HR technologies impacting company bottom lines

By: Achal Khanna, CEO, SHRM India

Human resources, or HR as is popularly abbreviated, is tasked with recruiting, training and administering employee relations after they join the work force. This, is by no means is a complete view of the role played by the HR department; however, it highlights the important role of HR in an organisation’s productivity and success, especially in the long term.

HR needs to have a clear understanding of the business it is supporting, so that they are able to adopt appropriate strategies and policies to effectively contribute to the businesses scale and success. The range of roles the HR division undertakes can often be complex and wide ranging. So how does HR perform all those roles? How does it keep track of all the necessary metrics? How does it conduct reviews and evaluations? In large organisations, with huge headcounts, how does HR streamline its functions to support the business achieve its performance goals and achieve set targets?

Today, HR divisions of businesses are increasingly relying on technology to take care of its growing responsibilities. Technology has enabled seamless management of HR functions that are till date, paper-based and often time and labor-intensive. Today, there are a number of human resource management system providers, with increasingly sophisticated softwares, that help automate and manage core functions. One noteworthy highlight of HR management tools is the capability of providing employee’s access to HR and payroll functions, eg: leave applications can now be easily generated, sent for approval and the status monitored from the Employee self service portals(ESS). It is a great way to enhance productivity, lower cost of services while improving the level of service to the employees. It helps reduce the burden of the HR division while retaining the control and approval processes.

The available HR technologies help to streamline and automate basic HR functions, apart from delivering other benefits to the organizations. Businesses that implement technology and other human resource management software are at a position to maximize savings and operational efficiency. HR technology has resulted in increased satisfaction level of the individual employees through the implementation of various HR tools. Also, technology has made cumbersome paper trails a thing of the past and organizations today are made more effective by streamlining various processes and thereby saving time. Adherence to various compliance requirements and regulations can be effectively managed through HR technology, which can save the businesses huge sums which otherwise might be paid as fines, penalties or due to employee law suits.