Your human resources department is a vital part of your business. Though some people make the mistake of thinking that human resources deal only with payroll, hiring, and firing, this department is actually the backbone of a company. They can be involved in everything from talent acquisition to goal setting for the company, attendance tracking to payroll, and much more.
The bottom line is this: if your human resource department is overwhelmed or does not have the resources they need to perform their jobs, your entire company suffers. That’s why it’s important not only to staff your HR department correctly, but also give them the tools they need to be efficient and productive.
What is Human Resource Management?
The term ‘human resource management’ has been tossed around a lot in the past few decades, but few know exactly what it entails. So what, exactly, is human resource management? In the broad sense, human resource management is anything that helps direct employees of a company toward organizational goals. It also provides the structure for them to get there quickly and effectively.
HRM can apply to employees a company has not yet hired in the form of recruitment. It also applies to employees at a company at every step of their lifecycle from onboarding to retirement. It can even include past employees in the form of severance pay, continued compensation and benefits, and crisis management.
HRIS stands for Human Resource Information Systems and refers to software solutions that are useful in the management of employees and the procedures used to keep them engaged and productive. They can be valuable resources for your HR department as they help manage costs, streamline processes, and provide flexible solutions to enhance employee performance. Are you considering using an HRIS in your human resources department? Here are the different types.
Different Types of HRIS Systems
HRIS solutions have a broad range of features. They can provide benefits to the HR team by helping them recruit and track applicants, manage employee benefits, and train staff. They can also generate HR reports that can be used in employee reviews and serve as a resource when its time to consider promotion or raises. In addition, they provide benefits to your staff in the form of self-service options like biometric time-keeping, remote schedule management, and easy communication tools.
HRIS systems typically fall under two categories: HCM Solutions and HRMS Solutions. Here are the differences between the two.
HCM Solutions
HCM stands for Human Capital Management. The systems that fall under this category are typically aimed at recruiting and retaining your employees throughout their life cycle. They can include anything from recruitment and onboarding tools to salary planning, budgeting, goal-setting and performance assessment. These tools assist the business owner and the HR team in guiding their team toward success.
Analytics are also an integral part of HCM solutions and can be useful in tracking employee red flags and predicting growth potential. HCM solutions tend to be more detailed than HRMS solutions and are often used in an executive-type white collar setting.
HRMS Solutions
HRMS, or Human Resources Management Systems, may contain some of the same elements as HCM solutions, but they also have numerous tools to assist employees as well. These usually include an efficient and flexible way for workers to clock in and out, manage their schedules, and easily communicate with the team even if they are working from a remote location.
On the HR side, the solutions can usually be integrated into payroll and on-boarding processes to make tasks easier for your HR team. They can also reduce the number of mistakes and oversights that can be made with a manual process.
How an HR Solution Can Help Businesses
Choosing the right solution is the ultimate key to how satisfied you and your HR team will be with an HRIS. Once you’ve established your needs and what you expect your system to deliver, you can select one that provides the benefits that fit your situation. Here are some of the benefits you may consider:
Recruit and Retain Talent
If your focus is on recruiting and retaining talent, look for an HCM solution that stores candidate details, provides easy access to performance reviews and notes, and helps your HR team devise ways to keep your valued team members engaged and productive.
Streamline HR Processes
Is your HR team overwhelmed with payroll duties, schedule management, and staffing issues? Look for an HRMS solution that can take some of these duties off their shoulders or at least streamline them so they don’t take up as much time. A good HRMS solution will integrate into other processes to eliminate tasks that are redundant and will also serve as a backup to catch mistakes that might otherwise need to be manually corrected.
Provide Flexible Solutions to Employees
Would giving your employees tools to work remotely, manage their schedules from their smartphones, and easily communicate with others on a project make a difference in your productivity? If so, you should look into an HRMS system that offers employee self service tools like planners, document management, biometric timekeeping, and absence management. These not only increase employee productivity, but they can also be valuable recruiting tools. As millennials begin to make up a large percentage of our workforce, business owners must implement tools that allow for the flexibility they desire.
Knowing the difference between HRIS systems and what features they have is an important step to choosing the HR management tool that will work best for your company’s needs. Make sure you look at the benefits you want the system to have and whether you want to target your HR team or your employees or both. Once you identify what system will have the biggest impact on your team, you can make an informed decision that will lead to the next level of success.
