Global Content Lead - Tech & Consulting
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From hiring new employees and training them to ensuring that the company is compliant with the local labor laws, businesses must go the extra mile to keep a healthy working environment for all employees. HR, which previously had its employees relying on manual data entry and record-keeping in getting the job done, continues to realize the benefits of digitalizing processes and automating workflows. According to research by Gartner, the early adopters of automation in HR processes reported improved data-based decision making, better employee experience, reduction of repetitive and manual tasks, and extensive cost savings.
47% of businesses will utilize AI-based software in human resources by 2023. AI (Artificial Intelligence) is already being leveraged by 17% of businesses. Gartner
With remote work on the rise and the business landscape drastically changing, in 2023, the use of technology to deliver the best HR operations such as streamlining processes, enabling remote working, and automating workflows will become a necessity.
Here are five functions that HR departments must automate to stay competitive in 2023.
Talent acquisition
In 2023, owing to the new remote working trend, many businesses will be looking for skilled workers abroad. For this, HR departments will spend a significant amount of time focusing on one of their primary goals: Acquiring talent. However, the lengthy process of going through hundreds of CVs, shortlisting employees, sending personalized notifications, and scheduling interviews on calls can all be automated to effectively speed up the hiring process.
Even by partially automating the hiring process, organizations can boost candidate screenings, reduce recruiting costs, and offer candidates a better interview scheduling experience. There will be no time wasted going through hundreds of CVs, shortlisting employees, sending personalized notifications, and scheduling interviews on calls.
Onboarding and training process
Onboarding is one of the processes every employee looks forward to when joining a new company, but it is a very time-consuming process. The coming year will see people from diverse places joining companies remotely and much of their onboarding will be done through online means.
Ensuring a smooth transition into the company not just helps the new joiner get up to speed with the job role but also leaves an impression. The good news is the onboarding process does not have to be so time-consuming anymore.
Software platforms such as Microsoft Power Platform are now helping organizations deliver a smooth onboarding experience with utmost speed. Through intelligently-designed workflows, onboarding forms can be delivered timely, necessary documents submissions and approvals can be streamlined, and training material can be made available as soon as the newly hired employee joins.
Employee performance management
Tracking employee performance is another important yet time-consuming process that HR departments must automate to ensure bias-free reporting and ensure informed decision making, especially during times when people are working remotely.
51% of employees say that they have been more productive working remotely during the pandemic. (FlexJobs, 2020)
With so many people working interested in working remotely, tracking their performance becomes a daunting task. Businesses need to invest in an automated system that analyses, measures, and tracks employee performance per business goals.
Streamline payroll processes
Making payrolls, managing taxes, and incorporating deductions are time-sensitive activities, and ensuring the accuracy of numbers also puts a lot of pressure on the HR department.
Data shows that 82 million of Americans are affected by payroll problems.
Mistakes related to payroll calculation can cause a company to lose top talent. So would it not be efficient to standardize these tasks through automated workflows so that HR professionals no longer must worry about manual entries and calculations.
HR professionals can automate time tracking, expense management, tax deductions, and other payroll-related processes to reduce payroll costs by up to 80% (APA).
Timesheets and leave approvals
Businesses, especially large enterprises with thousands of employees, need automated timesheets and leave approval processes to make sure that their employees are spending their time on more productive tasks. For example, automated time tracking ensures that little to no time is lost in searching for missing or incorrect data.
Similarly, employees can submit leave requests to their managers and receive automated alerts regarding the status of their applications. Moreover, specialized applications to support automation can be built through platforms such as Microsoft Power Apps, to add useful features such as reminder emails and push notifications to speed up the entire process.
Ending words
Recently, KPMG International conducted a study that interviewed 1,200 HR executives and half of them were from companies with 5,000 employees and revenues totaling one billion dollars. The research saw two-thirds of HR managers agreeing with the fact that the HR field is undergoing a rapid digital transformation. Unfortunately, only 40% of them admitted that they had a digital work plan in place.
Automation of HR operations can save time for team oversight, 1-1 interactions, and business strategy meetings. It will also save the precious time of the employees which can be used productively in other growth-boosting tasks.
