With many paper-based processes rapidly becoming obsolete, employers are turning to technology that allows them to better manage employee life cycle while meeting regulatory demands.
According to a survey by Ernst & Young, the following employee management activities have shifted from paper-based to technology (though to varying degrees):
- Staffing/Recruiting
- Onboarding
- Compensation and benefits
- Performance Management
- Learning management and training
- Career development
- Succession planning
- Payroll
- Workforce analytics
Notably, out of all of those functions, payroll has the highest technology adoption rate.
Why Employers Are Taking the Leap
Relying on manual or outdated systems to achieve business objectives are a recipe for failure, as they are not designed to overcome many of the obstacles facing employers today – such as those rooted in HR and payroll administration, employee training and development, and complex labor laws.
Though automating employee management processes isn’t the answer to every business challenge, it can significantly alleviate administrative burden and improve employee productivity.
An Integrated System Is Key to Success
Effective employee management requires technology that streamlines workflow, reduces data entry errors, and removes inefficient processes. Increasingly, it’s been proven that the most practical solution is an integrated cloud-based system that fuses the different branches of employee management into one unified system.
Accoring to PwC’s Global HR Technology Survey, 68 percent of companies had at least one cloud-based HR function in 2015. That figure jumped to 73 percent in 2017.
Delivering Practical Results
An automated and integrated employee management system:
–Simplifies recruiting and decreases time to hire. You can, for example, use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to organize, collect, and store candidate information online plus monitor candidates throughout the different hiring stages.
–Enables efficient training of new hires to help them understand the requirements of their role; the company’s mission, values, and culture; and what’s needed for them to perform competently within the organization. This is important, as studies show that new hires often quit within their first 90 days.
–Manages employee benefits and open enrollment. Through self-service options, employees can enroll in your benefits program and make elections online. HR can check enrollment status in real time and generate comprehensive reports on benefits cost.
–Records and tracks time and attendance. By automating these processes, timesheets no longer have to be manually calculated. This improves data accuracy and results in fewer payroll errors. Also, employees can view their available time off and make PTO requests through the system. Managers and supervisors can then approve or reject the requests, thereby reducing dependence on the HR team – which in turn gives HR more time to focus on high-level tasks.
–Provides fast access to information. Managers and supervisors can quickly retrieve information relating to employees’ pay, benefits, and performance. Employees can obtain pay stub information and make certain payroll changes on their own, such as adjustments to their W-4 form. If the system is integrated, authorized users can access various types of information via a single log in, instead of having to sign in to multiple databases.
–Mitigates the risk of noncompliance. An automated system lowers the odds of data entry mistakes and subsequent penalties for noncompliance. With an integrated system, the likelihood of data entry errors drops even more since the information only needs to be entered once. For instance, when HR enters a new hire’s information into the system, the relevant data flows straight to payroll.
Employee management consists of many aspects, and the right solution can help you tackle them all. Ultimately, the goal should be a system that facilitates administrative efficiency, employee productivity, and business growth.
Sources:
https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-pulse-survey-hr-technology/%24FILE/EY-pulse-survey-hr-technology.pdf
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/hr-management/library/global-hr-technology-survey.html