What is Human Resources (HR) Automation?

Human Resources (HR), along with many other departments, depends on document-driven processes to get work done. For example, employment contracts must be read and signed by new employees during the on-boarding process. In a paper-based office, this process requires someone to make sure the contract is accurately prepared, printed, signed by the employee, received by HR and properly filed. Although the employee contract is an essential part of onboarding a new employee, spending hours of valuable time to complete this process on paper is not.

Here’s a breakdown of how enterprise content management (ECM) software and automation help HR professionals work more efficiently, plus a list of seven core HR functions that can be automated.

What is HR Automation?

Enterprise content management (ECM) software reduces the time it takes to complete tasks—without sacrificing quality of work. Organizations use ECM to capture, store, secure and access information by:

• Importing documents into a digital repository, whether they originate on paper or in a digital format.
• Organizing them in the repository, where authorized employees can search for, retrieve and edit documents.
• Keeping files in a standard format (such as TIFF) that can be easily shared across devices.
• Archiving records as non-editable files and retained according to a compliant records retention schedule.
• Making information simpler to locate during an audit or records request.

Automation facilitates these document-based processes and should be an integral part of your ECM solution. Automation handles many of the administrative tasks that, though critical, slow down productivity when performed manually. Such tasks include filing documents, creating new folders and transferring documents between employees. Automation software also eliminates the need for paper-specific tasks like making photocopies and gathering handwritten signatures.

Which HR Tasks Can Be Automated?

Here are some core HR functions that can be improved with automation:

• Employee records management. Retain employee records according to government regulations in the repository.
• Employee recruitment. Automatically store applications submitted through online forms in the ECM repository and assign them to a recruiter for review.
• Employee onboarding. Send confidentiality agreements, waivers and other forms to new hires and, once completed, send them to the corresponding folders in the repository.
• Benefits. Track when employees become eligible for benefits enrolment.
• Health and safety. Send update emails to floor monitors when an employee leaves the organization or moves to a new floor.