Still Running Your HR Department on Paper? 5 Reasons You Need an HRIS

5 Reasons to Upgrade Your HRISDiversity of experiences. Accessible technology. Employer branding. Paper replacement. These are four of the driving forces behind Caesars Entertainment’s recent upgrade to Oracle’s HR software platform. 

Chances are, you’re looking for some of those same results. And if your current HRIS can’t deliver them, it may be time to upgrade.

The question is: when do the benefits of new software outweigh the costs? That’s a tricky question to answer, because HR is often seen as a cost center rather than a value contributor.

But making your business case for the ROI of new HR software isn’t as hard as you might think. Here are five reasons to take the plunge.

1. Improve Productivity

Productivity is directly tied to your bottom line. The more efficiently employees get work done, the farther your dollars will stretch. Upgrading your HR software improves the productivity of your HR department by:

  • Eliminating paper processes
  • Automating tasks like reporting and recruiting
  • Storing documents electronically
  • Integrating compliance features
  • Reducing errors and duplication

Too many businesses are still running their HR departments piecemeal, with some processes living in spreadsheets or on paper and others in their HR software. By bringing all HR functions into your HRIS, you can integrate all those various data receptacles so that your HR staff can run reports and perform tasks quickly and easily. You also make all data accessible to everyone who needs it rather than keeping certain documents and spreadsheets squirrelled away on individual hard drives. 

2. Use Data Efficiently

Data is the driving force behind almost every decision in today’s workforce, and nowhere is that more evident than in the HR department. Unfortunately, many companies still haven’t quite grasped the critical urgency of HR analytics. But just imagine for a moment if you could document and predict things like:

  • Retention rates for new employees
  • Which managers and teams have the highest turnover rates
  • Which employees generate the highest revenue for your company (and how you can duplicate their success)
  • Which employees present the greatest flight risks (and what you can do to keep them engaged)
  • HR cost per employee

Reporting features and predictive analytics capabilities help you track, measure, and plan all the inner workings of your workforce, but to get the most benefit from your data, you need sophisticated data storage and analysis tools. Upgrading your HRIS reduces the risk of data entry errors, gives you the power of cloud-based solutions, and puts cutting-edge analytics tools and dashboards like these from SyncHR and Criterion at your fingertips.

3. Scale HR Operations

If your company is growing, you need an HR solution that can handle the new influx of data, and you need greater customization to accommodate your business processes. For example, you may be looking for an integrated payroll solution that can flow data from payroll to HR and back rather than using a third party payroll provider. You may need a software product that can manage employees in multiple states or countries. Or you may just need a solution that can handle the increasing complexities of your growing workforce. Whatever the case, taking the next step up with your software can save you time, money, and resources as you scale.

4. Improve Employee Experiences

Employee experience is among the most urgent concerns for employers today, because it directly impacts retention, turnover, and engagement. Technology plays a significant role in the overall experience of your workforce, especially as people have begun to expect the same functionality from the tech they use at work as they have on their personal tablets and smartphones. That may include:

  • Implementing innovative tools like chatbots to interact with employee questions
  • Adding mobile learning management, performance management, and time tracking tools
  • Creating intuitive HR self service, onboarding, and training experiences
  • Implementing a social platform or chat feature to facilitate communication at work

5. Cultivate Personalized Talent Management Practices

Employee experience can also affect your ability to attract and hire quality candidates. Today's employees want more than just fair compensation. They want to work for companies they respect with managers who treat them well. Upgrading your HRIS gives you a concrete way to implement performance management practices like mentoring, coaching, and recognition. Many software platforms on the market today include features like:

  • Goal-setting functions
  • Task checklists
  • 360 degree feedback
  • Customizable reviews
  • Reminders and alerts

These features support a culture of positive investment in your employees, which promotes engagement and retention, especially among young workers.

Talent acquisition tech has also seen a flood of new tools and technologies in recent years, including video job posting, mobile applications, AI resume screening tools, automated recruiting communications and much more. Candidate experiences before the hire can make or break your employer brand image, and as employees become more selective about the employers they work for, the first impression made by your recruiting tech could determine whether or not that desirable candidate will accept your job offer. If you’re still recruiting like it’s 1999, it’s time to explore the new tools on the market.

What's Your Next Step?

Ready to learn more? Once you know what goals you want to achieve with your HRIS, the next step is to develop a detailed requirements list. Our HRIS Comparison Tool is a great way to do that. Simply walk through the list of questions and rank them based on how important each feature is for your business. When you're finished, you'll have a customized requirements list, and we'll also match you with a list of vendors who meet those requirements so you can get started on your research. 
 

HRIS Comparison Tool