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from workforces . Companies now want to transition to a ‘ people centric ’ approach – investing in applications that benefit individual employees . Turning to automation to help support training and development , collaboration and teamwork and also employee wellbeing .

Despite this change in mindset there is still progress to be made , with 40 % of organisations considering their processoriented applications to be more mature and advanced in comparison to the 30 % who say this about their employeeoriented applications .

SD Worx surveyed 4,833 employers and 16,011 employees in 16 European countries , including the UK , France , Germany , Italy and Belgium to fully understand emerging workplace attitudes and expectations when it comes to HR technology .

The findings reveal a new emphasis on optimising the digital work environment as businesses increasingly lean into HR tech to promote productivity and employee wellbeing . This is alongside the need to rise to new tech standards and demand from digitalnative workforces . However , despite a growing appetite for digitalisation among businesses , more than a third of employees ( 37 %) are struggling to wrap their heads around how to use digital tools effectively – leaving many employees in the dark when it comes to reaping the benefits of these updates .

The shift in mindset

The business landscape has experienced a seismic shift in mindset when it comes to the digitalisation of HR technology . In previous years , companies leveraged digitalisation to benefit their personnel departments , focusing on process-based HR technology to support automation within the company . This automation consisted of streamlining tasks such as document management , internal communication , payroll , communication about payroll and time and attendance management .

However , in today ’ s hybrid working world businesses are having to shape shift to deliver against new fixed working demands and expectations

Bridging the gaps in employee knowledge

With nearly two-fifths ( 37 %) of employees finding it hard to understand and use new digital approaches , employers have a vital role to play in education .

To combat this confusion and optimise employees ’ digital experiences , many companies are leaning into tools such as on-site training , employee-oriented HR applications and integration of systems to help grow employees ’ confidence when working with digital tools , with more than a third of companies training employees in digital experiences .

Businesses in the UK and Switzerland are ahead of the curve in this race , leading in terms of their investments in HR digitalisation and training ( 68 %), swiftly followed by the Spanish at 66 %. However , while 64 % of employees feel they have sufficient digital resources available to them to work efficiently , one in three employees still struggle to keep up with digitalisation . This is most apparent among employees in Denmark ( 41 %), Ireland ( 40 %) and Croatia ( 40 %). �