Small business owners do more than simply oversee operations. Many are directly involved with the business’ HR tasks or rely on a small office staff to handle recruiting, payroll, benefits and other essential functions. In fact, according to a study by LinkedIn Business, it can take 30 hours over the course of a month to hire and recruit one employee. And that’s not considering the hours that must continually be devoted to payroll processing, PTO and scheduling.
The amount of work associated with HR can be too much for one employee, leading to 12-to-14-hour days and eventually burnout. A survey by Deloitte found 77% of professionals say they have experienced burnout at their jobs, 29% of which comes directly from consistently working long hours or weekends. Being overworked and stressed throws off the vital work/life balance so many of us are trying to achieve. It can also negatively affect job performance. In other words, when there is so much to be done, there’s often not enough time to do it all well.
One solution is to use HR technology to handle some of the workload.
Improve Your HR Processes with Technology
Investing in the right HR technology solutions can automate the most time-consuming tasks. It’s almost like having an extra pair of hands in the office. What’s more, because tasks are automated, meaning there is little to no room for human error, the work is not only faster but more accurate.
For example, Arcoro client Hancock Structural Steel implemented several of Arcoro’s solutions which ended up saving the HR team hours of work.
Time Tracking and Payroll
Tracking employees’ time on paper is a tedious process. Workers must remember exactly how many hours they logged in each week and staff has to manually input those hours for payroll. The problem is not only does this take a huge amount of time, hours depending on the number of timecards and how legible the employees’ handwriting is, but the hours could be wildly off leading to inaccurate and bloated paychecks.
Using a digital time tracking solution like Arcoro’s ExakTime accurately tracks worker hours but also integrates with the top construction payroll systems so transferring the data to payroll literally takes seconds.
It was ExakTime’s integration capabilities that made Hancock Structural Steel’s decision to upgrade the process an easy one. The software integrates with Foundation, the company’s payroll system, so there was no need to repeat any of the payroll processes between the two systems. The amount of time saved gave HR time to focus on developing relationships with employees and strategic initiatives like retaining and growing the company’s workforce.
Hiring and Onboarding
Thirty hours a month to recruit a new employee is too much considering an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can handle most of the heavy lifting for you. Instead of posting to individual job sites, Arcoro’s ATS can post to multiple job boards via one system. This feature has allowed Hancock Structural Steel to quickly post open positions that reach a diverse group of candidates, supporting the company’s EEO status.
Once an employee is hired, an Onboarding solution can minimize the time it takes to process the paperwork. Arcoro’s Onboarding software automatically transfers the candidate’s information to onboarding. The new employee then takes over and fills out the relevant information themselves, eliminating the need to spend their first few hours in the HR office. Plus, forms are automatically updated, saving companies like Hancock Structural Steel even more time.
Ongoing Employee HR Tasks
Once an employee is hired and onboarded, the HR department needs to manage other ongoing tasks, like approving time off requests, updating handbooks, gathering feedback and uploading paystubs. Having a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) ties all the tasks together. Arcoro’s Core HR automates many HR processes and provides custom workflows to handle other types of HR work. Core HR also provides reports about PTO accrual and who’s showing for work, and who isn’t.
In the end, implementing Arcoro’s HR technology solutions ended up saving Hancock Structural Steel’s HR team hours of time, normalizing working hours and providing a better work/life balance.
Get the full story by downloading the Hancock Structural Steel Case Study.
