The benefits of HR software

The days of filing cabinets and masses of paperwork are a thing of the past in the world of HR.

With the advent of the internet, it’s now possible to streamline your human resources duties with technology.

But what HR software do you need for your business?

Read on for the industry-leading technology that can make your business activities more efficient.

Human Resource Management Software Benefits

Okay, so you’ve heard about HR software but never taken the plunge and tried anything out.

Major businesses and SMEs alike use various types of HR software to make their business practices run smoothly on a day-to-day basis. If you don’t use the technology, then you’re missing out on making your business procedures easier to manage.

But there are various types of HRIS systems to consider. These include HRIS, HCM, and HRMS. We’ll update you on what these are shortly.

First, let’s take a look at standalone HR software technology. So, what type of features are we talking about here? Some examples are:

• Employee monitoring and support.
• HR, employment law, and health & safety advice.
• HR document storage.
• Shift and rota monitoring.
• Sick leave and lateness monitoring.
• Staff holiday planners.
• Clocking in and out apps.
• Expense tracking
• Track inventory
• Learning management
• Benefits administration

It’s important to remember your employees are essential assets in your success story. Without them, your business won’t function.

But managing a full business with employees, whether it’s a small team of less than 10, or a larger one of over 100, is hard work.

Your employees are one of the most complicated elements of your business. They can keep your business ticking over, but you also have to ensure that they’re contributing effectively.

This is where modern technology can help. So, why use HR software? The technology can:

• Save your time: HR software is automatic, so you have plenty more time to focus on growing your business.
• Unclutter your office: You can wave goodbye to endless reams of paperwork thanks to some nifty software packages that store on a device.
• Secure your confidential documents: You can also store your documents in a safe environment away from prying eyes.
• Manage leave and sickness: Monitor your staff as never before. Ensure holiday days don’t clash and keep an eye on sickness records.
• Grow your business and staff: Keep track of employee reviews, training sessions, and the performance of your business to find actionable insights that can really grow your brand.

The list doesn’t end there, of course, as each business can find HR software beneficial in different ways.

You should carefully consider your business model and examine how a specific type of HR software can add to your ongoing development.

The Best Software for Small Businesses

With the above benefits in mind, let’s take a closer look at each one to see which is the best HR software (at least in the UK).

At BrightHR, we have seven features in one piece of software. These make your daily business operations easier with a user-friendly desktop site and app.

1. Employee Support

Helps to track the wellbeing and morale of your staff members. Employee support software includes a confidential advice line to a leading EAP provider: Health Assured.

Ensuring there’s compassionate support available for employees is an excellent way of offering business rewards—happy staff members lead to greater productivity, after all.

2. Sick leave and Lateness

With sick leave and lateness software, you can easily record absences, arrange cover for staff members, and scan sick notes, self-certification forms, plus hospital notes.

But you can also receive handy notifications directly to your phone—these will remind you to check up on your employees to see how they’re doing with their recovery.

3. Shifts & Rotas

One of the traditional features of HR was to have an endless amount of paperwork to carefully file.

The wonders of modern technology mean you can scrap filing cabinets for good. With shifts & rotas software, you can manage your staff member’s work timetable from within the app in real-time.

This is an effective piece of software as it simplifies rotas for your staff and makes it easy for them to know when they need to clock on.

4. HR Document Storage

At BrightHR, we like to help businesses get rid of their dusty old filing cabinets for good.

To help you achieve that, our HR document storage software provides unlimited storage space in a secure digital environment, for easier expense management, invoices and billing.

You can easily access this from your smartphone, which means you won’t have to lose time searching through a mass of files. Instead, you can locate data in seconds.

5. Employment Law Advice

Many SMEs struggle with the world of employment law. It’s a confusing topic, especially for anyone just starting out as a business owner.

With employment law advice software, though, it’s simplified. It’s also accessible, providing you with access to professional advice in a matter of moments.

So, the major benefit here is the chance to resolve any outstanding employment issues with expert advice. Save time, minimise conflict, and get a genuine resolution.

6. Staff Holiday Planner

Your hardworking staff want to take well-deserved time off. But from a logistical point of view, it could leave your business facing staff shortages.

Staff holiday planner software ensures this doesn’t happen. Using it, your staff can ask for time off—you can then easily check your calendar to make sure it doesn’t clash with other employees.

Plus, our app also cuts down on the need for paperwork and spreadsheets, saving you time in the long run.

7. Clocking System

At BrightHR, we offer the Blip app to our clients. It’s clocking software that lets you keep track of when your staff are working.

This type of software removes the need for clocking cards. Once considered high-tech, the reality is these are far from ideal. Employees can forget them, lose them, and even break them.

But with one app, you can easily keep track of your staff. With Blip, you generate a QR code. You can print that code off and place as many as you like at handy points around your workplace (make sure you let employees know where).

Staff members then scan the QR code with their smartphones and you can see their name, the date, and time they arrived to work (plus, when they leave).

Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

While the above HR management software for small businesses can provide the HR SMEs require, larger businesses may want to try out a fully-integrated approach. This is where HRIS can help your business.

First off, what is HRIS? Well, it’s a human resource information system. Sometimes it’s also called an HRMS (human resources management system).

There are various types of HRIS systems. These are HRIS, HCM, and HRMS. And you’re probably wondering what’s the difference between them, right?

• HRIS: A human resource information system manages employees, policies, and procedures.
• HCM: Human capital management includes everything from an HRIS, but also throws in talent management and global features (such as multi-currency, multi-lingual, and localisation options).
• HRMS: The human resource management system merges important elements from HRIS and HCM. This includes management of your policies and procedures alongside the likes of different language features and talent options.

Which one you choose depends on your business. But don’t underestimate the importance and benefits of having HRIS within an organisation. What the system does is provide a digital storage centre of employee master data.

It’s important for human resource management (HRM) as it helps your HR department complete their daily tasks in a faster, more efficient way.

So, what are the main benefits of HRIS in an organisation? In short, you can:

• Automate common HR tasks.
• Reach larger candidate pools during a recruitment phase.
• Make onboarding faster.
• Reduce paperwork (a common feature with HR software).
• Engage employees with self-servicing HR options.
• Improve attendance tracking accuracy.
• Improve HR productivity.
• Become more efficient with time management.

The benefits of an HRIS system seem endless. An HRIS, HCM, or HRMS can complement HR software effectively, too.

So consider the technology that would work best for your business to reap many cost-effective benefits. You’ll also save a whole bunch of extra time.

Looking for HR Software?

Want the best hr software for your small business? We have a range of products and services to support you. Get in touch with our customer support team today and we’ll set you up with the HR software that’ll help you grow your business: 0800 783 2806.