How is it August? Talking about how fast time goes by is something I always thought old people did, yet I seem to do it all the time now. That doesn’t mean… nah, couldn’t possibly… Before any more time slips away, here’s what’s been going on in the world of HRSYSK.

Human Capital Disclosure. There’s a very interesting piece from CFO.com making the rounds that talks about a significant group of major institutional investors urging the SEC to require human capital disclosures along with other key financial information. This would be an astounding shift in focus for organizations. HR would be as important – and as accountable – as our Finance brothers and sisters. Given that labor costs are typically the largest line item in an organization’s budget, maybe investors should have more visibility into what that investment is getting them. Regardless of whether or not this idea takes hold, it’s another indicator that measurement, analytics, and reporting will be an absolutely required core competency of the human capital organization of the future. The time to get your data house in order is now.

“I love my payroll app!” I was in a car headed to the airport the other day, chatting with the driver when he asked what I did. I never know how to answer this question, because this gig isn’t like being a fireman or a ballerina: one that everyone has a mental picture of. So I said I study HR software like the kind that does payroll or hiring – a decent cocktail-party-sized estimation of analyst life. And he immediately said “I love this new payroll app! I just put it on my phone and I can see my hours, and how much vacation I have, and I know what my check will be each week.” I often say that I love this job because on our best day, as an industry, we can help people manage and make decisions about their work and life. I write often about how communication around pay can have a huge impact on employee engagement. And it was awesome to see it in action.

The Tangled Web We Weave. “Coopertition” (the art of both cooperating and competing with another) is alive and well in our industry, and ADP is a prime example in the past few weeks. On June 20th, they announced a partnership with FinancialForce, delivering ADP payroll and HCM alongside FinancialForce ERP capabilities. June 28th brought the announcement of iCIMS as a featured integration in the ADP marketplace for talent acquisition, and most recently on July 17, Infor announced a collaboration to bring ADP compliance capabilities to their HCM customers. They are an example of how even established players see the value of being able to play nicely with others. Many other organizations are also building collections of partnerships, integrations, collaborations, and other friendly-sounding relationships across HCM, and formalizing these relationships SHOULD help make integrations easier for all sides, but also has potential for marketplace confusion. Delivering seamless experience with access to specific expertise will be the challenge of all these networks.

Now go run through the sprinkler as summer slides into its second half. We’ll be here keeping track of the stuff you should know.