As many countries enter another lockdown, businesses are once again witnessing their workforce working from home. While many employees now have the experience of working remotely and understand what is expected of them, there can still be the problem of organizations not performing as efficiently as when everyone was in the office.
One way many businesses are overcoming this is with the implementation of Cezanne’s HRIS software. HRIS software has evolved significantly over the past decade and features are now being utilized in new ways to accommodate for the barriers the pandemic has presented.
It isn’t just HR teams that can benefit from using human resource information software; the entire staff can be assisted by this.
We take a look at how choosing to invest in a human resource information system can boost efficiency across many sectors during a lockdown.
Easy Self-Service
HR employees are always busy, there is very little downtime within the profession and reducing unproductive tasks is imperative to ensure the most out of the working day.
However, with HRIS software, there will always be tasks and requests from colleagues within different departments. This could be anything from wanting to know how many days of annual leave they have left to requesting old payslips.
While these requests may seem simple, they can quickly add up and HR inboxes can become overflowing, leading to many hours spent replying to these requests.
HRIS systems provide a self-service portal to employees, these all have a unique login so sensitive data is still secure. Employees can log into their own accounts, manage their holiday, access payroll information, and even update their own details, such as bank account information, addresses, or phone numbers.
What’s more, this can be accessed anytime, anywhere, meaning employees don’t have to wait for office hours to get the answers they are looking for.
This frees up the HR team to focus on the really important things and help the business be more efficient.
Increase Communication
With traditional office meetings on pause for the foreseeable future and those quick conversations in passing gone, communication can be a struggle. Without the right communication, businesses can quickly suffer and clients can become unsatisfied.
Emails have been a basis for sharing information for many years, however, they aren’t always the best for everything.
Busy inboxes can lead to essential emails being lost, ignored, or deleted, and the sender has no way of tracking who has actually read their messages. This then leads to even more wasted time as staff may need to chase each recipient for an answer.
Using HRIS software allows a sender to communicate whatever they need with the entire office, smaller teams, or an individual. Tracking features allow the sender to know who has opened these and when additional features such as electronic signatures can enable recipients to agree they have read and understood this information.
This is helping businesses remain compliant when new practices, procedures, laws, and guidelines are introduced within the sector. It is also ensuring that no work is missed and deadlines are still being met.
Staff Rotas
It isn’t just remote workers that HRIS systems can help. Many businesses that are still operating in-house are adapting their rotas to allow for social distancing and increase safety at the workplace.
This includes shift-staggering, this allows full man-hours to be completed while reducing the number of bodies in the premises at one time. However, for staff who are not used to shift work, this can lead to confusion and last-minute changes can present issues.
Using HRIS software allows managers to update rotas remotely and employees can access these at any time.
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of this is if there has been a case of COVID-19 on the premises. Typically, if a case has been confirmed, the entire workforce could have to self-isolate for two weeks, meaning that the business has to shut down for this time which could lead to a significant financial loss.
With easy access to rotas and any chances easily updated and reported, managers can easily see who would have been working the same time as a confirmed case. This means that just those members of staff will be required to self-isolate themselves and after an emergency clean, the rest of the team can return to work as normal.
This reduces the risk of lost revenue while also helping to reduce the spread of the virus and keep staff and visitors safe.
Efficiency is key for any business but it is now more important than ever to ensure the best out of every member of staff. With increasing economic uncertainty, making sure clients are satisfied and the best quality of work possible is produced means that businesses are more likely to survive the pandemic.
