Salesforce Moves Deeper Into HR Tech With New Work.com Features

Salesforce Work.com

Salesforce expanded the scope of its Work.com platform with well-being, learning and automation features. The products join Work.com’s existing workspace, help desk and IT service tools.

According to ZDnet, Salesforce is now formally moving into the market for HR and experience solutions. With Work.com’s new features, Salesforce will more directly compete with HR tech vendors such as Workday, SAP SuccessFactors and UKG. Jodi Innerfield, Salesforce’s director of product marketing, told ZDNet that customers have said “the technology that … used for employee experience, when everybody was in an office, just isn’t cutting it anymore.”

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Work.com is about bridging the gap between remote employees and the opportunities and resources that are commonly available in the office, Salesforce said. It positions the platform as an employee experience play, and cites research that found workers who are unhappy with the technology are more than twice as likely to leave their job in the next year.

In this day and age, there’s nothing surprising about following that path. The perceived importance of experience has steadily grown over the last several years, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic took root in early 2020. A number of HR technology vendors have pursued strategies to strengthen employers’ approach to experience by eliminating silos, developing more intelligent tools and improving communications.

In a statement provided by Salesforce, Conner Forrest, senior analyst with 451 Research, said employee experience “has become a central tenet of modern talent management strategies, and is a paradigm that has the potential to drive better business outcomes” across the employee lifecycle. “Workers want to be provided with the same contextual, relevant, feedback-driven experiences they are offered as a customer. The employee experience is an avenue through which that can be achieved.”

Wading Into HR

Highlights of Work.com’s new features include:

  • Work.com Wellbeing, which is designed to help employees understand and improve their physical, emotional, social, financial and professional well-being. It allows employees to complete confidential wellness checks and personal planning reviews, and receive content such as tips on how to reduce stress or connect with a financial advisor. The module also provides data to management to identify, say, a sudden spike in work-related stress.
  • Work.com Talent provides employees with a single view of their skills, development goals and potential career paths, personalized career guidance and access to internal roles that align with their interests.
  • New Employee Service offerings make employee self-service more intelligent and intuitive. The HR Service Center streamlines traditionally complex and divided HR processes, onboarding or short-term leave paperwork. Service Catalog offers a consumer-style menu of company products and services for employees to request, such as a new laptop or a request to fix their mobile device. Employee Concierge Bots help users find answers by surfacing articles and escalation paths.

Salesforce said HR Service Center and Employee Concierge Bots should be generally available in July. Wellbeing, Talent and Service Catalog are expected to be generally available in November.

Image: Salesforce

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