The typical work for an organization’s HR team involves many monotonous and repetitive tasks, from preparing contracts for new hires to organizing training sessions and managing paperwork related to performance appraisals. These never-ending jobs can lead to over-stretched and exhausted HR staff. An HRMS system can automate key HR processes to streamline crucial workflows, reduce errors and save valuable time and resources. In this blog, we discuss the main HR processes you can automate using HRMS software to prevent bottlenecks and maximize operational efficiency.
What is HR Automation?
HR automation is the process of utilizing software tools to offload the redundant work of an HR professional so that they can focus on other value-added tasks that require manual supervision, strategizing, and decision-making. By automating monotonous tasks, HR professionals can effortlessly capture and update data and streamline several HR jobs. HR automation provided by an HRMS system can significantly reduce overall costs, provide a better employee experience, and enhance business productivity and efficiency.
Top Human Resource Functions That Can Be Automated
- Hiring
Hiring entails many tasks, such as posting job ads, screening resumes, responding to messages, assessing candidates, and scheduling interviews. When manually done, these tasks involve tons of paperwork and time. The recruitment management feature of an HRMS system can shortlist eligible candidates, send automated emails, and update them about the job status. The entire interview process can also be automated via digital technology and video calling apps.
- Onboarding
Once a candidate is hired, the next important HR process is employee onboarding. The onboarding process involves plenty of manual work, including collecting and verifying employee documents, signing forms, providing access to several tools, and so on. Manual onboarding is tedious for the HR staff and error-prone, and automation can greatly help here. Chatbots that are a part of any HRMS software can guide employees on how to fill out forms accurately. Tools can automatically collect all the information and auto-fill forms, saving employee time.
- Offboarding
When an employee quits a company, there are several tasks that need to be taken care of, such as completing outstanding tasks and manual checklists. Automating the offboarding process by an HRMS system collects essential information and tracks completion, right from finalizing salaries to the return of IT equipment and access cards. With the current attrition rate in India being 20.3%, according to the AON PLC report, manual offboarding every time someone turns in their notice can be too tedious for the HR department.
- Payroll and Leave Management
Manual calculation of employee paid leave, sick leave, and so on can cause errors leading to employees being either overpaid or underpaid creating tension between the employer and employee. On the other hand, through HR automation via HRMS software, employees can gain access to the automated payroll system. The payroll software automates the entire payroll process, calculates leaves and attendance, deposits salary into bank accounts, and generates reports without human intervention. HR automation software generates payslips and tax documents in just a few clicks.
- Performance Management
Regular performance tracking and appraisal are key to maintaining optimal employee output. An effective HRMS system with performance management can automate this process entirely by tracking every employee’s performance periodically and giving valuable feedback to carry out a transparent and fair appraisal.
- Expense Management
Expense management is a crucial HR function; manual processing and auditing of business expenses can lead to fraud and errors. An expense management software can simplify business expense management and resolve all discrepancies. The software can automate tasks such as approving, reviewing, and reimbursing expenses incurred by the employee.
- HR Analytics
HR departments manage a large amount of data about employees. Maintaining employee data and generating insights from it may be simple for a small company but quite challenging for a large business. HR automation can automatically collect relevant data and KPI measures to offer actionable insights for the HR department and reduce errors and loss due to manual data entry.
- Time and Attendance Management
Manual entry of employee attendance can lead to many issues, such as time theft, inaccurate salary calculation, and general indiscipline. The Attendance Management feature of HRMS software can automate this process by tracking employee attendance and keeping a tab on employee time in and time out, working hours, and break time. Biometric attendance systems guarantee the highest accuracy in data tracking.
- Employee Training
A training management tool can enhance employee skills and motivate them to improve. This uses various software tools for administration, documentation, and tracking training programs. Employees can switch from traditional to automated methods to attend training at their respective pace.
Conclusion
Over the years, automation and technology have created a transparent work culture. Irrespective of the size of your organization, if you want your HR department to do away with mundane tasks and improve their productivity, then HR automation through an HRMS system is the way to go.
