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8 benefits of HR automation for small businesses

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5 min read

Are you a small business owner thinking about how to make your HR tasks more efficient? Do you know the impact HR automation could have on your team’s productivity? In today’s fast-moving business environment, finding ways to simplify your HR workload keeps you ahead of your competition.

We will dive into the key benefits of HR automation and how it can elevate your small business’s efficiency, productivity, and more. You’ll discover how automating HR tasks can cut down on time-consuming activities, save money, and free up your resources for strategic growth. 

Whether you’re just starting to explore this concept or looking to expand your knowledge, this guide is packed with insights that will keep you hooked till the end. Let’s take a look at 15 real advantages HR automation has for small businesses. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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What is HR automation?

Human resources automation (HR automation) is when organizations utilize software to digitalize and automate their time-consuming tasks such as onboarding and performance reviews. This saves HR managers time, effort, and ultimately allows them to focus on growing their team and company. For small businesses or HR teams of one, HR automation is particularly advantageous as it reduces the amount of paperwork and manual filing required. 

Although, adopting HR automation does require a small commitment to learning and integrating the technology, the benefits far outweigh the initial investment. Let’s explore the key advantages of HR automation.

8 Benefits of HR Automation

HR automation is a game-changer for small businesses. Luckily, there are great HR automation tools that address all sorts of concerns. Imagine not having to manually enter every bit of data every time an employee clocks-in. Utilizing HR software can drastically enhance your HR processes and automate tasks like payroll and time tracking. This means more time to focus on what really matters, growing your business and employees. 

Benefits of HR automation include:

  1. Greater data visibility: You’ll be able to make data-driven decisions to support your team and grow your business. For instance, you own a restaurant and need to hire seasonal workers for your peak months. You can gain visibility into specifics like the busiest day of the week or what are the peak hours of each day. Your HR software can provide you with this information so you can make informed decisions on what’s best for your team and company.
  2. Enhances employee experience: Your HR team has less admin tasks and more time to focus on creating a positive workplace. In addition, HR automation tools give employees more visibility of their schedules, PTO requests, and even shifts. Implementing HR software in your company helps both your HR professionals and your employees have transparency over work related information.
  3. Eliminate manual recordkeeping: For instance, recordkeeping timesheets or tracking hours manually on excel is something of the past. With HR automation, your team will now be able to eliminate manually recording and filing away important documents. The system records essential information, such as employee clock-in and clock-out times, digitally and securely stores it automatically for future reference.
  4. Reduce paper processing costs: Not only does this save your company money, but it is also an environmentally friendly practice to store digitalized documents. Moreover, HR software avoids unnecessary expenses and centralizes all employee and company information.
  5. Enhances productivity: HR admin work revolves around documentation, but with HR automation tools these tedious processes are streamlined. Essentially, HR tools simplify the processes and allow HR professionals to concentrate on other tasks.
  6. Error reduction: Completing documents and paperwork manually leaves room for errors. Utilizing HR software can reduce errors and ensure your business remains compliant with local regulations.
  7. Reduced employee turnover: Exceptional employee experiences increases employee satisfaction and in turn, reduces turnover. HR automation supports HR professionals complete their work timely and efficiently without being overwhelmed. Sequentially, HR managers have more time to enhance the employee experience in the workplace.
  8. Assured compliance: HR automation software offers a level of security that may be mandated by your governing body. Additionally, your company or employees may need to complete specific training programs to remain compliant. HR automation tools can assist by notifying HR managers before these certifications or training requirements expire.

Ultimately, HR automation gives you better insights into your workforce to make well-informed decisions. These insights help you understand what best practices your company should be implementing to grow your business and team. Furthermore, you can easily identify trends and pinpoint any areas needing improvement.

The benefits of HR automation are clear: more efficiency, better accuracy, and huge time savings. By automating these processes, your small business can run more smoothly, setting the stage for growth and success.

HR Automation examples

If you’ve never automated your HR processes before, you might wonder what tasks you can automate.

Here are some examples of HR processes you can automate:

  • Simplified recruitment process: Finding your best candidate is quicker and easier with HR automation. The recruitment funnel can be automated with HR software which saves you time and helps you hire top talent faster.
  • Digital onboarding process: Gather all necessary documents from your new hires in order to provide them a smooth transition and welcome to the team. Moreover, send them the necessary trainings, like data and security policies, all of which can be reviewed remotely online from anywhere.
  • Streamline PTO and leave requests: Approve/deny all leaves (sick, paid time off, etc.) from one platform. For even greater visibility, sync employee leaves to your team calendar to visualize who is off in each team and which department needs more support.
  • Conduct performance reviews: HR software tools allow managers to pre-select performance review questions from a template or customize them to provide productive and unbiased feedback. These tools also centralize employee performance records, giving managers easy access to understand each employee’s full journey at the company. Even come up with a PIP (performance improvement plan) if needed.
  • Payroll: HR professionals can automate paychecks, benefit enrollment, and increase in employee salary with HR software. In addition, these tools are designed to ensure companies stay compliant to payroll regulations and employee wages

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Key features for HR automation tools

Not sure where to start when it comes to HR automation tools? Key features to keep an eye out for are:

  • Desktop and app: Ensure that they platform you choose is compatible for your managers and employees. Some platforms offer both a desktop and app version, which makes them very convenient for both managers and employees alike. For instance, employees can easily clock in and out directly from their phones, especially if their workplace does not provide access to a desktop.
  • Employee self-service tools: Employee profiles allow your team to access important documents and make essential requests such as time off, expenses for projects, etc.
  • Reports and data analytics: HR software that generates reports and analytics based on your data is crucial to make informed decisions.
  • Time tracking tools: Look for HR software that allows employees to clock-in/out from any location, automates shift scheduling for managers, and calculates leave balances. This minimizes human error and enables HR teams to focus on ensuring smooth workflows, rather than scheduling and tracking timesheets.
  • Performance evaluations: Companies that conduct performance reviews need an HR automation tool that will assist in the review as well as collect feedback or any other valuable information.
  • Recruitment/ATS: Attracting top talent can be time-consuming. When utilizing HR software tools, ensure your platform streamlines the process of hiring a candidate so you can make an offer and onboard the best match as quickly as possible.

HR Automation tools for small businesses

In this article, you’ve discovered the incredible benefits of HR automation for small businesses and key features to look for. As you know, automating HR tasks boosts productivity, streamlines your workload, and makes your business run smoother. Here is a small list of HR automation tools that could help enhance your business:

  • Factorial: An all-in-one business management tool to simplify and automate all tasks like recruitment, performance reviews, and more. Factorial supports multiple languages and currencies, making it ideal for growing businesses with international offices or employees. This user-friendly platform is highly praised by both managers and employees.
  • ZohoPeople: A customizable HR software that allows for more flexibility and personalization.
  • Rippling: A robust HR platform that automates payroll, IT management, and simple HR tasks.
  • HiBob: A user-friendly, simple platform to reduce the amount of manual work your HR team does. It offers customization and works well with international companies.

Embrace automation and let your HR team focus on building a strong and thriving work environment. The benefits of utilizing an HR automation tool are too good to pass up and can lead to many opportunities of growth for your company. 

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