Human resource management systems continue to rule in 2021 because they promise smoother HR operations. Investing in such technology has enabled businesses to create empowered HR teams and employees alike.
HRMS helped solve many HR-related problems, allowing human resource professionals to do their jobs more effectively. They can manage routine tasks better, develop and implement programs, focus on employee engagement, and monitor many HR metrics, among other things.
Below are the five major barriers that HR software helps break down.
- Poor Records Management
Human resource departments organize and keep several documents. Their work involves managing the entire lifecycle of employee documents, giving them a mountain of paperwork to store, file, record, and control.
The main problem with paper-based HR document management is that it creates an unorganized office. While having a storage space prevents paper documents from taking up an office’s space, paperwork can pile up fast before HR staff can file it away. The stack of paperwork not only results in incomprehensible workspaces but also leads to misplaced or lost data.
If an HR system is in place, HR will not worry about poor records management as all documents are stored in a single location, electronically. There is no need for filing employee and business information in physical storage because everything is kept, maintained, and even updated directly in the software.
- Non-compliance & High Costs
HR compliance deals with numerous laws and regulations—laws that relate to employee records, data security, equal treatment of employees, accurate and fair wages, and proper benefit administration, to name a few.
Human resource teams should keep abreast of these laws and ensure they abide by them to protect the employees and safeguard the company’s reputation. The thing is, staying up-to-date with the frequently changing statutory compliance and employee regulations can be difficult, especially for small companies with understaffed HR.
Thankfully, human resource management systems can prevent businesses from landing in costly troubles. Most HR software solutions have features that support compliance, including data synchronization, employee self-service tools, customized alerts, two-factor authentication sign-on features, and more.
Also, HRMS has an auto-update facility that keeps users updated on the current labor laws and tax or social security rates. This feature guarantees companies to avoid risks, fines, or punishments for being out of step with the law.
- Overworked & Unproductive Staff
A paper-based human resource management system creates a messy workspace and forces staff to overwork and go beyond their usual work routines. It makes the intricate HR processes even more painful because things are done manually and repetitively.
For example, HR employees sort through filing cabinets to look for an essential document, check or update disparate worksheets, and keep track of time cards. These responsibilities share the same consequences—low productivity and lost valuable time.
Instead of focusing on work that matters, human resource employees spend most of their time finding, sharing, updating, or recording information. They tend to work on administrative tasks that can either be automated or run in the background.
Contrariwise, HR software cuts users some slack and saves them time. It allows users to perform a lot of things via the platform, including:
- benefit administration
- time and attendance tracking
- managing time off requests
- employee upscaling and training
- employee performance monitoring
- automatic calculation of worked hours
- Lack of Data Security & Transparency
Did you know 65% of HR departments are still wedded to paper? While the paper-based system offers a reliable method for managing the workforce and employee information, it lacks two things: security and transparency.
Printed documents are known to be easily damaged, lost, misplaced, or stolen. When a fire or natural disaster occurs, all the essential documents can turn into dust or be washed away. There is no way of getting the information back unless the files have soft copies or duplicates.
Also, not everyone can easily access important documents when needed. Employees, in particular, must seek help from HR staff to have a copy of their training or certifications, update their personal information, check their leave balances, and more.
Cloud HRMS, on the other hand, promises companies multi-layered security features and data encryption. Most software solutions have applications installed to monitor and trace threats or vulnerabilities and implement port-based restrictions to ensure only the required ports access the system.
HR management software also offers data transparency. It comes with a self-service portal that lets employees view and update their information, request time-off or sick leave, and access company data, reducing the administrative HR burden.
The Bottom Line
Traditional human resource tools or systems may help get the job done, but they can’t always assure companies with high HR productivity and efficiency. Oftentimes, they make HR teams suffer the consequences in silence—consequences that a comprehensive HRMS can solve.
