[00:02] DMEC: Welcome to absence. Management perspectives. A DMEC podcast. The Disability Management Employer Coalition, or DMEC, as we're known by most people, provides focused education, knowledge and networking opportunities for absence and disability management professionals. DMEC has become a leading voice in the industry and represents more than 18,000 professionals from organizations of all sizes across the United States and Canada. This podcast series will focus on industry perspectives and provide the opportunity to delve more deeply into issues that affect DMEC members and the community as a whole. We're thrilled to have you with us and hope you'll visit us@dmec.org to get a full picture of what we have to offer, from webinars and publications, to conferences, certifications, and much more. Let's get started and meet the people behind the processes.

[00:55] Heather Grimshaw: Hello, we're glad you're listening. I'm Heather Grimshaw, communications manager for DMEC, and we're talking about technology lingo with Megan Holstein, vice president and head of Absence Management for The Hartford. Megan and Nikki Cleaves, director of Platform Partnership for The Hartford, wrote the column “Integration Technology 101: Master the Basics for a Better Leave Experience” in the Technology and Innovation issue of @Work magazine. And Megan has agreed to elaborate on a few takeaways from the column, which notes and I quote, “becoming a technologist isn't required to embrace employee benefits and leave technology tools.” We'll unlock this column for listeners and believe that comment will resonate with absence management professionals, who tell us they sometimes feel like they need a translator to understand technology lingo. So Megan, you describe human resources professionals as, and I'm quoting here, masters of multitasking, and note that technology that's designed to ease administration can frequently be overwhelming. Can you talk about how absence management professionals who increasingly need technology to manage, in some cases hundreds of leave laws, can learn enough technology lingo to make informed decisions?

[02:12] Megan Holstein: Definitely none of us went into our businesses thinking, wow, I'm going to focus on technology now. You go into human resources because you like people, you care about the workplace, creating a good environment; perhaps you like the policies such as leave policies and other workplace-related policies. But technology was not first of mind. That being said, 2023 we live in a space where technology definitely facilitates our work, our world. We like to shop online; we love our cell phones and our apps. So for human resource professionals, you need to familiarize yourself with technology and get comfortable with it. I recommend, and this is actually what I have done through my career as well, is that you get to know your IT staff, befriend them, take them to lunch, find out what they're working on, what's front of mind; ask your vendors for help. Probably right now you already use some HR technology. Perhaps it's a recruiting tool, it's your payroll system, something like that. See if your vendors are offering webinars or have some information, or again, take them to lunch, or just an online coffee chat to find out what's the latest and greatest, and of course, attending podcasts such as this, and webinars. Just keep technology front and center. Definitely Google and YouTube are your friends. Look up words. We all live in an acronym filled life. Don't hesitate to stop somebody to say, what does that mean? Please describe it. Asking questions is key. And remember, when you're working with a technology partner, whether it's your own IT colleagues or it's a vendor, they don't know your area of expertise. You're a human resource expert in our space. And for the purposes of today's conversation, you're an absence management expert. They don't know that, but they're helping you integrate or install an absence management technology or some sort of human resource technology. So they need your expertise as much as you need theirs. So consider it a partnership and lean into that.

[04:29] Heather Grimshaw: That's great advice. I think the suggestion to ask questions is so important and you share a lot of very helpful acronyms in the column, which again, we will unlock. So that's a great guide. As a follow up to that question, I'm hoping that you'll be willing to share effective steps as well as a ballpark time investment that's needed to truly understand technology options. Some professionals believe they need a thorough understanding of the process from cradle to grave, as well as the handoffs, which frankly sounds like a huge undertaking. So I'm hoping that you can shed some light on which areas are most important to learn and what kind of time investment absence management professionals should expect.

[05:15] Megan Holstein: Well, I'd say first, if you don't already have a network of human resource friends, professional friends, get the network because you're going to use them and need them to ask them what has worked and not worked for them. You'll of course, want to get referrals and recommendations, but pretty much everyone has implemented some sort of technology through their career. If this is your first time leading a technology installation, call on your network and ask them what went well, what didn't go well? How much time did it take for you? So that's step one. I would say consider getting your partners, whether it's your IT colleagues, your subject matter experts, a couple of key stakeholders and managers, put them together in a multi-day Kaizen event or workflow workshop. This is where it's important to really invest the time in a multi-day event to walk through the current state of the process or flow of the problem you're trying to solve. So sticking with absence management, you've got your current state of how somebody takes time off of work. Everybody can feed into that workflow discussion; whiteboard it, write it on the wall or the virtual wall. If you're doing it, virtually invest in that time to look at the current state and then start talking about a preferred future state. So let's say that's probably a week you're going to lock everybody in a room or a couple of days then you can schedule time, follow up from that Kaizen or workflow event to talk about how to make compromises and tradeoffs from that preferred ideal state to one you can actually afford. And again, as the human resource professional doing some homework ahead of time, really understanding the true pain points and the budget that you have in terms of time and money to spend on solving the pain points, ranking them… What’s your number one goal. What is your second goal? What is your third goal so that you can set expectations and understand the timing that you might need to invest in terms of reaching each one of your goals.

[07:43] Heather Grimshaw: That's great advice. I love the suggestion to walk through that ideal state and then, as you said, the one that you can afford, because sometimes there's a little bit of a difference there, but maybe it's a tiered plan and then certainly I would assume that would also help inform those expectations, which would be really valuable.

[08:05] Megan Holstein: Definitely. It brings people along the journey as well, because if you implement a technology program and they're expecting the world's problems to be solved, they could be disappointed when they realize you're only solving two out of five goals. And some of that's because of budget or timing. But if they were part of the decision making around ideal state, but what is the realistic state we can achieve? They're well on the way and they're also your champion throughout the organization during the implementation and final state.

[08:43] Heather Grimshaw: Which is another key component — having those champions. Because let's face it, sometimes that can be difficult to embrace change and look at things a little differently. So having those champions on your team, I think would probably be vital.

[08:58] Megan Holstein: Definitely it's the best way to get change management and buy in. And change management is extremely important when you're implementing new technology.

[09:06] Heather Grimshaw: So I think you've started down this path already. But I'm curious, from a platform perspective, what homework should absence management professionals do before they meet with vendors to ensure they have their ducks in a row and are really comparing apples to apples, potential solutions, and are also setting them themselves up for success?

[09:29] Megan Holstein: There's a lot of homework one can do and a lot of it has to do with research. So I'd say step one, budget for research. Whether this is budgeting money, your actual dollars spent by hiring a consultant who can do the legwork to do a market scan for you, or budget in terms of your time or your team's time, and searching the market and doing a scan of the possible vendors. Be wary of fancy websites and promises if you do wind up doing the research yourself. A lot of technologies will make big claims. They'll list many important customers, but you need to understand if those important customers are using the full technology or just a portion of the technology? Are they using that tech in the way that you want to use the tech? Are they trying to solve the same pain points? So don't get excited just because you see a big brand name. Also, make sure you insist on demos, or in addition to demos you're insisting on a sandbox or a limited trial license to make sure the software really does what the demo or the PowerPoint presentation says that it's going to do. Make sure that you get references. Call your references for honest assessments. So, part of your homework before you get to the stage of doing demos with technology companies is to create a list of references. What would you want to know from current users of the software? And that would be how long did it take to implement and what happened when things went wrong? How did this vendor partner work with you? Because nothing will be perfect. But it's very important to know how somebody problem solves or how a company works with you to find a problem when you do hit a road bump in the process. Find out how and why they're using the software. Again, is it the same reason you need the software or technology? Is it integrating with your other systems? It's very important just because the software is appealing to you. If it can't talk or integrate with your other systems, if that's a need, it's important to know that. So in addition to your homework and creating reference questions, you can identify with your IT partners, the areas of integration that might be needed, as well as just literally getting to the pain points of what you're trying to solve. And again, rank order the pain points you're trying to solution. Because again, you may not have the timing or the budget to solve everything, but knowing that at least your highest ranked pain points could get solved with this technology. Investing in technology is a true marriage. So doing this research and the homework is an important part of that investment because you will live with the technology you've chosen for quite some time. It is very hard to unravel.

[12:20] Heather Grimshaw: I love that comment — "investing in technology is a true marriage.” That's great because so frequently people will say, I thought this was going to happen, or I thought I expected this, but then the reality is different. So I think that will help a lot of listeners.

[12:35] Megan Holstein: Definitely getting your assumptions as well as your stakeholders assumptions out on the table and into the discussion with potential vendor partners will go a long way to clear the air because everybody has their own idea of what the technology will and won't do. So part of your homework could include gathering those assumptions from the stakeholders who will either use or rely on the software's data and getting that out in the open pre-implementation, or at least as part of the change management. I'd say the final piece is to make sure you've got buy in for change management because things will be different. You're not going to have technology that's just going to perpetuate business as usual. So if you don't have people ready for change management and you don't have resources allocated to change management, it's very hard to have a successful technology implementation.

[13:31] Heather Grimshaw: So, what are some of the most common areas of confusion when it comes to understanding technology lingo, especially relating to integration, resources, and benefits. And I'm also wondering if there are common points of failure or areas of vulnerability that listeners can learn from.

[13:49] Megan Holstein: Confusion definitely comes from making assumptions or not asking questions. I mentioned acronyms. Always ask somebody to break down the acronyms because they sometimes mean different things to different people. Don't hesitate to ask questions. And also, I mentioned earlier with the change management, a lot of times people think that you plug in the technology and what you're used to will always happen that way or the technology will work similar to other technologies. So it's important to know that you've got to be prepared to learn the technology anew. Don't assume that it's going to be just like some other type of technology that you've had in the past. When it comes to integration, which is one of the items we mentioned in the article, confusion can definitely happen when you don't understand the two systems or the multiple systems you're integrating. Which one is the system of record, for what purpose. You can clear up this confusion by identifying each technology and its purpose and how you want that technology to retain its purpose of being the system of record. So let's say when it comes to payroll, that's the system of record for whether somebody will be paid or not during their absence. If it's a time and attendance, that's the system of record of whether somebody clocked in or out, as well as adding up the hours and minutes somebody's either at work or off of work. If it's the system of record to determine somebody's eligibility for state, federal law, or company policy, that's where you're going to rely on [where] employees work, state identification, or their address. Even though most of these systems will all have the same information, they may not be the system of record. … During an integration of technology where you want to retain those system of records is very important and will help you through that integration process when it comes to resources and budget, which is something we talked about in the article as well. Again, making sure everybody's assumptions around who's doing the work and whose money is allocated to the work clears up a lot of confusion. A lot of times you hire a vendor, you buy some license, some software, and you think that vendor is doing all of the integration or all of the implementation work, but they're expecting your IT team [to do it]. So can quickly clear up confusion by identifying which resources are doing which steps of the implementation or integration work. Also, it's important to understand, will the software need to be configured to adapt to your purposes or does it need to be customized? You often hear the term out-of-the-box, but that means different things to different people. So again, really doing that homework in advance, writing down the reasons you need the software and what you need out of it, and ensuring that the vendor can quickly identify whether the software can easily do that, or you need to allocate budget dollars or It resources to customize or configure the software, will clear up a lot of confusion.

[17:11] Heather Grimshaw: Those are great points, and I love the reference to not making assumptions and that certain words mean different things to different people. I think that's very important.

[17:23] Megan Holstein: Yeah, it never hurts to break it down to Technology 101. Tell me what that means. Tell me what you mean when you say that.

[17:31] Heather Grimshaw: I think so frequently people think, oh, this is a silly question, everyone else knows this. And so frequently no one actually knows the answer….

[17:46] Megan Holstein: And like I said at the beginning of our discussion, you come to the table as an HR professional with all kinds of expertise that your technology vendor or your It colleagues don't have. So identifying who's the SME really helps and therefore they should expect to answer your questions. And you don't need to be the expert in everything because you're coming to the project with your own area of expertise.

[18:11] Heather Grimshaw: And for absence management professionals who juggle so many different pieces and parts, I think that's especially important. So in addition to learning the lingo with technology, you talk about the value of employers understanding the data collected through the technology tools, which can provide really important business insights. Would you talk a little bit about how this should fit into the larger umbrella of learning the lingo when it comes to technology investments and really the stories that data can tell?

[18:44] Megan Holstein: A great part of technology is the data it can impart once it's being used and collecting information. So definitely when it comes to absence management, the data from your technology, whether it's the integrated data from multiple sources or a single technology tool, should be able to give you the overall impact people's time away from work has on your organization. And obviously not just who's in, who's out, but it gives you a sense of why are people taking time off and how are they taking time off? So, starting with the how are people utilizing large chunks of time where they need big blocks of continuous leave? Or are people coming and going on an intermittent basis? Or even a reduced schedule basis? This could inform your policies. Perhaps if you see people coming and going intermittently, you can consider different workplace accommodations or flexible scheduling. If the intermittent coming and going is disruptive to your business, or… if the data reveals people are taking a continuous leave, you might look at certain policies around [that]. If the reasons are parental leave, or caring for family members or caring for children, perhaps you should look at programs that support the need for this time off. Also, the data can tell you what you might be missing. So often, actually, in the absence management space, we see workers compensation managed outside of the absence. In the HR sphere, it tends to be managed by risk, the risk team, or even under like a finance CFO. So you could be missing whole groups of workers who are not at work and you're not capturing them in your leave process. And the data could reveal this when you share it with managers and they identify, hey, you're missing these four people over the course of the year who were gone, or this group of this type of leave reason. This data could reveal something as bad as a compliance problem, because perhaps you're not running those workers compensation leaves as considering them under FMLA, or even just missed opportunities for efficient workplace accommodation programs under the Americans with Disabilities Act, or even a way to get people to return to work or stay at work better. Also, the data may reveal this is more than we can handle; there's too much going on. We need to bring in a consultant, or we need to consider outsourcing our absence management. But basically, if you're using technology in this day and age, if it's not capturing data for you and you're not utilizing that to tell a story, you're really missing an important reason to use technology in your HR absence management process.

[21:39] Heather Grimshaw: I think those are really great examples too, of some of those missed opportunities, because it does seem as though the days are so hectic. You're really just trying to move things forward and cover all bases. And when it comes to using those reports in a strategic way, or using that data in a strategic way, that seems to be something that is not always capitalized on. So I think that's really helpful.

[22:06] Megan Holstein: It's so true when we think of leave reasons, and sometimes, depending on the types of absence, you may not get [an] actual diagnosis, but you can get a sense of people taking time off because of physical ailments. Perhaps it's mental reasons, perhaps there's safety problems going on. The data should be able to inform you, and then you can consider additional programs like a wellness program. You may need to increase your safety education. There's a lot of insight that can be gained, and there are a lot of experts you can tap into, whether it's consultants or your other employee benefit vendors or brokers, that can help you tell a story around data or combine it with other data to get the insights you're looking for.

[22:53] Heather Grimshaw: I'm also kind of wondering, just to bring this full circle on the front-end of our discussion, you mentioned the partners who you might want to be involved, especially to lay out the workflow and talk about goals. Is it fair to say that you might want to talk a little bit about reporting and how that data will be used in that first meeting that you talked about with all those stakeholders?

[23:20] Megan Holstein: That's a great point. When you are going through the current state workflow, identify where people are using data or reporting. Now clarify, is it useful data or do you wish it were different? Do you need something different to improve upon? And where are we lacking data? So, excellent point that during the process of doing your homework, having a workflow event and getting stakeholder buy in, recognizing where they need the information and would like to have insights, will really help you as you look for a technology partner.

[23:57] Heather Grimshaw: Well, this has been great. I so appreciate you taking the time to provide some specific suggestions and examples of how this can be such a valuable tool once you get your hands around that lingo.

[24:10] Megan Holstein: Thank you for having me. Technology is definitely our friend. We should not be afraid, but we don't have to be the expert.