The Impact of Process Automation on HR Operations and Workflows

Previously, people viewed human resources professionals as primarily handling highly administrative tasks involving paperwork, policies, and documentation. While these tasks are still a function in many HR professionals’ jobs, technological advancements have made them faster and easier to complete. Automation within the HR field has transformed the role, enabling HR employees to concentrate on enhancing employee experience and culture, and assisting in managing organizational change. Automation uses digital tools and software to streamline time-consuming and manual HR tasks, while also reducing human error. DOCUmation aims to remain competitive in all aspects of its business and fosters innovative thinking. By embracing new technology and continually improving, the HR department has automated many tasks, enhancing efficiency, improving candidate and employee experiences, and allowing HR employees more time to pursue strategic goals. This shift underscores the evolving role of HR from transactional to strategic, where professionals now play a pivotal role in shaping company culture and driving organizational success.

HR Automated Tasks

Recruitment Process Automation:

In 2015, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported an average cost-per-hire of $4,129 and a 42-day average time-to-fill. Nearly a decade later, technology has advanced and enabled HR professionals to streamline recruiting efforts and enhance the candidate experience. One simple way to free up time during the recruitment process is automating job postings. DOCUmation uses eQuest to automatically send job postings to over 500 job boards. As a company’s needs grow, quickly attracting new talent becomes crucial for filling positions. Utilizing job posting software saves the HR team countless hours that would have been spent manually posting positions on job sites.

DOCUmation is also benefitting from automating resume screening. By implementing weighted screening questions within the application, hiring managers can quickly identify candidates who possess the necessary qualifications. This ensures that hiring managers focus their time on top candidates before they are hired by another organization. “The idea is to prioritize the most qualified candidates so that we can continue to hire great people at a quicker pace and reduce the workload on our hiring managers.” Jessica Phelan, HR Manager.

Candidates invest lots of time in researching jobs, applying, and interviewing. Accelerating the process demonstrates that hiring managers value candidates’ time and talents.

Onboarding workflows

After an employee has accepted their offer, they are transitioned to DOCUmation’s onboarding gateway within the HRIS. Using an automated workflow, the company streamlines onboarding by allowing new hires to electronically complete and sign required documents online. This eliminates the need for printing, filing, or shredding physical documents, ensuring easy access to employee files for both HR and employees. DOCUmation has also automated requests for new hires, facilitating access to necessary equipment and platforms. By minimizing first-day frustrations, DOCUmation helps new employees start successfully, enabling them to build momentum and quickly familiarize themselves with their roles.  

Employee Data Management

Throughout the recruitment, onboarding, and employment process, employees share substantial amounts of personal data to their employer. According to International Data Corporation, the global data generation will total 175 Zettabytes by 2025, each equivalent to one billion terabytes. With this immense data flow, organizations need a reliable employee data management system. DOCUmation uses an HRIS system to centralize all employee information. Automating employee data management reduces the time spent on record maintenance and creation, as well as human errors. One of the significant benefits is the ability to create report templates that can generate reports automatically from a set of data. “As DOCUmation continues to grow at an exciting pace, it is more important than ever to reduce the time spent on administrative tasks so we can focus on strategic initiatives.” Phelan. This automation streamlines access to comprehensive employee data for tasks like benefit eligibility and compensation data, empowering HR professionals to focus on strategic goals and analysis.

Performance Review Automation

Conducting regular performance reviews ensures that employees are meeting job requirements, identifying areas of growth, and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. DOCUmation conducts quarterly performance reviews where supervisors examine KPIs set for each employee’s role. As the number of employees grows, distributing reviews and related information manually becomes time-consuming. Therefore, DOCUmation uses a system to automatically distribute reviews. These automatic distributions make sure that both the supervisors and employees stay up to date with performance review information and complete it on time. Furthermore, the HR team can create automated reports with historical data to monitor employee performance across the company. By utilizing automated reports, DOCUmation’s leadership efficiently analyzes trends in employee performance.

Leave and Attendance Management

Employers use leave and attendance management to track employees’ hours worked, leave requests, and leave taken. This type of management system aids in payroll processing, reporting, and accessing employees’ historical attendance data. DOCUmation’s HRIS system enables employees to submit leave requests months in advance. The system calculates employees’ leave balances and updates them automatically, preventing errors without manual intervention. Additionally, the system notifies the employee’s supervisor of leave and attendance for approval before payroll processing. The automated system not only frees up time for the HR team to focus on other tasks but also provides employees with autonomy in managing and accessing their leave and attendance information.

Training and Development Tracking

In our HR training and development, we blend personal, in-person sessions with technology for a comprehensive learning experience. We prioritize interactive, face-to-face training while recording sessions for on-demand access, ensuring flexibility for all employees. This integration of technology ensures our training programs are flexible, accessible, and maintain the personal touch essential for effective learning.

Benefits Administration

Employee benefits and compensation play a crucial role in candidates’ and employees’ decisions. In fact, a 2021 SHRM study revealed that 90% considered healthcare a crucial benefit. Given its significance, providing comprehensive information to employees is vital to empowering them to make the right benefit elections. DOCUmation has automated benefits information administration by implementing a system that automatically sends reminders to individuals who have not completed their benefits selections during open enrollment. Employees also have self-access benefit enrollment guides and the ability to view and edit life event changes directly on their employee portal. Automatic benefit reminders demonstrate to employees that the organization prioritizes their needs while streamlining the process for the HR team. This saves the HR team time that would otherwise be spent manually managing employee status and sending emails.

Employee Offboarding Processes

Employee offboarding is an important transition that organizations should approach with as much diligence as onboarding. It is important to establish a culture where employees feel valued from the beginning to end of their employment. To create a smooth offboarding transition, DOCUmation employs a sophisticated system to track employee equipment check-in and check-out. Additionally, DOCUmation uses an automated ticketing system to manage terminated employee access and notify relevant departments. Finally, utilizing DOCUmation’s HRIS system, former employees are given limited access to empower themselves and manage any post-employment needs. Automating the administrative tasks involved in offboarding gives the HR team more time for exit interviews and following up with the employee before they transition out of the team.

Compliance Reporting

Compliance reporting ensures organizations comply with laws, policies, and regulations. Manual compilation can be time-consuming for any business size, as HR teams must gather regulatory, financial, IT, operational, and other types of employee data. Automating the reporting process can reduce human errors, especially since these reports contain sensitive information. DOCUmation leverages its HRIS system to create reports that can be generated on demand for viewing and reporting purposes. For instance, DOCUmation has applied this automation to EEO-1 reporting, which requires employers to submit workforce demographic data. Compiling a large amount of employee data could take several days to complete manually. However, with automation, these reports can be automatically generated and displayed on a customizable dashboard.

Employee Surveys and Feedback

Employee surveys and feedback are crucial to improving the workplace culture and employee retention. Sending out surveys and compiling this feedback can be time-consuming. DOCUmation uses the results of employee surveys and feedback to identify trends and areas for improvement while leveraging automated systems for efficient data gathering. This approach allows HR to swiftly pinpoint emerging issues, gauge employee satisfaction, and implement targeted improvements to enhance organizational effectiveness and employee engagement. Automated compilation ensures timely insights, facilitating proactive responses and continuous enhancement of workplace policies and practices based on real-time feedback from employees.

The Future of HR Automation

As technology continues to evolve HR professionals must stay up to date on the available resources. Identifying highly repetitive and time-consuming areas is a simple way to start looking towards automation. Researching tools that can automate HR administrative tasks is easier than ever. Once an organization finds the right tools for its needs, HR professionals can begin to implement automation. As the system boosts efficiency, HR professionals have more time to dedicate to interpersonal interactions. An HR team that finds ways to incorporate useful technology to find the balance between automation and human interaction will add value to employees and the entire organization.