How HR teams support staff digital capability

At the end of 2017 we began a short review into how Human Resources (HR) departments support staff to develop their digital capability. We developed an online survey and interviewed some of the respondents to try to capture a snapshot of current practice.

Initial results

The results of these activities confirmed our initial expectation that many HR teams have been working across several areas of the digital capability framework, often in partnership with other teams within their institutions. However for both HE and FE respondents there were quite significant variations to the questions about HR team involvement in the 6 core digital capability areas. Whilst 90% of people said they were involved in supporting ICT proficiency of staff, only 50% said they were involved supporting staff with information, data and media literacy, digital communication, collaboration and participation, or digital learning and teaching. 84% said they were not involved in digital creation, problem solving and innovation and 58% said they were not involved in digital identity and wellbeing.

Later questions and in-depth interviews revealed that many HR teams are in universities or colleges which are just starting to take an institution-wide approach to staff and student digital capabilities. One of the challenges for HR teams is in identifying their roles and potential areas where they could input to institution-wide initiatives and the developments of strategies for developing digital capabilities. Whilst some HR teams were aware of the Jisc tools and resources to support this work, many had not seen them before or had not engaged with them. It became clear to us that there was a need for some practical materials to help HR teams map their various activities (often split into specialist sections) to the digital capabilities framework.

The original survey is still open so if you did not get a chance to respond earlier we would still welcome your input.

https://jisc-beta.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/hr-support-of-staff-digital-capabilites

New materials for HR teams

HR teams cover a wide range of activities that require them to consider and/or support staff digital capabilities across their institutions. These include recruitment and selection, onboarding, appraisal/performance review, learning and development, relationship management and health and wellbeing. Data management and analytics, increasingly sophisticated institutional systems and the impact of social media mean that Human Resource teams themselves need a range of digital capabilities to effectively carry out their work.

We have produced two sets of powerpoint slides that could be used within HR teams and we are interested to find out if they are useful. Thanks are due to Abi Mawhirt, Head of People and Organisational Development at Dundee and Angus College who worked with us to refine these slides and to make sure we did not have any serious omissions. Abi will be using the slides within her own institution and we have some other HR teams who have said they might try them out.

HR teams could use the slides (or select the ones that they feel are most relevant to their context) to consider their activities, identify and build on strengths, as well as identify any gaps or areas where they could enhance their support of staff digital capabilities. It may highlight areas where HR teams could take the lead, for example in the area of Digital identity and wellbeing.

• Building digital capabilities of staff: involving Human Resources teams in organisational approaches download the slides

This set maps HR activities and roles to the Jisc digital capabilities framework. It highlights where HR teams can input to institution wide approaches to staff digital capabilities and offers some suggestions for activities where they could get involved. Some of these areas involve other teams and would encourage HR input to support teams leading on a particular area.

• Building digital capabilities of staff: a Jisc digital capabilities framework lens for Human Resources teams  download the slides

This set offers a view of HR activities through the Jisc digital capabilities framework. Each area of HR activities is mapped to the 6 key elements of the Digital capabilities framework and highlights where HR teams can impact on digital capabilities of staff (and to a lesser extent students).

We have also highlighted those activities that relate to digital capabilities of staff in HR teams.

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Please pass these on to your own HR team and ask them to try them out. We have produced a brief pdf document which offers ideas for how they might be used.

Here are some of the suggestions:

1. Use the slides to deliver a team presentation highlighting areas of most relevance to the team.
2. Use the slides or a selection of slides in a presentation to focus on particular aspects – either a particular area of HR activities such as recruitment and selection or on a specific area of the digital capabilities framework such as Digital wellbeing.
3. Use the slides as a pdf document to share within teams and follow up with workshops to consider them within your own context.
4. Get different teams within HR to focus on specific slides (or pdf pages) and ask them to come up with an action plan following their discussions.
5. Use the slides or some of the content to present to different teams within the organisation to highlight what you are doing in different areas of digital capability or what you would like to do.
6. Use the materials to highlight areas for joint working or partnership approaches to other teams or departments within the institution.
7. Link to other Jisc digital capabilities, guidance, tools or resources to highlight possible HR roles across the institution.

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We would like to gather some feedback about these so that we can adapt or enhance them. Link to a brief survey.

Let us know what you think. Help us make them better.