A few months ago, we had a sales meeting with a prospective client - one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains. A household name with retail outlets in every major town and smaller shops in local communities.
We were pitching our HR Service Management software, showing how it could improve their employees’ experience by helping deliver answers to questions faster and reduce the strain on their HR Service Desk.
The HR leaders in the room confidently told us, “We have no problems. Our employees are happy with the service we provide.”
They had invested in HR technology, they had a helpdesk, and as far as they were concerned, everything was working just fine. The opportunity didn’t go anywhere, and we lost contact.
Fast forward a few months, and my daughter turned 17. Like many teenagers her age, she landed her first part-time job - and, by pure coincidence, it was with the very same retailer we had pitched to.
She was excited but nervous. She didn’t know what she was supposed to wear, where to go on her first day, or who to speak to.
There was no email or letter with clear instructions.
After some searching, I helped her find the information buried on their public website. Not an ideal start, but she made it work.
A month went by. Then came her first payslip.
She was paid less than expected. Confused, she turned to me for help. I spotted the issue quickly - her tax code was incorrect, a common problem for first-time workers in the UK.
I advised her to contact either her manager or HR to get it corrected. Her manager directed her to HR, but this is where the real frustration began.
As a retail associate, she didn’t have access to a work PC. She found an onboarding email that directed her to a mobile app. When she tried logging in, her password didn’t work.
I helped her reset it, and she got in. The app took her to her payslip, but there was no help text explaining what to do if something was wrong. She searched the app for guidance but found nothing.
Again, she asked for my help. We found an email directing her to log into the company website - but only from a laptop, as the information wasn’t available in the mobile app.
She tried logging in with the same password she had just reset for the mobile app. It didn’t work.
After another password reset, she finally got in, navigated through multiple pages, and eventually found a link to the HR helpdesk. But there was no email support, no chatbot - only a phone number.
My daughter is quite shy and nervous about making calls, but she had no choice. She waited until she had free time outside of work (being on the shop floor with hourly targets, there was no way she could call within work hours), called the number, and sat on hold for 10 minutes before finally speaking to a support agent.
The agent was friendly and helpful, explaining that she needed to contact HMRC (the UK Government Tax Authority) to resolve the issue. One simple phone call to HMRC, and the problem was fixed in the next pay run.
But here’s the thing - this entire ordeal took a full week to resolve. And all she needed was one simple answer: “Contact HMRC on this number.” A well-placed FAQ, a help article, or a virtual assistant could have provided this information instantly.
A 17-year-old’s summary: “That was ridiculous. I can’t believe the terrible mobile app this company has.”
💡What is the HR Perception Gap?
The HR Perception Gap, sometimes also called the Employee Experience Perception Gap, refers to the disconnect between how HR leaders perceive their organization's employee experience and how employees actually feel about it.
This disparity can lead to unmet employee needs, as leadership may believe they're providing excellent support while employees experience the contrary.
The HR Leaders at this retailer had told us their employees were happy, that their HR service worked well, and that they didn’t have a problem.
But they were completely unaware of the perception their workers had of HR; they had not put enough effort into understanding the experience they were providing from an employee-centric view.
My daughter’s frustration wasn’t just with the HR service—it reflected poorly on the entire company. A well-known, highly profitable business, yet their HR technology felt outdated, inefficient, and disconnected from modern employee expectations.
This scenario isn't unique: a recent study revealed a significant perception gap between HR leaders and employees on engagement, alignment, and performance.
While half of HR leaders believe their employees are “completely engaged,” only one in three employees feel this way.
This gap could be caused by a lack of measurement–only one-third of HR leaders track engagement, attrition, and turnover.
While 84% of HR leaders rate their organization’s use of employee feedback as “effective,” just 43% of employees say they’ve seen positive change from previous employee surveys– a perception gap of 41%.
That brings us to the big question:
These statistics highlight a common issue: many organizations assume their HR service is working because employees aren’t complaining loudly.
But how many employees struggle in silence, piecing together broken processes, navigating clunky systems, and relying on managers who don’t have the answers?
How many new hires experience unnecessary friction in their first few weeks?
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How many cases take days to resolve when they should take seconds?
At Applaud, we specialize in helping businesses avoid these hidden pitfalls by designing software around the needs of your employees.
Our HR Service Management platform ensures employees get the answers they need quickly, through intuitive digital experiences that work on any device.
Whether it’s onboarding, payroll, or case management, our platform provides instant access to knowledge, AI-powered virtual assistants, and seamless service requests - all without the frustration my daughter experienced.
So, before assuming your HR service is ‘fine,’ ask yourself: Would my employees say the same?
If you’re not sure, maybe it’s time for a conversation. Let’s talk.
Give your most important customers the experience they deserve
Request a demo to see how our platform can help you deliver HR Services that feel truly human.
We’ll show you how to nudge managers at exactly the right moment, empower new hires to self-serve, and free HR teams from the manual tasks that slow them down.
Let’s help HR do more for their people.
Ivan Harding has worked in the HR Technology sector for over 20 years, starting life in IBM before moving onto the Oracle Development team, where he reached Director level. Prior to co-founding Applaud in 2008, Ivan worked with a number of large, global companies, helping them get the most out of their HR Technology investment.