What Functions Should Your HRIS System Have?
HRIS systems are now all the rage among the HR community, but do you know if it's suitable for your organization? Is it worth investing in a HRIS system and overhauling your current HR practice?
Simply put, a human resource information system (HRIS) system is software that assists HR in collecting, storing, organizing, and analyzing employee data on a single platform. The truth is, a HRIS system can greatly benefit your team, but only if it has the right functions. What’s more, such systems are not only a monetary investment; you also need to invest time migrating your current system over and training your HR team in the new one.
But the advantages are well worth it. A well-integrated HRIS system simplifies all your HR processes, automates repetitive functions, and improves the employee experience with a user-friendly interface. The time and effort saved can be put towards more strategic HR tasks, such as better recruitment tactics or focusing on employee engagement. It is not just a benefit to the HR team, but a benefit to the entire organization.
In addition, modern cloud-based HRIS systems mean that you no longer need to host expensive, unwieldy servers on-site. Cloud-based systems are also modular, scalable, and more secure than traditional server-based systems. A cloud-based system also means that you and your team can access the HRIS system from any device, anywhere on the go with minimal setup.
If your organization is looking to adopt a HRIS system, you need to ensure it has these key functions for the best HR experience.
Functions to Look For in a HRIS System
Payroll
Payroll is one of the most tedious tasks to do manually. All the different pay grades, statutory contributions, expense claims, commissions etc can confuse even the most seasoned payroll professionals. When done manually, payroll is not only repetitive, it is prone to errors. The last thing HR needs is for payroll to be delayed, as delayed or erroneous salary payouts can lead to dissatisfied employees.
Thus, payroll is one of the first tasks to be automated via a HRIS system. A good payroll system should integrate with your existing system seamlessly, as well as with other HRIS modules like expense claims and leave management.
Leave Management
In the modern workplace, employees are entitled to all kinds of leave benefits, including sick leave, annual leave, parental leave, replacement leave, study leave etc. Keeping track of each leave day, for each employee becomes more and more difficult the more employees you have. This problem becomes especially acute during festive seasons when multiple employees may be on leave at the same time.
With a leave management HRIS system, you can keep track of leave easily via a calendar that should be able to tell you who is on leave at a glance. Furthermore, leave applications and approvals are also done via a self-service platform that is also part of the HRIS system. This enables all leave data to be collected in one place for ease of management.
Expense Claims
Another tedious process that HR has to deal with is expense claims. Submitting, keeping track of, and paying out expense claims is another error-prone process if done manually. What’s more, expense claims are also susceptible to fraudulent claims, costing the company time and money.
Similar to the leave management system above, expense claims HRIS systems enable you to keep track of all expense claims made. Claims and approvals are also done via the same self-service platform – sometimes only a click adjacent to the leave application screen. These closely interlinked functions should also be linked to the payroll function for seamless processing.
Timesheets
Planning and tracking the time spent on projects is vital for measuring productivity, as well as for billing purposes. The timesheets function in a HRIS system helps you easily create projects and subprojects, assign team members to them, and get real time reporting based on the hours spent on each task.
With this, you can create projects, track ongoing projects by status and time spent, and generate reports on completed projects.The system should also be able to generate “ready-to-bill” timesheets that can be used for client billing.
Recruitment and ATS
HRIS systems can also help in your recruitment efforts by integrating an applicant tracking system (ATS). Essentially, ATS helps you sort the talent pool of candidates by filtering resumes, enabling pre-assessment questions, and showing where each candidate is in the recruitment process.
What’s more, the menial jobs of recruitment, such as sending out interview invitations, coordinating with hiring managers, and sending rejection letters can be automated with ATS systems, saving you precious time in recruiting the most qualified candidates.
Onboarding
Once a new hire joins your organization, you need to make the right first impression, improving employee engagement, productivity, and retention. With an onboarding function built into the HRIS system, your new joiner can get instant visibility on the onboarding process, from their first day all the way to the end of probation.
In the onboarding module, they can enter their personal details, upload documents, and access company documents, saving HR a huge amount of time while enjoying the best employee experience. You can also tell at a glance who is at which stage of their onboarding along with all relevant information, enabling you to monitor and take action to ensure a smooth onboarding experience.
Performance Management
Throughout the employee’s time at an organization, continuous review of their performance is vital. Leaders need to know how each employee is performing and adjust accordingly, while employees need to know their performance to move forward in their career.
Performance management in a HRIS system enables individual milestones to be set and monitored throughout the review cycle. You can also define performance appraisal frequency, foster 1-on-1 coaching discussions between employees and managers, as well as collect 360° feedback from everyone to get a true picture of your workplace’s condition.
Digital Employee Database
HRIS systems were first developed to store employee information in one place, eliminating the need for bulky filing cabinets. This database function should form the core of your HR practice, where employee information is accessible all in one place, with customizable fields that the employee or HR can fill in where needed.
More modern systems can also generate reports based on information in the digital employee database, e.g. demographics, pay scales, equipment issued etc. Newer cloud-based systems also have greater security, which is critical to keep this confidential data safe.
Reporting and Analytics
The modern organization runs on data, and HR is no exception. With greater access to data and powerful analytics tools, better decisions can be made based on quantitative evidence.
HRIS systems can facilitate this by integrating every module into one seamless database. You can then create custom reports based on the most critical areas of your workforce, including demographics, payroll, and leave taken. What’s more, these reports can be visualized and organized for other colleagues to understand.
Get All These Functions and More With BrioHR
If you’re looking for a HRIS system for your business, BrioHR has all the features listed above and more. BrioHR’s all-in-one, cloud-based solution automates repetitive tasks and empowers HR in a user-friendly interface. This enables business owners and HR teams to truly focus on what matters most – people.
Visit briohr.com and get a free demo now.
