Payroll forms. That’s what comes to mind when I think about my early HR career. Working in a global business with intense recruitment needs, I spent Christmas and New Year’s periods in a mad rush to get payroll forms complete under crazy deadlines. As you can imagine, my time was consumed with heavy admin-based tasks. Hours every week were spent preparing contracts, printing and posting out employee handbooks, maintaining both paper based and electronic employee files, and sending files to the payroll office. From there, I’d also enter and count data to build reports, and field calls to advise managers of the next steps after a termination.
Fast track a few years and technology advances have led to the automation of many these administrative HR processes I had spent days each week doing. Knowing that there’s a better way to do things now, I’m eager to make sure that all businesses who are using paper-based, outdated processes know that there can be a better, automated alternative. Finding efficiencies through HR software can be easy though there’s a few things to consider to get started:
Integration is Key
Your HR system must talk to your payroll system. Integrated software will enable your HRIS to become your single source of truth and you will be able to trust the integrity of the data. Most important, it will make your managers trust the integrity of the data too.
It’s Time To Go Paperless
The rainforests are depleting fast enough, you really don’t need all that paper. Even those Tax File Declaration forms can be done online. If you’re convincing yourself you really need to maintain some sort of paper file, you’re looking at the wrong solution.
Make It User Friendly
Make it easy for your managers. Don’t just get your HR team to trial a system – get feedback from your line managers too. Find out what’s going to make their life easier and more inclined to use it. Ask them early and take their feedback on board when making a decision about a system.
Flexibility
It’s your system so get it to suit you. Flexibility is important, from the ability to customise your own performance management frame, right through to the ability to switch functionality on and off. Without the components to suit your unique needs, it’s less inclined to take off within your company.
Ask Yourself… What’s Your Key Motivator?
Understand what your key motivator is. Seriously, what’s the most important thing for you? What’s the straw that broke the camel’s back? There’s a huge array of systems and related functionality out there and it’s easy to get sidetracked. Revisit the thought process you had when you first started thinking about exploring HR software and don’t lose sight of it.
Also, it’s important to ask what the system will look like this time next year. This will give you a sense of the development happening right now in the background and how you envisage the future of your HR system in your company.
Technology has given us advances in human resources that I dreamed of having in my early career. Get in touch to explore what it can do to transform your business processes, I’d love to have a chat about it.