HR is evolving with the modern workforce. Or rather, it should be.
It’s a fact that the modern HR specialist has to do more than fill out paperwork and sit in an office all day. Today, the HR department is responsible for attracting top talent to the organisation, protecting the company from potential legal ramifications, and managing the careers of every single employee. That is a lot of work.
HR has evolved in the years from simply being a place that manages the hiring and firing of employees, to becoming an invaluable resource in creating the right workplace culture and environment in any business.
Thankfully though, technology has been staying up-to-date with the increasing responsibilities for HR specialists. Here are the 3 best tactics for every modern HR department:
Take Advantage of Automation
It goes without saying that a large part of Human Resources is devoted to administration. Whether that’s just filling out hundreds of different forms a day, to sending out a hundred more emails and memos chasing up employees. That’s a lot of time being spent on just administration.
But in order for a HR department to play a more strategic role, and therefore be even more valuable to their company, they need to be able to spend more time dealing with the big-picture tasks. Instead of spending the majority of their time on endless administration, a modern HR department should be focusing on creating strategies for a better workplace environment, or exploring different ways to quickly onboard and train new employees.
This is where the power of automation comes in.
Because doing everything as if you worked in an alternate universe with no access to a computer is just not going to fly anymore.
In any HR process or workflow there is bound to be at least a dozen different repetitive tasks that do not require the active attention of a HR manager. By using automation to deal with simple tasks like following up with employees after certain milestones are met, or managing leave requests, a HR manager can drastically streamline their entire workflow.
Not only does automation mean more time for HR managers to work on other tasks, but it also reduces the risk of errors, create a uniform experience and process for everyone, and improves the overall efficiency.
Make Onboarding Easier Than Ever
Traditionally speaking, when it came to hiring the HR department’s job was very simple. They had to do their due diligence and make sure that a new employee and the company were legally protected and that was basically it.
For a new employee it would be rare that they would ever spend more than a couple of hours of face-time with a HR specialist before getting sent off.
These days though the role of HR has transformed from simply keeping on top of labor and union laws. For virtually every business, HR is now responsible for creating an effective procedure for onboarding and training new employees. Which means not only getting a new employee up to speed with everything, but helping them adjust to a new work environment and culture, giving them access to tools, and that’s on top of making sure everything is compliant and every box has been checked. It’s not a job description, it’s a damn mission!
A great onboarding process is the difference between keeping an incredibly talented new hire, to seeing them off in six months only to restart the whole costly hiring process again. By ensuring that you have a great onboarding process you can increase job satisfaction, ensure you’re attracting top talent, and reduce the turnover rate.
All of this can be achieved as long as HR has the ability to take advantage of the technology and tools now at their disposal to create a truly comprehensive and effective onboarding plan.
Keep Detailed Records of Everything
Another large part of HR’s job is to keep tabs on every single employee within the business. But more than just being able to keep detailed records the HR department also needs a way to easily retrieve them later.
To do this would usually mean keeping a supply closet somewhere dedicated solely to housing dusty filing cabinets, with even dustier files within them. But those days are long behind us.
In an increasingly data-driven world keeping detailed records is no longer just optional but incredibly necessary. From the mundane such as making sure that qualifications are being kept up to date, to the more complex such as using the data to help predict and prevent problems before they even happen.
Being able to access employee records, or any records for that matter, anywhere and at any time is a game-changer for HR. These records can help inform and provide useful insight when it comes to creating even more effective systems and procedures.
It also greatly reduces the amount of time, effort, and administrative work required to maintain an employee’s history. By being able to access such details instantaneously allows every HR specialist to leverage a wealth of information that wasn’t traditionally available before.
