Intro
No matter the size of an organization, human resources departments are multi-faceted units that are essential to the daily operations of any firm. HR departments are tasked with duties like hiring, benefits claims, tracking of paid leave and absences, and a myriad of other tasks. Given the amount of data and information that HR departments keep track of, it only makes sense that they rely on tools for managers like time management apps or company communication tools to run their operations smoothly. There are several task management tools out there that can help HR departments streamline different processes and this article will look at them according to each need. Here are the HR Tools and Techniques.
Employee engagement is an often overlooked aspect of working life that many organizations fail to foster or capitalize on. Making employees feel connected to each other and the organization is something that improves morale. Engagement also makes employees more responsive to management directives.
HR managers can increase employee engagement in several different ways. Many of the best small business tools are aimed specifically at this purpose but have different approaches. When it comes to fostering communication between separate teams, employers can use project management software like Trello or Monday.com that allows for better collaboration.
These programs make project requirements, deadlines, and added comments more transparent to let team members know what everyone else is doing. Another option to increase employee engagement can be something more direct like handing out surveys. It is not unheard of for companies to survey their employees to find out more about them
The reasons to send out surveys can range from polling employee’s job satisfaction to something more lighthearted like planning a company-wide retreat or social event. For these purposes, software like 15Five and Hyphen lets employers discover more about their employee’s priorities and needs that they can then use to strategize a more employee-centric work-cycle.
Benefits Management Platform
Every role that an HR department plays is an essential one, but there could be no more important section in its purview that benefits management. These benefits can range from everything to paid time-off, sick leaves, insurance payouts, and health benefits claims.
Not only do HR departments have to handle these requests in a timely fashion but they also have to make sure they comply with individual employment contracts or collective bargaining agreements and government regulations.
The preciseness with which HR managers must perform these tasks is what benefits management platforms were meant to confer. There are trusted, long-standing programs like ADR, which has evolved to become a cloud-based, task-management tool called ADR Workforce Now that gives users analytical and tracking capabilities of essential HR functions like payroll, benefits, and time management.
Payroll Service
Payroll processing and accounting are yet other crucial elements of any organization. Employees expect to be paid on time and even the smallest organization still has to contend with dozens of employee salaries, not all of which are the same amount. Compounding the difficulty of payroll is the deductions for taxes and benefits programs that must be precisely entered.
As such, payroll management software needs to reflect that attention to detail. Programs like Paychex and Rippling have gone a long way to make payroll administration much easier than the data entry and spreadsheet methods of the past. With Paychex, companies can automate payments to whatever schedule they prefer and give greater access to managers with their cloud-based interface.
Rippling is a more pared-down service that focuses on basics like total hours worked, paid time off, and employee benefits. Rippling has a user-friendly interface that also makes it easier to adopt and gives users the option to alternate between different payment formats like direct deposits or paper cheques.
Recruiting Software
Recruiting new employees and performing data-driven analyses of long-time employees has also shifted to the digital realm. New software programs allow companies to better scout and screen applicants to ensure that they meet a company’s expectations even before the first person-to-person interview.
In addition, companies can also use programs like Yello and Beamery to perform talent acquisition searches that are fine-tuned to their exact specifications. After a candidate has been selected, companies can also perform video interviews with a candidate who may be remote or located in another country via specified video-interviewing software that plans, schedules, and enables high-quality virtual conversations.
Performance Solutions
Performance solutions and performance management go hand-in-hand at most companies. Companies need to understand the reasons behind a team or an individual’s performance to best strategize and come up with a solution. This means having the ability to track performance across a wide time window while also having the ability to contrast that against other employees’ outcomes.
There are such features built into human resource management systems that allow HR departments to log citations or achievements, as well as infractions and oversights that give managers a better, overall picture of an employee’s performance. With this information in hand, supervisors can better discuss improvement plans with employees and fine-tune their solutions.
PDF Tools
PDF tools and online PDF editors can help HR departments better manage their needs when it comes to forms processing, record-keeping, and document sharing. The uniformity and easy accessibility of PDFs let HR managers better perform their tasks. With PDF editors, HR departments can also make necessary changes to a PDF fillable form to better reflect a specific need.
Programs like Adobe Acrobat, which is software-based, or Lumin PDF, which is online-based but also comes as downloadable software, can provide users with high-performing editing features, and a large database of pre-made templates. Users can download these templates for things like employee application forms, benefits claims, and requests for time-off, among many other possible applications.