It’s long gone the time when HR meant several piles of folders inside different file cabinets. These days, savy HR professionals can use many different software solutions to make their lives easier and better organized.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that they are actually doing so. The reality is that, according to a survey conducted by Kronos Incorporated and Future Workplace one out of five HR leaders still report outdated technology as a significant problem.
To help you solve your technology issues, here are 6 groups of software solutions that we would recommend to every modern HR professional.
Hiring new staff involves a series of tasks, from creating job posts, selecting CVs and booking interviews. You will also need to work on your employer branding to make sure you attract the best talents. All this together can make recruiting a long and tiresome process.
Using software to manage your hiring activities is the way to solve this. It will automate most of the work, organize information, and cross data for you. It can also post jobs offers in multiple channels and categorize resumes. In the end, your main task will be analyzing reports and picking the best candidate.
You don’t have to go far to find a tool that will streamline your hiring process. HR Cloud has incorporated an efficient applicant tracking system through which you can post jobs, evaluate candidates, track applicants at different hiring stages and finally onboard new hires through other features they offer.
If you want a standalone tool that does things a bit differently, you should check TalentLyft. Beyond their basic features, the software allows you to involve your current staff in the process. Employees can refer to candidates, and you will be able to reward the top performers through their system.
People you hire have to go through some onboarding process during which you’ll answer questions about benefits and company culture, introduce the new employee to the team and inform them about different regulations and workflows. While this can be an exciting for the newcomers, it is only a matter of time until you start to find it tedious, especially if there’s a lot of people that have go through the process. On top of that, if you have a more complex onboarding process and a tight schedule, it’s easy to rush and forget to communicate important information.
An employee onboarding software empowers your staff from day one. It creates a workflow they can follow and learn what they need without your interference. This way, you will have more time in your hands to interact with your latest hiring.
For an onboarding task manager, HR Cloud is a software to consider. It lets you customize each feature to meet the needs of your company, so it doesn’t feel impersonal. You can also create checklists and track the entire process at a glance through their dashboard. It allows you to make adjustments before they become an issue.
Payroll has always been a crucial activity of any HR department. It was probably the first thing you learned during your professional training. No need to talk about its importance and challenges.
Due to its relevance, you want to avoid miscalculations or other issues that might affect your payroll negatively. Paying someone either more or less than the correct amount is a source of infinite headache.
You might have heard of Sage and other comprehensive payrolls systems aimed at medium and large companies. They do everything you need from taxes calculations to email or print payslips. But, if you know you don’t need half of their features, have a look at Gusto. Their solution is more user- friendly and might cost you much less while still delivering quality.
Following the attendance and the number of hours worked by each member of your staff can be a challenge, especially when you have a lot of employees working different shifts. And if you work for a multi-location company, or pay staff by the hour, there will be a lot for you to do.
This is where accurate time and attendance tracking solution can be a real saviour. These types of apps are used to record the time worked by each employee and send you a timesheet for verification and approval. On top of that, they usually feature automatic wage calculation and integrate with every bigger payroll software.
To have these and more features in one place, test Deputy’s timesheet app. Using Deputy, your staff will be able to verify their location through a GPS stamp or facial recognition which gives you a real-time insight into your staff coverage. And because this is also a scheduling app, you can go the extra mile and look to pre-schedule meals and rest breaks that ensure everybody is getting the downtime they need.
Recognizing their extra efforts and boosting the engagement of your staff require some creativity. If you are new in the area, your concern might be suggesting something with no impact. If you have been an HR professional for a while, you simply might be afraid of running out of ideas to try out.
Thankfully, there are software solutions that are here to supplement your employee recognition efforts. Some function as an admin of the program you’ve already created, helping to distribute different prizes. Others come with many proven ideas you can try to implement in your organization.
“Our staff has praised the increased communications level Workmates delivers. We use it to communicate important project matters and give staff specific ‘kudos’ or even recognize their birthdays. More importantly, we use Workmates to clarify important project details that needed rapid dissemination among the entire team.”
One solution you might want to try is Workmates by HR Cloud. It is an employee experience platform that covers everything from employee advocacy, over internal communication, to recognition and rewards.
What you might be especially interested in is their feature called Kudos. With workmates, employees can give each other “kudos” (it’s like a digital high five using a cusmozed badge) and points they can use to exchange for gift cards, corporate items, or any other thing you want to add to that list.
Finally, let’s talk about training. If your department is also in charge of the learning program of your company, consider letting the software take care of some of the tasks involved. Your mind should be focused on creating or improving courses and sessions. Not filling certificates or sending reminders.
Talent LMS, for instance, is a platform where you can create your course reusing content you already have. And SAP Litmos is a powerful tool you can scale as your staff grows. Both can be integrated into several applications and include modern features such as gamification, virtual training, and real-time notifications.
Such software makes scheduling and time clock management easy for small, medium, and large companies. For example pharmacists, technicians, and clerks love it when you take their constraints seriously, and they show it by staying in your company for you longer, so using the staff scheduling software for pharmacies is worth a try! With such software, you can also fill shifts faster, reduce employee turnover and automate timesheets too. Some software also allows you to send web push notifications to free staff in case someone is unable to come to work and this way you will get volunteers in a minute.
"We did extensive research on different LMSs and we found
Ultimately, what software will do for you is save time. It automates repetitive tasks, puts together the data you need to make better decisions, and prevents oversights by minimizing human error. All this lets you can concentrate on what you do best: be creative and develop a thriving working environment.
Choose your application based on your needs, considering what it can do for you. Then evaluate the cost-benefit, making sure you pay for what brings results. Every good software solution should be easy to implement and adopt, not create extra work for you instead.
To learn even more about managing remote teams and keeping employees working at home highly engaged, download our ebook now.
Download nowAbout Author: Chloe Sesta Jacobs. Chloe's why is people; she gets her kicks from intensifying the purpose and exploring the potential of those around her. She works as Head of People & Culture at Deputy, a robust scheduling software that can be used to manage your workforce in a wide variety of different industries. Chloe sees her work as an extension of her lifestyle and is constantly working on revolutionizing the people and culture space.