No matter the size of your company, implementing a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) is crucial for ensuring workforce growth, data collection for staffing and performance management, and tracking compensation and benefits activities. Although software can occasionally be intimidating at first, employing an HRIS can be a smooth transition with a bit of preparation and the right approach.
Benefits of an HRIS
There are many benefits and advantages to incorporating HRIS software into traditional business processes.
- Reporting. One of the biggest benefits of an HRIS is the ability to easily create reports and presentations. Being a single large database that holds multiple types of company information such as hiring practices, index of job openings, salary and compensation information, as well as all forms including I-9 and W-2s, an HRIS can quickly run a variety of detailed reports depending on what information is critical at the time.
- Benefits Administration. The software easily streamlines the administration of all employee benefits. Most HRIS applications today allow for self-servicing, meaning employees can log in and track their own benefits data, saving hours of HR manpower.
- Automation. In the past, many common tasks of the HR department, such as overseeing payroll, took far too much time. A major advantage to implementing HRIS is that many of these traditional duties can be completely automated, giving HR personnel time to focus on more pressing issues.
Inform Stakeholders of Your HRIS Implementation
It’s important that company stakeholders be informed of the addition of a new HRIS and fully briefed on the business objectives of the software. Be prepared to answer questions as well as formulate some of your own:
- Will an experienced HRIS “power user” be put into place?
- How will the company address data quality and security?
- What metrics will be utilized to determine ROI?
- Have report recipients been identified?
- Is the inclusion of HRIS being treated as a process or a project?
Create a Plan
A poorly executed HRIS implementation plan will ultimately cost your company money, so it’s critical that a realistic and actionable plan be put in place from the start. Define your objectives early and focus on long-term goals; clearly identify end-user needs in order to cater to individual groups; and commit to quality data making sure to leverage the processing and reporting benefits of HRIS.
The more informed and prepared you are, the more you’ll be able to recognize your new HRIS as the asset it is.
This guest post was provided by Erin Palmer. Erin is a writer and editor who covers educational business administration topics such as information about a bachelor s degree in business administration.