Ottawa, ON — March, 29, 2010 — Halogen Software today announced the first and only talent management suite designed specifically for the education market. This new offering provides a critical tool that enables learning institutions of all types to ensure employees are accountable and focused on enhancing the future of education, which is especially vital as educational funding becomes more competitive. Halogen developed the solution based on industry best practices, extensive consultation from its existing base of education clients and with thought leaders in the field.
The ability to evaluate the performance and growth of educational staff is more vital now than ever before, as school board and institution funding, in many cases, becomes performance based. This is evident in initiatives such as Barack Obama’s $4.5 Billion “Race for the Top!” fund, targeted at education reform. With this program the U.S. federal government has announced that the traditional method of evaluating educators is no longer appropriate. This means that new tools and creative approaches to talent management are called for.
“The K-12 school boards operate with finite budgets funded by taxpayer money, so talent management is an area that cannot be overlooked,” explained Brian Ewert, Director of HR, Douglas County School Board. “Our experience with Halogen reinforces the value of moving to a web-based talent management system. When you combine improved coaching and accountability with all of the time and money we’re saving, it makes good sense for everyone — from the administrators, to our employees, to the taxpayer.”
Human resource leaders working in the education field face many unique pressures including geographic distribution of facilities and a high level of regulation at the board and state level. These pressures combined with the growing need to track and maintain a variety of certifications, as well as prepare for widespread retirement makes better talent management processes and tools a necessity.
“The education industry has unique talent management challenges and typically, significant budget constraints and limited technology support,” said Josh Bersin, President of Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm focused on enterprise learning and talent management. “A cost-efficient, easy-to-implement solution tailored to the unique needs of education will offer opportunity for breakthrough performance gains and new insights for workforce management.”
A flagship of the suite, Halogen eAppraisal™ Education transforms the administrative performance management process into a strategic activity that drives accountability, makes the review process easier and more meaningful, and ultimately supports the delivery of the highest quality education. The suite includes a comprehensive library of education specific competencies and appraisal forms, hundreds of built-in coaching and development tips and comment helpers, as well as 10 pre-packaged eLearning courses from SkillSoft. This rich content and each feature and function is based on extensive research and confirmed as an industry best practice.
Additional benefits of Halogen’s education specific talent management suite include:
• Supporting the performance and development of all staff, especially those who are new or at risk;
• Promoting a culture of excellence and development;
• Easily tracking staff goals and development plans that address gaps;
• Improving employee engagement in the process;
• Driving accountability and facilitating ongoing dialogue around performance;
• Tracking certifications and licenses; and
• Automating and simplifying evaluation reviews and eliminating performance appraisal paperwork.
“Halogen enables us to identify the strengths of our work force as well as where gaps may still exist,” said Glenna Stump, Director of HR Operations and Administration with Harrisburg Area Community College. “It gives us an effective tool to make sure we have the insight to provide the development opportunities that both meet the needs of our staff and the goals of our organization.”
Halogen has already enabled almost a 100 educational institutions to succeed at talent management including the College of Southern Maryland, Douglas County School District, Fisk University, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Indiana University, New York University Information Technology Services, University of Houston Downtown, and Purdue University, who will be speaking on talent management at the 2010 CUPA-HR Conference.
About Halogen Software
Halogen Software is recognized as a market leader by industry analysts and is strongly endorsed by the thousands of HR professionals who use their talent management solutions. The company offers a complete suite of web-based products that automate, simplify and integrate performance appraisals, 360 degree feedback, compensation management, succession planning and learning management. Halogen’s offering makes HR best-practices accessible to companies of all sizes and its healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, professional ! services and education specific suites meet the unique needs of these industries. Halogen is consistently recognized by the industry and its customers for its exceptional implementation and support services. Halogen was named a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for employee performance management software in 2009 and has won multiple awards for its corporate leadership and product innovation, including HR Technology Product of the Year. For more information, visit www.halogensoftware.com.
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Media contact:
Maggie Patterson
PR Consultant, Halogen Software
T: 613-989-1866
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