Understanding the Benefits of an HRIS System

If you’re asking yourself why your organization needs an HRIS, consider the three Cs: Convenience, Compliance, and Coordination. The ultimate goal of an HRIS is to make life simpler for both the employer and the employee. Rather than storing employee information on excel sheets (or worse – on paper!) an HRIS can conveniently store critical employee and company information in a single location, allowing for easy and secure access. It can also provide self service options, allowing employees to quickly access and update their own information, without having to go through HR. This can greatly enhance the employee experience, and ensure employees have agency over their data.

HRIS systems also offer protection when it comes to compliance management. In addition to securely storing documents and employee data, HRIS systems can help distribute required notices, maintain time tracking to remain compliant with required wage and overtime laws, tax compliance, and more. When used correctly, an HRIS also offers an audit trail, demonstrating when employee data was changed or amended. Finally, the advanced reporting and analytics HRIS offer can provide insights into potential compliance issues before they become a bigger problem.

Perhaps the most underrated benefit of an HRIS is its ability to coordinate across other systems. For example, when an employee makes a change to their existing data (i.e. a name change, or address change), the HRIS will automatically update that data within other critical areas such as payroll and benefits. Most HRIS offer integrations with existing payroll systems (or have an active payroll module!), benefits vendors, and retirement plan providers. This coordination provides a level of automation that removes the risk of human error, and ensures the employee has agency over their data, as well as accountability for updating it.

 

Choosing the Right HRIS for Your Business

The HRIS landscape has evolved to include numerous providers, offering a lot of variety, and sometimes a bit of confusion. When considering the right HRIS for your team, begin by understanding your current needs, as well as your future needs. Most HRIS systems are highly customizable, allowing them to support your business as it grows. This is also important when you consider your available budget. Knowing what you need now can ensure you purchase the right subscription package to meet your current needs – but be sure you understand what modules you can activate when the time comes, and the costs associated with doing so.

As you begin to evaluate your options, consider assembling a small team to be a part of the process. These team members should be the people who will interact with the system most often. For example, this might include a member of your HR team, a member of your finance team, an IT team member, and perhaps a manager or leader who will use the system frequently. Invite these team members to the vendor demonstrations of each system to get a full picture of what each offer – and what they don’t. Each team member might come with specific criteria they’re responsible for evaluating, scoring each vendor across the same metrics.

Once a decision is made, understand what the implementation timeline will look like, ensuring you have the capacity to make this important transition.

 

Implementing your New HRIS

Implementation will vary depending on your starting point. If you are migrating paper data or data previously kept in spreadsheets to a brand new system, this will likely require more manual labor, meaning more time. If you’re moving from one HRIS system to another, many vendors will offer migration services that will make this process much easier.

Once the system has your data, it will be important to test, test, and test some more. Identify users who can test different scenarios that your HRIS will be expected to handle (for example: benefits enrollment, new hire onboarding, or payroll processing). Your vendor will support you through this process, but remember that your internal team knows how you need your system to work. Relying on internal users for testing and feedback can be the difference between a successful roll-out and one that falls flat.

Once your system is rolled out, ensure your users are trained in how to properly use it. For example, if your team members are used to submitting information to HR and now will be expected to utilize self-service, provide updated policy and procedure documents to employees. Give them a step-by-step tutorial, and ensure you have resources available to help when needed.

 

Maximizing the Potential of your HRIS System

The potential of an HRIS system to enhance the employee experience is endless. Some exciting ways to utilize your HRIS are:

• Recognition and Rewards: Companies can use their HRIS to streamline employee recognition. Many HRIS offer integrations with recognition software, but at minimum, they can help organizations access and organize data critical to a recognition program. For example, an HRIS can pull reports on employee birthdays and anniversaries allowing you to celebrate important employee milestones. HRIS systems can also enable the delivery of real-time feedback, allowing managers and colleagues alike to promptly call-out successes and wins.
• Support the “Work from Anywhere” approach: Organizations who are not limited to hiring within a specific geographic area can benefit greatly from an HRIS. An HRIS can allow a business to onboard employees remotely, facilitate the digital collection of important employee paperwork, all while maintaining compliance.
• Improved Talent Acquisition: It is not only employees who stand to benefit from an effective HRIS. The candidate experience can be greatly improved with HRIS functionality, allowing a company to support the entire candidate lifecycle in one system. Many HRIS offer talent acquisition solutions, which can support the candidate from resume submission through offer and onboarding. A seamless candidate experience offers a powerful first impression for the future of your workforce.

 

Our digital world requires tech-driven solutions for workforce management, and it is high time for businesses of all sizes to reap the benefits of evolving HR technology. Not only automating but enhancing key business processes with HRIS is critical to taking your business to the next level.

Check out our webinar on demand Navigating Various HRIS Systems within the Tech Landscape to learn more about:

• The core components and capabilities of different HRIS platforms
• Navigating a typical HRIS dashboard’s key features
• How to optimize and integrate administrative tasks
• How to identify and prioritize various modules and functions
• Tips and tricks for locating essential information in a new system

Not prepared to go it alone? Flex HR can provide expert guidance and support as you navigate the world of HRIS. Learn more today!