When you started your business, you probably got Xero or QuickBooks for your finances, M365 or Google Docs for your email, perhaps some kind of CRM system for marketing and client data… But what about something to give you a hand with your team?
Employing people is great; it hopefully means you are growing or well-established, and are benefitting from their ideas, camaraderie and productivity. But it also comes with:
- Payroll
- Annual leave management
- Confidential file storage and record keeping
- Overtime management
- Time and attendance tracking
…to name but a few of the tasks and processes involved. And that is not to mention the government compliance that goes with it: GDPR, Equality Law and so on.
Enter the HRIS – or Human Resources Information System to spell it out. It is software support to make it all easier.
How HRIS helps
A good HRIS helps with the majority, or all, of your HR tasks. Here is an idea of the kind of functionality a typical HRIS will have:
Time and attendance in one place – Without HRIS you may have spreadsheets for annual leave, spreadsheets for sickness absence, in fact spreadsheets coming out of your ears. You maybe manually monitoring a maternity leave case whilst trying to track who was late and when. It may work if you have one or two employees (although it’s still not ideal), but as you grow it will spiral out of control. An HRIS will join up all the data in one place giving you a complete snapshot of your people, and allow for cross-referencing where necessary.
Payroll – Did you know that one survey found the average business owner spent 21 days a year managing payroll? What a time drain, whether you otherwise would be focusing on marketing your business or, hey, taking the family for an extra beach holiday. Putting an HRIS in place will help you effortlessly produce reports, automate the correct deductions and cut down on errors, streamlining the whole process.
Self-serve – A good HRIS will not only be for you, but will also allow your employees to self-serve, stripping back the amount of admin you have to get involved in. From checking holiday date availability or attendance record, to applying for time off. The more they can do themselves the less the burden on you.
Recruitment, onboarding and training – Depending on the HRIS system you choose, it may provide you with valuable process management for both recruitment and onboarding new hires. Providing e-signature contracts, sending notifications, storing information, hosting company documentation and recording training participation, it will do so much for you and, importantly, make sure it is all handled correctly.
Aiding strategic thinking – Not a direct feature of HRIS, but a significant extra benefit is the scope for it to help you think and act strategically. From keeping accurate tabs on headcount to informing you of the productivity of the team, and making this important function super scalable as you grow, an HRIS truly is an important component when taking your business to the next level.
Considerations when choosing your HRIS
As with any software for your business, you’ll want to match the right product to you.
Think about what you struggle most with in your people management when looking at the features of product to product; read user reviews to gauge usability; factor in the pricing of different solutions; and experiment with some demos if you can.
Consider also not only where you are now, but also where you plan to be in the medium- to long-term – especially important if a particular HRIS ties you into a contract. API integration into other business systems may also be an important consideration.
Talk to us
If you would like to explore a new HR system for your business, we have a variety of solutions available. We are happy to talk you through your options, show you case studies and arrange a demo. To find out more, please get in touch.
