Too often, we see businesses bogged down in a slog of manual admin (and too often, that involves spreadsheets).
Enter HR workflow automation. It’s the only way to make sure you have accurate and sustainable HR processes. In this guide, we’ll dive into how you can switch your manual tasks to streamlined HR workflows.
What is HR workflow automation?
HR workflow automation refers to automating, streamlining, and optimizing HR processes with technology. It uses software tools to perform tasks that would traditionally have been manually handled, like data entry or document management. The idea is that automated HR workflows allow HR teams to spend more time focusing on strategic objectives.
The challenge with spreadsheets and manual processes in HR
We’re big advocates of using some kind of HR automation software, because we really don’t like manual processes. And there’s a reason (well, multiple reasons) for that. The short explanation is doing manual tasks hinders the overall effectiveness of key HR processes.
The long answer is managing HR processes manually is time-consuming, prone to errors, and hinders in-depth insights or analysis. If you don’t automate HR workflows, someone in your organization must manage those tasks manually. That wastes their time on tedious admin work when their expertise is better used on strategic projects.
Oh, and it puts the burden of said manual work and potential human error on one person or team. That could mean misfiled documents or even typos in critical data. It also means that if the individual in charge of the process isn’t made aware of new information, those HR tasks just don’t get updated. This could be the barrier to real-time data collection or pay going out to employees on time.
And let’s face it: Manual processes don’t hold up as your business scales. An organization needs to rely more on real-time data and integrated processes to ensure it grows efficiently, because manually collecting learning and performance data once you’ve got 500 employees is a time sink that takes away from more strategic projects.
Manual processes also make it difficult to maintain data security. All it takes is one human error to accidentally delete, move, or release data, and suddenly you have a crisis on your hands where personal information is leaked, or access has accidentally been granted to the wrong group of people.
How to automate your HR processes
You’re probably wondering how you can automate repetitive processes in your HR workflows. Transitioning to automated workflows can be done in four simple steps:
- Identify and map repetitive tasks
- Choose the right HR workflow automation software
- Implement and test
- Monitor and optimize.
Step 1: Identify repetitive tasks
Start by identifying which HR tasks within your HR and L&D workflows are repetitive and time-consuming. That could be tasks like employee onboarding, course enrollments, and payroll processing.
Now, this isn’t to say time shouldn’t be spent personalizing these processes. But they’re essentially the same process each time with a few flourishes thrown in, and that’s what makes them:
- Repetitive, and
- Worthy of automation.
Look for any HR processes that are carried out frequently. That could be multiple times a day (attendance tracking), week (payroll processing), or month (generating invoices). Don’t forget to examine “seasonal peaks”, where certain tasks are carried out at higher frequency during certain points of the year, e.g., annual performance reviews, or employee onboarding at the beginning or end of the fiscal year. While not daily occurrences, they’re still repetitive and have an impact on all employees.
Plot these workflows to identify the milestones, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies. For example, if you were looking at the onboarding process, you’d map the process from offer, to first day, to first 90 days. You don’t want to dump too much information on a new hire on their first day, so managers can use this workflow to trigger specific learning content as a way to trickle information at a digestible pace. This is especially helpful in combating that 33% of new hires quitting within three months statistic.
Step 2: Choose the right HR software
The most important thing to consider when choosing the right HR workflow software for your business is how well the tool integrates into your existing systems. There’s no point implementing HR automation software if it creates more problems for your business down the line.
We recommend using something like Momentum for your workflow automation. It automates HR processes to your specifications—that is, you can configure workflows instead of being limited by pre-built templates. For example, if you were trying to build a workflow for external training requests, it would start with a user completing an application form, which would trigger a confirmation email being sent to both the user and their manager, which the manager can action. Then the user will receive an email based on their manager’s approval or denial of training.
The best HR automation software should make the process as hands-off as possible after you’ve done your initial setup. Let’s say you set some milestones and triggers to start individuals’ development plans for L&D and performance management. When the triggers occur, your HR workflow software should automatically start them and assign learning content. Then your workflows can occur in the background while HR teams focus on tasks that have more strategic value for the business.
Step 3: Implement and test
Automated workflows may be, well, automated, but that doesn’t mean HR and leaders shouldn’t be aware of how the workflows actually work. To properly implement your automations, you need to:
- Identify stakeholders
- Provide training
- Prepare and configure HR data.
The relevant stakeholders here will and managers or leaders who will be most impacted by having automated processes. These managers and leaders may be roped into the recruiting process, employee onboarding, or performance management and professional development, and will need to receive training on how to set up workflows. Depending on the solution, this can be pretty complicated to set up to your specifications, so look for vendors who offer hands-on training.
From there, prepare HR data for migration. Make sure all the data you migrate is up-to-date and relevant. If you let mistakes get through, you’ll still need to manually fix them.
Step 4: Monitor and optimize
The last step is to analyze and monitor the efficiency of your streamlined workflows. How long does it take to onboard a new employee now that you’ve automated much of the process? You may still have a first 90 days plan for new employees, but now that it’s delivered more efficiently, has new hire time to proficiency decreased?
This should help you find any remaining bottlenecks that you can use to optimize your workflows even more. Your stakeholders should be brought into this analysis, given they’ll be involved in executing and managing some of those workflows. Are they finding it easier to deliver L&D initiatives to their teams or departments? Are their performance reviews streamlined? And if you’re aiming for the linked learning and performance approach, are L&D and performance management workflows integrated with each other so that performance evaluations identify learning opportunities, and learning improves performance?
If any feedback or analysis indicates the answer is no, then workflows need to be optimized to become truly automated and improve efficiency. This means ironing out any of the kinks or bottlenecks that might still be present and slowing the process down.
Key takeaways
HR processes can’t be effectively optimized without key stakeholders and their unique perspectives and use cases. HR teams need to bring managers and leaders into other HR automation processes to ensure that workflows are truly being streamlined across all tasks. This can save time across the board for HR, leaders, and even employees, improving the efficiency of administrative tasks that otherwise take time away from ones that add more business value.
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