5 Ways to Automate HR Procedures to Save Time and Money for Your Department
  • By: SHRMpro Bureau
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December 6, 2022

It’s simple to get pulled in a number of different directions in a field as wide as HR. Leading a busy HR department requires managing employee expectations and senior executives’ expectations while adhering to legal standards for hiring and managing staff. You can do more when you know how to improve the efficiency of HR procedures. You’ll have more time as a consequence to assist your workers and provide a better working environment.

The Advantages of Simplifying HR Procedures

You may save your company time and money by automating HR procedures and simplifying existing ones. More than half (56%) of conventional HR operations can be automated, according to a McKinsey study. The study included a case study of a company that automated crucial HR procedures and saw a 66 percent decrease in processing time as well as enhanced compliance. Four full-time employees were also able to transition to more value-added tasks thanks to the structure.

Everyday chores take longer to perform due to outdated methods. However, by automating HR procedures, you may eliminate the drawbacks of manual and ineffective workflows, including:

  • Reduced capacity for reporting
  • Unreliable reporting
  • Payroll and benefit irregularities
  • Non-compliance blunders

You can boost productivity and better manage your personnel by utilising tools and resources created to make HR operations more successful. You may use your HR technology to your advantage to help you do more, rather than complaining about its shortcomings.

The following advantages are provided by workforce management software:

  • Less manual processes that are frequently duplicated
  • Less time spent switching between HR systems that aren’t well connected
  • Simpler employee data storage, access, and reporting
  • Improved data-driven decision-making

How to Automate HR Procedures?

You and your staff can gain from increased productivity in the hectic workplace of today. To make your HR procedures more efficient, implement these five time-saving measures:

Examine current procedures

It might be difficult to know where to start when searching for potential areas to improve. You can find fresh chances to automate and improve process efficiency by examining each phase of the employee lifetime journey. Review the following aspects of your procedures:

  • Applicant tracking and hiring
  • On-boarding
  • Payroll and perks
  • Timing and presence
  • Performance supervision
  • Training
  • Off-boarding

You don’t have to tackle each step with a separate system when you seek for methods to increase the effectiveness of HR procedures from hiring through off-boarding. With the use of a comprehensive Human Resource Management System (HRMS) software, you can automate HR procedures rather than managing your employees in compartments.

Substitute paper with cloud-based tools

The ability to see and evaluate employee data in real time is hampered by paper-based methods. You can make better judgments when you use less paper and migrate to the cloud since you have access to more hiring and personnel data. An applicant tracking feature in a cloud-based HR system, for instance, may be used to track candidates’ emails and paper resumes. You may access every applicant for every position, their references, interview notes, and the stage of the recruiting process which they are at.

Substitute paper with cloud-based tools

Embed Payroll into HR services

Managing your payroll independently from other staff management tasks raises the likelihood of multiple entries and mistakes. For instance, you must update your HR and payroll systems when you add employees or amend salaries, which may result in a discrepancy in the personnel data.

On the other hand, when payroll is integrated with HR tasks like time and attendance, benefits management, and headcount reporting, you have more uniformity and less possibilities of receiving a mistaken paycheck. You may combine them with one time-saving platform rather than repeatedly comparing payroll data with information in different systems.

Include Employee Self-Service

Being responsive to employee queries is essential, but using employee self-service allows you to do all of that without having an HR staff member spend time on regular queries or giving employees paperwork. Self-service enables employees to get the information they require to comprehend pay, benefits, and HR regulations while freeing up your HR personnel to concentrate on other tasks.

Employees are given the ability to submit changes, such as a new address or revised direct deposit instructions, through self-service. Additionally, it grants staff members access to the following data:

  • Payroll records like W-2 forms and pay stubs
  • Summary of benefit plans and information on coverage
  • Tracking time and attendance, with requests and accruals

Monitor Workforce metrics

You can find opportunities for improvement by tracking important indicators. Just a few examples of workforce indicators that might point out inefficiencies or areas for cost-saving potential are as follows:

  • Time for the hiring process
  • Turnover rate
  • Payroll costs
  • Employee healthcare costs

You may find a variety of time- and money-saving HR automation technologies to help your HR department do more as you track key HR indicators over time.

Use technology to automate HR procedures

You can use your time more effectively if you take initiatives to simplify HR operations. You can boost productivity and free up more time to serve the workforce by integrating essential HR procedures, minimising manual workflows, and providing employee self-service.

It’s not necessary to keep implementing new HR systems in order to increase productivity. You may avoid the difficulties of managing your personnel with various HR systems by using an all-in-one integrated HR management software.