6 HR Tools besides Human Resource Management Tool
SMEs can mull over these HR tools when they don’t have the budget for a full-fledged HRM suite.
1. Payroll Automation and Management Tool
If you don’t want your HR people to grind over every single payslip, you need to bring payroll automation and management tool. Good payroll automation and management tools use employee attendance data and pre-configured business rules to generate payrolls. A robust payroll management system saves HR departments significantly at month-end by reducing compliance activities and paperwork.
A good payroll management tool also improves the coordination between the HR and accounts departments. The other great bit about payroll management tools is they have a lot of room to scale up. Even if there is a multifold increase in your hiring, a payroll management tool can easily step up and adapt to the corresponding growing work demand.
2. Benefits Administration Tool
Managing employee benefits has become an integral part of the HR department’s job in the last couple of decades. A mix of local, national, and international laws obligate corporations of all sizes to comply with benefits provision requirements set in light of different workers/employment acts and legislations.
A benefits management tool helps organizations deal with all employee benefits with better transparency and agility. From medical and health insurance to pension and other retirement packages, a benefits management tool ensures timely delivery of all the benefits in line with the employee eligibility.
Good benefits management tools save HR people from investing their time/effort in running manual benefits checks/tracking all the time. The tool can do all of that tracking all year round for every employee and without any inaccuracy.
3. Employee Training Tool
A basic employee training tool is essential for every enterprise, irrespective of size and market cap. Many organizations felt the need for employee training tools last year when they had to move to remote working settings. A basic employee training tool ensures that employees can participate in workshops and training sessions with the least hassle.
Employees can track their scheduled training and access study material from their work desks or any remote location. On the other hand, employers can also keep track of the training programs and employee participation.
4. Employee Database Management Tool
It is not necessary to deploy a full human resource management tool to set up an employee database. You can get it as an individual product as well. Employee database management tool helps organizations get rid of physical files and folders. It also moves the dispersed and jumbled digital data from different storage locations to one site. This consolidated employee database has various benefits for an organization.
- It frees up the space on desks, computers, and offices.
- HR people don’t have to waste their valuable time in retrieving employee files and records.
- Employees and managers can also get access to the required information without needing any liaison and assistance.
5. Employee Self-Service Portal
The Employee Self-Service (ESS) portal is the need of the hour. As the name suggests, this portal is particularly designed for employees to proactively take care of their HR affairs. Through ESS portals, employees can track their benefits and leaves and apply for them from their workstations. Moreover, some ESS portals also serve as attendance portals. They also give employees access to handbooks, company policies, and other relevant pieces of data.
Many corporate and business management experts consider ESS an employee empowering tool that improves a company’s brand and keeps a workforce satisfied.
6. Leave Management Tool
Traditional leaves management involves loads of needless work. On the one hand, employees have to write detailed applications and bring them to the HR and manager’s desk. They also have to ask the HR dept beforehand about the status of different types of leaves (remaining and used ones). On the other hand, HR has to accept those applications, reply to them, and coordinate with managers before putting the seal of approval on them.
A leave management tool enables the workforce to go about leaves without the back and forth mentioned above. It lets employees track their total and remaining leaves and apply for them without writing emails and letters. Similarly, managers and HR representatives can receive, assess, and approve leave requests on the same portal. These tools can improve an organization’s leave management manifold.