Two-thirds of human resource managers say their department is experiencing digital transformation and HR automation; yet only 40% have a plan to navigate this new territory.
Human resources handles job postings, candidate screenings, onboarding, company benefits, performance tracking, offboarding and more. When a company scales, has multiple locations, or works remotely- it’s impossible to survive without automation.
Legacy HR software may require custom programming in addition to being quite expensive and complex. The good news is HR automation is now both cost-effective and easy to deploy. Solutions have expanded to the cloud, and there are low/no code options like ProcessMaker.
What is HR Automation?
HR automation is technology that works by automating recurring human resource processes and streamlining document-heavy tasks. Without sacrificing quality, it significantly reduces the time it takes to complete HR processes.
It can handle many crucial administrative tasks such as feeding data, creating files, sharing documents, selecting candidates with specific skills, pre-filling forms, and more. When processed manually, these types of tasks can take hours on end.
Why should your company care about HR automation?
HR automation offers many benefits including helping to reduce printing and physical storage costs while offering convenient access to online files at any time and from anywhere.
When employee data can be located in one centralized location, it increases the efficiency of screening, hiring, and training. Equally important, employees feel more engaged when they have time to focus on strategic tasks that help drive the company’s business objectives.
When onboarding is automated, new hires can get straight to work instead of spending their first week rifling through stacks of paperwork and forms. And, data entry errors can be mitigated.
The time savings equates to cost reductions as well, especially when the HR team can become more productive.
Focus on what matters most – your people
On average, the HR department spends 40% of their time on burdensome administrative tasks such as retrieving data from one system and entering the information into another. If processes were optimized, HR could spend more time searching for and retaining top talent.
With HR automation, you can create an environment that will eliminate unintentional bias – one where you can focus on the most important aspect, qualifications. Moreover, it’s quite common for new employees to lose some of their zeal after they’ve been bogged down with filling out paperwork and managing emails.
Yet, when you automate your HR workflows, new hires and long-time employees won’t feel as overwhelmed. Almost any HR process can get on the fast-track and instantly improve the workload for the HR department while enhancing engagement for employees who interact with HR.
8 common HR automation examples
1. Employee onboarding
Employee onboarding is one of the more tedious tasks taken on by the HR department on a regular basis. From job posting to collecting resumes to interviewing and giving network access to new employees – all of these processes can be automated. Hiring, powered by HR automation, can accelerate the onboarding process while decreasing the associated costs.
In addition, monitoring, analyzing, and measuring performance is not an easy process. There are many instances where biases and inefficiencies can become part of the cycle. In contrast, HR automation will accurately track the most meaningful KPIs to ensure every employee’s contribution is aligned with the company’s objectives.
2. Offboarding
Offboarding is not a fun process for either the employee or the employer. In some cases, it can feel awkward and forced. Nonetheless, termination files must be collected and processed. In addition, company equipment needs to be accounted for, returned, and auditend. Next, steps must be taken to remove the terminated employee from the payroll and benefits.
Instead, use automation to process every single one of these tasks quickly, reliably, and consistently to make the offboarding process more manageable and prevent any potential legal issues from taking place.
3. Leave requests
There are many reasons why a team member may file a leave request – whether it be for a medical procedure, sabbatical, educational, or something else. Processing every leave request is both tedious and time-consuming. Moreover, the time it takes makes it more difficult for HR to respond and approve requests in a timely fashion.
On the other hand, intelligent automation can provide secure approvals instantly while updating the employee’s leave records immediately. So then, HR can monitor and approve all leave requests expediently and more efficiently leave everyone happier with the convenience of the process. View a video of creating leave requests in ProcessMaker
4. Expense claims
Prior to HR automation, HR administrators had to scan through various Excel spreadsheets and stacks of paper files. This is why it took days, if not weeks, to sort through one employees’ expense records. Even with a detail-oriented manual process, expenses had the potential to turn up dated and with inaccuracies. Before any filing could occur, the HR team would have to process every expense item into the company’s system. It would also have to be reviewed and approved by the employee’s manager. Next, onto the accounting department. This is the process regardless of claim size.
It’s no surprise the backlog would mushroom causing frustration and fatigue. However, with HR automation, tedious manual processes are removed while decreasing accounting errors and relieving the HR team from participating in outdated processes.
5. Payroll
In the era of government regulation, processing payroll manually exponentially increases the risk of error. Instead of processing by hand, HR automation can offer accurate calculations, maintain payroll records to meet IRS and the US Department of Labor mandates, and ensure employees get paid unerringly and on time.
6. Time management
If you’re still using a manual employee time tracker, then it’s safe to say employees enter their working hours after the week is done. Often, this form of time tracking is rife with error since not everyone can remember everything that has happened during the workday. Not to imply any ill intent, but people can’t be expected to remember anything that happened which is not typical such as doctor’s appointments, traffic, taking time off to pick up their kids from school, and other unexpected activities. Without automation, this can become a substantial headache when it’s time for payroll.
7. Employee benefits
Employee benefits over time can be in a constant state of flux for each employee due to life-changing events, open enrollment, and more. Not to mention, tracking employee benefits via paper and manual processes is extraordinarily difficult. It’s time to mitigate the costs associated with benefits administration through HR automation. For example, you can automate the following:
- Benefit eligibility
- Benefit education and training
- Benefit modification for life-changing events such as a marriage, divorce, move, a new child, or a new health issue
- Open enrollment
- Benefit onboarding
Managing employee benefits does not have to feel like a nightmare.
8. Tax filing
Tax time is always wearisome for many companies, as is tax compliance. The good news is HR automation can give your organization the opportunity to scale quickly. Using this cloud-based platform can ensure you charge the right taxes for your products and services as well as use taxes. Further, you can automate payroll taxes in accordance with state-by-state laws.
In conclusion
Before you spend more resources hiring additional employees to manage your HR tasks, think about automation for your HR processes. As organizations continue to move at breakneck speed, there’s no reason to compete at a snail’s pace using manual processes. With Processmaker’s visual platform, user-friendly interface, and unparalleled support you could well be on your way to a streamlined and optimized HR department.
