Human-centered digital transformation: Designing HR technology with empathy at the core

By Komal Somani Whole-time Director, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Human Resource Officer, ESDS

As a HR professional with decades of experience, let me tell you about two rollouts I have watched up close.The first one was textbook perfect. A big company brought in a cutting-edge performance tool—beautiful dashboards, live feedback loops, even little predictive flags that were supposed to spot flight risk early.

Everyone in the C-suite was thrilled. Six months in, the data looked amazing… until the resignations started. Not the usual suspects, either. Some of the sharpest, kindest people on the payroll were leaving.

When HR finally asked why, the answers were heartbreaking in their simplicity: “I don’t feel like a person here anymore. I feel like a data point.”A couple hundred miles away, something quieter was happening. Another organization pushed out a new employee platform that, honestly, looked pretty ...