Best HRIS System

What is HRIS?

HRIS is a software system that combines many aspects of human resource management, such as payroll, time and attendance, benefits administration, and performance management.

An HRIS aims to automate and simplify HR procedures, boost productivity and accuracy, and give management access to timely and useful information for decision-making. An HR information system (HRIS) can also assist businesses in adhering to labor laws and regulations and guarantee that HR policies are followed consistently.

Importance of HRIS Systems

An HRIS system, also known as a human resource information software, is the integration of information technology into human resources with the help of HR software for small and medium size of businesses, allowing electronic operations of HR activities and processes.

• Many HR activities are automated by HRIS systen, saving time and effort on jobs like data entry, benefits administration, and payroll processing. This allows HR personnel to concentrate on more strategic objectives.

• HRIS tools assist in lowering the possibility of errors in data entry and calculations, leading to more accurate information.

• HRIS software gives managers the knowledge they need to make informed decisions regarding people management, benefits administration, and other HR-related concerns by giving them real-time access to data and analytics.

• HRIS system assists businesses in adhering to labor laws and regulations by handling leave of absence, keeping track of time and attendance, and ensuring that HR standards are constantly followed.

HRIS tools has inevitably become the cornerstone of automated HR functions worldwide. For companies and businesses moving towards automation of their processes, the relevant software for that function becomes the focal point of their initial efforts. It’s the same with an HRIS system.

HRIS System Models

1. Input Subsystems

   This includes all data entry processes involving keyboard and mouse input. Input subsystems can also include software that transforms input data into the required format for storage.

2. Human Resources Research Subsystems

   This subsystem conducts studies that provide data on the firm's human resource-related activities. It is an introspective view taken by HR of its own operations, and the input data can come from both inside and outside the firm. For example, the human capital management system evaluates and suggests candidates for upcoming positions and lists various traits and qualities required for a said position.

3. Human Resources Intelligence Subsystem

   This subsystem is tasked with the responsibility of keeping updated on environmental activities that directly or indirectly influence human resource activities. This can include activities of government tasks, labor unions, suppliers, local and financial communities, and even competitors.

As the world becomes more and more commercialized, all companies need to become more streamlined and organized in their approach. Currently, HRIS is limited to multinationals and large businesses.

However, in the future, medium and small businesses need to adopt a professional HR management approach. With the help of online HRIS systems software and applications, the process has been simplified, thus making it possible for these organizations to expand

Benefits of Online HRIS System In An Organization

The benefits of an online human resource information system are many. Still, one of the main reasons why organizations prefer HR automation is that it enhances strategic decision-making and enables organizations to work faster toward their targets. HRIS system allows organizations to keep employee information organized and accessible whenever required.

It is also beneficial during the recruitment and training of prospective employees. Compensation management is also a key responsibility of HR managers, HRIS system keeps track of each employee's performance, and remuneration falls into the HR department.

1. Expedites tasks

   The ability of HRIS system to speed up a variety of HR processes is one of its main advantages. Many manual data entry processes, such as updating employee information, signing up for benefits, and keeping track of time, can be automated with HRIS systems.

   This decreases the possibility of errors and frees up HR personnel time. By speeding up tasks, HRIS software can assist HR departments in becoming more effective and efficient, enabling them better to serve the broader aims and objectives of the firm.

2. Reduces paperwork

   By substituting electronic forms and procedures for manual ones, HRIS software can considerably reduce the quantity of paperwork required in HR activities. Employees can electronically sign documents with the e-signature technology found in many HRIS software products.

3. Simplifies predictive analysis and visualizations

   By giving HR employees and management tools to rapidly and simply evaluate HR data, HRIS software may make predictive analysis and visualizations simpler. Numerous HRIS software packages come with integrated analytics and reporting features, enabling HR professionals and managers to design visualizations and reports to comprehend HR data.

4. Empowers employees

   Employees can easily access personal information like pay stubs, benefit details, and time off requests thanks to HRIS system, which gives them the power to take control of their own data. In addition, HRIS software can give staff members access to online learning materials and other possibilities for development, which can help them learn new skills and advance in their professions.

5. Improves productivity

   Many HR activities, including employee onboarding, time and attendance tracking, and benefits registration, are automated by HRIS software, which lessens the administrative strain on HR employees and frees them up to work on more strategic projects. HRIS system gives HR managers access to current information on crucial HR indicators like absenteeism and employee turnover, enabling them to spot problems as they arise and take data-driven action to resolve them.

6. Maintains compliance

   Software for human resource information systems (HRIS) can aid businesses in remaining compliant with rules and legislation governing the workplace. In order to guarantee that managers and staff are aware of their legal responsibilities and to help minimize compliance infractions, HRIS software can offer online training and resources on employment laws and regulations.

7. Offers security and privacy

   Access controls offered by HRIS systems can guarantee that only authorized users have access to employee data, thereby preventing unauthorized access and guaranteeing the security of critical information. Employees can access their own data through HRIS software, but employers can also make sure that no one employee can access another employee's data, helping to maintain the confidentiality of employee data

8. Streamlined recruiting and hiring

   HRIS system can enable businesses by automating different processes, streamlining candidate communication, automating the onboarding process, and offering data analysis. This can help HR professionals work more productively and efficiently while providing potential customers and new hires a better experience.

5 Must-Know Facts about HRIS Software

1. Boosting Recruitment

You can see improvements in HRIS software right from the initial stage of the recruitment process: Recruitment. A subset of HRM software, recruitment tools such as an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), can considerably improve the quantity and quality of your hires.

The best candidates can go off the market in as little as 10 days. Moreover, it’s all about candidate experience now.

According to Glassdoor, investing in solid candidate experience yielded a 70% improvement in the quality of hires for companies. One of the best ways to improve candidate experience has been to get full-fledged HRIS software or standalone recruiting software equipped with ATS.

Either way, you’d be tracking the right candidates while keeping them engaged through the entire process till the onboarding stage. The software allows your recruiters to stay connected and keep the potential hires in the loop at every stage, significantly improving the candidate experience.

2. Cost Control

Do you think it’s cheaper just to hire a new candidate for a position rather than invest in employee engagement and retention? Think again. A paper by the Center for American Progress estimated that the average cost of turning over a highly skilled job is roughly 213% of the annual compensation for that role.

Think about whether you can afford to ignore that huge number just to avoid investing in technology that would act as a preventative measure. A top human resource information system is a one-time investment that would continue to yield results towards better employee engagement, productivity, performance, and retention for a long time. It helps you to save money!

3. Continuous Performance Management

The staggering cost of about 70% of disengaged employees worldwide is $450-$550 billion annually. Now, do you want to be one of those businesses that do not contribute to this abysmal state of the global workforce? Engage your employees. Using human resource information software will help boost engagement across all the stages of an employee’s time at the company.

It smoothens the recruitment and onboarding processes, makes payroll and attendance a breeze, and enables your managers to monitor the employees’ performance in a manner that keeps them satisfied.

One of the major qualms of many employees, after they’ve been hired, is that they are not actively encouraged for development. Continuous performance management using performance management software eliminates that, making way for a well-rounded view of employee appraisal and engagement.

It instills employees with a sense of purpose, ensuring they know that their manager/supervisor is invested in their growth and development.

4. Better Communication and Feedback

Employee communication is much more important than most companies realize until it’s too late. Effective employee communication and a genuine feedback loop help keep employees focused on the organization's goals while allowing them to be confident that the organization genuinely values their efforts.

The best HRIS platforms fosters better and more accessible communication between employees and managers. Some even have features such as anonymous feedback. Features like these contribute to better conflict management and overall transparency.

Getting a good human resource information system can fulfill the basic need for better communication with employees and empower HR to start genuine conversations around issues that need to be discussed in the modern workplace.

5. Data Consolidation

One of the main reasons why human resources management system software improves the efficiency of your HR department is that it consolidates everything they need in one place. It brings basic information about the employees, their employment history, their performance at the company, and their strengths and weaknesses to the table.

It allows an HR professional, who is in charge of tracking their well-being and growth at the company, to truly see the employee and discern what measures should be taken in order to ensure her growth and development in her time at the organization.

Also allows for better analysis of their performance, especially given the modern people analytics tools, which allow managers to precisely pinpoint where the employee needs to improve and where she can grow.

All this and more is made possible because of a superior human resource information system that brings together various aspects of relevant employee information on one platform to give unique insights into their development and well-being.

What Are The Features of HRIS Systems?

HRIS software has an extensive list of features that reduce the workload on HR teams and executives and increase efficiency. Some of the key features are listed below:

1.  Employee data management

   General information, for example, photos, tax information, medical information, employee benefits like insurance, and media claims, can be recorded and managed effortlessly.

2. Boost efficiency while recruiting

   These HRIS systems are highly detailed, and they are designed to speed up the efforts of HR in several ways. HRIS assists with the recruitment process by simplifying the steps associated with collecting resumes, reviewing candidate information, and more.

3. Employee attendance and shift management

   HRIS helps to create schedules and fit employees into them, they also enable employees and also managers to request/change shifts as required. With employee management data, attendance and over timing can also be tracked, ensuring better execution of labor laws.

4. Applicants management

   Tasks like recording application records and contact information, applicant status management, and applicant interview setup can be easily done. Employee application forms and record audit forms can be created and archived in the best document management system for SMB Businesses.

5. Employee training data management

   All training programs can be listed with training class information descriptions, registration information, and employees’ training records.

6. HR documents management

   A database of employees and applicants can be managed with the help of filters and sorting options like names or document types. Documents and document data can be readily converted to PDF or EXCEL for printing purposes or for porting to other software platforms.

7. HR manager reminder

   This feature is of paramount importance since it offers time efficiency by saving a tremendous number of hours. It informs about numerous daily tasks and ongoing issues while displaying one’s active status..

8. Develop your workforce

   HRIS software companies can easily handle their workforce management with two key components, payroll and HR. With the HRIS system, the maximum productivity of the crew can be harnessed, including the talents, skills, and varied experiences of all the staff.

9. Reporting and analytics

   HRIS (Human Resource Information System) software has crucial reporting and analytics capabilities that can assist firms in understanding key HR KPIs and in making data-driven choices. HR managers can build customized reports using HRIS system on a variety of HR variables, including headcount, turnover, and remuneration, which can help them spot trends and insights unique to their firm.

10. Mobile access

    Mobile access is an important feature of HRIS (Human Resource Information System) software. It allows employees and managers to access HR information and perform HR-related tasks from their mobile devices.

    Mobile access allows employees and managers to access HR information and perform HR-related tasks from anywhere, at any time, which can improve accessibility and support remote work.

What Type of A Buyer Are You?

With so many HRIS software already available in the market, choosing the correct option might seem a bit difficult. Needs differ between people and businesses, and spending extra capital on unwanted features is a waste of resources in this competitive market. What might work out for an MNC might not work for a start-up. So here are a few consideration factors for HRIS software before buying:

1. Ease of Use

   An intuitive HRIS platform will help one to have a better ROI than a complicated one. It provides a greater advantage of HIRS functionality and empowers more people in the organization with easy storing, accessing, and analyzing capabilities. An HRIS should be chosen based on the sophistication level of an average user.

2. Ability To Grow In Functionality

   HIRS software that allows buying just the functionality of current need and provides future purchase of additional functionality might be considered. By starting with standard HRMS functions, one can learn to use the human resource information system and discover improvement needs for the coming years.

3. Third-Party Add-On Applications

   While purchasing additional functionality (sometimes called “add-on applications” or “modules”), tools may be built by the HRIS vendor or by third-party developers. They often provide specialized features for an HR function, such as performance evaluation recruiting or succession planning. Make sure to know who will be responsible for supporting any add-on — a third party or the HRMS vendor.

4. Timeliness

   A human resource information system will be valuable to an organization if it is kept current regarding compliance laws, new recordkeeping requirements, and form changes. Every HRMS vendor will offer software updates to support an organization in compliance with the latest changes in workforce laws. Opt for HRIS software that releases frequent updates efficiently and is ready to provide unscheduled updates if essential changes occur.

5 Best HRIS Systems for Small Businesses

While small businesses might not have the required budget for a dedicated HR team, they can resort to free and open-source HRIS system that allows them to optimize their tasks. HRIS platform is readily available on the web and can be downloaded.

Most HRIS tools use a suite of cloud-based apps that allow users to track employees, payroll, recruitment, and training processes. They allow flexibilities that let users mix and match according to their requirements. 

Some of the HRIS software solutions can be downloaded across multiple devices and HR mobile apps. Certain applications are tailor-made for organizations based in particular countries.

You can choose from various HRIS platforms such as Web Human Resource, Zoho People, CollaBrill, Sleek, Zenefits, and much more. Open source HRIS systems have been assisting various organizations for a while now and have really made the lives of many HR managers simpler.

There are several online software available in the market. Here is the best HRIS software list:

1. Zenefits

As one of the most popular HRIS software, Zenefits offers clean and easy-to-use software that will fulfill all your HRIS needs. The benefits core system is free and includes benefits administration, employee self-service, onboarding and offboarding process, payroll, PTO, and vacation tracking. 

Features

• HR management
• Payroll management
• Compliance tracking
• Benefits administration
• Analytics and reporting 

Pros

• Offers advanced features for efficiency 
• Has affordable pricing
• User-friendly interface 

Cons 

• Has issues with customer support 
• There are limited integrations
• Implementation is complex

Pricing 

• Essentials - $8 per month, per employee
• Growth - $16 per month, per employee
• Zen - $21 per month, per employee

2. BambooHR

A Human Resource Information System program, BambooHR is intended to assist small and mid-sized organizations in managing their HR duties. To help HR management, benefits management, and talent management, it provides a number of capabilities.

BambooHR's main features include applicant monitoring, performance management, reporting, and analytics along with employee record keeping, time off tracking, and application tracking.

Features

• Applicant tracking
• Performance management
• HR management
• Integrations 
• Reports and analytics

Pros 

• Easy to use 
• Access information from anywhere
• Easily trackable HR metrics

Cons

• Limited customization options
• The pricing may be higher

Pricing 

• Custom pricing quote.

3. Gusto

A cloud-based HRIS (Human Resource Information System) called Gusto aids small and mid-sized enterprises in managing their payroll, benefits, and HR operations. A variety of features are available to help HR management, benefits management, and compliance monitoring. Gusto is a user-friendly and complete HR software solution that may assist companies in managing their HR, benefits, and payroll tasks more successfully and efficiently.

Features

• Payroll processing 
• Onboarding support
• Compliance tracking 
• Various integrations
• Benefits administration

Pros

• Affordable pricing
• Strong customer support
• User-friendly interface

Cons 

• Limited customization 

Pricing

• Simple - $40 per month.
• Plus - $60 per month.
• Premium - exclusive pricing.

4. Rippling

Rippling, a cloud-based HRIS (Human Resource Information System), aims to simplify managing HR for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers a broad range of capabilities to help businesses manage their HR, benefits, and payroll activities, including onboarding, HR management, payroll processing, and benefits administration.

Rippling is a user-friendly and complete HRIS system that may assist companies in managing their HR, benefits, and payroll responsibilities more successfully and efficiently.

Features

• Onboarding features
• Employee self-service
• HR management
• Compliance tracking
• Reporting and analytics

Pros

• User friendly interface
• Strong customer support 
• Helps in staying compliant

Cons 

• Pricing is on the higher side
• Limited reporting features

Pricing

• Starts at $8 per month.

5. Namely

Namely is an advanced HRIS (Human Resource Information System) software designed to help small and mid-sized businesses streamline their HR management. It offers a range of features to help businesses manage their HR, payroll, benefits, and talent management functions.

Namely's all-in-one platform provides a unified and user-friendly experience for HR managers and employees alike and offers integrations with other business systems to provide a seamless experience. It also offers compliance tracking and reporting features to help businesses stay up-to-date with regulatory requirements.

Features 

• Talent management
• Compliance tracking 
• HR management
• Payroll processing
• Reports and analytics

Pros

• Customizable features
• User-friendly interface
• Comprehensive solution

Cons

• Higher pricing plans

Pricing 

• Custom pricing.

Final Tips For Buying HRIS Software

1. Trial

   Demonstrations must be asked before purchase to figure out the needed functionality. For example, all HR software selection possesses a holiday management element yet lacks a payroll processing feature.

2. Finalize Budget

   Quick research shows all the analytics and help an organization needs to reach its budget goals. The size of the business and feature requirements, and price are key elements of his research

3. Bug Hunting

   Every piece of HRIS software on the planet has the most talented designers, developers, and engineers backing it up to come up with bugs. Enquire about bug-fixing methodologies and available patches before the purchase.

4. Detail of Requirments

   It is paramount to have a detailed HRIS software requirements list that would be analyzed during the evaluation process. List the requirements and vendors to choose from with a comparison of price, time, implementation, and purchase options. This reduces the struggle to hunt down the right product.

Upcoming HRIS Buying Trends

Several HRIS buying trends have emerged in recent years. Some of the key trends include:

1. Cloud-based solutions: A growing number of companies are choosing cloud-based solutions over on-premise software. The many advantages of cloud-based software, such as its simple scalability, lower initial costs, and enhanced flexibility, are what is driving this trend.

2. Mobile access: HRIS software suppliers are increasingly providing mobile access to their systems in light of the popularity of mobile devices. Employees and supervisors can now use their smartphones or tablets to access HR information and complete HR-related tasks.

3. AI and machine learning: To deliver more sophisticated capabilities like predictive analytics and intelligent automation, certain HRIS systems are integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning.

4. Integration with other systems: To handle various aspects of their operations, many firms employ a variety of software platforms. As a result, HRIS software companies now provide connections with a wider range of business systems, including project management and accounting programs.

5. User experience: In order to make their systems simple to use and intuitive, HRIS suppliers are placing more and more emphasis on user experience. This entails providing user-friendly interfaces, self-service capabilities, and mobile accessibility.

6. Increased data security: HRIS providers are putting more emphasis on data security due to the increase in cyber threats. Sensitive HR data can be safeguarded utilizing cutting-edge security techniques like encryption and multi-factor authentication.