5 HR Processes You Should Automate Right Now

Written by: Akshay Gupta, Freelance Writer

Many of people fear that automation may make working humans obsolete. But it’s a fact that throughout history, as technology became more advanced, employment levels increased and economies blossomed.

As automation becomes a solid pillar in the future of work, HR professionals will have to rethink their role in the organization. According to Harvard Business Review, HR’s future lies in functioning as an “accelerated talent development centre.”

HR will ensure that the leaders empower their organization’s talent and help them evolve. Essentially, this is a higher-level role and goes beyond just hiring and retaining talent.

If you want to be ahead of the curve, here are five HR processes you can automate right now.

1. Recruitment

HR statistics show that the job market is 90 per cent candidate driven. Good candidates always have multiple offers to choose from. It means you don’t pick talent, talent picks you. So it is crucial that you are capable of attracting the best talent and attracting it fast.

Most recruiters use Application Tracking Systems to streamline their recruitment process. These programs filter job applications based on a recruiter’s preferences and speed up the hiring process.

But you can go one step further with candidate chatbots. Automated tracking systems can’t always match a candidate to the required criteria. To resolve this issue, chatbots can ask specific questions and even have a proper conversation with the candidate.  They can narrow down the best candidates and schedule interviews picking suitable slots from your calendar. All you have to do is check your email.

Think of candidate bots as your personal assistant. It will conduct a bite-sized interview before the real interview and schedule the best candidates automatically into your calendar.

2. Onboarding

Onboarding new employees manually is time-consuming. Signing contracts, orientation, training – you can automate such admin tasks and reserve your energy for high-level tasks such as strategy and relationships.

Choose paperless onboarding because new employees don’t like filling the same information on multiple forms. You can manage all tasks from a single dashboard. Combine this with streamlined training videos, checklists and organizational information and your new hires can begin at full speed from the very first day.

3. Performance Management

An automated performance management system can do wonders for your company. It not only helps with setting specific and measurable goals, it also helps you measure them and gain powerful insights on areas of improvement.

Automation can also boost team collaboration by cascading and aligning goals across your organization. Research shows that team collaboration is one of the top skills recruiters want in their employees. So why not ensure collaboration yourself?

Automated tools also help managers deliver feedback and coach their employees so that they can become high performers over time.

4. Payroll

An automatic payroll system saves you the headache of manual calculations and paperwork. Feed the employee details into the payroll software and it will automatically keep track of their hours clocked. Moreover, software such as QuickBooks, PenSoft, and Z-pay track employee entries to calculate total earnings.

Salaries, commissions, bonuses, reimbursements, pay raises – payroll software can track everything for you. In addition, it will also make necessary tax deductions including income tax, social security, and so on.

Streamline your payroll system and free your resources for strategic goals instead!

5. Leave Requests

Leave requests aren’t as simple as they seem. Large corporations often check with multiple decision makers before granting a leave request. For workers who get paid by the hour, it can be even harder to calculate leaves.

If you use Excel to manage employee leave or time-off requests, you are wasting your precious time. Leave planning software can help you issue holiday approval automatically based on the rules of your company and employee attendance.

An automated system can help you navigate through the chaos and focus your attention on needle-moving activities in the organization.

Change is the only constant. And automation is driving change in many spheres of the business world. When it comes to HR, automation can help you focus on the things that matter and grow fast.

After all, would you rather use your resources on clerical tasks or strategic action?