Can Human Resource Management be Automated?

Imagine this: You're a new CEO in a promising startup who's just finished a hefty Series B and you're starting to hire the closing stable of new team members. Or maybe you're the VP of Operations at a legacy Fortune 500 company that's been tasked with cutting expenses before stock buybacks. No matter which scenario you imagine or are actually living in, one thing is probably true — you're doing HRM wrong.

There was a time when human resource management was a boring and monotonous task. You'd hire your Head of Human Resources, they'd head to the company Xerox to print, scan and collate numerous documents for a new hire or to update employee information changes. For better or worse, that status quo hasn't really changed much in the last few decades. That's a system that works, however, it comes with a lot of time and energy involved while living light on efficiency. In 2021, there's a much better way to handle your human resource management — automation. And while automating HRM can seem daunting, we're going to take a quick stroll down "Productivity Lane" to show why it's so much easier than you may think.

What is HRM Automation?

Human Resource Management (HRM) automation is the process of completely digitizing your company's current system with powerful automated systems and processes that help deliver an easier and more efficient experience.

When you first begin the process of automating your HRM, it can seem daunting. As business owners or managers, we want to maintain a certain degree of control. The process isn't so much about taking away your ability to maintain a grip on your business, but rather handling repetitive and time-consuming tasks that free up your ability to focus on more pressing matters.

Imagine the freedom your business could gain if certain tasks, like updating employee records or approving time-off requests, could be done for you. Certain parameters can be set that allow for restricted usage to allow the automation to run within a controlled sphere. For example, if you had automated time-off requests, you could simply set predefined windows where employees can or cannot submit requests. Likewise, you could leave it completely hands-off to allow employees to take off as much time off as they wanted. The power to customize a flexible solution that will continue to work for you while you take care of other decisions is truly limitless.

Will Automating My HRM Reduce My Workforce?

This is a two-answer question — yes and no — and both answers are correct.

The brilliance of automation is the power to implement systems to automatically handle certain tasks. However, we still need people to continue to manage those tasks, although the level of management needed is completely up to you.

Many users trust us to empower them with a hybrid solution — easier tools to save their employees time. A larger company with 500 or more employees may still need a more hands-on approach to continue to handle more pressing human resource issues. In contrast, a smaller company that may not need that level of HR management and could potentially rely solely on automation. The beauty of automation lies within its ability to scale to businesses of all sizes.

Applicant recruiting is a critical task that can be automated with a high degree of customization. The new candidate screening process is one of the most popular automated HRM tasks which can help eliminate unqualified candidates. If a candidate matches your specified set of criteria, you can control the automation to notify a hiring decision-maker that a match was located. Then if that candidate is a good fit, you can set the automation to continue with the onboarding process.

Payroll automation is another stress-reducing and time-saving measure. You can automatically gather an employee's hours and our system will handle the appropriate calculations for you (including taxes and withholdings). You can even have the system automatically disburse salary payments over multiple payment methods.

What’s next?

In truth, there are many tasks that can be automated. Depending on the needs of your company, automation can create a harmonious blend of freedom and efficiency for both you and your staff.

We're ready for you to experience how game-changing the power of automation can be. You can request a free demo of our powerful suite of tools to help take your business's HRM to the next level.