Human Resources Software

Human Resources Software Guide

Most companies are already aware of the importance of human resources (HR) software, but HR software is constantly changing as the business landscape changes, and as HR software is updated. As technology changes, HR software has evolved to reflect the effects of technology on new inventions on software techniques and abilities.

At the beginning of HR software, it was restricted and only dealt with things like payroll, benefits, and employee records. However, due to technology needs and automation demand, the market has expanded exponentially. Customer expectations have also changed, and now, employees are more willing to use self-models for things like time off requests, benefits management, and payroll. Overall, this frees up a lot of administrators time, and allows their HR professionals to focus on things like recruiting, branding, company culture, and employee performance.

Different HR Platforms

There are a lot of different variations of HR software, and due to this, companies have several names for different platforms, based on what they offer.

One general type of platform are the on-premise or cloud HR solutions, and some of these specific platforms are Human Capital Management (HCM), Human Resources Management Systems (HRMS), HR Administration software, Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), Talent Management Systems, and Core HR.

A few of the best SaaS categories that can be found within HR software are Time Clock Software, Recruiting Software, Performance Management Software, Applicant Tracking Software (ATS), Payroll, Employee Engagement Software, and Learning Management Software (LMS).

The traditional segments in HR management software have changed very little in the recent past, but how they handle these segments have. A few of the staple HRMS features in HR software are time and attendance, benefits management, and payroll. Therefore, as the market grows, these things have to be accounted for and technology is used to help make the systems lighter, and they also take into account new trends surrounding Human Resources.

Giants of the HR software world have taken measures to keep their competitive edge by investing in multi-tool HRM software like ADP, Oracle, SAP. They have been able to do this by acquiring several successful startups in the industry, and then they turn around and integrate their tools into the platforms they are already running. This trend is expected to continue because startups are flexible and able to move quicker on establishing core HR companies by emerging technologies. Startups are the ones that have the capital to acquire what is needed.

HR Software Solutions Categories

Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS)

This is an umbrella term that describes several distinct software types in the HR market. Although these systems are known by several names, they all have the same purpose. They are meant to help store benefits administration, individualized employee data, and manage payroll. Plus, they are also able to help with a company's legal employment requirements and company regulation requirements.

Using newer HR programs have helped decrease the overall time that HR professionals have to spend manually inputting data, but it is estimated that they still have to spend around 50 percent of their time still completing manual tasks. This is closely followed by shuffling information across the organization with HR tools and making manual adjustments.

The main purpose of HRIS systems is to assist HR professionals with automating and streamlining the three main pillars of HR management, which are benefits management, payroll, and time and attendance. The modern solutions to HRIS software has drastically helped with reducing manual data entry. A few of the most common features that HR departments look for when choosing an HRIS software are self-service employee portals, time tracking, payroll, employee scheduling, and benefits management.

A few extra features that HRIS software can offer include performance management, recruiting, applicant tracking, and accounting.

Less than half of companies utilize a cloud Human Capital Management (HCM). Due to the time and difficulty of implementation, it hasn't really sped up much time for these companies. Most companies that are leaders in the HRIS software world are giants in the industry, and this is because they have the on-boarding necessary to help with promising data security, flexibility, and accuracy. HR administration software is subject to industry regulations because they deal with sensitive and personal information of all employees like banking, tax information, and personal identification data. The industry regulations that they have to meet come from the current local, federal tax, and state requirements.

Recruiting Software and Applicant Tracking Systems

Traditional data-entry and administrative tasks used to be a large part of how HR employees filled their days, and recruiting and tracking applicants were a huge part of what they had to spend time on. Thanks to new HR software, HR professionals do not have to spend as much time on the traditional data entry items, and this is excellent for companies because it allows their HR department to focus on hiring stellar employees and attracting the best applicants for the positions they have to fill.

Recruiting software and applicant tracking systems have a lot in common, and they generally look at a lot of the same things. However, they differ in how they scale the information that they acquire. Applicant tracking systems are designed for companies that need to be able to track things like engagement modules and performance management. Plus, they include features that help put into perspective things like resumes, job boards, on-boarding, and interviews.

Before purchasing specialized recruiting software or applicant tracking software, a business should make sure that it fits their business by ready the detailed feature descriptions and overview of the particular software program.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

LMS or eLearning systems are used to help companies track different learning objectives of their employees, like their skills, qualifications, certifications, and education. It is also used to help set up classes and training for employees that need it in specific areas. LMS can function inside of ERP software or ATS, but there are also stand alone options that suit businesses based on their size.

Traditional LMS are extremely helpful for managers, because they allow them to track their employees performance and appraise different metrics, while giving them the option of approving things like calendars, training, and budgets. LMS is excellent at doing its job, but generally, companies have to hire or have someone in their HR department that has the proper training experience in order for it to work properly.

Not all companies can afford to have an in-house professional for E-Learning. Thankfully, there are ready-made learning content platforms that are actually available to help these companies. The downside to these types of programs are that they are not specifically tailored for each individual company, but they do provide different tools and courses that are specific to different industries. They are designed to help individuals with overall productivity and engagement. Plus, after taking courses through this type of software, individuals can have their progress and records ported over to their company's HRIS or employee engagement software.

There is more information that can be found about different e-Learning systems and learning management software by going through the different features that can be found about the individual software.

Performance Management Software

Performance Management Software is an excellent way for managers to help keep track of their employees goals, improvement, and skills. This type of software is used by companies to coach their employees on different skill levels, and they also help to keep track of updates on a weekly, quarterly, and yearly basis. This data is then used by managers and HR professionals to understand and see a clear view of how their employees are doing in certain roles.

Just like most HR software programs, performance management software can be integrated with other HR software like employment engagement software and LMS. This makes sense, because they all provide the same thing with different metrics to make sure that the company's employees are well-rounded.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement software is meant to help managers and HR professionals improve and increase the engagement of their individual employees and teams by setting daily work priorities that they need to meet. It is excellent software because it does more than just measure employees' current skill levels. It also helps to provide different types of feedback and coaching options to help improve their level by assigning daily tasks to employees.

A few of the features that employee engagement systems use to monitor these things are analytics, survey tools, gamification, and follow up workflows. Companies can set up the software to promote their employees on a daily or weekly basis to allow them to view their progress towards their goals, provide feedback on their feelings about their work, and any new or current work priorities that need to be dealt with.

You can view the overview of employee engagement software to learn the most about this type of HR software and to decide if it is what's right for you. You can even get free recommendations about what you need in this type of software to suit your current software needs.

Current Trends

The HR software market is constantly growing, which means constant changes in how things work. For most platforms, mobile capabilities, analytics, and social integration have become common features and are no longer classified as being innovative selling points. Below are a few of the ongoing trends that some of the best HR software providers are currently using in the market.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

AI is no longer a thing of the distant future. It has become undeniable for the growth of software, and according to many companies, they are planning to add to their budget to allow for more AI in the near future. AI companies have been focusing on building tools that will help managers and HR professionals in on-boarding and recruiting new employees. A major trend that they are using this software for is to build more intelligent pulse surveys. Machine Learning is most often found in LMS software that handles e-Learning, and it helps to better understand the types of learning that employees need to improve their performance by establishing learning behavior and patterns of their employees.

Machine learning and AI are still relatively new technologies that are being used in HR software, but it is expected to make big strides and to become the norm in the next few years, as new technologies appear and mature.

Talent Management vs. Team Management

Over the years, employment management styles have gone through several trends, and they swing quite a lot on the personalization scale. Recently, a lot of companies have chosen to move more towards focusing on teams, and less than half of companies in the business world decided to base their organization on different functional divisions. A lot of companies have chosen to go with ways of managing their teams by placing employees together that have common outcome goals in mind, It is what makes the most sense to them.

Due to this trend, HR professionals and managers have had to move more towards performance management software to be able to look at the overall picture of the company's employee engagement. For organizations that lean towards team goal-setting, this trend is expected to be seen frequently in their decision making.

Movement to the Cloud

Based on what was originally expected, HR systems that are cloud based have developed a lot slower. The cloud movement was picked up quickly by small businesses and startups, but the larger established companies have had a hard time wrapping their head around moving away from their original on-premise and legacy systems.

Another thing that has slowed the progression of the cloud movement is because HR software houses so much personal and confidential information. It can be complicated to get all of that information to transfer over properly when switching it from one system to another. Therefore, many companies have decided to stick with their current HR software to avoid this lengthy time process.

Integrated Systems vs. Best of Breed

Due to wanting to move towards cloud software, a lot of companies have begun using several HR platforms throughout their HR department to manage the different parts of an employee life cycle, rather than using a HRIS. This choice can sometimes be financially motivated, as bell, but there are a lot of factors companies have to consider.

Depending on the size of the company, it can take years or several months for an HRIS to be implemented. This is because it acts as a central house for everything related to their employees. A few of these things are performance management, benefits, payroll, time tracking, employee engagement, succession management, and LMS and eLearning.

Some companies choose to implement different software to cover these areas, and they are usually comfortable with using SaaS subscriptions, which allow them to switch and change, as needed as the business grows or downsizes as necessary.

The final option that some companies choose to do is implement an ERP system, rather than using SaaS software or a HRIS. This type of software is generally more sophisticated and complicated than HRIS systems, however, they include vital features that HRIS systems do not like financial systems and supply chain management.

Culture & Company Branding

Company branding and workplace culture always affects every aspect of the employee lifecycle. Companies have used recruitment strategies that appear to be employee health and wellness programs and marketing to give their culture a positive outlook. This is one way that companies avoid the rising cost of dealing with things like mental health issues and substance abuse that can drastically hinder benefits coverage and time loss.

Having a positive culture and branding helps individual employees and HR professionals to push for things like wellness benefits, professional development, and eLearning programs to help get rid of harmful workplace cultures. HR software like LMS, recruiting systems, and performance management can help to track the priorities needed to improve these types of programs.

Choosing the Best HR Software

Choosing and navigating the HR landscape doesn't have to be frustrating or hard, and companies do not have to go through it alone. They can read reviews and interviews from other companies and the developers of the software programs before purchasing them to make sure that they are a right fit for that particular company.

They can take questionnaires to get free recommendations about what HR software programs will work the bet for them, and it will give companies a detailed and personalized list of what HR software programs will be best for their company by merely answering a few questions.