Since the 1980s, Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) have developed from being very simple computing machine applications to being useful repositories of advanced human resources data and procedures.
Employers use an HRIS for tasks including applicant trailing, attendance, directing public presentations, directing remuneration and benefits, labor force analysis, and programming.
What is HRIS?
An organisation’s employee database is managed by a Human Resources Information System (HRIS), which also automates HR-related tasks and gives staff members self-service access to policies and procedures. Depending on the type of HRIS you select to match the demands of your firm, it can be anything from a straightforward employee database to a wide range of all-things-HR.
Related: what is an hris? Complete Guide
A cloud-based all-in-one system, the modern HRIS gathers, saves, processes, and retrieves employee data. There are also on-premise HRIS options that serve as a consolidated database for personnel management. The goal is to free up your HR personnel from doing the tedious labor so they can concentrate on true people management—creating a contented, effective workforce.
Benefits of HRIS
The following are the top 9 advantages of implementing HRIS in your company:
1. Simplifies HR operations using a single system
HR teams may hire, onboard, manage, and engage people using an HRIS as a single, integrated solution. Older data management techniques like spreadsheets, manual operations, or outdated platforms are cumbersome, slow, and unsustainable as your business expands. An HRIS substitutes for that with a cutting-edge, digital solution that accelerates, simplifies and maintains HR workflows and processes.
An HRIS offers accountability and transparency across operations by outlining the hierarchies and functions inside an organisation. While doing so, you may standardise your processes and maintain accurate, error-free records of your staff by managing your database thoroughly. You can manage time off, track applicants, and conduct basic personnel administration with only a few mice clicks inside the system. No matter where your offices are, an HRIS centralises all HR processes within an organisation. The business, as well as the personnel, gain from it.
2. Automates onboarding of new employees
The total employee experience and talent retention determine how your organization onboards its new hires. With automated employee onboarding tools, you may facilitate a smooth onboarding process for your new hire and establish their career routes inside the business, which will increase employee success and satisfaction.
You can automate everything from the HRIS, including completing forms, e-signing documents, establishing onboarding checklists, sending welcome packages, and granting access to the self-service portal. HR departments can refocus their efforts on establishing connections with new hires and helping them feel at home.
Recent surveys have indicated that employees are more likely to leave the company within the first 18 months since 88% of them are unhappy with how they were onboarded. Employers can offer simple onboarding that leads staff through each activity on their to-do list and clarifies roles and responsibilities by employing an HRIS.
3. Automates manual tasks and minimises errors
An HRIS eliminates mundane, repetitive day-to-day procedures and assists in automating fundamental HR functions. With the help of standard workflow automation, tasks that once took hours can now be completed in a matter of seconds.
- Job posting
- Candidate monitoring
- Candidate evaluation
- Updating stakeholders on relevant information
- Gaining access to, altering, or including employee data
- Both boarding and disembarking
- Managing vacation time
- Approvals
The HRIS assists both employees and HR experts throughout business activities, allowing them to focus on higher-value duties because there is no opportunity for error or redundancy thanks to the standardisation of the process.
4. Controls adherence
A quality HRIS makes sure that your business complies with all applicable corporate, international, and local legislation. To support legality and guarantee that all information is maintained safely, policies can be updated automatically.
The HRIS stores and manages all your personnel data, making it easy to access for any audits or legal issues. Additionally, you can quickly integrate the most recent legislation throughout your company and make sure that the vacation time taken by your employees complies with national standards.
5. Boosts effectiveness and productivity
You may support HR teams in their efforts to thrive in the workplace rather than merely get by each day by utilising HRIS’s capacity to serve many HR-related responsibilities in a single system. Simply switching to an HRIS can help organisations avoid work overload, fatigue, or attrition instead of employing complicated paper-based processes or several, disjointed HR systems.
With productivity and efficiency at the forefront of any HRIS, a modern human resource information system also continuously updates the solution in response to feedback or modifications in business regulations to suit the changing demands of HR teams, employees, and the employer.
6. Encourages coordination and planning
By allowing employees to contact team members from any location, whether they are working in-office or remotely, an HRIS promotes accurate planning and greater cooperation.
Teams can more readily achieve a shared objective and promote process synchronisation when an HRIS is in place. HR organisations will discover that they may streamline the candidate experience, comprehend internal personnel availability, and manage crucial data globally.
7. Gives staff members access to self-service
The advantages of HRIS extend beyond the HR and employer teams. By granting access to an employee self-service portal, you may enable your staff to complete more tasks independently without the need for back-and-forth emails or several approval requests.
For instance, all your employee needs to do to handle reimbursements or request time off is log in to the HRIS from their desktop or mobile device.
Employees can update their personal information, access policy documents, paystubs, and tax data, as well as monitor their performance reviews and manage appraisals, all through self-service. Employees have 24/7 access to HR-related data thanks to the HRIS.
8. Offers information on corporate data
Efficiency is only one benefit of HRIS. Better workforce planning, employee experience, retention rate, talent acquisition, time-off trends, and other organisational data can all be benefited from analytical insights provided by an HRIS.
You’ll be able to accurately estimate and make decisions by gaining access to granular reports. This information can be used by stakeholders from across the organisation to monitor workflows, spot potential for change, and improve workforce planning.
9. Lowers expenses
An HRIS is more cost-effective than manual, time-consuming processes or several, unrelated systems, regardless of how small, medium-sized, or large your company is. Investing in an HRIS increases your company’s profitability by raising the standard of work across all departments and is more cost-effective. Errors are reduced, tiresome processes are automated, risks are reduced, and the likelihood of violations is decreased by the system.
Related: HRIS functions
What is HRIS?
For many firms, HRIS, or human resources information systems, can greatly simplify the hiring procedure. Employers may quickly accept online applications and resumes and direct those applications to the appropriate departments and managers by using HRIS. After hiring, when it’s necessary to gather and store new employee information, HRIS can be incredibly helpful.
Application Reviewing
All pertinent managers and HR staff can readily assess a resume and online application at the same time after they have been filed. Since there is no need for the information to be distributed throughout the company, this could hasten the hiring process. Using HRIS for recruitment makes even more sense if department heads are dispersed throughout different regions.
HRIS may also make it simpler for managers to connect with one another from remote places regarding queries and concerns about the applicant before an interview is set once resumes have been evaluated and hiring managers are prepared to move forward.
Gearing HRIS toward Non-Employees
The systems must be exceptionally user-friendly and up to date when HRIS are utilised to recruit non-employees. Non-employees are uninformed about the business and untrained in system usage. Receiving erroneous or outdated information about the business may put off qualified candidates.
Even the most savvy employees may decide not to apply when they come across a difficult-to-use interface. Employers must keep in mind that a prospective employee’s first impression of the business may come from the material available online and the application process.
Internal Promotions with HRIS
The method for allowing current employees to apply for promotions can be improved with HRIS. Hiring procedures can be very specialised to achieve the best fit by ensuring that employees are conversant with the HRIS that is used within the firm. For employees who want to keep their goals secret from coworkers, using online recruitment tools can also help to keep the application process more private than traditional types of application processes.
Using HRIS after Hiring
The simplicity of transforming data from application forms into employee files is perhaps one of the most beneficial aspects of using HRIS for recruitment. By converting data in this way, errors can be reduced and time can be saved by avoiding the creation of duplicate data.
In addition to freeing up the time of human resource specialists to attend to other commitments, this can help to shorten the period of time before the new or freshly promoted employee is in a position where they can work successfully.
Disadvantages of HRIS
Security
Similar to privacy protection, your HR management software’s security mechanism is susceptible to breaches.. There are many technical experts who have the aptitude and know-how necessary to access your management system and mine it for all the valuable information your organisation possesses, such as your company’s HR strategy for future business growth. Additionally, viruses can attack electronic material from any location on the Internet. Your HR management system may become badly disabled after contracting a virus, rendering it useless for an unforeseen period of time. In addition to investing in a reliable backup program, you should also decide to buy a program that is nearly impermeable to attacks and safeguards your HR management data.
Costs
The cost consideration follows. This can be problematic, especially for smaller businesses. There are installation and upkeep charges for every system. Since SaaS (software as a service) systems are cloud-based and don’t require a large initial investment, they are a little bit simpler to manage financially.
Staffing
There may be a fee for hiring an IT professional to oversee a larger installation.
Privacy Issues
The increased potential for breaches in the privacy of your employees, management, and business officials is one of the main drawbacks of HR management systems. Despite the fact that state and federal regulations provide legal protection for workplace privacy, if your HR management system is accessed by unauthorised users, the personal information of your staff may be at risk. Even if your system may be password-protected, technically competent individuals from both inside and outside of your company’s walls frequently manage to get past this barrier. Your system’s internal and external fortification will increase the security of your data.
Data entry mistakes
In order for employees to get paychecks, all time card data must still be gathered, processed, and recorded into a database. There is a considerable likelihood of entry error due to the enormous amount of data being manually entered into a database.
Processing time cards can consume significant time
Although employees can swiftly punch their time cards, collecting and recording the time card data takes substantially more effort. This is particularly valid for companies with a larger workforce. Due to the overwhelming volume of time cards and related time data, it could be required to hire someone specifically to gather and process time data.