Human society has been built on our ability to recognise faces at a glance. We recognise faces before we recall names or even remember why we recognise a person. Indeed our ability to instantly recognise and place a face pre-dates language.
Yet HR software, the very systems we use to manage people, have failed to take advantage of the oldest skill we all have. Constantly focused on lists of names and data they have completely bypassed our innate ability to see a face, recognise it and instantly recall a host of information based on that recognition. That is until now.
Cascade HR has a surprise in store for visitors to the 2011 CIPD Annual Conference & Exhibition (ACE) in November. The company’s creative in-house developers have been busy working on some exciting new functionality – the first of its kind in the industry – which will be unveiled for the first time at this prestigious event.
The Cascade system is renowned for being aesthetically attractive and incredibly easy to use. However why not continuously look for new ways to improve the user experience?
We wanted to bring more emphasis back to the human element of human resources. So we have developed Mosaic, a visualisation tool that holds individual photographs of every member of staff within the system, so that information is instantly recognisable.
This is of particular importance to line managers who have been empowered – via their HR system – to better look after their own teams. For example not all members of staff will see their manager on a regular basis, perhaps because they’re field-based, work remotely, or they’re even located offshore. Furthermore, when assessing who is absent from work that day for instance, managers can see the actual faces of employees rather than simply viewing a proportionate pie chart or a list of names.
Mosaic therefore aids familiarity and reminds organisations that their employees are more than a statistic.
Mosaic has been developed using the new Silverlight technology from Microsoft. The Cascade team will be on hand at ACE to guide delegates through the way that the personable tool works.
Mosaic will be available from November onwards. If you’re interested in seeing it for yourself, visit stand 7090 at the CIPD Annual Conference & Exhibition, November 8-10.
