HR software is a company’s best friend. It can automate several essential processes that would normally take your HR staff hours to accomplish. If you’re looking to upgrade to new, state of the art HR software, you’ll find a variety of features and wading through them can get confusing.
The basic functions that most companies can expect from HR software have been suplemented with many additional features that can alter not only your HR department but your entire business. To find the best and most flexible HR software, look for these key features.
What does HR Software do?
HR software can be implemented for nearly every aspect of employee management from hiring to retiring. This technology is used to improve HR department efficiencies through automating manual workflows within essential and strategic HR processes. HR software tools enhance the protection of data compiled while eliminating the risks of errors significantly.
HR software is used by HR but also managers and employees. One of its most important functions is providing employees with a high level of transparency about company policies and procedures. Arguably HR software can also boost the productivity of all employees but especially those in the HR department itself.
Some basic functions of HR software include:
- Posting job descriptions online
- Automatically eliminating unqualified applicants
- Storing candidate data
- Onboarding new employees before day one
- Tracking employee training
- Measuring performance
- Setting up employee succession plans
Not all of these features may be needed immediately, but there may come a time when you need to implement them. Here are five areas where HR software is instrumental.
Benefits Administration
Do your HR employees spend the majority of their time managing employee benefits? Effective benefits management software can eliminate the time spent on this activity. Ensure that the benefits management system has employee self-service, which allows employees to manage their own benefits such as adding a spouse to their insurance or checking the total of their FSA when they want – without having to contact HR at all.
Training Systems
With the extra time HR software will give your HR department, they’ll likely be able to dedicate more time and energy into developing training strategies to improve your workforce. A learning management system will allow your HR department to manage aspects of employee training, such as skills tracking. Skills Tracking can benefit a manager by giving them an effective method to quickly search all employees for a specific skill set. Skills Tracking also give employees an easy way to keep their skills up to date.
Recruiting
An effective applicant tracking system (ATS) will allow your HR department more time to focus on its recruitment efforts. New hires are valuable, but the recruitment process can be complex. A good ATS will provide many different features that are aimed to help your HR department easily manage each step of the recruitment phase. An ATS can post job descriptions to multiple job boards, including niche boards, build branded career pages and automatically update candidates along the hiring process. It’s a critical component to any HR system and one that can improve your overall ROI on employees.
Reporting
Employers of all kinds bear the burden of reporting data to the government departments, IRS, OFCCP and so on, to ensure compliance and avoid financial penalties. An HR system that tracks, gathers and stores essential employee information can aid in this endeavor.
Consider Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting. The IRS requires employers to report healthcare plans covered and provide copies to their employees. A benefits module will automatically store this information and some, like Arcoro’s ACA compliance software, use existing employee data to analyze benefits, compensation and demographics. Forms 1094 and 1095 are automatically generated and sent to the IRS and the employee.
There is also hiring data that must be gathered and reported, especially for employers who are federal contractors or adhere to Equal Employment Opportunity or Affirmative Action Program requirements. An ATS will automatically track every candidate who applies for a position at your company and store the information in the event a federal auditor knocks on your door.
Onboarding software compiles federal tax forms as well as company policies that you can require new employees to sign off on. This helps protect your company if an incident ever occurs where an employee acts in a manner that is against procedure and requires disciplinary action.
HR Metrics
HR software gives you the chance to review a wealth of data about your company and your employees. This feature gives you the ability to see what your company does well, what can be improved and lets you develop new approaches for improving your company. There are a number of HR metrics that HR software can track. For example, an ATS collects metrics on recruiting so HR can calculate time to hire, cost per hire, quality of hire, sourcing channel quality and application completion rate. HR software can also help calculate retention and turnover rates, all of which can help businesses increase their bottom lines.
Learn More About HR Software and Your Company
Wondering how your processes measure up? Consider taking our free HR assessment to review your current HR processes. Or if you already know where your company could upgrade, consider downloading datasheets for Arcoro’s HR software modules.
