How to Streamline Human Resources Processes and Increase Employee Engagement?

HR automation is essential for today’s overwhelmed HR teams. A survey of 200 UK HR professionals cited in The HR Director found that 94% face burnout, 47% struggle to remain motivated and focused, and 39% feel exhausted most of the time. Moreover, 59% have seen an increase in employee burnout in the last six months. Furthermore, 26% have a limited understanding of how to handle staff burnout and 17% don’t know when to refer employees to mental health professionals. An overload of work is a major factor behind this exhaustion (32%), which hinders HR staff’s ability to effectively engage with employees. Therefore, companies should prioritize automating their HR processes.

Installing HR automation systems is crucial for this reason. The time-consuming administrative chores that add to the enormous workload of HR teams and keep them from working on value-driven projects are greatly reduced by HR automation. Let’s examine human resources automation in more detail.

How does HR automation work?

By doing a lot of the labor-intensive duties for HR departments, HR automation software eliminates the time-consuming, repetitive tasks that are suffocating them.

Typically, automation tools have the following features:

• Digital forms capture data in an understandable format and do away with paper forms.
• Events that act as triggers to start a chain of events. An SLA deadline is approaching, for instance, and a trigger may provide automatic notifications and warnings as the state changes.
• Workflow automation simplifies manual HR procedures like timekeeping, payroll computations, expense reporting, and any other HR operations that would normally need manual labor.

What advantages does HR automation offer?

A significant advantage of automating HR operations is minimizing time-consuming chores to reduce HR employee burnout. So we may cross that off our list of important advantages.

Installing automation tools can benefit your HR department far more. Here are some of our favorites:

More time for projects that are driven by value

HR automation software can take care of tedious tasks, freeing up HR departments to focus on projects that require creative, strategic, and empathetic thinking. These processes – such as recruitment, onboarding, experience initiatives, and training – have a direct impact on employee satisfaction and engagement. For instance, 69% of new employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they have excellent onboarding experience. By allocating more time to value-driven tasks, HR departments can boost employee satisfaction.

Minimize Human Error

HR team members, no matter how diligent, are prone to mistakes, especially when dealing with multiple manual tasks. Mistakes concerning employee data or payroll processing can have serious consequences. HR automation software helps reduce errors by eliminating the need for manual data entry. It pulls relevant information from intranet software and third-party systems into the correct form fields. Smart features like payroll calculation can also automatically calculate totals for tax forms, expense claims, and employee benefits, saving time and effort.

Increases Employee Autonomy

HR automation systems benefit more than just HR departments. All team members, from senior management to frontline workers, can save time and streamline complex tasks with automation software. Additionally, it enables staff autonomy by providing self-service tools for leave requests, expense claims, and employee data updates, eliminating the need for HR teams to do it all. This promotes employee engagement by demonstrating trust and respect for employees to manage their own time and tasks. It increases productivity, motivation, and work-life balance while giving staff the freedom to complete tasks on their own terms.

A demonstration of HR automation

HR automation can streamline your HR processes. The return to work process is a great example of how automation tools can improve workflow and increase employee engagement. It is important to handle this process sensitively and confidentially, while also consulting the returning team member throughout.

It facilitates HR processes that meet all requirements. For example, managers can create a digital “return to work” form and use it for conversations with returning team members, recording details as they go. In this way, HR automation enables managers to support their staff during transitions while safely storing confidential data.