10 Things HR Departments Can Automate with Workflow Management
Mike Raia
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While Human Resources has evolved beyond being simply an administrative/policy enforcement department, HR pros still regularly manage requests through emails, forms, and phone calls each day.
To the average employee, it may seem that “shooting over a simple email request to HR” is a pretty simple thing, but if they were to multiply their request by the number of employees in the company and add it to the fact that HR staff is already in the middle of countless projects when their request shows up they would get a sense of how requests can quickly start to stack up.
This disconnect is why often the HR managers and executives proactively seek out tools that will automate workflow for human resources. They want to make sure that:
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Employees get what they need quickly and accurately with a personal approach.
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Employee communication channels are open, and transparency goals are met.
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HR staff is more productive.
In HR, workflow automation ultimately means that HR can service employee needs while ensuring they can still focus on the higher-level HR goals and projects that can’t be automated.
Here are ten processes that can be automated with workflow management.
Employee Onboarding
Walk new employees through a consistent, accurate onboarding experience. Collect employee information quickly with online forms. Notify relevant departments (IT, operations, finance, etc.) when they need to take action. Email key information at the right time. Bring your specific onboarding steps into the workflow easily. We have an eBook all about this.
Employee Offboarding
As we’ve recently discussed, handling employee offboarding with a manual, inconsistent process can lead to a host of issues. Make sure that critical steps in separating an employee from the organization are handled expediently and properly. More on automating the employee offboarding process.
Performance Reviews
Replace Word docs and paper-based tools with an online, automated performance review process including key approval and review touchpoints. Ensure consistency throughout the entire organization and give employees insight into where they are in the process and what’s next. We have a performance review process app already built for customers to download.
Travel Requests
Instead of a series of back and forth emails between employees, supervisors, HR, and Finance, provide employees with a simple form that gathers proper approvals and routes information where it needs to go, whether to an individual or a system of record. By the way, if you’re looking to reduce travel expenses, check out our blog post.
Leave Requests
Ensure accurate capture of approvals and dates related to employee leave requests, with complete, traceable documentation for compliance. Check out our “Request for Paid Time Off” process app.
Employee Status Change
Make it easy for managers to submit changes to their employees’ status. Route changes to required approvers and payroll for processing. Eliminate “surprise promotion” and keep all stakeholders on the same page. Access rights ensure that only those who need to be aware of the process are aware.
Time Sheet Approvals
One-off emails are not sufficient for approval documentation, and the process is slow, inefficient, prone to mistakes, and hard to track. Employees and contractors can instead submit and track time sheet submissions as they route through the approval process.
Applicant Hiring and Screening
In addition to streamlining the hiring process, automation can help ensure applicants are properly screened, interviewed, and approved is much easier when the process is automated. Capture information, trigger external processes, elicit approvals, and track the process from beginning to end.
Employee Training and Development
As part of an onboarding program or independently, automating the workflow for training initiatives provides both a systematic and trackable system for ensuring employees move consistently through a module-based series of sessions.
Documentation Requests
Managers and supervisors who need copies of their staff’s personnel files or other documentation can easily request them from a central portal with any required approvals included in the process. Also, a paper trail is created for who requested what and when.
Bonus List
This top ten list is just the tip of the iceberg for HR workflow automation. Looking for more?
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Misconduct handling process
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Terms and conditions/Non-compete signoff
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Grievance process
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Benefit enrollment
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HR staff expense management
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Access requests
An HR department that embraces workflow automation ensures a better employee experience, improved HR productivity, and improved standardization. For more information or to get a demonstration of how Nutrient Workflow can help your HR department automate, please contact us.
