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HR Myths: It Would Make Things More Difficult for HR

Close to 90% of HR professionals nationwide reported utilization of self-service technology in their organization. That’s encouraging, given that it aligns with employees’ expectation of workplace tech.

In that same survey by HR.com, nearly 90% of those pros agreed that such tech is the most efficient method of providing HR and payroll information to the workforce. That statistic is also inspiring to the HR team.

This, however, is anything but: Again, in that same survey, almost a third of the respondents admitted they still enter 90% or more of employee data. In other words, they’re not giving their people access to the technology those people want – technology the company already has purchased!

Why?

While the respondents provided a range of answers, one sticks out as particularly antithetical: the fear it would make HR’s job more difficult.

The opposite is true

Although quantifying a total can prove difficult, one of the survey’s big takeaways is that in HR departments of all sizes, self-service technology saves hours of time, week in and week out.

A general rule of thumb: The larger the company, the more hours saved. It’s common sense, really, simply by virtue of those firms having a greater head count. For example:

  • The HR departments of large companies (defined as employing at least 5,000 people) reported enjoying an average of seven hours saved on a weekly basis.
  • For nearly half of those businesses (48%), that total rises to 10 or more.
  • That’s not to say smaller businesses fail to benefit! For respondents employing less than 250 people, the hours saved each week averages five.

The more access granted to employees, the easier HR’s job, due to the diminished burden of administrative tasks. Outside of work, employees own their data 100% – they should own as much as reasonably possible inside of work as well.

A closer look

While continuous tasks – from logging time to reviewing payroll information – obviously generate recurring ROI, even tasks performed less often can take a load off HR’s back when self-service technology comes into play. (Paycom’s Direct Data Exchange® tool calculates that ROI in real time, based on recent research by Ernst & Young.)

Let’s say a company surveys its 500 employees on job satisfaction once a year, either through paper or email. Now let’s conservatively estimate it would take an HR representative three minutes to tabulate the answers of each completed survey.

With 100% participation, that’s 1,500 minutes, or 25 hours, which is more than half the workweek. And remember, that doesn’t even take into account the time spent to keep track of emails and/or stacks of paper submissions.

Through the right self-service software, that process — from survey dissemination to reminder alerts and data tabulation — can be automated. With the literal click of a button, all but a fraction of those 1,500 minutes would be saved, freeing the HR person to conduct other work with greater impact, such as strategizing possible action items after reviewing poll results.

With a solution that fits your organization’s needs, those efficiencies can extend to all HR tasks requiring employee interaction — not merely the everyday, run-of-the-mill ones.