There is a lot of technology out there for the HR professional, with an array of platforms and software to choose from. One of the must-haves when it comes to HR tech is a Human Resources Management System, or HRMS for short.
This can be a lifesaver for the busy HR professional, helping manage and automate core HR processes such as payroll functions, staff leave, claims, time attendance, and shift scheduling. These are the core functions, but a modern HRMS will now do much more.
Many companies have more flexible staff arrangements these days with part-timers, shift workers, and freelancers on their books. So a good HRMS will be flexible enough to accommodate them, while still keeping things simple at the back end. A more sophisticated HRMS can provide talent management capabilities such as recruiting, onboarding, and performance management. By replacing labour-intensive spreadsheets and paper-based processes, HR team members are left free to focus on higher-value work.
One HRMS provider, Payboy, operates a cloud-based system allowing easier access to its services from any device. One of the highlights of Payboy is that its leave management software allows for digital application and approval, letting employees submit supporting documents online for easy administration.
For those with large workforces, just handling the leave management function can be very time-consuming. One feature to look out for when it comes to choosing an HRMS is its ability to act as an employee hub. This, in other words, is a self-service database for HR to store information securely and for employees to access their own records. Payboy allows this too, storing essential data in one central place.
Another good HRMS is from PeopleCentral which offers a host of modules including surveys, appraisals, reminders, dashboards, leave, claims, timesheets, and a scheduler. A highlight of the PeopleCentral HRMS is its artificial intelligence-powered HR assistant chatbot and surveys, making the most of the latest technology in machine learning.
What’s also good about the PeopleCentral system is that it can manage an employee’s complete life cycle. This includes hiring, onboarding, talent management, performance appraisal, and retaining talent. With an ongoing coaching function and career path planning, talent retention has been covered.
When it comes to selecting a new HRMS system, there is a lot of choices on offer. This can make the selection process overwhelming but doesn’t take away from the necessity of making a choice. A good starting point is for HR teams to ask themselves what exactly are the business needs and what it wants to achieve from an HRMS. The broad-ranging tool will most often be in place for a long time, so it’s important to make sure the right choice is made.
HR Tech Update, by Chief of Staff Asia’s Technology Editor Justin Harper, appears every Thursday from 6:00am.
