Automate human resources management

Human resources management is a high value-added activity within a company, in that people, i.e. employees, are at the heart of its mission. As the lifeblood of a company, employees are also at the heart of an unprecedented war for talent. 

Thus, good management of the men and women who make up a company is crucial. It is a source of performance, profitability, innovation and competitiveness, but also of motivation, loyalty and favourable working conditions.

However, the HR department is often overwhelmed by a series of purely administrative tasks which, although essential, add little human value. As well as wasting time, these activities distract HR administrators from the human element.

However, there are simple solutions to automate these recurring HR tasks that do not necessarily require human intervention. In addition, this automation helps to ensure compliance with legal and contractual requirements, by avoiding certain errors. 

The benefits of automating your human resources management

Employment declarations, drawing up and sending pay slips, processing paid leave, sick leave or temporary leave, managing medical check-ups or absences, etc. are all tasks that require management time on a daily basis.

However, these tasks are not in themselves complex, as they mainly involve collecting information that needs to be entered into the IT system so that it can be processed later. In addition, some of this information comes from other services (from the manager, for example), who record the information and then pass it on to the HR service. The work is therefore done twice.

It is therefore clear that the primary benefit of automating part of HR management is to save time and increase the productivity of the various players involved, since certain tasks will no longer have to be handled manually.

Better still, it is possible to automate entire processes, not just single tasks. By setting up a series of rules, actions or tasks to be carried out automatically (known as a workflow), the process can 'run itself'. In this way, the steps follow one after the other, limiting human intervention (except for certain validations).

As well as saving time for the HR team in the day-to-day management of processes, this automation is also a guarantee of security, as it makes it possible to:

• avoid oversights or human errors;
• ensure process compliance (mandatory documents, deadlines, timely reminders, etc.) ;
• benefit from effective monitoring tools, with the integration of activity monitoring indicators (for example, a study of staff turnover or absenteeism trends to measure well-being in the workplace).

As a result, HR teams are freer to focus on their core business.

HR tasks or processes to automate

Reading the above, one can only dream of the possibilities offered by automation. However, it is not always easy to imagine what this might mean in practice, on the field.

And yet, many HR management tasks can be automated, particularly when it comes to monitoring employee files, from the moment they join the company until they leave.

• Employee integration on arrival (otherwise known as onboarding): management of legal formalities (employment contract, declaration of employment, medical check-up), management of accreditations, authorisations, access, creation of a professional e-mail address, etc.
• Time and absence management: leave requests, sick leave, medical leave, compulsory declarations to social security organisations, etc.
• Updating employee files: change of address, telephone number or job title, etc.
• Monitoring employees: annual appraisal interviews or professional interviews, training, career development, transfers, etc.
• Sending variable payroll elements (hours worked, absences, etc.) to the payroll management system.

HR managers can set up all these tasks so that new employees automatically receive their "start-up kit" and are informed of the various stages of their integration by email or on a dedicated platform.

The approval process is also quicker, as each party involved can sign documents or approve a procedure directly online. Document collection and integration into the system are also automatic.

Processes are therefore faster and more efficient, and encourage collaboration, accountability and communication between HR, managers and employees, since everyone is involved in these processes.

Finally, the HR service can also set up alerts to notify them when a document is due or when a particular task needs to be completed.