Categories
Media News

HR Workflow Automation

What is HR Workflow Automation and how can it help my Buisiness?

Definition – HR Workflow Automation automates HR processes using technology, streamlining everything from recruitment and onboarding to performance management and employee offboarding. It involves leveraging software tools to create a consistent and efficient process that reduces manual labor and eliminates errors.

HR Workflow Automation is a topic I have wanted to write about for a long time now, but I wanted to think about what HR Workflow Automation looks like now and where I think it could be in the future, and some exciting things to do right now to take some problematic tasks off of your “plate.”

What are some of the Current HR Workflows?

Let’s start by looking at what HR Workflow looks like now and diving into some areas where HR Workflow Automation could come in and relieve some of the manual processes.  Below are six (6) areas within human resources (HR) that can benefit from workflow automation:

  1. Recruitment: The recruitment process is an essential part of the process and takes a significant amount of time going through resumes and trying to stay focused on credentials, and staying nonbias. Some of the work in this process includes job postings, resume screening, scheduling interviews, and sending notifications to candidates.
  2. Onboarding: The onboarding process can be long and full of documents and processes.  The back and forth with new employees takes forever, and then the time it takes to get up to speed is an additional process.  These tasks include sending offers, onboarding documentation, welcome emails, providing access to training materials, and setting up necessary accounts.
  3. Performance management: The performance management process can be a redundant task that adds to time-consuming manual processes, but it is essential because it helps managers and employees stay on track with goal setting and reviews. This includes reminders to fill out yearly forms, scheduling check-ins, and sending notifications.
  4. Time and attendance: Time and attendance is continuous and ongoing and can help streamline the payroll process. This includes tracking employee time off, managing work schedules, and generating reports for payroll.
  5. Employee self-service: Employee self-service can provide employees with easy access to their HR information. This includes managing personal information, benefits enrollment, and time off requests.
  6. Interaction and Communication:  Employees need to interact with the company on a personal level but also feel like their needs and wants are being met.  Interaction from a persona level can never be replaced but those interactions that can be quick and easy like yearly surveys, requests to IT and things can be looked at to automate.
  7. Offboarding: Automating the offboarding process can help ensure that all necessary steps are complete when an employee leaves the company. Among these offboarding steps includes notifying all relevant departments, collecting company property, and providing final paychecks, and gathering data and information that would be helpful to them moving forward and the company as a whole moving forward.

HR Workflow Automation and How can it help or change the current process?

As businesses grow and technology advances, the role of Human Resources (HR) has evolved from a purely administrative function as we spoke about in the above section, to a strategic partner in business operations. However, many HR professionals have not advanced this process into HR Workflow Automation and still spend a significant amount of their time on repetitive, manual tasks that could be automated, limiting their ability to focus on more value-added activities. HR workflow automation is a solution that can help organizations streamline HR processes, reduce manual labor, and improve overall efficiency.

Many HR processes can be automated, including:

  • Applicant tracking and resume screening
  • Human Analysis through AI
  • Interview scheduling and reminders
  • On-boarding and orientation
  • Benefits enrollment and management
  • Performance management and employee evaluations
  • Employee off-boarding and exit interviews
  • Time and attendance tracking
  • Compliance and reporting
  • Elimination of Biases through AI
  • Surveys and Ticketing

By automating these processes, HR teams can free up time to focus on more strategic tasks that are personal and can’t be automated, such as talent development, employee engagement, and workforce planning.  Giving time back to employees to grow and succeed doesn’t have a price and the value that growth given back to the company far outweighs any cost of automation of redundant tasks that don’t help the growth of the employee or the organization.

Benefits of HR Workflow Automation

There are many benefits of HR workflow automation, including:

  1. Increased Efficiency: By automating routine tasks, HR teams can reduce the amount of time they spend on administrative work, freeing up time to focus on more strategic activities. Automation can also help to eliminate errors and reduce the risk of compliance violations.
  2. Improved Candidate Experience: HR workflow automation can improve the candidate experience by streamlining the recruitment process. Automated tools can help to schedule interviews, send reminders, and provide real-time updates to candidates, resulting in a faster and more efficient operation.
  3. Enhanced Onboarding: Automation can create a consistent and standardized onboarding process, ensuring that new employees receive the same level of support and training. This can result in higher levels of employee engagement and faster time to productivity.
  4. Better Performance Management: Automated performance management tools can facilitate more frequent and meaningful performance discussions, resulting in more effective feedback and coaching. This can lead to improved employee performance and increased engagement.
  5. Increased Data Accuracy: Automation can eliminate errors and ensure that data is entered accurately and consistently across systems. This can improve the accuracy of HR reports and reduce the risk of compliance violations.
  6. More time: With the majority of the difficult processes automated, this leaves time to do other things or allow for a company to move toward a more beneficial 4-day work week to have more time to just enjoy life.

Best Practices for Implementing HR Workflow Automation

Implementing HR workflow automation can be a complex process that requires careful planning and execution. Here are some best practices to consider when implementing HR workflow automation:

  1. Identify Key Processes: Start by identifying the HR processes that are most time-consuming or prone to errors. Look for procedures requiring manual data entry or input from multiple stakeholders.
  2. Evaluate Tools: Once you have identified the processes to automate, evaluate the available tools and solutions to help you achieve your goals. Look for tools that are user-friendly, scalable, and integrated tools with your existing HR systems.
  3. Engage Stakeholders: Involve key stakeholders in the process, including HR team members, IT, and business leaders. Ensure that everyone understands the goals and benefits of automation and aligned on the process and timeline.
  4. Develop Workflows: Create detailed workflows for each process you plan to automate. Ensure that workflows are consistent and standardized across departments and locations.
  5. Test and Refine: Before rolling out automation across the organization, test the workflows and tools in a pilot program. Collect feedback from stakeholders and make any necessary adjustments to the process.
  6. Train Employees: Once the automation is in place, train HR team members and other stakeholders to use the new tools and workflows. Provide
  7. Train Employees: Once the automation is in place, train HR team members and other stakeholders to use the new tools and workflows. Provide training resources and ongoing support to ensure everyone is comfortable using the new system.
  8. Monitor and Measure: Regularly monitor the effectiveness of the automation and measure the impact on HR operations. Look for areas where you can further streamline processes or improve efficiency.

HR Workflow Automation Conclusion

HR workflow automation is a powerful tool that can help organizations to streamline HR processes, reduce manual labor, and improve overall efficiency. All these advancements in Workflow Automation is to give companies and employees back the gift of time.  By automating routine tasks, HR teams can free up time to focus on more strategic activities, such as talent development and employee engagement. However, implementing automation requires careful planning and execution. By following best practices, organizations can ensure a smooth transition to automation and maximize the benefits of the technology.

In summary, HR workflow automation is an essential solution for modern HR operations. It can help organizations to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance the employee experience. As businesses continue to evolve and grow, HR professionals need to leverage automation to remain competitive and deliver value to the organization.  Finally, implementing HR Workflow Automation in the workplace helps the company reduce HR labor costs and other costs associated with implementing HR processes. So if you’re looking for ways to make your business more efficient and effective right now, HR Workflow Automation is a great solution!

To learn more about automating your HR processes and how they can benefit your business, check out our latest blog post or visit us at Flowtrics to Automate your HR Workflows.

Latest Posts

Categories
Media

Work Smarter, Not Longer: Making the Most of Your HR Automation from Onboarding to Exit

Numerous technologies and solutions for HR Workflow Automation have been developed over the last ten years. We can now accomplish more with less, thanks to technological advancements, but only if we know how to use them effectively.

In this article, we’ll look at several strategies for maximizing your HR Workflow Automation setup. By employing these suggestions, you may increase the productivity and efficiency of your HR department by working smarter rather than harder. 

Defining Your Goals

Before you can begin automating your HR processes, you must first understand your goals. Forbes goes over DEFINING SMART GOALS in a recent article as define Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based goals, and then establish a journey map to achieve those goals.. What objectives has your department set? What actions must you take to accomplish those objectives? Answering these questions will help you decide which processes should be automated. For example, automating onboarding processes and automating the process of conducting exit interviews with departing employees can help you achieve your aim of lowering employee turnover.

Outlining Your Processes

Now that you are aware of what your goals are, you must outline the procedures that will enable you to achieve them. What tasks need to be done? Who is in charge of each task? These procedures can be streamlined and made more effective with the aid of automation. For example, automating the process of distributing and filling documents could help you optimize your onboarding process, decrease inefficiencies and increase savings in all departments.

Automating the Busy Work

 Once you have established your objectives and outlined your procedures, it’s time to start automating the tedious tasks. Automating tedious tasks is an important step in streamlining your workflow and increasing productivity. By using automation tools like the ones available in Flowtrics, you can take care of time-consuming tasks quickly and efficiently, without the need for human intervention. This frees up your time and resources to focus on other important tasks that require more attention and skill.

Some examples of tasks that can be automated include email responses, filling out documents, watching videos, taking surveys, scheduling appointments, and data entry. These tasks are often repetitive and don’t require much thought or decision-making but can be very time intensive, making them perfect candidates for automation.

By automating these tasks, you can reduce the amount of time and effort required to complete them, and free up your team to focus on more important tasks. Additionally, automation can help to improve accuracy and consistency in these tasks, as well as reduce the risk of human error.

Transparency in the Workflow 

Having an employee portal for open communication and transparency can greatly enhance the automation of HR processes, particularly when it comes to document workflow automation. An employee portal allows for easy access to HR information and updates, as well as a platform for employees to provide feedback and suggestions. This can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of automation by allowing for real-time communication and addressing issues or concerns promptly. 

Furthermore, an employee portal allows for greater transparency in HR processes, as it provides employees with access to important information and allows them to track and understand their own HR records. Additionally, it can also provide self-service options, such as updating personal information, requesting time off, and accessing company benefits, which reduces the workload on HR staff. 

Document workflow automation allows for streamlined and efficient processing of HR documents, such as onboarding paperwork, time off requests, and performance evaluations, reducing the amount of time and resources required for manual handling. This automation can also improve the accuracy and consistency of HR processes. 

Overall, an employee portal combined with document workflow automation can be a powerful tool for promoting open communication, transparency, and automation within HR processes.

Letting the Machines Do the Heavy Lifting

In addition to automating tedious tasks, you can also delegate difficult tasks to the machines, and AI. Inc talks deeply about this in a recent article that discusses how Conversational Technology will change the way businesses operate. This entails automating processes that are currently completed manually utilizing technology. Using Flowtrics’ powerful workflow automation, it can help to streamline recruitment and onboarding processes.

The Takeaway 

By following these tips, you can make the most of your HR automation setup. By defining your goals, outlining your processes, and automating the busy work, you can work smarter, not harder. And by letting the machines do the heavy lifting, you can make your HR department more efficient and effective.  

It’s important to note that automation should not be used to replace human workers, but rather to augment their capabilities and allow them to focus on more important and value-added tasks. Automation can be used to take care of repetitive, mundane tasks and free up human workers to focus on more meaningful and impactful work, ultimately making the organization more efficient and productive.

To learn more about automating your documents and their processes. How can Flowtrics benefit your business, check out our latest blog post or visit us at Flowtrics to Automate your HR Workflows.