Easing HR professionals’ workloads with automation
Automation can increase HR team capabilities and offer support as they gear up for the future of work.
Between managing remote and hybrid workforces, grappling with COVID-19-induced employee churn, and gearing up for open enrollment season, HR teams are busier than ever. Faced with all the paperwork that needs to be completed to fulfill these activities, HR professionals can quickly find themselves pulled away from the responsibility at the heart of their roles: helping people within their company.
For HR professionals currently overwhelmed with their workloads, automation can help. Many of the more routine back-office tasks within their roles can be automated so that they’re not only executed more efficiently, but also so that HR professionals can focus on effectively engaging current and prospective employees.
Related: Open enrollment is a kickoff for your ongoing engagement strategy
Here’s how automation can increase HR team capabilities and offer support as they continue to deal with overload during COVID-19 and gear up for the future of work.
Managing increased incident reports for better employee communication
The world of work is changing, and HR professionals have a critical role to play in that change. In fact, a recent report from Paychex found that remote work has heightened demand for HR teams, as nearly half of employees report issues while working from home.
Until organizations ramp up their HR teams though, existing members likely don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with the increased demand in a timely manner. That means HR professionals will either be delayed in responding to incident reports, thereby slowing business productivity and compromising coworkers’ faith in the HR department, or they’ll have less time to focus on their core responsibilities. This risks HR employees either rushing through assignments—which increases chances that the work will be done with errors—or them cutting into their personal time to ensure everything is finished.
Fortunately, there’s another alternative. Robotic process automation (RPA)—software robots that can be configured to interact with a business’s digital systems to execute defined tasks—can be deployed to process reports and ensure they end up in the right hands. For example, instead of having HR employees spend time switching between systems to source the information they need to fill out a report (e.g., payroll), RPA can pull the necessary information from connected databases, enter it into the designated template, and even share it with the appropriate team members once complete.
Without the need for employee intervention, these forms can be processed on a continuous basis instead of being stalled until an HR employee is available. Likewise, without being bogged down by these routine processes, HR employees have more time to communicate with and educate coworkers—an invaluable resource always, but especially as businesses head into the open enrollment season and employees need assistance understanding their options.
Automating processes for onboarding
After a year-plus of working in COVID-19’s shadow, many workers are looking for a career change-up, which means many employers are currently witnessing the Great Resignation. As a result, HR teams are working double-time to fill those roles and keep the business moving. Between reviewing resumes, interviewing candidates, and onboarding hires, HR employees are spending hours of their time running through the hiring process for every open role—which consequently jeopardizes their own job satisfaction. Even if organizations have retained their talent until this point in the pandemic, they should still be prepared in case employees decide to leave; Prudential’s Pulse of the American Worker Survey found that 26% of workers intend to look for a job at a different company once the pandemic subsides.
Automation can jumpstart the hiring process by pre-scanning applications for distinguishers like academic qualifications and behavior references so that HR teams can find the best candidates for their companies without reading through every applicant’s resume. Then, once an applicant accepts a position, RPA can again be deployed to assist HR teams by entering the individual’s information into their business software. Instead of manually typing in employee details, RPA can be instructed to scan documents for key pieces of information and input it into the appropriate forms. This way, HR teams can get employees started on the job sooner.
Managing office protocols around COVID-19
On top of HR teams’ regular workloads, the pandemic threw a slew of new responsibilities for employees to manage, with more continuing to emerge. As organizations navigate their return to the office, many HR professionals are currently tasked with reviewing employee vaccination status to align with any business mandates that may be in place. Automation can ease the burden of this ask by processing proof of vaccination. HR teams can distribute health surveys through their organizations’ communication channels and an attending robot can aggregate the data into a report for HR to review. This way, HR employees won’t have to chase colleagues down for information, leaving them available to intervene in cases that need their guidance as they occur.
As the world of work quickly evolves, those on the HR team are tasked with ensuring employees are prepared to excel within it. Automation unlocks HR professionals’ potential so that they can do just that, enabling them to spend more time with individuals in their organization, drive talent development, and create a better employee experience. The time saved by implanting RPA will transform the HR department from a cost center to a driver of competitive advantage, all while creating a more human-centric workplace in which employees feel supported.
Joel Cherkis is head of global industries at UiPath.
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