5 ways to simplify life for a small HR department
If you’ve been in HR for a while, you probably got into the field because you were a “people person.” That’s still true now, but these days, HR pros have to be masters of increasing complexity, from data analytics to the confusing and ever-changeable nuances of ACA compliance to AI for hiring. It seems like there’s always something new, some new competency you need to wrangle, and never enough time in the day to handle it all. We get it. It’s a lot.
This is especially true for small or even one-person HR departments. It’s easy to get bogged down with paperwork and other complex HR matters, like payroll or onboarding. What typically happens then? Other important areas get pushed to the side. Employee engagement, retention, coaching, career pathing, training and company culture are vital to a company’s success, but who has time to focus on it?
If that sounds like you, it’s time to think about simplifying your HR and human capital management (HCM) practices to help you give all of your important HR functions the attention they deserve. It will make you more productive and elevate your company in the process.
Simplifying life for HR
How can you simplify and streamline life in the HR department? Here are a few ideas, and most of them revolve around one thing: technology.
Put simplifying at the top of your list. Yes, it takes time to simplify and streamline your HR practices. It takes research into what’s out there, the top thought leadership on the subject, and best practices for getting the job done with less. It might seem like you simply don’t have the time to put effort into saving yourself time. But trust us, it’s worth it. The effort you put into simplifying your life will come back to you tenfold in the greater robustness of your job when you have the time.
Embrace the idea of employee self-service. Whether it’s time-off requests, benefits questions, filling out forms, or anything else employees tend to walk over to the HR department to get info on, put it all in one place online so they can access that information themselves.
Automate hiring and onboarding. Today, there’s no reason to be combing through stacks of physical resumes for every new hire or manually posting on job boards. An online recruiting system can do all of that for you and simplify your hiring process greatly. Similarly, onboarding. Put all of that paperwork new hires typically fill out on their first day online, so they can get it done here and there throughout the day while they’re not doing more important things, like meeting the staff, getting trained and beginning to feel at home in their new job.
Get benefits administration online, too. Woe be every HR pro when open enrollment comes around if your benefits administration consists of pushing paper.
Streamline payroll. Everybody needs a paycheck, right? It’s one of the most vital things HR does. But it can be a lengthy chore. There’s an alarming statistic floating around out there about people who administer payroll and small and mid-sized companies. Most have not taken a vacation in five years out of fear payroll won’t get processed correctly while they’re away.
An HRIS is the key to streamlining HR
The right human resources information system (HRIS), customized for your specific needs, can make your life easier by putting all of your human capital management functions in one place. You can manage the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment to retirement, at your fingertips in one unified platform. At Benetech, that’s what we’re dedicated to providing for our clients.
It boils down to time and efficiency. Imagine how robust your HR program could be if you didn’t have to spend all day dealing with tasks that could easily be automated.
If you’d like more information, give us a call today.
