Clues, Cues and Complexities: Unpacking the digitalization of the Human Resource Function in the banking sector

Abstract

Amid numerous alerts about the advent of the digital economy and the recent coronavirus outbreak, both private and state-owned enterprises in developing countries continue to retain their conventional business models, which are characterized by manual operations and administrative inefficiencies. It is against this background that the researchers sought to assess the challenges and opportunities of the digitalization of the Human Resource (HR) function in the banking sector. The researchers used selected banks in Zimbabwe as case studies to explore the merits and challenges of digitalizing human resource functions. The research had a total of 30 participants. The findings indicated that the banks are enjoying the benefits of digitalizing the HR functions, such as easier access and manipulation of employee data, a long-term archive of data, auditable work, and enhanced workflow. Regardless of the benefits of digitalization, it still has some challenges like network issues, misrepresentation of leave days, unauthorized deductions, lack of confidentiality, lack of knowledge of the system, and increased maintenance costs. The research suggested that top management support be strengthened and that regional human resource management (HRM) personnel be trained on a regular basis, as these two factors are critical to the improvement of digitalized functions.