In a December 2023 updated report, Ernst & Young (EY) found the average cost per manual data entry made by an HR professional increased to $4.78. Read about EY’s latest findings for more information.
Keeping your business moving can feel like you’re spinning plates, and while you do your best to avoid mistakes, even the best plate-spinners break a few every now and then.
Below are five errors business owners can easily make and simple solutions to each, giving you a step up on the competition.
Hiring the wrong candidate
The last thing you want to do is spend your time and effort recruiting future ex-employees. According to the 2019 CEO Annual Benchmarking report, being able to fully utilize the skill sets of their top talent was one of the respondents’ biggest challenges. Not only do new hires need the right skills, but they also need to be a solid fit for your organizational culture if they’re going to be an active part of your success.
When you implement an automated applicant tracking system to relieve many of the time-intensive parts of the recruiting process, you’ll be able to get a clearer view of the available talent pool. That results in lower turnover and higher productivity and dramatically reduces the number of job interviews on your schedule.
Inadequate onboarding
In the old days of business, the onboarding process was often shadowing a more senior employee until you “learned the ropes.” Today, a strong onboarding process sets up both the employee and employer for success. Slow, ineffective or incomplete onboarding can have some disastrous effects. The Society for Human Resource Management reported nearly one-third of new hires leave their job within the first six months. Poor onboarding can often be the reason, as it fails to provide new hires with the tools to succeed or give them the impression the organization cares about their success.
What if your new hires started Day 1 with an intentional and comprehensive welcome package designed by HR pros to introduce organizational values and lay out a clear training map? That’s what you have with automated onboarding tools like those found in Paycom’s single software. New hires receive vital policies, essential handbooks and all the information they need through a seamless process that lets them hit the ground running, and employers have the necessary documentation to monitor their progress and ensure that they’re meeting all necessary standards. Your new team members will be set up for success!
Poor record-keeping
The most common documentation shortcoming is simple data-entry errors. It might seem trivial, but mis-keyed data can be expensive, as inaccurate record-keeping can trigger costly compliance-related fines.
Even accurate data entered manually can be expensive. A 2019 Ernst & Young study found that a single instance of manually entering HR information costs a business $4.51 on average. By implementing a single-database application with self-service HR technology, you’ll drastically improve accuracy while limiting the time-consuming process of having HR staff enter the same data multiple times. If you have to pay $4.51 every time you enter HR data correctly, imagine the expense of every instance of incorrect record-keeping! Each inaccurate key stroke costs time and effort to fix, and it exposes you to a host of fines and penalties.
Regulatory noncompliance
Keeping your business compliant is critical, but navigating laws and regulations can be confusing. According to the National Small Business Association, the average small business spends at least $12,000 a year to comply with government regulations like FLSA, COBRA, OSHA and ACA. The average start-up spends around $83,019 on regulations in its first year alone!
Compliance tools like Paycom’s suite of Government and Compliance software or Enhanced ACA help you comply with regulations affecting your business and monitor legislative changes so you can avoid costly noncompliance fines.
Missing important deadlines
Staying on top of every detail is a tough task, but missing important deadlines such as tax or compliance filings can have serious consequences for any business owner. Just missing the deadline for your taxes can incur a minimum fee of 5 percent of the total owed! When you have to keep up with federal, state and local taxes, the headaches and potential for penalties and late fees are multiplied!
Choose HR software with automated deadline reminders to prevent these oversights and a payroll tax management tool that automatically computes quarterly and year-end totals to simplify the filing process.
Embracing HR tech in your business can support your operations with automated processes and helpful reminders to make sure you never miss a beat as you move past your competition.
