HR Automation: What Is It And How Can It Benefit Your Organization?
HR should play a key strategic role in any organization but can easily get bogged down in repetitive, time-consuming tasks. The trend now is to use automation for these tasks.
In fact, HR automation has grown by 599% in two years. More companies are automating tasks such as payroll, job interviews, and getting new employees started.
In this guide, I’ll cover the benefits of HR automation for your organization with some specific examples of where it can help you.
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What Is HR Automation?
Human resources automation means using software to automate tasks so there's less manual work required. This can be anything from vacation planning to tracking employee performance or managing talent pipelines.
Automation reduces the risk of human error and frees up time to focus on more strategic initiatives.
You'll also improve the employee experience and nurture a more engaged and productive workforce.
How Can HR Automation Benefit Your Organization?
As HR sits at the center of your organization, the benefits of automation expand into all areas of your business, positively impacting employees, leaders, business partners, and customers.
Efficiency
Efficiency tops the list as being the most tangible benefit of automation. It improves HR operational efficiency by speeding up tasks that are otherwise repetitive, time-consuming, and prone to human error.
While some of your automated processes might run within a single tool, you can also set up an integrated HR workflow so your tools talk to each other and share data.
Onboarding automation example
Adding a new hire to your HRIS system triggers Gmail to send out a welcome message, adds the new user to a team Slack channel and schedules a 1:1 via Google Calendar with their hiring manager.
Improve employee experience
When you implement automation effectively, your team members will notice improvements throughout all stages of the employee life cycle.
As well as more efficient processes, HR can invest in time into more important employee-centric activities such as coaching, performance management, and compensation philosophies.
Data-driven decision-making
Automation can significantly enhance HR analytics and help HR departments become more data-driven.
For example, automation can streamline gathering and consolidating data from various sources such as payroll systems, employee performance tracking tools, recruitment platforms, and survey tools.
On a more advanced level, HR departments can use sophisticated analytical tools that use machine learning and statistical algorithms to identify trends, predict outcomes, and generate insights.
Reduced waste
Companies must meet sustainability targets and an automated HR department will help you reach them. Once you digitize your processes, you'll eliminate vast quantities of paper from your daily tasks.
But the waste reduction doesn't stop there. Other efficiencies include:
- Spending less on ink and printer/photocopier maintenance
- Simplified documentation management
- Saving up to 25 hours a week recreating the work when documents are lost.
7 HR Processes That Can Be Improved With Automation
Automation can be used to improve numerous HR processes, for example:
Employee records and data management
Employee records and data management is notoriously time-consuming and prone to error. A few ways automation can help include:
- Reducing manual entry: Automated systems help speed up data entry and improve data accuracy by reducing manual entry errors and ensuring that any updates to employee information are uniformly reflected across all integrated systems. This includes changes in personal details, job titles, compensation, benefits, and other critical data.
- Efficient document management: Automated employee management systems often feature capabilities for secure document uploading, version control, and expiration alerts for documents that need periodic renewal, such as certifications or licenses.
- Automated alerts and reminders: Tools such as an HRMS can automatically send alerts and reminders for important dates related to employee management, such as probation period endings, contract renewals, or compliance deadlines.
- Streamlined reporting and analytics: Software can automatically generate detailed reports and analytics on various HR metrics such as headcount, turnover rates, demographic data, and compliance metrics.
Recruitment
While you want to beware of automation too much automation (recruitment is very much a people function after all), a few ways automation can be used to improve the recruitment process include:
- Automated job posting and distribution: Many applicant tracking systems (ATSs) have the function to post job openings across multiple platforms simultaneously, including job boards, social media channels, and company career sites.
- Resume screening and ranking: Automated resume screening tools can scan and evaluate resumes based on predefined criteria such as skills, experience, and education and make recommendations.
- Candidate sourcing: Some candidate sourcing tools use AI to search for candidates across various online platforms and databases.
- Interview scheduling: Automation tools can coordinate calendars and schedule interviews without the need for back-and-forth communication. Candidates can choose from available time slots, automatically updates the calendars of all involved parties, and sends reminders.
Onboarding
Onboarding is another process ripe for automation. Ways that automation can improve the onboarding process include:
- Administrative tasks: Automation can assist with tasks such as entering new hire’s details into your HRIS and payroll software and sending out welcome emails, paperwork, and training materials.
- Consistent communication: Automated emails or messages can be scheduled to update new hires on what to expect next, remind them of tasks to complete, or provide them with useful information about the company culture or their specific roles.
- Feedback collection: Automation can facilitate the collection of feedback from new hires throughout the onboarding process. This can include automated surveys or check-ins at various stages of the process.
Performance management
Performance management is notoriously difficult to get right. Automation can help improve the performance management process by:
- Schedule performance reviews: Performance review cycles can be scheduled to automatically recur at predetermined timelines (e.g., quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) with automatic reminders to complete feedback.
- Recognition and rewards: Automation can facilitate the recognition and rewarding of good performance and desired behaviors. For example, an employee recognition platform can be set up to recognize achievements or milestones and suggest appropriate rewards, such as bonuses, promotions, or public acknowledgments.
Payroll and employee benefits
In a process as admin-intensive and unforgiving as payroll, automation is a godsend for many. Automated payroll software can assist with:
- Error reduction: Automation helps reduce errors by ensuring that calculations for wages, deductions, and taxes are done accurately based on the latest regulations and organizational policies.
- Reporting and analytics: Automated systems provide real-time reporting capabilities that can help management understand payroll expenses in greater detail. These reports can include analyses of labor costs, departmental expenses, and historical comparison data.
Expense management
Expense management is one of those fiddly processes that no one’s particularly fond of. However, automation can help make the process easier by:
- Receipt and expense data capture: Automated systems can simplify the process of logging expenses by allowing employees to upload receipts using their smartphones. Modern systems often use optical character recognition (OCR) technology to automatically extract relevant data from receipts, reducing manual data entry and the potential for errors.
- Policy enforcement: Automation helps enforce expense policies automatically by validating claims against the company’s established rules and limits. For instance, if an expense exceeds a set threshold or is not within the policy guidelines, the system can flag it for review or automatically reject it. This ensures policy compliance and helps prevent fraudulent claims.
- Approval workflows: Automated expense management systems can automatically route expense reports to the appropriate managers for approval based on predefined rules, such as the amount of the expense or the department.
Learning and development
Continuous learning and development is a key driver of organizational success. Automation can help with the process through:
- Personalized learning paths: Automation helps create customized learning paths for employees based on role, skills, career aspirations, and performance data. AI-driven platforms can recommend courses, workshops, training programs, projects, and roles that are most relevant to an individual's development needs.
- Content management: AI-driven systems can recommend updates or identify areas where content may be outdated, ensuring that the training materials remain relevant and effective.
- Data analytics and reporting: It can be difficult to measure the effectiveness of L&D programs. Automation can help by providing insights including engagement levels, completion rates, and performance improvements post-training.
- Adaptive assessments: While still in the nascent stage, AI tools are being built that can create personalized assessments that adapt in real-time depending on the employees' answers. Read about them in our article on employee assessment methods.
Compliance management
Compliance can be tough to stay on top of, automation can help by:
- Automated updates and alerts: Regulations and legal requirements can change frequently. Automated compliance software is equipped to receive updates on new laws and regulations, which can then be integrated into existing workflows. These systems can also alert HR teams to any compliance deadlines or changes that require attention, ensuring that the company remains compliant at all times.
- Audit trails: Automated systems maintain detailed logs of all HR activities, providing an audit trail that can be invaluable during internal or external audits. This record-keeping is essential for demonstrating compliance with employment laws and regulations.
Automation Features To Look For In HR Software
Each segment of HR software offers something different when it comes to automation. Let's take a look at the different features you can expect when looking at automated solutions and their benefits.
Automated Employee Onboarding
Document collection, initial training schedules, and introduction to company policies can all be automated.
Benefits
- Ensures a smooth and consistent onboarding experience for new hires
- Reduces manual work for HR staff
- Helps new employees integrate faster into the organization.
Automated Payroll Processing
Encompasses the automation of salary calculations, deductions, tax withholdings, and pay distribution.
Benefits
- Minimizes errors
- Saves time
- Ensures compliance with tax regulations
- Provides detailed payroll reports for analysis and auditing.
Time and Attendance Tracking
Time tracking systems automatically record employee work hours, overtime, and absences.
Benefits
- Ensures accurate payroll processing
- Aids in workforce management
- Provides valuable data for performance analysis.
Performance Management Automation
These tools facilitate the process of setting goals, providing feedback, and conducting evaluations.
Benefits
- Streamlined approach to performance assessments
- Encourage ongoing communication
- Assist in making data-driven decisions regarding employee development.
Learning Management Integration
Integrating HR systems with learning management systems (LMS) to provide automated training and development programs.
Benefits
- Supports continuous learning and skill development
- Aligns training with organizational goals
- Tracks the progress and effectiveness of training programs.
HR Analytics and Reporting
These tools automatically gather and analyze data on various HR disciplines and tasks.
Benefits
- Offer insights for strategic decision-making
- Help identify trends
- Optimize HR strategies and practices based on data-driven evidence.
Recruitment and Applicant Tracking
Recruiting automation can be done across the candidate lifecycle, from job postings to applicant tracking, candidate screening and soliciting feedback.
Benefits
- Streamlines the hiring process
- Reduces time-to-hire
- Improves candidate experience
- Helps maintain a talent pool for future needs.
Challenges Of HR automation
HR automation has countless benefits, but the top challenge is knowing when to rely entirely on technologies and when to embrace a more human approach.
Maintaining a human touch
Humans thrive from personal interactions, so just because you can automate a task to simplify or speed it up doesn't always mean it's the best approach.
Let's say you have a team member has just reached ten years of service at your company. Would they rather receive an automated email template thanking them for their service or would they prefer a celebration with their team at the next town hall meeting?
Training
Automation is undoubtedly a fantastic solution to many HR processes but, as with any other technology, it also requires training.
Most HR automation acts as a delivery service. HR delivers services to the rest of the workforce, who must then learn how to receive these new services. Get the most out of automated HR sequences by building adequate training time into your rollout.
Don’t scrimp on security either. Many HR automation systems will require employees to input sensitive data, so you need to make sure your system is compliant with all the latest security protocols.
Time To Start Your HR Automation Journey
A company is only as good as its people, so keeping your internal teams happy and engaged with well-oiled HR processes is just good for business.
You might still rely on manual processes but, if you're likely to outgrow your systems or want your HR team to benefit from more cost-effective processes, then automation as part of your HR digital transformation is worth consideration.
Key takeaways
- Increased Efficiency and Reduced Error: HR automation leads to more efficient processes by speeding up repetitive tasks and reducing the risk of human error.
- Enhanced Employee Experience: Implementing HR process automation in HR processes improves the employee experience throughout their lifecycle, allowing HR to focus on culture building and strategic initiatives.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Automation tools in HR provide detailed analytics and reports, enabling informed decisions on workforce management and identifying skills gaps.
If you've already decided to adopt a new technology, you'll need to consider how to make a business case for HR software—it'll help to identify your pain points and the best solutions for your employees, leaders, and, ultimately, your customers.
Finally, really consider whether you need to buy new software, or do you need to integrate your existing apps? If so, our HR Systems Integration: A Complete Guide is for you.
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