We all know how crucial HR is to overall business success, and how much it can help drive growth. But as HR professionals, we’re often bogged down by lengthy admin processes and manual tasks, preventing us from contributing to organisational development.
That’s where HR automation comes in. HR tech can give you the power to hugely reduce your manual workload and free you from those admin tasks using carefully curated software that automates repetitive and labour-intensive tasks.
In this article, we’ll be exploring all the many HR admin tasks you can automate with HR software, along with some great tips to help you seamlessly implement HR tech ⬇️
What is HR Automation?
HR automation is the strategic use of technology to streamline and automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks within the HR department.
Through these software solutions, organisations can digitise and optimise various HR processes, ranging from recruitment and onboarding to performance management and offboarding.
This automation frees up HR professionals from mundane administrative duties, allowing them to focus on more strategic initiatives that drive organisational success. 👍
How should you decide what HR tasks to automate?
Deciding which HR tasks to automate involves a rather strategic approach that considers various factors, including the goals and needs of the organisation, the complexity of the tasks, the potential impact on employees, and the available resources.
This is what we usually suggest to those wondering what HR tasks they need to automate ⬇️
- Start by identifying the HR tasks that are most time-consuming, resource-intensive, or prone to errors
- Evaluate the complexity of each HR task – tasks that are repetitive, rules-based, and require minimal human judgement are typically well-suited for automation
- Consider how automation will impact HR professionals and employees. Will automation free up HR professionals to focus on more strategic initiatives, or will it lead to job displacement or changes in job roles?
- Will automation enhance the employee experience by streamlining processes and reducing administrative burden, or will it create confusion or resistance among employees?
- Assess the costs associated with implementing and maintaining automation solutions, including software licensing fees, implementation costs, and ongoing support and maintenance expenses. Compare these costs against the potential return on investment (ROI) in terms of time savings, efficiency gains, cost reductions, and improved outcomes
- Prioritise HR tasks that have a high impact on organisational performance, employee satisfaction, and compliance
Most importantly, trust your gut. As HR professionals, we know which tasks are weighing us down, and we know which we’d love to delegate to HR tech 🙌
➡️ Check out our full guide on how to leverage HR automation if you want to find out more about choosing which tasks to automate
The HR Tasks You Can Easily Automate
With the above in mind, let’s explore our selection of the best HR admin tasks you can consider automating 👇
Onboarding and offboarding
Getting onboarding and offboarding right can have a huge impact on employee experience, and in turn help your organisation retain more employees, ultimately saving costs.
HR software is particularly well suited to helping you create a fantastic employee experience when it comes to onboarding and offboarding. These are a few of the tasks HR tech can automate:
Sending welcome emails
Automate the process of sending personalised welcome emails to new hires, providing them with essential information about their role, the company culture, and the next steps.
Electronic paperwork
Digitise and automate business critical HR and Payroll tasks to reduce paperwork. Tasks such as:
- Requisition to Hire
- Authorisation to Hire
- Tax forms
- Superannuation and Kiwi Saver
- Bank Details
- Address Details
- Onboarding Surveys
- Employment agreements
- Offer Letters
- Leave Requests
- Payslips
- Mandatory Training Management - PDF Views for Sign-off
- Change Request for Compliance
- Performance Reviews
- Check-Lists
- Confidentiality agreements
- Personal information forms
- Emergency contact forms
- Expense submission forms
IT setup
Streamline the provisioning of IT resources, including:
- Provisioning email accounts
- Granting access to software applications
- Setting up hardware devices
Training and orientation
Automate the scheduling and coordination of employee training sessions and orientation programs, ensuring that new hires receive the necessary information and resources to acclimate to their roles and the organisation.
Buddy/mentor assignment
Automatically assign mentors or buddies to new hires, facilitating peer support and knowledge sharing during the onboarding process.
Introduction to team
Facilitate introductions between new hires and their team members, leveraging automation to schedule meet-and-greet sessions or virtual introductions.
Setting up performance goals
Automate the process of setting performance goals for employees, providing them with clear objectives aligned with organisational priorities and enabling ongoing performance management and feedback.
Facility access granting and revocation
Automate the granting and revocation of access to physical facilities and digital systems, ensuring that employees have the appropriate access permissions based on their roles and status within the organisation.
Exit interviews
Automate the scheduling and conduct of exit interviews with departing employees, capturing valuable feedback on their experiences and reasons for leaving.
Offboarding documentation
Streamline the offboarding process by automating tasks such as: r
- Returning company property
- Terminating benefits
- Processing final payslips
- Generating offboarding documentation
Transition knowledge
Automate the transfer of knowledge from departing employees to their successors, ensuring that critical information and insights are captured and preserved for continuity.
Exit surveys
Conduct automated exit surveys to gather feedback from departing employees, enabling organisations to identify trends, address issues, and improve the employee experience.
Talent sourcing and recruitment
Sourcing talent and efficient recruitment is always on the mind of an HR pro. Here are the ways in which HR tech can help you do it incredibly more effectively 👇
Job posting
Automate the process of posting job openings to various online job boards, career websites, and social media platforms, ensuring maximum visibility and reach to potential candidates.
Resume screening
Utilise automated resume screening tools to efficiently review and evaluate incoming resumes based on predefined criteria, such as skills, qualifications, and experience, enabling recruiters to focus on the most qualified candidates.
Application tracking
Leverage an applicant tracking system (ATS) to automate the tracking and management of candidate applications throughout the recruitment process, from initial submission to final selection.
Candidate communication
Automate communication with candidates at various stages of the recruitment process, including:
- Acknowledgement of application receipt
- Status updates
- Interview invitations
- Rejection notifications
Interview scheduling
Utilise automated interview scheduling to coordinate interview dates and times with candidates and interviewers, eliminating the back-and-forth communication and scheduling conflicts often associated with manual scheduling processes.
Assessment administration
Implement automated assessment tools, such as online tests or quizzes, to evaluate candidates' skills, competencies, and cultural fit.
Background checks
Automate the process of conducting background checks on selected candidates, including:
- Criminal background checks
- Employment verification
- Reference checks
Offer letter generation
Streamline the generation and distribution of offer letters to selected candidates, automating the creation of customised offer letters based on predefined templates and candidate-specific details, expediting the offer acceptance process.
Payroll
Managing payroll is full of manual processes that can easily be automated 👇
Employee time tracking
Implement automated time tracking systems to accurately record and monitor employee work hours, whether through:
- Electronic timesheets
- Biometric scanners
- Or mobile applications
Pay calculations
Utilise payroll software to automate the calculation of employee wages, salaries, and overtime payments based on recorded work hours, hourly rates, and applicable labour laws, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring timely and accurate payments.
Deduction management (taxes, benefits, etc.)
Automate the management of employee deductions, including:
- Taxes
- Superannuation and Kiwi Saver contributions
- Leases
Generating payslips
Streamline the process of generating and distributing employee payslips or initiating direct deposits through automated payroll systems.
Tax filing and compliance
Utilise payroll software to automate tax filing processes, including the calculation, withholding, and reporting of payroll taxes, as well as the generation and distribution of STP information.
Leave and absence management
Implement automated leave management systems to track employee absences, manage accruals, process leave requests, and ensure compliance with company policies and legal requirements.
Expense reimbursement
Automate the reimbursement process for employee expenses, including:
- Travel expenses
- Meal allowances
- Business-related expenditures
Reporting and analytics
Leverage payroll software to generate comprehensive reports and analytics on payroll-related metrics, such as labour costs, employee wages, tax liabilities, and benefit expenses.
Compliance management
Let’s face it – maintaining compliance is hard. HR tech can help though 👇
Monitoring and ensuring regulatory compliance
HR tech platforms can integrate compliance monitoring features that track changes in labour laws, GDPR, and other regulatory frameworks. Automated alerts and notifications can keep you informed of updates and ensure timely adjustments to policies and procedures to maintain compliance.
Documenting and managing employee records
Centralised storage and management of employee records, including personnel files, training certifications, and performance evaluations.
Conducting audits
Track changes to employee records and policy revisions with automated audit scheduling and reporting functionalities
Policy distribution and acknowledgement tracking
Electronic acknowledgement tracking ensures that employees receive and acknowledge policies, with built-in reminders for overdue acknowledgements, promoting accountability and compliance.
Training tracking and certification management
Automate training tracking and certification management by scheduling, delivering, and tracking employee training sessions. HR tech can also integrate with learning management systems (LMS) to automatically assign training modules based on role-specific requirements, with reminders for upcoming expirations and renewals.
Incident reporting and resolution tracking
Streamlines incident reporting and resolution tracking through online reporting forms and workflow automation with customisable incident categories and severity levels, and automated notifications to relevant stakeholders for prompt resolution and follow-up.
Managing legal documentation and contracts
Automated contract management workflows streamline the contract lifecycle, from creation and approval to execution and renewal, ensuring compliance with legal requirements and deadlines.
Ensuring data security and privacy compliance
HR tech solutions incorporate data security features, such as role-based access controls and encryption, to safeguard sensitive employee information and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations.
Time and attendance management
Here are our favourite ways of revolutionising time and attendance management with HR software 👇
Tracking employee work hours
HR tech provides automated time-tracking tools, allowing employees to clock in and out electronically through web-based portals or mobile applications.
Managing shift scheduling
Automated shift scheduling based on employee availability, skills, and business requirements to manage shift swaps, rotations, and adjustments.
Recording time-off requests and approvals
Streamlines time-off management by offering self-service portals for employees to submit time-off requests with automated workflows route requests to supervisors for approval.
Calculating overtime and attendance policies
HR systems automate the calculation of overtime hours, ensuring compliance with labour regulations and organisational attendance policies.
Generating time and attendance reports
Generate comprehensive time and attendance reports with customisable dashboards and analytics for insights into employee attendance trends, labour costs, and compliance metrics.
Integrating with biometric or card swipe systems
Use HR tech to seamlessly integrate with biometric devices or card swipe systems so that you can capture employee clock-in and clock-out data accurately
Managing remote employee time tracking
Cloud-based platforms enable remote clock-ins and facilitate monitoring of work hours and productivity regardless of location.
Implementing absence management policies and tracking
HR software automates absence management processes, including tracking sick leave, vacation accruals, and unpaid leave.
Benefits management
Lastly, we think HR tech is powerful for helping you manage benefits in this new era that focuses on employee wellness 👇
Enrolling employees in benefit programs
HR tech platforms provide self-service portals for employees to enrol in benefit programs, such as health insurance, dental plans, and retirement accounts. Automated workflows guide employees through the enrollment process, ensuring accurate and timely submissions.
Administering health insurance plans
Automate the administration of health insurance plans, including:
- Plan selection
- Premium calculations
- Eligibility determinations
Managing retirement plans
With HR tech, you can streamline the management of retirement plans by automating contribution calculations, eligibility tracking, and compliance reporting. Employees can also make changes to their Superannuation Kiwisaver contributions through self-service portals.
Tracking employee benefit elections and changes
Maintain detailed records of employee benefit elections and changes, ensuring accuracy and compliance with benefit policies as well as automated notifications to alert you of changes in employee status or benefit eligibility.
Integrating with benefits providers for data exchange
Exchange data, such as employee demographics, enrollment details, and coverage information with benefits providers
Generating reports on benefit utilisation and costs
Generate comprehensive reports on benefit utilisation, costs, and trends to optimise benefit offerings and contain costs effectively.
Takeaway
As you may have noticed, there are so many ways in which you can use HR software to automate your workflow and use your time for more value-adding activities.
💡 Need more HR tech guidance? We’ve got plenty! Here are a few resources that might be of use:
