Running a business is not easy. There is a lot to think about, and a long list of tasks that have to be done to ensure that you stay on the right side of the law. Sometimes it feels like there are not enough hours in the day.
Looking after your employees and making sure that you do everything that the law requires is especially tricky. The rules and regulations surrounding health and safety, pay, and other areas of employee law are changed on a regular basis. Business owners need to keep track of these changes and regularly update their processes to take account of them all.
If you do not stay organised, it is all too easy for things to be missed and for you to end up breaking the law. When that happens, you run the risk of being prosecuted, which can mean that your company has to pay a big fine, and find the money to pay legal fees.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to avoid this situation.
Buying and using a good HR software package makes it far easier for you to keep track of any changes in the regulations, and to make sure that you comply with them. These HR systems are designed by human resources experts to allow you to keep all of the data you need about each employee in one place. (Note: Those who are looking for HR software in Canada can find one by checking out the websites of firms like FOLKS.)
Anyway, here are a couple of examples to help you to understand the power of this type of software, and to see how it can help your business to thrive.
Hiring Assessment
The first step in HR management is to hire employees for your business. This is a challenging task on its own, especially when you are trying to assess multiple potential candidates for a role. It requires screening for a lot of criteria such as skills, personality, competencies, and behaviour of an individual. However, when you have multiple interviews and assessments to go through in a day, it becomes impractical to do it manually. This is where an assessment tool can help you in the hiring process. These software contain various forms of assessments, tests, questionnaires, and even feedback processes, to streamline the hiring process.
Payroll
One of the biggest headaches companies face is running their payroll. The tax laws change on a regular basis. A good payroll system will enable you to keep track of the changes. It will automatically re-calculate the amount of tax you need to pay for each employee.
You will also be able to use this type of software to make sure that you comply with the laws surrounding sickness, maternity and paternity pay. If you want to learn more about payroll systems, and what they can do, click here.
Rotas
Shift management is every HR managers nightmare. You need to take into account holiday leave, parental leave, sick leave, bereavement leave, sabbatical leave and bank holidays, plus religious festivals where people may be unable to work during certain religious periods. Not only this, but you need to factor in medical appointments that people need to attend. All of this can be tricky to balance whilst maintaining enough staff to do the work, so HR software can come in incredibly useful. If you run a home care service, for example, using home care software to manage shifts will be a lifesaver, literally. Not only will it make your life easier, but it will also ensure vulnerable people never go without essential care due to sudden staff illness or other situations that can mess up the rota.
Keep track of your training
Your workforce is your most important asset. You need to look after your workers and make sure that they are well trained if you want to get the most out of them. This means checking on their training and development needs, as well as tracking their daily progress on the field. Failing to trace these aspects will not only lead to stagnation in employee productivity but can also impact the company in many ways.
Put simply, you can manage your workforce better by studying upon various resources, proven by circumstantial evidence, such as the impact of time theft on your business or ways of boosting productivity. This can help you avoid poor time and task management that can lead to unsatisfactory work outcomes, and eventually, avoid blowing up deadlines. Moreover, inconsistencies in time and performance tracking means wasted time, money and other resources.
Buying the right HR software for your firm
High quality HR software is a good investment for any company. However, before buying you need to do your research. It is important to understand exactly what you are getting for your money.
You have to make sure that you only buy the HR software modules that you actually need. There is no point in paying for functionality that you will not use.
Buying a HR management package is not something you should rush into. Bear in mind that you will be using this software for many years to come, so getting this decision right is important.