Unify Human Resources Functions to Lower Costs 20%

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Liz Strikwerda

Content strategist and corporate blogger (2000+ posts). Her work has been featured on G2's Learning Hub, Human Resources Today, Better Buys and over 500 business websites. She plays bluegrass mandolin and enjoys sailing her catamaran and hiking in the red rock wilderness of southern Utah. Connect with me on LinkedIn

Human resources functions are critical for business recovery. HR is tasked with redesigning processes for safety and compliance. They must also lower overhead. For some companies, survival depends on it.

How can Human Resources functions reduce labor costs?

Let’s suppose you need to reduce expenses by 20%. You can’t move forward without bringing back the employees you furloughed. Your experienced high performers will help you get back on your feet. You don’t want to cut their pay. Like your business, they aren’t exactly rolling in dough right now.

Where do you start?

Consolidate Your Human Resources Functions

Here is your solution. It consists of two straightforward components:

1. Get a unified Human Resources portal
2. Use best practices for Human Resources functions

 

Retool, Retrench, and Rebuild Framework

Many businesses that were forced to temporarily close exhausted their financial reserves. Successful rebuilding depends on careful cost control. Unifying Human Resources functions reduces payroll costs and helps companies recover faster.

 

5 Steps to Lower Costs 20%

Drastic cost-cutting requires everyone’s cooperation. This means executives, managers, administrators, and employees.

First, we’ll do the math. Then we’ll discuss unified Human Resources portals in more detail.

1. Reduce Overtime—5% Savings

Managers can’t be full-time overtime cops. They wouldn’t get anything else done. An HR portal monitors overtime. It sends the manager an alert when an employee is approaching the end of their straight time hours for the week. The manager can take the necessary staffing actions to save the labor budget from time-and-a-half.

2. Optimize Shift Scheduling—3% Savings

Predict scheduling needs to prevent expensive overstaffing. When you unify human resources functions, the system collects data. Use historical data to forecast staffing requirements.

3. Reduce Cost-Per-Hire—5% Savings

The applicant tracking tool in the HR portal improves efficiency. It saves your hiring team all that tedious manual work they hate. The system stores job descriptions, applicant questionnaires, interview scripts, and all the email templates discussed previously. It also shortens time-to-hire which further optimizes your hiring budget.

4. Automate Human Resources Functions—4% Savings

The HR portal automates up to 80% of Human Resources functions. The best practice here is to create checklists to eliminate redundancies. Assign tasks to team members and record progress in the system. Collaborate in a centralized interface. Get rid of spreadsheets that aren’t updated in real time.

5. Reduce Employee Time Theft—3% Savings

When an employee misrepresents more hours than actually worked, it’s called time theft.

There are several different methods:

  • Punching in earlier than authorized
  • Punching out later than authorized
  • Failing to punch out for unpaid breaks and meals
  • Buddy punching

A unified HR system has many options for time tracking. Workers can clock in with a web clock or hardware clock. Depending on the type of time clock, employees can buddy punch by sharing their system pass codes, swipe cards, or fobs.

Sync your HRMS with a scanning time clock. It requires a biological identifier, such as a facial or finger scan, so employees can’t clock in for each other.

Managers set shift rules in the system. The time clock enforces schedules based on the custom settings.

What is a Unified Human Resources Portal?

A unified HR portal is an integrated suite of tools. A systems that manages all HR processes is called a Human Resources Management System (HRMS).

It is a cloud-based system employees access with a connected device. For example, a smartphone, tablet, or computer. The software has an interface (or gateway) through which employees, managers, and admin handle HR-related transactions.

How Does an Employee Use The HR Portal?

The employee opens the company HR portal. If they are using a mobile phone, they use the companion app.

They are greeted by a branded dashboard. If they are an hourly worker, they clock in for their shift. You can customize prompts for critical company messaging. For example, employers are using their HRMS to remind employees of social distancing, work from home policies, and the latest COVID-19 workplace guidelines.

HR Portal Employee Dashboard

The employee dashboard has, well…everything.

  • Clock in/out, current punch status
  • At a glance: next pay date, link to company directory
  • Payroll: links to recent pay stubs, tax forms
  • Engagement: employee recognition board, check-ins, anonymous suggestion box, chat
  • Documents: employee handbook, training materials, benefits forms
  • Timecard
  • Work schedule
  • Time Off: requests, approvals, PTO balance
  • General HR: to do lists, employee filing cabinet

How Does a Manager Use the HR Portal?

The portal gives the manager complete employee oversight. They have all employee information in a centralized location. It is updated in real time.

Employee Tracking

They see who is clocked in and when they clocked in. GPS-enabled timekeeping lets them see where mobile or offsite employees are working.

Manager Approvals

All requests and approvals are managed and stored in the same place. Managers approve shift changes and time off requests. They monitor and approve time cards.

Manager Shift Scheduling

In the schedule module, managers create employee schedules. The scheduling tool has drag-and-drop. Just drag employees into shifts. Use the system templates or make your own. For example, if your staffing fluctuates during the year, make a template for the busy season and another for the slow season. Copy schedules forward.

Schedule Alerts

The schedule tool will alert you if you double book an employee at two locations. Set limits for maximum hours to prevent expensive overtime.

Shift Rules

Do you have shift requirements for skills and/or certifications? For example, a restaurant that employs minors who can’t serve alcohol. The manager needs some servers of legal age for every shift. If this is the case, set shift skill requirements. Each employees’ qualifications are recorded in their profile. The schedule tool compares shift requirements with the employees scheduled. It will alert you if you don’t schedule the pre-set number of employees with the necessary skills/certifications.

How Does the HR Team Use the System?

The system manages the paperwork and other functions with workflow stages. Let’s discuss system actions linked to workflow stages.

Workflow Stages Trigger Actions

This begins during the hiring process. When the applicant applies online, it triggers an application confirmation email. If the hiring manager wants to advance the applicant to the interview stage, the system sends an email with a link to the interview self scheduler. The emails use merge fields to customize the message with the job role, applicant name, and other pertinent information.

As the applicant advances through the recruiting stages, the system performs actions relevant to the hiring stage.

When the hiring manager changes a new hire’s stage to onboarding, the system emails all the new hire paperwork. E-signature allows the employee to sign the necessary documents. Read receipts let the HR team know when documents have been completed.

The HR team monitors the health benefits enrollment and tax paperwork. The employee enters their direct deposit information for the payroll department.

WorkforceHub Unifies Human Resources Functions

Swipeclock WorkforceHub is an affordable, intuitive HRMS that can unify your Human Resources functions. If you decide to implement a unified solution, keep in mind that one million employees use Swipeclock products every day. We’ve been helping small to mid-size organizations lower labor costs since 2001.

Simplify HR management today.

Simplify HR management today.

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