Picture the scene: you’ve expanded your business tenfold in less than a year and you now employ dozens of people, with more roles to be filled in the coming months. As you create files and fill them with onboarding paperwork for the 15th time today, it dawns on you that this would all be a lot easier to manage and way more environmentally sustainable, if you ditched all the paperwork and instead stored and managed your employee data online in a centralised database.
In a nutshell is what an HR information system does for your business. HR information systems help you to automate your processes and bring all your employee data into one centralised, easy to manage online system. Gone are the days of recording and storing employee information on an assortment of documents, forms, spreadsheets and more piled high on your desk or in a filing cabinet in a back office somewhere. HR information systems take away the pain of managing employee information. You can now work faster and smarter by transferring all your employee data onto one simple HR information system.
Plus, you get to have a nice, clean and clear desk that isn’t a potential GDPR risk; what more could you want? Well, here’s 4 more reasons why you need an HR information system:
Become more productive
Let’s face it, a lot of the time we perform the same mundane tasks over and over again with little to no variation. HR information systems automate a lot of these tasks through intuitive one-click workflows, which makes tasks such as attendance tracking and annual leave booking quicker and simpler.
Managers can record absence live in the HR information system as it is reported. They can then complete, upload and save an online return to work form directly into the employee’s electronic file. When booking annual leave employees can quickly and easily see their leave entitlement. They can also see if anyone is already off at the same time they want to book, and submit a request for approval in a few simple clicks – any time, anywhere via self-service functionality.
Removing the hassle and the time consuming transactional administration means that staff are working much smarter as they are spending more time and being more productive on the work that actually makes a difference for your business and its customers.
Improved reporting
With a database covering every key aspect of your employee data, HR information systems produce detailed employee reporting for things such as absences, holidays, missing documents, employee demographics and much more. Essentially if the HR information systems holds the data, it can usually report on the data.
HR information systems often show mini reports on an employee or manager dashboard so that key information is there at your finger tips as soon as you log in. For more in depth reports, HR information systems will typically download data into a spreadsheet so that it can be filtered, analysed and manipulated as needed to create graphs, charts and any other form of data presentation required.
By keeping track of data and regularly monitoring it, a business can identify trends and issues like absence patterns so that issues are addressed before they become a major problem. You can bin the printer now, you won’t need it anymore!
Make better, more informed decisions
The whole point of an HR information system is to improve the way you and your business work, and that includes helping you make the right decisions with all the details in front of you. By having the right data stored in your HR information system and assessing it properly, you can make decisions based on accurate, up-to-date information rather than assumptions or gut instinct. Whether you are reviewing absence levels, checking holiday trends, monitoring missing documents, or looking at workforce data across different teams, having everything in one place gives you a much clearer picture of what is really happening in your business. This makes it easier to spot issues early, respond more consistently, and plan ahead with more confidence. Instead of making reactive decisions when problems arise, you can use live information to support better day-to-day management and more informed long-term planning.
Build up employee satisfaction
Employees appreciate less hassle where possible, so if they’re able to access their documents, make annual leave requests and see their company benefits through the self-serve functionality of an HR information system, then you’ll make them happy. And as we know, happy people are more productive and the more productive your people are the more successful and more profitable your business is likely to be.
By using an HR information system, you are also giving your employees flexibility to do all of their own HR tasks at a time and place that suits them. HR information systems can be accessed through apps or web browsers on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. So, if your employee is sat on the sofa looking at a holiday, they can make the request for annual leave at the same time.
By implementing an HR information system, you are also demonstrating as a business to your employees that you are forward thinking and want to embrace new technology to enhance the employee experience and that goes a long way to building employee satisfaction and engagement.
Ready to get started?
More and more companies are turning to HR information systems every day and with the benefits they bring, it’s not hard to see why. Whether you’re struggling with the sheer volume of HR paperwork, taking ages to compile reports because the data you need is stored in 7 different spreadsheets (plus a note in someone’s file), or you’re not following processes as well as you’d like which means that you’re inadvertently creating a culture where things such as absences are overlooked and then potentially exploited, an HR information system will go a long way to helping you manage your workload more efficiently and will take away the pain of day to day HR administration.
If you want to see how an HR information system can help your business improve reporting, support better decisions, and reduce day to day admin, contact us today to explore how HRX can support your team with practical HR software and services designed for growing SMEs.
