Those who work in HR need to ensure that documents are completed accurately and in a timely manner. Although businesses try their hardest to complete HR forms quickly, forms can often contain incomplete information or information that is purely outdated and no longer relevant.
Read on to discover our five ways where automation has been used in HR to ensure accurate and speedy completion of these important documents.
Automated holiday approvals
While most companies now have a set process for approving holiday requests, it is often difficult for HR staff to manage multiple staff requests on paper alone. Not only that, but HR departments may misplace holiday forms or fail to respond quickly to requests, with other tasks being prioritised. This can often make staff feel demotivated as it sends the message that the HR department does not care about their personal life outside of work.
Reduced time spent on data entry
With automatically populated fields, HR staff no longer need to spend time manually inputting data into the HR system. This not only reduces time but also reduces the likelihood of data entry issues through human error. Staff can then spend this additional time focusing on ensuring that other HR tasks are completed such as training new staff members.
ADP state that Ford is recognised for innovation in HR through exceptional training opportunities and a highly disciplined culture, which is made possible through strong processes, possibly because staff only need to focus on the tasks which add the most value to their team.
Faster onboarding of new staff members
Further to automated pre-populated fields reducing data entry, automatically populated fields allow staff to onboard new team members quicker that in a paper-based process. For your business, this means that new members of staff can get familiar with the department quickly, and start working productively. This could be a new sales member chasing enquiries or a lawyer needing to access case files quickly through the online portal.
Faster onboarding is done via the pre-populated fields described earlier; tasks are then routed to other departments such as IT to automatically create logins for the computer system and update payroll with relevant information.
Increased retention of key staff
With faster response to staff queries and problems, key staff will want to stay at your company for longer.
FedEx has a long history of cutting-edge HR. It was one of the first organisations in the world to develop a formal HR policy that viewed employees as the direct reason the organisations would achieve growth and profitability. This policy is still in place today, and staff have always been encouraged to come up with solutions, and their feedback is regularly requested.
Higher visibility into the department
Using paper-based processes alone it is often difficult to get a high-level overview of your HR department. Although quicker onboarding and fast responses to requests are important, as a business you also need to ensure staff are working productively. If particular members of staff always call in sick on a Monday morning, it is often difficult to notice in a large department, and these less than ideal practices can slip by in an organisation where there are 100 or more employees.
Reporting can allow HR departments to gain a high-level overview of which staff are working on a particular date and who arrives on time and leaves at the correct time at the end of the day. These reporting features are very beneficial for audit purposes or if there is a HR issue relating to matters such as pay.
We hope you have found this article useful and have gained a overview of some of the benefits of automating these important processes.
For further information on automating your HR department, watch our solutions video “Automating Your HR Department”.