The Evolution of Technology and Human Resources

Your Human Resources (HR) department has A LOT of responsibilities. Most don’t realize this, but they handle the onboarding, recruiting, and off-boarding of workers and coordinate quite a lot of the administrative issues of a business. They also handle payroll, and sometimes in smaller organizations, they do much, much more.

With everything that needs to be done, it can be a real grind, but it doesn’t have to be. Today we take a look at how new technology can improve your organization’s HR effectiveness so your HR department can focus on the big picture instead of the time-consuming minutiae.  

Automatic Recruiting 

The hiring process used to be one of the least efficient uses of time for HR. They would have to manually review the applications to a business, a process that could take hours and hours to get a pool of quality candidates. Now, with the limited forms of AI systems available, technology has taken the reins.  

Modern recruiting sees candidates submitting digital resumes to businesses while AI picks through them according to keywords and other filters. HR workers get a truncated list of quality candidates, saving time and effort. 

Employee Performance Management 

Data analytics are everything to modern businesses, and that is reflected in employee performance management. Analyzing individual worker output is as simple as installing technology to monitor the work they have submitted in terms of quality, frequency, or other metrics your business considers. 

Modern software can use the data gathered to show the time of day in which workers are most productive, the workers that are falling behind, and much more. This allows HR to monitor and intervene in workplace problems before they become a serious issue.  

Payroll 

Payroll automation is a significant development in the world of HR. Workers are using the software provided by their companies to review their schedules, add vacation time, and track the number of hours that they have worked. That leaves HR free to do other tasks instead of answering mundane questions. 

Aside from having to do work on variances and manually add hours for some workers, payroll can be largely automated and may be merely overseen by the HR department.  

Communication 

Whether you are trying to send out a mass email to potential hiring candidates or send out a weekly internal newsletter, communication is easier to do now than ever. Emails can be created and scheduled weeks ahead of time and sent in massive waves instead of one after another.  

HR workers rarely need to spend a significant part of their day sending emails.  

Security 

Keeping a business’s data secure is a task that can fall on HR workers from time to time. The HR department has important employee information and sometimes healthcare data. That necessitates having physical security and digital security in place. 

Modern security suites utilize encryption and passwords to protect data, allowing HR workers who are not adept at computer security to feel peace of mind.  

Training and Onboarding 

Aside from the initial hiring paperwork, much of the training and onboarding for a business can be completed by using the latest worker education tools. Mostly, workers will watch videos to teach them about the company’s policies and methods.  

Also, onboarding has been gamified to an extent where workers take part in virtual computer exercises to demonstrate mastery of certain concepts. For example, a new hire training program could task a worker with showing the correct way to stock a shelf. The worker would interact with the program and appropriately organize the shelves.  

Modern training does not require hours of HR time; tech has reduced HR to a supervisory role for training and onboarding.

The truth is HR departments are changing. If you would like to talk about how to innovate your HR department through software or cloud-based HR-as-a-Service platforms, reach out to our IT experts at WheelHouse IT today at (877) 771-2384.