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Human Resources Software Buyer's Guide
Table of Contents
- » What is HR Software?
- » What is The Definition of Human Resources?
- » Is It Worth Investing Money in Human Resource Management Software?
- » Before Choosing The Best Human Resources Software
- » How Does Business Human Resources Software Work?
- » What are The Features of Human Resources Software?
- » What are The Benefits of Human Resource Management System Software?
- » How To Choose The Best HR Management Software?
- » Questions to ask a vendor when buying HR Software
- » How Much Does HR Management Software Cost?
- » Conclusion
It is very difficult to identify ideal candidates from a mass. Hiring new candidates is no easy task. Recruitment, training, and maintenance of the workforce are one of the primary functions of any organization. However the same is not as easy as it sounds. It requires tiresome efforts and periodic analysis to take care of the complex HR process. In this regard, the Human Resource (HR) software can help a company improve HR efficiency and productivity with ease.
» What is HR Software?
HR software is a software application designed to streamline the Human Capital Management process in one database. It is also called Human Resource Information System (HRIS) or Human Resource Management System (HRMS). The target is to improve the range of HR management systems. It can take care of a lot of tasks under a single time frame. For instance, it can handle employee management and training at one end while taking care of administration tasks at the other end. Some of the major functions performed by it are performance evaluation, employee scheduling, time tracking and attendance management, recruitment and applicant tracking, learning management, payroll management, analytics, and reporting etc. The software also comes with extra integrations such as applicant tracking, corporate learning management kits, and retention mechanism.
» What is The Definition of Human Resources?
The term “human resources” makes up the entire workforce of an organization. It includes both – the people working for the company as well as the department that manages all the employees and the processes related to them. Widely referred to as HR, it is one of the most crucial pillars for the success of a business.
» Is It Worth Investing Money in Human Resource Management Software?
The HR system is the heart of any organization. If it operates smoothly, the same reflects on the year-end profit. However, it takes a lot of analysis and the right decision-making to maintain a healthy working environment. In this regard, if the software can help it streamlining better at a reduced human resources cost and productive time then definitely, it is worth investing in money.
» Before Choosing The Best Human Resources Software
Before selecting any human resources management software, you must consider these factors:
› Identify Your Needs & Consider Your Employees:
Before investing your money, and time in a human resources management software, kindly ensure if it’s worth the investment. Is your current HR system not working as per your expectation?
› Are you facing difficulties dealing with employees’ issues?
Choosing an HRM system is not only about relieving yourselves from the overbearing burden but considering the needs of your employees and executing a flawless work culture.
› Your Budget:
There are hundreds to thousands of HR software available, offering exclusive features at different subscription charges. Draft all the necessary features you need in your HR management software and select the best within your budget. You must also consider the user-friendliness of software because the whole point is to eliminate the complexity of the HR process. Go for software that is easily manageable by a technologically weak employee as well.
» How Does Business Human Resources Software Work?
The work of a human resource management system software is similar to owning an HR department. ‘People’ plays a tremendous role in company success and ensuring their performance and satisfaction is the primary job of an HR department.
HR software contains tons of features, from recruiting your workforce to managing their payroll. Whether you are a team of a small workforce or running a large organization, leading the critical aspects of employees is always burdensome, especially when things are getting done manually. The employee management software eliminates the manual handling procedure and gets them done in a matter of a few clicks.
Human resources software offers a centralized database where you can store all the information related to official personnel, policies and different procedures, eliminating the need to handle all time-consuming paperwork manually.
The database is synced with HR modules and creates a virtual platform, allowing end-users to access all information at one place. There is no need to inform the end-users regarding any minor or significant changes in the database. Whatever changes you do in the master database will be reflected instantly in all the HR modules.
With cloud-based human resource management software, you can significantly enhance the efficiency of your organization, improve productivity, reduce the time taken for all processes, and reduce data redundancy to zero.
By selecting an ultra-secure cloud-based data service provider, you can easily safeguard your data integrity from third party’s accessibility much easier by paying a fragment of cost which you are paying for an in-house data management team.
» What are The Features of Human Resources Software?
Here are some of the exclusive features Human Resources Software offers to your organization:
1. Payroll Management:
Most organizations already use a stand-alone payroll system which provides them enough facilities to carry out the work efficiently. A human resource software discards the use of an individual payroll system as it comes with a pre-integrated payroll feature of its own. With an integrated payroll system, you don’t have to spend unsurmountable time managing two applications as one application while facilitating some cost-cutting advantage as well.
A dedicated human resource management system software includes a separate payroll process enabling you to automate the payout process. It eliminates your considerable time consumption with its auto-compute tax features while ensuring statutory compliance. It also negates the need for manual reminders with its automatic reminder features, and employee self-service options take to enhance the employees’ experience in further direction.
The software flawlessly integrated with the attendance system and accounting module. As a result, you don’t have to spend hours in manual reconciliation nor do you have to take care of manual errors or any legal/financial compliant issues.
2. Employee Self-Service:
Some clerical tasks may seem mundane, but it takes a considerable amount of time for the HR staff. Tasks like maintaining personal information of employees as profile, benefits, payroll, time off now are easily manageable by the employees itself, without much involvement of the HR staff. The employee self-service feature in online HR software provides an opportunity for all employees to update their information just within a few clicks. You can also see this software as an employee management software.
Rather than knocking the door of the HR Department, your employees can retrieve their pay slip and leave balances through the self-service portal. Some apps also include a mobile version, which makes the information editing and extracting even more comfortable for the employees.
Not only does it decrease the clerical tasks, but it also provides a sense of inclusion to your employees by improving their engagement and making them feel empowered.
3. Time and Absence Management:
This feature helps in putting all the time and absence related work chaos in order. An HR employee has to work hours in manually tracking the attendance, preparing timesheets and schedules of all the employees of an organization. The auto capture feature in this app assists in capturing the timesheet entries of the workforce and feeds them in the data. It also enables your HR team to arrange the workforce scheduling with ease.
Regular leave request emails, managing them and preparing a new schedule is a painful experience, but an HR management software makes it more comfortable with its leave tracking and management features. The app seamlessly integrates with the payroll system and accounting department. All the attendance data of your employees will directly feed into the payroll and accounting department, resulting in smooth payroll management.
With robust time and absence management, you can eliminate all the possible disasters such as mishandled time-off and leave requests. From a work culture point of view, this app helps you enhance the quality of the workplace by keeping your employee satisfied.
4. Talent Management:
The process of finding, shortlisting and recruiting clients is always time-consuming and costly. Combine it with the several turnovers of the workforce; you will see how it undercuts the overall performance of your company. A Talent management feature in HR software for small businesses helps you overcome the massive cost you waste during the hiring process.
The app lets you gather resumes of qualified candidates from different sources using the resume extractor feature. You can readily trace the progress of the candidates and make the shortlisting process even faster and effective.
Small and medium scale businesses don't have to pay a substantial amount to a third-party hiring team as the software allows you to publish requisite job openings and post them in all major job portals across the internet.
5. Training:
Proper training of your new employees determines the results they bring in the future. While some training requires the mandatory presence of a training professional, some minor training modules are taken care of by the HR software.
You can upload some training videos, company’s guideline, and rules, etc. on your employee portal page. With information available at hand, your new employees don’t have to depend upon a Trainer for every small information.
» What are The Benefits of Human Resource Management System Software?
› Employee retention:
HR systems software helps you engage and retain your manpower effectively. It is not an easy task as it requires a perfect balance between your company culture, remuneration and incentive. While 57 percent of companies face problems in employee retention, 79% of companies believe that they would face this problem forever. HR software can help you by keeping a track on the essentials to make sure employees get what they deserve.
› Hassle-free recruitment process:
HR software can help you speed up your recruitment process by helping you with automatic processes like application storage, resume sorting, and applicant contact information mining. As everything goes in an automatic manner with little interference required from the HR side, the results come out to be error-free.
› Effective workforce management:
The software will handle spreadsheets and email with ease thereby removing any chance of miscommunication. All HR related operations are carried away through a single software surcharge assigning the task, making periodic follow-ups, or rewarding any ideal participant.
› Unlimited file sharing:
As there will be a dedicated communication panel, one can follow recent updates easily and can share ideas with others thereby catering towards an enhanced mutual collaboration. Anyone can access the working materials through a common database. The files can be searched from any device. It enables users to share unlimited files between them.
» How To Choose The Best HR Management Software?
There are a number of factors that one needs to consider before selecting any HR management software.
› Working in line with standards:
While selecting an HR management software make sure it is an organized platform that will never cause any serious problem with concerned authorities. Simply it means that the software will work in line with labor laws and Tax standards. It should be able to create reports that you can use to obedient your activities.
› Customization and scalability:
The flexibility of the software is another important factor that needs to be considered. You should choose the software from which you can customize your own working process. This is particularly important for carrying out evaluation and recruitment. Software should be able to grow in parallel with your main force.
› Ease of use:
It is important to observe your HR system as a front and backend service. It should not interfere in your decision process relating to your employees. Moreover, anybody would be able to use it without the need for any hard training.
› Pocket-friendly price:
Though it is a common trend that best features can be found only in premium subscriptions, it is also true that you can find quality HR systems for free. You always make sure that you are investing in software that is worth money.
› Integration:
When we are talking about software, connectivity matters, but if it is an HR app, it is simply indispensable. First, you should make a list of software associated with each system you are considering. Second, analyze whether the new tool can easily fit into the same infrastructure or not. It is also desirable to get an open API system and to connect it to all the usable apps.
» Questions to ask a vendor when buying HR Software
1. Does your human resource software work across platforms?
2. Is the solution an ideal fit for my company size and industry?
3. How does it fare in terms of user-friendliness?
4. Can the software help me manage all kinds of employees – remote workers, freelancers, contractors, and consultants?
5. What would happen if an employee leaves?
6. What steps do you take to shield the employee information and company data?
7. Does the software offer effortless compliance?
8. What kind of reports can the software help generate?
9. Does the software provide detailed analysis and trends?
10. Which third-party tools can I integrate with this solution?
11. Is it a comprehensive system, or will it require merging with other HRMS tools?
12. Can I deploy it on-premise, or is it a cloud-based solution?
13. Which features can I customize?
14. What is the process of implementation? How long would it take?
15. What would happen during upgrades and new releases?
16. What technical support and regular maintenance can I expect after the purchase?
17. Are there ongoing expenses for maintenance?
18. Is the system mobile compatible?
19. How is your solution different from other software out there?
20. Is the system scalable enough to accommodate our growing needs in the future?
21. Who would train our team? What would be the learning curve?
22. Will there be any downtime?
» How Much Does HR Management Software Cost?
Depending upon the features and HR software packages, the pricing of the HR management software may vary from $0.83 to $4.16 per employee per month.
» Conclusion
The software helps you to engage and retain your employees effectively. It helps to maintain a balance between your company culture, remuneration, and incentives. It also makes sure that employees get what they deserve. Instead of going for a paid subscription it is better to go for a free trial to judge the effectiveness of the software. Take as much time as you want before selecting any HR software as it would streamline your workforce in the long run.