Years ago, the job of Human Resources professionals was closely linked to purely administrative tasks: payroll, leaves, contracts, schedules… Today the department that deals with people management has evolved and has been, to some extent, thanks to process automation.
Letting technology and artificial intelligence take care of the most repetitive administrative tasks and, why not say it, boring, has allowed professionals in the sector to deal with those issues that actually do add value to the company, helping to maximize its profitability and make them more competitive.
What does it mean to automate processes?
For make a business properly functional, a lot of repetitive and boring tasks need to be done. These are essential tasks for the development of the organization, but their fulfillment occupies precious time that could be devoted to other more relevant issues, such as decision-making that promotes improvements in the quality of life of employees.
Because of this, removing these duties is not a viable option. But automate them, it is.
Currently there are a large amount of softwares on the market, in a very varied price range so that everyone can access these resources, whose objective is to mechanize the most repetitive actions and make the lives of collaborators much easier.
Thanks to these solutions, professionals manage to reduce their workload, and can spend the time gained on other activities that require more attention, care and greater responsibility.
Automation of processes in Human Resources
Human Resources is one of the departments that can benefit most from this type of technology. The day-to-day of the professional in this sector includes many standardizable tasks that do not necessarily require the presence of a person, such as the dumping of information and the collection of data.
The use of this type of software is widespread for payroll processes or personnel administration, but they are not the only tasks that can be automated. Talent search processes, onboarding , or employee satisfaction surveys can also be automated.
However, the lack of knowledge about these tools is still remarkable among companies. According to the study published in 2020 by Future For Work Institute in collaboration with Meta4, 46% of HR managers do not know any process automation tool, and 37% consider that their knowledge on the subject is very low, almost inexistent.
Benefits of automating HR processes
The automation of processes in people management brings numerous benefits to companies.
- Greater execution agility. Processes that were carried out manually significantly increase their speed. Furthermore, these programs are active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Greater reliability. Increased reliability of results by reducing the rate of human errors.
- Cost and time savings. Investing in automating the most repetitive tasks helps improve business productivity and profitability.
- Improve the employee experience. The teams benefit from all the advantages, reducing their workload and perceiving your company as innovative.
- Greater security in the processing of personal data. Automation programs offer maximum information security, as they comply with all regulations regarding data protection.
- Greater scalability and adaptation to high work peaks. Process automation solutions are flexible and perform well whatever the volume of work.
In addition, according to the previously mentioned study: “The automation of the most repetitive tasks and those with less added value can help reposition the HR function as a strategic partner for the business”.
What HR processes can be automated?
Human Resources is one of the departments that accumulates the most tasks within a company. Managing all the functions effectively can take a lot of effort, and in most cases, there will always be some process that loses out.
Luckily, it is also one of the areas with the largest number of automatable processes and there is currently a marketplace very varied that provides global solutions for each of the aspects of talent management.
Here is a list of some of the most important functions that can be automated.
1. Employee Engagement Surveys
This is one of the easiest processes to automate. All you need is a software that allows you to digitize employee surveys so that they can be designed in minutes and automatically sent to the entire workforce.
Having control of the office’s work environment is very important. It is one of the factors that most influence the attitude of employees and measuring it helps maintain a positive space of work. A good working environment favors motivation, efficiency and better performance by the teams, also contributing to their commitment and satisfaction.
2. Talent Attraction
The recruitment process is another one that can also be automated through resume screening software. These tools use algorithms and keywords that position the most suitable candidates and discard the rest, saving a great deal of time.
At the same time, they are capable of accessing large databases and handling a large amount of information from simultaneous processes, favoring teamwork.
3. Onboarding
To improve the experience of newcomers, companies can count on a document management tool that includes all those files of special relevance that employees can access on their own. Internal regulations, payroll, contracts… all in a single space and ordered by categories.
Likewise, these types of solutions allow the digital signature of important documents without the need to go through the offices, which speeds up the process and makes it flexible, something especially useful for all those collaborators who work remotely.
The use of chatbots is also a resource through which new employees can solve the most frequent doubts immediately and without the need for the presence of another person.
4. Performance assessment
It is also possible to automate employee assessments and check their level of performance within the organization. Based on the results, we can create custom improvement and training programs to enhance the power of the teams.
Obtaining objective data is also an excellent resource for offering quality feedback that serves to align the objectives of the employees with the corporate ones.
5. Payroll management
It is one of the most automated processes in Human Resources given its complexity, and allows professionals to make automated calculations and payments for their employees in an agile and comfortable way.
Among other facets, these tools are capable of sending and automatically updating contract information, absence events, hours worked, variable elements, document preparation, etc.