeff Stevenson, and ADP client Tractor Supply Company’s Director, Total Rewards, Melissa Williamson presented “Using Social Media as a Professional – The Benefits of Sharing Your Knowledge and Connecting with Your Peers.”

Check out their slides for helpful tips on how the ever-changing landscape of social media applies to your job as an HR or Payroll professional. Learn how you can use social media to advance your career and help your company by understanding how to connect with popular platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. Whether you’ve been engaging in social media for years or are just starting to test the waters, these tips can guide you to the next level in your social journey.

Continue the conversation with Jeff (@stevensonjef) and Melissa (@mwilliamson2009) on Twitter or post your questions in the comments below to learn more!

Four years ago we began celebrating National Benefits Day – April 2 – a day that recognizes administrators, associates and benefits practitioners for their hard work and dedication in providing quality employee benefits.

ADP has more clients than any other provider of Benefits administration. Our solutions – and our 3,000 benefits professionals – enabled more than 15 million employees and their dependents to enroll in medical benefits here in the U.S. for the 2014 benefits year. So, in addition to helping our clients automate annual open enrollment processes, we also enable our clients to more strategically administer employee benefits throughout the year.

And now more than ever, a strategic approach to benefits is critical. Why? Because of the 4 C’s: Cost, Compliance, Consumerism, and Culture.

Cost - Beyond affordability to employees, rising health costs may also trigger a new excise tax on high cost health plans, put into effect in 2018 by the Affordable Care Act.

Compliance - The Affordable Care Act has transformed what was once an annual open enrollment benefits decision to an ongoing monthly process of tracking and reporting. One missed step can be the difference between compliance and materially significant financial penalties.

Consumerism - Employers are rapidly moving to the concept of consumer-driven employment. Today’s consumers expect that the entire employment experience, from hiring to retirement, should be as simple and convenient as shopping or banking on a mobile device.

Culture - Benefits can make a statement about how an organization values its employees and they have a significant impact on talent acquisition and retention. It can also impact your employment brand and help you win the war for talent.

Please join us in celebrating National Benefits Day and recognize your colleagues in employee benefits who make a meaningful difference in employee’s lives every day. For more comprehensive information about our benefits programs, please visit http://www.adp.com/solutions/services/benefits-administration.aspx

Gerry Leonard is President, ADP Benefit Services.

Mark Benjamin
President, Global Enterprise Solutions, ADP

This is another of the key insights I took away from recent research released by the ADP Research Institute®, focusing on the human capital management needs of multinational companies.

HR leaders should take notice. The key to any successful new market expansion is having the right talent to make that endeavor a success. From predicting workforce impact to identifying investment needs, HR can deliver valuable insights that will help inform decision-makers’ business expansion plans.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a hesitancy to execute against talent strategies. The study found that nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of North American HR executives say they plan to boost headcount outside their headquarters country in the next one to two years. However, a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers® Global CEO Survey revealed that while 93 percent of CEOs say their talent strategy must change to make their expansion successful, only a third plan to do so. This disconnect between need and action is an opportunity for HR leaders to demonstrate the value of their expertise in HCM strategy development and to help achieve expansion goals.

Findings from the ADP Research Institute study also reinforce the critical role that HR must play. When it comes to managing a global workforce, talent management is reported as the top challenge by half of respondents (49 percent). As companies look to grow across geographies, building a unified company culture and performance management ranked as the second and third biggest challenges, respectively.

[STAT] 62% of N. American-based global firms plan to grow headcount outside their home country in next 1-2 years

It’s clear that HR has an important role to play in helping their companies overcome business challenges and achieve business goals. HR has the opportunity to take a stronger leadership role in bridging the gap between important workforce management objectives and company growth.

Keep an eye out for my next blog post with additional thoughts on interesting findings from this study. In the meantime, check out the study white paper and infographic for more workforce management insights.

As an HR decision-maker, what are your company’s top business objectives? What are the top challenges preventing you from attaining those goals? Share your story below.

In fact, sweating the details is sound business advice for any employer who is subject to the Employer “Shared Responsibility” provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But are you ready to handle the shock, worry, and pain that may be coming your way when ACA Exchange Notices begin arriving in the mail?

Whenever an insurance Marketplace/Exchange receives a request from an individual for subsidized health coverage, it generates an Exchange Notice to you – his or her employer. This can trigger a lot of angst. You have to locate and combine information in a timely manner from multiple systems to manage your Exchange Notice responsibilities. The appeals process to counter erroneous claims is time sensitive. Unsuccessful appeals can result in a penalty from the IRS. In addition, each response and appeal must be safely archived in event of a future challenge by the IRS of penalties owed. So, there’s plenty at stake!

The problem with Exchange Notices is that it only takes ONE to take the spring out of your step – and put pain on your radar. For employers with 50 or more full-time employees, the likelihood is you will receive MULTIPLE notices, possibly from different state Exchanges. Ultimately, you probably will find yourself asking “Do I really have time to handle this?” The answer is you probably don’t, but the ACA says you have to – and the specter of noncompliance and potential penalties leaves you no choice.

One of the reasons we’re here is to help compliant employers manage through Exchange Notice hurdles and prove that you offered full and affordable coverage with minimum value as required by the ACA law. We believe that ADP’s Health Compliance solution, which blends Software-as-a-Service and Managed Services, is one of the best ways to help you head off the pain that is on its way with Exchange Notices.

Communicating complex information about the ACA to our clients in an easy-to-understand manner is also an important part of what ADP does. Share our newest infographic that illustrates the flow of the ACA Exchange Notice process – from your receipt of an Exchange Notice to appealing unwarranted subsidy claims by your employees. We think this is must reading for every employer and encourage you to share socially within your networks.

Click here to easily share this infographic, and consider “sweating the details” presented by Exchanges Notices by not sweating at all: Let ADP manage your ACA compliance requirements.

Do you think a resume has enough to go on to make a hire? If so, think again. Did you know that, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, more than half (53 percent) of resumes contain inaccuracies? That’s why small business owners should not make a hire without a job application.

Also, applications can help you learn things about your candidates that aren’t usually included resumes—such as why they left a previous job—which can be key in your hiring decision. But, not all job applications are created equal…some could even land you in hot water. Here are a few tips small business owners should consider.

What to Avoid:

Small businesses employers should avoid certain questions, particularly those that may reveal whether an applicant is a member of a protected class under equal employment opportunity laws.

Discriminatory Questions:

Your hiring process must be free from discrimination under all applicable federal, state, and local employment laws. Therefore, you generally can’t ask questions that would reveal characteristics that are protected under the law, such race, color, age, national origin, religion, sex, disability, etc.

Criminal Conviction Inquiries:

Several states and local jurisdictions expressly prohibit employers from asking about criminal convictions on employment applications and may require employers to wait until after a conditional offer of employment has been made.

Asking for Social Security Number:

While federal law does not prohibit employers from asking for a Social Security Number on employment applications, it is not considered a best practice because of the threat of identity theft and other privacy concerns.

What to Include:

FCRA Notice:

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), before conducting a background check on an applicant or employee using a third party, employers must, among other things, inform the individual that the employer may use the information to make employment decisions.

Generally, employment applications should include the following job-related components:

Availability:

Employers should consider including a space for applicants to list their availability, such as full-time, part-time, and coverage for certain shifts, to make sure the applicant’s availability is in line with your staffing needs.

Job History, Education and Professional Designations and References:

Include each item in a separate portion of the application.

Attestation:

This is a statement that the applicant signs attesting to the truthfulness and completeness of the information provided.

At-Will Statement (if applicable):

It is also a best practice to include an “at-will” statement above the signature line indicating that generally either the employer or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without notice, and for any lawful reason.

Conclusions

Employment applications can help small businesses with the hiring process. But be sure your employment application complies with all relevant federal, state, and local laws. Check out this handy employment applications article that you can share with your hiring manager and other helpful small business resources.

Michael Pires is Division Vice President, Business Development & Innovation at ADP Small Business Services Division.