Investing in technology is the best solution that organisations can take to make their HR teams more productive
Working in human resources can be quite challenging.
It includes hiring, screening, interviewing, providing training and development, employee retention, coordinating administrative functions of an organisation, and more.
Manual administration involves working with hard copy based systems and spreadsheets, which is a cumbersome process resulting in difficulties for HR leaders.
The most negative impact of physical administration is the amount of time and effort taken by HR professionals to complete these tasks. It results in higher costs, missed opportunities, and prevents the department from working on something productive and valuable.
There are several hidden expenses related to labour-intensive human resource administration, which causes problems for the team and sucks up resources that a company is unable to recognise.
Experts are continuously looking for ways to be more productive and to get more jobs done within the 40-hour workweek without sacrificing their work-life balance and health.
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For organisations that are still on the barrier, whether investing in human resource management software is worthwhile, here we present four significant productivity benefits that can help.
1. Streamline the hiring process
To attract suitable candidates, an organisation needs to have a streamlined recruitment process.
In today’s competitive age, where multiple businesses are struggling for a limited talent pool, offering a good hiring experience to new candidates is an organisation’s way of putting its best foot forward.
Here are a few ways how technology can enhance the application experience for new candidates while facilitating HR managers to be more productive at the time of recruitment.
Going Paperless
Instead of asking your candidates to bring their printed resume, send them a form that they can fill out in advance.
This minimises the paperwork which needs to be done on-site and makes a smooth start of the recruitment journey. Managers need not check data for accuracy manually as candidates can do this themselves.
Pre-selection
Technology enables HR professionals to automate multiple screening processes, such as pre-interview questions and personality tests. It makes it simple for HR managers to choose candidates who are the best fit for the job role.
Moreover, candidates go into interviews knowing that they already have passed an initial screening process.
Single Recruitment Portal
Integrated HR systems enable managers to do everything in one place, starting from creating job ads to screening the right candidates, saving a lot of time.
2.Create positive onboarding experience
Onboarding new candidates may be a tedious task, but it is an essential responsibility that HR leaders need to do well.
Onboarding sets the landscape for new employees and is a significant element in developing a positive employee experience. It is the stage when employees submit their severe forms for labour laws compliance, and several mistakes are made during this stage.
Here are a few ways of how technology can help to create an efficient onboarding process.
Self-service onboarding portal
When a candidate accepts the job offer, HR managers can give them access to the organisation’s self-guided onboarding portal. This will enable new employees to review crucial company policies at their own pace before they begin.
The systems comprise of leaves, dress code, workplace expectation and behaviour, overtime hours, workplace safety, and more. Self-service onboarding portals include webinars, videos, wikis, and other manuals as well. It enhances employee engagement while minimising the workload of HR leaders if they were to provide information face to face.
Automate paperwork
At the time of onboarding, employees get familiarised with workplace procedures and policies, fill out crucial documents, and benefits enrolments.
With the help of technology, employees can achieve these forms, days before they start their first day at work. Human resource software includes verification functionalities to ensure accuracy and compliance across the documents submitted.
Personalised onboarding experience
Personalised onboarding portal includes a friendly note from the CEO, audio-visual presentations, welcome messages from team members, company’s history, and virtual pep talks explaining the role of new employees in the mission and vision of the organisation.
3.No more payroll pain
Each payroll entails a high level of compliance and accuracy with national, international, and local labour laws. But, several organisations still use manual payroll software when automated payroll technology has been in existence for many years.
According to the American Payroll Association, 29 per cent of HR executives is using payroll management tools that are more than ten years old or outdated.
Hence, as a result, several leaders are sacrificing accuracy to get more things done. Late and incorrect payroll increases an organisation’s employee turnover rate.
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More than 50 per cent of the employee will look for jobs after two payroll mistake instances. This is the reason why payroll management solutions equipped with the latest technology is a significant investment for many organisations.
Ensure full compliance
Advanced payroll solutions enable HR leaders to remain on top of many things like PTO accruals, overtime payments, tax deductions, and more.
Time tracking
The amount of time spent in reviewing timesheets manually is well documented. HR professionals working in large organisations also waste time reviewing timesheets manually. A time tracking software enables employees to track their own time more accurately and helps HR managers in validating the accuracy of time entries with a few clicks.
4.Provide employee training and development
Although HR managers can shape good employees, sustainable employee development is neglected very often. Without personalised training programs, organisations are at risk of losing their best talent.
Hence, embracing technology aids the manager’s focus on workforce development without spending much time crafting training programs.
Measure training effectiveness
Many organisations do not measure the effectiveness of training programs that they provide to employees. It is a productivity sinkhole as human resource department might be offering training that does not include a concrete effect on the organisation.
With technology, data is available in real-time, and managers can measure training effectiveness they provide to employees. They can focus on delivering programs that will bring a positive effect on their company.
Training programs for supervisors
HR managers can develop training kiosks for every supervisor. The manager later selects training programs for his teammates to take. HR will help track, supervise, and source training programs that are available in the kiosk.
By leveraging this strategy, training and development becomes a shared responsibility in the organisation and not just for HR leaders.
The bottom line
Productivity is about getting as much work done as possible, with fewer amounts of energy and time. Sometimes, this is not the case with managers who are always multi-tasking to meet the demands of the organisation. They try to achieve more by spending more time doing administrative tasks, thus resulting in inaccuracies, low quality work, and burnout.
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Multiple options will fit specific requirements and budgets. Return on investment (ROI) on these technologies is far-reaching.
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Image Credit: Tyler Franta
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