How HR Technology Can Transform Your Business

HR technology is any tool that improves the employee-employer relationship, makes people’s working lives better, reduces overheads for organisations … and that can ultimately transform your business!

The right HR technology can free HR teams from many of their daily administrative tasks, allowing more time to focus on employee wellbeing, and help managers identify and retain top talent.

74% of businesses surveyed by the HSRM Foundation say that they’ll be increasing their use of digital HR tools in 2022, thanks to the savings and productivity opportunities offered.

HR technology can help streamline the way teams work in 4 key areas:

1. Recruitment of new talent
2. Onboarding new team members
3. Employee wellbeing
4. Workforce and workflow management

In this article, we’ll take a look at how technology can streamline the recruitment process, improve the onboarding of new employees, and monitor the wellbeing and happiness of employees.

Recruitment

PwC HR Technology’s Survey found that 58% of businesses are using HR technology to find, attract and retain talent in 2022. These types of tools can help your company sharpen its hiring process and make sure you’re recruiting the right people for the right positions.

The average job opening may attract 250 résumés and looking through each application can take days, but you can streamline the search with the right HR technology.

Automated job aggregator tools make it easy to grow your talent pipeline. Aggregator tools are:

• Job portals
• Candidate Relationship Management platforms (CRMs)
• Placement agencies
• Social media

This kind of software ultimately helps provide a more positive experience for the candidate too,  by reducing the time it takes to go from application to interview. Many aggregator tools even have technology features that allow for real-time offers and one-click offer acceptances.

Onboarding

Ensuring a smooth onboarding process for new hires helps them get settled into their new roles quicker and creates a great first impression of your company. On a more personal level, a supportive introduction will make new employees feel valued simply by being part of the team, and so appreciated from day one — or even before.

Collating all onboarding documents and training resources in one cloud-based system creates a single source of truth; a place where new employees can go to find quick answers to routine questions. You can store this information in cloud-based platforms like Google Drive.

Instead of spending most of their first day on the job filling out paperwork, your new employees can focus on getting to know their employees, start building good relationships with colleagues and customers whilst also spending time familiarising themselves with company policies. This also frees up time to:

• Look over client accounts and handover notes from previous employees.
• Set up email and other company accounts.
• Log into messaging services to start meeting their teammates and learn about their role right away.
• If working from home, it allows time to log into messaging services to meet their teammates right away.
• Care home workers, hospital attendants and health centre employees can use digital onboarding to familiarise with policies, regulations and patient documents from day 1.

Employee wellbeing

Using technology isn’t all about automation or saving money and time — in fact, 57% of HR teams are using technology to improve their employee experience and wellbeing.

Technology, for many, is a means of connecting socially to peers. Employers can take advantage of this association and apply it to the workplace to encourage healthier lifestyle choices.

Creating a digital support network can help colleagues share their progress, exchange health tips and ask questions. Adding this social element can help raise morale and provide motivation.

More time to make positive change

XpertHR’s HR Roles and Responsibilities survey found that 20% of HR’s time goes to administrative tasks, putting the wellbeing of employees further down their list of priorities.

Spending less time on administrative tasks allows you to focus on making positive changes in your organisation. Start allocating the time saved to engaging with employees to see how they feel in the workplace. Once you know how they feel, you can prioritise making changes that matter most to them.

You can collect this information through digital HR platforms and by asking simple questions, such as:

• How is your workload?
• Do you feel supported by your line manager?
• Do you have opportunities to develop your skills?
• How can HR help create a healthy working atmosphere?
• Is there anything HR can do to help you feel more fulfilled at work?

Workflows

Daily workflow management tools

Improving workflow means ensuring that every job is done well and to a deadline. Improving the workflow with HR technology will boost employee productivity by:

• Automating daily timesheets and expenses requests.
• Creating calendars that are accessible by employees, HR, and both account and project managers.
• Assigning tasks and categorising them by job role, time allowance and urgency.
• Monitoring the progress of tasks.

HR digital tools

The right tools help automate repetitive tasks, giving HR teams more time to focus on checking in with employees and monitoring their happiness at work.

The following tasks can be automated:

• Annual leave and sickness.
• HR document storage.
• Employee contracts.
• Shift and rota monitoring.
• Learning & Development trackers.

Keeping all information about accrued holidays, payslips and contracts in one digital system lets employees keep track of their own information, nurturing a feeling of mutual trust between employee and manager.

Requesting holidays through online platforms is far quicker than going through paper-based procedures — for both employee and employer. Requests can be submitted and approved within hours.

Holidays will also appear on a department-wide calendar so that everyone is aware of absences. Being kept in-the-loop means projects are less likely to break down or be held up when someone goes on holiday.

Transform your business with Trickle

Start your journey toward digital transformation with Trickle. Our functions help bring teams together to not only strengthen morale but make sure employees feel listened to, supported and respected as you start introducing more technology.

Some employees may worry that their role will be replaced by technology, so communication is key in making sure they know that their work is still valued and essential.

Trickle can enhance this communication through its Activity Feed, which is your place to have open and fun group conversations, share important announcements and encourage discourse.

Flares let employees anonymously flag any issues they’re experiencing as technology is introduced.

Our MoodSense feature also lets you gauge employee feelings in real-time, helping you identify whether new structures are helping or hindering your employees’ wellbeing and motivation. Asking employees how they are is the first step in making positive change that will benefit them long term.

You can now try Trickle FREE for 28 days, with instant access.