Zuman Blazes New Frontiers to Improve the Employee Experience

By Nicole Zaro Stahl, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Company Bids Farewell to "Human Resources" and Says Hello to "People Operations"

A changing of the guard is transpiring in the workforce. As baby boomers retire and Gen Y millennials enter the fold, companies are looking for fresh ways to attract and retain employees and show them they are valued members of the team. Any new approach must incorporate the latest technology and provide a streamlined communications path. It also has to track and integrate a stream of complex functions relating to employer compliance, with many layers of regulations, standards, and mandates.

Enter Zuman, a "single-source people operations software and services" start-up that launched in early September from 5976 W. Las Positas Boulevard in Hacienda. Founded by a trio of industry veterans-Doug Devlin, CEO; Steve Carlson, CTO; and Mike Triantos, CMO-Zuman targets companies that place a premium on their high-value workforce. "We're here to provide them with software and services that adapt and reflect their changing needs," Devlin remarks.

Prompted by their insiders 'knowledge of today's fragmented human resources model - which has business owners dealing with a multiplicity of vendors, from payroll provider to benefits broker, and more - the founders studied market trends to create a company that would reflect the new realities. "We've integrated all those functions into a single-source data set with software and service, bringing a holistic approach to what had previously been fragmented," Devlin explains.

"In the past," adds Triantos, "human resource professionals focused on delivering services for policies, compliance, benefits, performance management, recruiting, and talent management. To succeed today, they also need to deliver a superior people operations experience that extends their company's brand, creates transparency, and builds employee loyalty, trust, and growth."

With its emphasis on the entire experience, this new wave is perhaps best summed up as "Farewell HR and hello People Operations."

"Progressive companies like Google, Facebook, and Spotify now use the term 'People Operations' to refer to what they're delivering for employees," Triantos points out.

In the end, the raison d'etre for this new focus is accelerating business performance. The transformed employee experience makes workers - whether engineers or at the reception desk - feel good about who they are working for and want to stay there a long time.

The company's name is simultaneously a play on "zoom," as in helping companies zoom past their competition; and an evocation of "human," reflecting the millennials' concern with the more personal dimension of the workplace. A favorite website picture, of the founding team out on a woodland stroll, telegraphs this message. "We understand what it takes to get things done from a business standpoint, but we also want the market to know that we're real people," says Triantos. "The walk in an outdoor setting is what happens in real life. This is what Gen Y expects today. They don't need a suit persona, they need expertise and real solutions."

For more information, visit www.zuman.com.

Photo: Zuman takes a lighter approach to what it calls "People Operations." (Photo courtesy of Zuman.)

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