It’s no secret that most Human Resources departments are spread absolutely thin. With the dozens of daily questions about benefits, the time spent finding and managing new hires, and the leagues of administrative paperwork, most departments simply can’t dedicate their time to the stuff that actually helps attract and retain top talent, the heart and soul of a growing company. According to a study by Kronos and the Human Capital Institute, 57% of HR leaders believe strapped departments are a major barrier to improving the onboarding process — but what if there was another way?
As a people-focused department, HR isn’t known for its technology — but that doesn’t mean the technology doesn’t exist. The truth is that automation, though vastly underutilized, can make it easier for departments to handle the busywork, so they can dedicate their time to working with the talent.
Automation Speeds Up Payroll
Payroll takes a lot of effort, especially at a large company with a ton of employees and contractors. All the time HR spends chasing down invoices, reporting, or double-checking calculations could be spent on, quite literally, anything else. This is why so many companies have turned to automation software specifically for payroll.
The benefits of automating payroll stem way further than lessening HR’s burden. It also reduces errors by simultaneously calculating taxes, deductions, overtime, bonuses, commissions, and any other pay variation you may have to otherwise manually figure out. Fewer errors mean less time spent correcting them (and less annoyed employees!). Automation also helps keep and save clean records in the event of an IRS audit.
Automation Can Find Better Candidates, Faster
There’s a reason PwC found that 49% of employers are planning to increase their investment in recruiting technology. Recruiting is hard. About 51% of employers struggle finding qualified candidates, but it’s a lot more difficult when strapped HR departments are doing the searching on their own. This is where automation comes in.
Automation can help streamline the recruiting process by not only organizing paperwork but utilizing artificial intelligence to evaluate and screen candidates so you can engage the best talent in the least amount of time. The truth is that the most elite workers spend about 10 days on the job market, so the faster you can put yourself on their radar, the better chance you have of making a key hire.
In addition, many HR departments in quickly growing companies have a lot — and I mean a lot — of roles to fill. This puts a strain on strapped departments whose teams haven’t yet caught up with the company’s overall growth. By increasing HR’s bandwidth, automation makes it possible to hire for numerous roles simultaneously, which could save you thousands when it comes to the cost of vacancy.
Automate Onboarding And Get New Employees To Work
According to Kronos, a whopping 76% of HR leaders believe their onboarding process is underutilized, and most organizations place too much of an emphasis on new hire paperwork rather than long-term success. This isn’t how you retain the best talent, but it’s a necessary evil if your department is understaffed and underfunded.
To remedy this, HR automation can be used to seamlessly handle onboarding paperwork, though departments have been largely unwilling — whether that’s because they lack the budget or are unfamiliar with new technological advancements. That same study found that nearly 40% of HR departments don’t have the right tech, but things have come a long way even just in the last two years. In truth, modern automated onboarding software can shorten a new hire’s workflow so they can focus on their actual job rather than training and filling out mountains of paperwork.
Automated Timesheets Lead To Fewer Errors
Any business that deals with contractors or hourly employees also has to deal with the unfortunate trials and tribulations of the dreaded timesheet. On the surface, these seem simple. In reality, they’re a huge time waster, largely because they’re often filled with discrepancies.
Let’s be honest, we’re all human. Employees rarely fill out their timesheets as they’re happening. Most wait until after the fact, sometimes even until long after the fact when it’s easy to forget minor changes to their regular shifts (think: morning traffic and doctor’s appointments).
Most of the time, employees don’t fudge their timesheets on purpose (though some particularly shameless ones might). Really, the issue here is human error, and technology can greatly reduce that. Digital tracking — like making employees log into a time-tracking website — prevents errors and increases HR productivity. Just be careful about which type of automation you use because some types of tracking may make employees feel like they’re being micromanaged, which is a killer for retaining top talent.
Bottom Line
Though numerous businesses already choose to automate minor tasks like timesheets and payroll, automation in the world of recruiting and onboarding is still a radical idea — but it’s a radical idea that works. Investing in automation software can save thousands in the long run by increasing productivity and allowing your department to focus on what makes your company really tick: the talent, not the paperwork.
Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Services
From legacy Fortune 100 institutions to inventive start-ups, Ryan brings extensive experience with a wide range of B2B clients. He skillfully architects and manages the delivery of integrated marketing programs, and believes strongly in strategy, not just tactics, that effectively aligns sales and marketing teams within organizations.
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rygould/
