9 Reasons Why Your Business Needs HR Automation Software

The landscape of the human resource department is evolving at an unprecedented rate. Earlier, it involved doing tasks manually — clocking in and out, managing leave, calculating payrolls, and much more. Besides, everything was maintained in a spreadsheet.

But now? Things have taken a 360-degree turn, and it is moving towards automation. 

Human resource (HR) is one of the most vital departments of an organization. It takes care of the most important asset of a company — people. From sourcing to hiring and onboarding a new employee, ant HR manager is responsible for bringing the right candidate to the organization.

Before we talk about why every business should adopt automation, let’s first understand what HR automation is.

What is HR Automation Exactly?

In simple terms, HR automation is the process of increasing the efficiency of the HR department by eliminating the need to perform repetitive tasks manually.

An HR automation refers to the process of enhancing the efficiency of the HR department by automating repetitive tasks and allowing personnel to focus more on strategizing.

Automation drastically reduces labor costs and the time spent on manual HR planning and processing. In other words, the HR department is able to do more with less.

It allows members to focus on complex tasks like decisions making and strategizing. 

With the help of HR automation tools, organizations can automate standard HR activities. This results in saved time and cost without even hampering the quality of work. 

From document filing to creating files, and sharing information, HR software makes it easy to handle all critical administrative tasks. 

HR Related Processes that Can be Automated Includes:

• Payroll Management

One of the most critical tasks of HR is to accurately calculate and pay the salary on time. This calculation takes into consideration the number of hours worked, leaves taken, bonuses, and any other incentives. 

Besides, one also needs to carefully calculate the tax amount. When it is performed manually, it is more prone to human error. Payroll software helps manage every aspect of payroll processing. 

• Leave Management / Leave Requests

Manually managing leave requires records to be kept separately for payroll. However, with a proper leave management system, companies can make use of a single dashboard to apply, approve, and check to leave requests without any hassle. 

Employees applying for leave and waiting for HR approval or HR keeping track of the number of leaves taken by every employee, if done manually, can consume a lot of time and effort.

An automated leave management software can streamline and automate the entire process. Employees can directly apply for leave using the tool, and it can be automatically approved without getting lost in the pile of other emails.

• Employee Onboarding

HR performs certain tasks on a regular basis, which can be very time-consuming. Some of these include collecting and organizing resumes, giving access to tools to the new joiners, explaining company policy, and much more. 

This could be effortlessly done by switching to AI-driven solutions. For instance, chatbots can be used to answer simple queries. ATS system can be used to filter resumes, and much more.

An employee onboarding solution allows you to collect all documents electronically. Furthermore, it provides an easy checklist to make sure that you haven’t skipped any step. All in all, it makes the entire onboarding experience a smooth one.

• Performance Management

HR is responsible for tracking, measuring, and analyzing employee performance. They need to keep track of important HR metrics to ensure that every employee is performing well. There are chances of biases and inefficiencies if done manually. Thus, automation can help to track and check if employees are meeting organizational goals or not.

Using performance management software, an HR manager can easily track, measure, and analyze an employee’s performance effectiveness. Even if they are working remotely, the HR automation tool can track employee activity online and keep track of productivity levels. It can be quite useful in the appraisal process as it ensures that all the feedback and performance scores are unbiased and accurate.

• Exit Interviews

HR tool can help execute the exit interviews and keep records of the same. This is essential as it helps identify the potential problems within the organization and provides actionable data to improve employee engagement. It removes the need to handle paperwork altogether.

• Employee Timesheets

Again, tracking employees’ time and attendance manually is not a feasible option. It can be a tiring and time-consuming process. With an automated timesheet app or attendance management software, you can automate the process of tracking the number of hours worked, the commission received, leaves taken, and others. It makes the whole payroll management process faster and more accurate.

I know what you must be thinking right now. 

“Everything looks fine. But I’m still not sure why I should invest in HR automation tools?” 

I’ll tell you why.

Why Invest In HR Automation Software?

Everyone knows that HR is one of the core departments of any organization.

It has numerous responsibilities, including hiring and onboarding, payroll management, and other employee-related activities. 

Besides, if the company operates on a global level, it can get really challenging to keep track of every employee at multiple locations. This is where AI and machine learning can help. With the right HR software, automation can help reap many benefits. Let’s discuss a few reasons why you should consider implement global HR system. 

1.  Reduces Paperwork and Protects Privacy

One significant advantage of using an HR solution is that it reduces the need to tackle more paperwork. It can get really clumsy and time-consuming to look for a document in a room full of files. Besides, there are chances of files getting lost or misplaced easily. 

When all the information is digitized, it makes it easy to search for any important documents in seconds. It even frees up your office space, thus leading to less operational costs. 

What’s more, sharing the files with your colleagues becomes super quick and easy. You can do it in a matter of a few seconds and at the same time, protect privacy. Many HR automation tools allow restricting access of the system to admin-based control only. 

Even if your files get deleted or the software crashes, the new cloud-based system makes it easy to retrieve it back. Wouldn’t you want that? 

2. Accelerate Your Processes

When you deploy AI-driven tools such as chatbots, it makes it easy for employees to ask for any queries from HR. 

For instance, if an employee wants to check his number of leave pending, they can easily request for the same using the bot. In fact, it can also be used to make a leave request. 

Similarly, HR automation tools can empower employees to accelerate their reimbursement process as well. Employees can submit their expense reports, and with the reimbursement features, it will make it easy to compensate them. 

Thus, HR software can be quite helpful in managing every member of the organization. They can cater to the needs of each individual in an organized manner without increasing the HR burden. 

3. Interacts With Third-Party Applications

Another important reason to use the HR automation tool is that it seamlessly integrates with all third-party applications. 

Earlier, all the systems used in an organization used to work as separate units. However, with the advancement of technology, we can now use one system in conjunction with others. This is possible through APIs, also known as Application Programming Interface. It makes it easy to transfer information from one system to another. 

For instance, payroll systems can easily collect all the employee-related data needed for calculation of their salaries from the HR system. Managers won’t need to enter the data manually. Similarly, HR software can combine with ERP software to collect information on employees’ performance. 

Thus, you must choose a system that is capable of teaming up with other software. 

4. Manages Attendance and Time Tracking

Keeping track and maintaining a record of the employee’s attendance and the number of hours worked is very critical for HR managers. 

HR staff can spend a lot of time sorting through spreadsheets, time logs, and other important files and emails. 

In research, it was found that HR spends more than three hours a week in sorting time-log spreadsheets alone. This can be so less productive for the organization. 

But by using a time tracking software, it automatically keeps track of the number of hours worked, the number of leaves taken, and other relevant information. The best part is that this software can generate customized reports in real-time. 

Thus, it becomes possible to make decisions faster and invest time in more productive tasks. 

5. Creates a Lasting Impression

Do you know what they say about making impressions? 

The first impression is always the last impression. When you onboard an employee, it involves a lot of activities. You need to take care of lots of paperwork, conduct employee training, and provide resources, among other things. As an HR manager, your job also includes taking care of new employee IDs and badges, sending IT requests for new equipment, and more. 

Using an automation tool can streamline and simplify the onboarding process. It can create a good impression in the mind of the new employee when they notice the efficiency of the organization. 

With the rising trend of employee turnover getting higher, you need to make sure that you are creating a positive employer brand. This will ensure that applicants want to work in your company.

6. Increase in Productivity

As you already know, HR process automation reduces redundant tasks like data entry or manually processing leave requests, and more. HR staff members are able to focus more on tasks that require brainstorming and decision-making activities. It gives them more time to work on areas that can help improve businesses.

Besides, it reduces costly errors, and everyone benefits from user-friendly automation solutions, boosting morale and productivity.

7. Enhance Operational Efficiency

Automating HR processes ensures that the business has all user data at the tip of its finger. From employee records to payroll and attendance, HR can easily pull all the information together in just a few clicks. This streamlines the entire HR-related processes, thereby increasing operational efficiency.

Moreover, all the data are accurate. Thus, HR managers can make quick and informed decisions.

8. Freeing Up HR Staff

Automating your HR department doesn’t mean that you no longer require staff. Instead, you can put your staff to more productive tasks that will require continuous learning and growth. Staff can focus on learning about the growing complexity of organizational development, employee training, and retention techniques and focus on implementing those strategies.

It will also increase your employee satisfaction, resulting in increased productivity.

9. Data security

Implementing automation tools like talent management software allows you to back up your important data to a cloud server. So you don’t have to worry about losing data in fire or a hard disk crash.

The data is protected through two-way authentication, keeping it safe from hackers’ hands.

Checklist that Your Organization Need to Adopt HR Automation

If you are still confused about implementing HR software, here are a few signs that will help you decide. 

These signs are an indication that you are finding it hard to manage your HR department manually. 

• Having a cash crunch to employ more staff
• Taking much time to process leave management
• Maintaining timesheet is becoming a nightmare
• Following the outdated performance appraisal process

Did you check on any of the boxes above? If yes, it’s time to automate your HR processes using HR automation tools.

6  Popular HR Automation Tools

Now that you know the future of HR is automation, let’s look at the top 6 human resource automation tools that you can consider using.

1. Kissflow

Kissflow is an end-to-end HR Automation Tool that takes care of the entire employee lifecycle — from hire to retirement. It enables you to get your jobs displayed in front of the right candidate. Not only that, but it helps improve engagement with a self-guided onboarding process.

No wonder it is trusted by some of the top companies, including Jet, the Telegraph, Dominos, and much more.

Features

• Applicant tracking
• Leave management
• Performance management
• Attendance management
• Employee onboarding and offboarding

Pricing

• Starter: $390 per month
• Professional: $690 per month
• Enterprise: $1500 per month

2. Keka

Keka is another popular HR automation software that comes equipped with a robust set of functionalities. Apart from connecting all employees into a single platform, it helps gain powerful insights for the betterment of organizational growth.

It assists in creating a culture of high performance by streamlining activities and keeping your employees engaged. Besides, you can easily manage your remote workers using Keka.

Features

• Hiring and onboarding
• Payroll processing
• Project timesheet
• Time and attendance
• Performance management

Pricing

• Foundation: ₹6,999/month
• Strength: ₹9,999/month
• Growth: ₹13,999/month

3. HROne

HR One is an intelligent end-to-end HCM suite that automates HR processes by simplifying human interactions and delivers actionable insights to build better workplaces. It caters to all your key HR requirements like payroll, attendance, and performance management with integrated modules.

Features

• Configure all HR activities
• Manage the entire employee lifecycle
• Error-free & compliant payroll processing
• Real-time feedback on performance
• Conversational Ticketing System

Pricing

• Quote on Request

4. BreatheHR

BreatheHR is a cloud-based HR automation software that is well-known for its intuitive interface. It takes care of a vast range of HR-related activities, including performance appraisal, managing holiday requests, payroll processing, and much more.

You can easily run insights HR reports to better manage your organization and track its progress. Companies like Reward, Blend, RocketMill, and TheWriter use BreatheHR to manage their employees.

Features

• Leave management
• Expense management
• Recruitment management
• Payroll management
• Employee database

Pricing

• Micro: £11 per month
• Starter: £23 per month
• Regular: £59 per month
• Pro: £118 per month
• Premium: £241 per month

5. TalentLMS

TalentLMS is a cloud-based employee training and HR automation tool that makes it easy to take care of employees’ development and growth. With an intuitive interface, TalentLMS enables users to start learning from anywhere.

You can even personalize the learning experience of each employee and localize it to your user’s language for fast learning. Over 70,000 teams have found the training sessions successful with TalentLMS.

Features

• Employee training
• Compliance training
• Onboarding training
• Sales training
• Remote training

Pricing

• Free
• Starter: $59 / month
• Basic: $129 / month
• Plus: $249 / month
• Premium: $429 / month

6. Bamboo HR

Bamboo HR is another popular HR automation solution that manages the entire employee lifecycle. From maintaining employee records to hiring and onboarding employees, BambooHR gives you tools to carry out all processes with ease.

Furthermore, it helps build a culture of high engagement and gives out insights to improve the overall organizational productivity. Till now, it has served more than 20,000 customers.

Features

• People data and analytics
• Employee onboarding
• Compensation management
• Hiring and sourcing
• Culture management

Pricing

• Quote on request

Why Not Having Automated HR Processes Can Be a Problem?

You know why you should have a human resource automation tool. But it’s important to understand what you will be losing if you continue with the manual HR process.

Here are a few reasons why failing to automate your HR process can cause problems in the long run.

1. New Candidates Can Have A Bad Experience

It’s vital to offer a smooth onboarding experience to new candidates. HRs are swamped with a lot of other tasks, that’s why they are more likely to pay less attention to the new candidate. It results in a bad hiring experience, affecting the reputation of the company.

Having employee onboarding software can easily solve this issue — from managing paperwork to informing them about various companies’ policies and guidelines.

2. Lost Efficiency

Instead of focusing on strategic tasks, your HR staff is swamped with monotonous and unproductive activities. Your HR staff may eventually get bored, resulting in slow work development.

3. Prone to Errors

Yet again, manually entering and maintaining employee records, the number of hours worked, and payroll information can be cumbersome. Besides, these are prone to human-made errors. Automation does it perfectly and eliminates any chance of errors.

Conclusion

You would be surprised to know that 45% of companies are still right at the start of the journey in implementing basic automation.

In other words, there is still a lot of potential for automation in process management. It is largely unrealized. By embracing automation, you can gain an edge over your competitors and build a good reputation for your company.

Attract top talents and grow your business.