HR Automation Benefits Employees

Simin Askari The author is senior VP, corporate human resources, Apollo International, Gurgaon

While reaching out to customers, partners, and suppliers is obviously critical for any firm, internal communication between employees, between the management and the employees, and between various departments is equally critical. With firms looking for faster information dissemination within the organization, IT offers the perfect solution towards cost-effective operations. At Apollo International (AIL), automation is successfully implemented in almost the entire gamut of HR processes.

HR decisions are the harbingers of change in an organization whether it is process improvement, organizational culture or employee relations. The intranet system at Apollo International, christened as the Meeting Point, has helped in all of the above. This Meeting Point provides employees with an effective way of keeping abreast with the happenings within the organization, as well as within the group companies of the organization.

Right from the time of joining till the exit of the employee, all HR processes are managed online. At AIL, an online induction module on the Meeting Point is designed, which gives a complete orientation to a new employee sitting at any of the overseas or domestic offices. The attendance system as well as the leave and tour approval systems linked to this intranet helps the HR to effectively tally the attendance online to compute the salary of the month. The personal details files, confirmations, and appraisals are all maintained and processed through the Meeting Point, thereby making this not only a totally paperless process but also very efficient and quick. This is a great way to bring transparency in the organization, something employees respect.

Also, newer modules are constantly added on the Meeting Point to make the processes more effective and robust.The latest being an Asset Management Module, which keeps an inventory track of all assets issued to an employee, their renewal dates, maintenance dates, etc. All modules on the Meeting Point have been designed to send out periodic alerts that help the HR and administrative department complete tasks on time. Such a feature is a great help in keeping track of the companys assets and their timely care.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that IT has helped AIL climb the business growth trajectory faster. It has helped AIL concentrate on its core focus areas of trading while freeing precious resources from non-core areas. This has brought about major cost-savings, thus improving the overall RoI. Successful application of IT to the different organizational processes at AIL has helped the business by reducing the response time, providing innovative solutions, increasing throughput and reducing the scope of human error through automation. IT has also helped us identify the various business issues plaguing the different units, thus generating opportunities for process improvement. Technology has also helped achieve efficiencies and consistency with results through automation. All of this has contributed to more efficient and leaner processes in place at AIL.