If there's one thing we've learned from the pandemic, home office, hybrid office and the new normal, it's that having a good HR system is important. Because how do you follow up on employees in different locations (who you may even rarely see), and how do you ensure that they thrive, develop and choose to stay with you, in a labor market that is increasingly challenging and where the battle for the best minds is harder than ever?
Having a good HR system allows you to drive effective HR management of all your HR processes, but no matter how good your HR system is; implementation is just the start of your exciting HR journey. To truly realize the full potential and reap the rewards, you need to utilize your HR system to the fullest.
- which is what we all want, right?
In this article, we will give you our top six tips that will help you realize potential gains from your HR system. When you apply these tips, you will both streamline your work processes and free up time for your HR employees. This way, they can focus on strategic tasks and accelerate productivity.
Whether you already have a HR system in place or are planning to implement one, we hope these tips will give you valuable insights and help you improve the management of HR in your organization.
Tip 1 Choose the right HR system
Having a HR system is obviously a good start - but have you chosen the right system? When choosing a HR system, remember to consider your company's needs and size. Where you are and where you are going. We would definitely recommend that you choose a system that meets your needs today, but also in the future. Do you have growth plans? Are you entering new markets? This is important to take into account.
In addition to scalability, we recommend that you consider a system that covers all HR processes, i.e. a fully integrated system that covers everything within HR, from A to Z. Choosing such a solution will save you time, money and, not least, frustration when it comes to integrations. Recruitment, talent management, training and development, performance management, compensation, and much more. When you choose a fully integrated system, you get access to everything you need to manage the entire employee journey, from hire to exit.
Tip 2: Customize the system to your business needs
One HR system is not the same as another HR system, and what works for your neighboring company may not necessarily work for you. Once you have found your preferred system, it is important that it is adapted to your company's processes. Choose an implementation partner with experience in your market, someone who is able to understand your processes and who can help you get a HR system that is adapted to your business both today and in the future.
Tip 3: Don't underestimate training and support
Let's say you've put in place the HR system that suits your company perfectly - in fact, it fits like a glove. Your HR system has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for both HR, managers and employees to use the system, and of course it is easy to navigate and possible to customize the user experience to individual preferences.
At this point, it's important to get the whole organization on board, and excellent training and support should be at the top of your agenda.
Once training is complete and the system is up and running, it's important that you attach a support organization that can not only fix bugs, but show you new capabilities in your system.
Tip 4: Leverage reports and analytics
You now have a really good HR system in place, it's adapted to your company's processes and the training has been completed. Great! The next step is now to use the system for what it should be used for. Obviously, you use it to cover all the steps in the employee journey, but it's just as important to remember reporting and analytics.
You now have all the information in a common system, and the ability to produce good reports should definitely be in place. The right use of reports will give you valuable insight - insight that can be used as a basis for major and minor business decisions.
Reports and analytics will help you gain full insight into your HR data, evaluate your employees' performance, identify trends and pinpoint areas for improvement. You can create customized reports, monitor key performance indicators and gain valuable insights. When you use reports and analytics, you give your HR department the tools they need to improve their work processes and increase the efficiency and quality of their work.
Tip 5: Leverage opportunities in automation and workflows
Having all your data in a single system gives you excellent opportunities in terms of both workflow and automation. With one common system, you only need to enter information once. This reduces manual errors while increasing data quality and efficiency.
Good and correct use of workflow and automation will also make the everyday lives of both managers and HR easier. When a manager starts (for example) a recruitment process, a well-defined workflow will move the task over to HR, which advertises the position and calls for an interview. When the right candidate is selected and the contract is signed, a workflow can automatically initiate the onboarding process, where some tasks are assigned to managers, but other tasks are assigned to HR. Sounds good, right?
Tip 6: Remember security and data protection
Our final tip for you is about security and data protection. When you work with HR, you work with people and data. This data is sensitive and must be treated with respect. Of course, you need to ensure compliance with GDPR, but you also need to make sure that your employees feel confident that you are managing their data with discretion and respect.
The way forward
Sariba was founded in 2000 and this year marks its 23rd anniversary. We are, of course, very proud of that. We can honestly say that over the past two decades we have gained valuable in-depth and broad experience in the HR field. We have been part of the entire digitization journey and therefore know the challenges this has presented, as well as the enormous benefits that those who have participated in the journey have reaped.
Want to know more about HR systems and how Sariba can help you?