To handle priority in a process, the label has to change what happens. A priority field that affects nothing becomes a field everyone sets to high. Why priority stops meaning anything It costs nothing to claim and produces nothing when claimed. * Every request marked urgent by its requester * No difference
To build a request catalogue, list what people can ask for and what each one requires. Most malformed requests come from not knowing what was available. What a catalogue prevents The questions that precede a request. * People asking whether something is possible before asking for it * Requests for things that
To design an intake form, ask for what you need to act and nothing else. Every additional field is a reason to abandon the form or to answer it carelessly. What a bad intake form costs The cost appears afterwards, in follow-up. * Requests submitted with missing information * Follow-up
To build an employee self-service portal, give people a single place to start. Most HR contact is people who know what they need and not where to go. What self-service should cover The high-volume, low-complexity requests. * Submitting leave, expense, and equipment requests * Checking the status of
To track probation periods, the review has to be scheduled from the start date automatically. A probation deadline remembered manually is a deadline that passes. What happens when one is missed The consequence is usually permanent. * A review that should have happened before a deadline * Decisions made after the window
To handle shift and schedule requests, the approval has to consider coverage rather than only the individual. A swap approved in isolation is how a shift ends up unstaffed. Where scheduling breaks The request is about one person and the consequence is about the team. * Swaps agreed directly between colleagues
To collect employee feedback usefully, the collection is the easy part. What determines whether people respond next time is whether anything happened after the last one. Why response rates fall People answer once and see nothing change. * Results summarized and never actioned * No visible owner for any theme raised * Actions
To run a confidential HR process, the confidentiality has to be enforced by permissions rather than by convention. A filtered view is not confidentiality. Why sensitive processes end up outside the system They are moved out because nobody trusted the access model. * Handled in personal documents and email instead * No
To track employee equipment and access, both have to connect to the person. A list of laptops and a list of accounts answer different questions from the one that matters. Why this goes untracked Each item is granted separately, by a different person. * Equipment issued without a record * System access
To manage headcount requests, treat a hire as a budget decision with a record. Headcount approved in a meeting is headcount nobody can trace back to a justification. Why hiring decisions go undocumented They are made in conversation, often under pressure. * Approval given verbally and acted on immediately * No record
To run an employee offboarding checklist, the items belong to several departments and the deadline is fixed. Offboarding handled informally leaves access open and equipment unaccounted for. What typically gets missed The urgent items are done and the rest are not. * System access left active weeks after departure * Equipment never
To handle internal job applications, confidentiality and structure have to coexist. An internal candidate whose current manager finds out before they were ready is an internal candidate you lose. What makes internal mobility awkward The process touches people who know each other. * Applications visible to the current manager prematurely * Internal