Top 10 Benefits of Using a Human Resource Information System
Human resource-related operations require long hours in the office and are quite stressful, especially if the ratio of HR professionals to employees is not appropriate. But the good news is, you can use a Human Resource Information System, Human Resource Management System or Human Capital Management System (HRIS / HRMS / HCM) to help you manage and streamline these processes for your company. Here, we have enumerated ten benefits for using a Human Resource Information System or HRIS / HRMS / HCM.
1. Faster Recruitment Process
An effective HRIS / HRMS / HCM solution allows the employer to easily announce job openings to different pools of applicants. Certain standards and preferences for each applicant can also be entered into the system for faster and high-quality recruitment selection, helping the employer to easily find the best fit for each vacant role.
2. Higher Efficiency and Bigger Savings
Investing in a good HRIS / HRMS / HCM is highly recommended for companies because it can really help you save tons of money annually. On average, one HR staff is required for managing 100 employees. With the help of a Human Resource Management System, this ratio could improve to 150 employees or even more. It will also take less time to process attendance, payroll, and to generate bank files and government reports, time which could be spent towards more productive tasks for the company. Just imagine the money that you could be saving from maximizing your manpower – less expense on salary, benefits, and other employee retention-related costs.
3. Easier Access to Relevant Information
Manually keeping documents, employee information, and other confidential data on spreadsheets is not that easy, especially if the HR professional is not quite organized. A central HR system allows the employees to review their documents if needed, and as well as to keep them private. Through the system, the employer can also limit the information that each employee could see for security and privacy purposes.
4. Less Errors in Payroll and Other Crucial Tasks
HR professionals, like any other person, unwantedly commit errors from time to time. Automating critical tasks such as giving salaries, deducting income tax, issuing a certificate of employment, etc. can help minimize errors and even avoid mistakes that could cause conflict in the workplace.
5. Legal Risk Alleviation
HR systems nowadays are programmed with a read and accept option which offers a paper trail that proves that an employee has received a policy or message from the employer and that he/she has agreed with or has accepted the content of the message or policy. This can help prevent legal risks and cases related to employees’ ignorance of a certain policy or message.
6. Faster Recovery during Disaster & Emergencies
Business continuity is essential in a company, especially for businesses that keep confidential and critical information about their clients. How would you recover important files compiled in a cabinet in case of fire, flooding or natural disaster if the files have no software counterpart? One of the best business continuity strategies is to use an HRIS / HRMS / HCM to still have access to documents and other information needed to sustain the business.
7. Accurate Data Analysis
A good Human Resource Information System will keep all information in an organized manner. Information such as overtime pay per department, training cost per employee, and pay spent per department, This allows you to easily generate reports and analytical charts that will help management make informed key decisions about the company. With the HRIS / HRMS / HCM System, you can see HR systems have automated features that are perfect for data input, gathering and analysis. For example, it’s easier for the management to track annual top sales performers in a real estate company and determine how they became on top by looking at the number of their clients, the properties they have sold, their commissions, and the sales platforms they are using to get a sale.
8. Empowered Employees
One of the earliest and most noticeable benefits of using an HRIS / HRMS / HCM is the decrease of HR-related inquiries from employees. The time-consuming administrative work of HR professionals will be minimized, since most of the information and data that employees need are already available through the Employee Self-Service Portal that a good HRIS / HRMS / HCM will provide. HR professionals could then focus more time on researching on recruitment trends, improving the available company policies, finding ways to increase the retention rate of employees, and on other tasks that could have a greater impact on the company.
9. Automated Reminders
There are numerous HR activities, deadlines and requirements that need to be addressed every month if not every day – and whether we admit it or not, there’s a chance that some of these deadlines or tasks might be overlooked due to HR professionals with very busy schedules, or simply due to the huge amount of data and number of employees that need to be dealt with. The good thing is, an effective Human Resource Information System can automatically remind both HR professionals and employees about relevant events or company deadlines such as expiring contracts, employees due for regularization, government reporting deadlines, administrative hearings, employees due for appraisal, and so on. With the implementation of a good Human Resource Information System, never forget a task or deadline again.
10. Stronger Information Security
Confidential information such as pay slips, salary rates, family background and other employee personal information require a high level of security to prevent unauthorized access, especially with the Data Privacy Act. A good HRIS / HRMS / HCM helps increase the level of security for specific data by incorporating strong passwords and limiting the HRIS / HRMS / HCM user’s access to data based on the person’s role.
Have you invested on a good Human Resource Information System, Human Resource Management System or Human Capital Management System? If your HR processes are still done manually, maybe it’s time to consider upgrading to a HRIS / HRMS / HCM to enjoy the ten benefits enumerated above.