Do you think of your HRIS as a glorified filing cabinet? It’s true that you can manage and archive HR documents and employee information in your HR software, and that’s essential for meeting compliance requirements and protecting yourself from legal ramifications. But your HRIS was destined for so much more.
HR software tosses a life preserver to companies drowning in paperwork and the demands of an increasingly digital workplace. It also has the power to transform your workforce by boosting morale, productivity, and retention.
Here's how.
Let’s take a look at five HRIS benefits that can breathe new life into your processes and procedures—and help your HR department contribute business value to your organization at the same time.
Companies spend upwards of $8 billion every single year to manage paper. Employees print it and squirrel it away in filing cabinets, and then spend countless hours trying to find it again. Your HRIS reduces the HR department’s contribution to the steadily growing pile of paper by allowing employees to complete and store forms online.
By managing forms and other paperwork in the cloud and storing documents digitally, an HRIS can ensure governmental compliance, improve management oversight, encourage superior customer service, and ultimately boost your bottom line.
It’s not enough to sign and store the right paperwork. Those documents must also be completed on time, filed with the right organizations or departments, and be readily available for government audits or other legal matters. Because an HRIS helps you file and retrieve documents more efficiently, you can streamline the compliance process as well. Many platforms can also connect with insurance carriers and file legal documents within the system, keeping all your data in a single place.
Forget hiring, training, and reviewing employees the old-fashioned way. Executives and business owners can save countless hours by relying on an HRIS for managing the application and interview process, setting and tracking training goals for new employees, and scheduling reviews. The system can even be designed to stall the hiring, training or termination process if the paperwork is not properly completed and submitted. You can also send alerts to remind employees about actions they need to take and to notify the HR administrator if certain conditions are not met.
A well-designed HRIS can proactively monitor compliance with routine company policy while requiring upper management to deal only with cases requiring their personal attention. The system will also generate reports to demonstrate compliance, identify irregularities, and pinpoint problems that need manager intervention.
Your customer service is only as good as your employees. Use your HRIS to implement and manage a strategic onboarding and training process that gives new hires every advantage to reach their potential. Productive, engaged employees will offer better service to your customers and contribute to a positive brand image for your company. Your HRIS can also monitor training activities when you introduce new procedures or equipment so that your employees stay on top of current company processes.
New employees are usually hired to fill vacancies left by more experienced staff. When an employee quits or is fired, the remaining staff scrambles to fill the departing employee’s shoes as well as their own until a new team member can be hired and trained. Ultimately, morale suffers because your employees suddenly have more work—but not more pay. An HRIS helps you recruit, hire, and train new employees as quickly as possible so that they can effectively fill their new roles. With better initial onboarding and continual training, you can boost employee productivity, reduce turnover and achieve greater efficiency. And that’s good news for your bottom line.
If you are considering an HRIS purchase, these five benefits give you a solid foundation for building your business case. But they’re just the beginning. Over time, you’ll see a host of other benefits including reduced turnover, better PTO management, increased automation, and easier benefits administration. With fewer forms to fill out and more efficient oversight, location managers can spend more time on the floor. Rather than dealing with compliance problems and people management issues, upper management can concentrate on building the company.
And that’s worth the investment every time.