What Is HR Software?

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What Is Human Resources (HR) Software?

Human resources, or HR for short, is an organization's focus on its most important asset, its people. An HR employee or a human resources department helps manage the end-to-end employee lifecycle from pre-hire to retirement and everything in between. However, in small, medium, and large employers alike, this can often revolve around paperwork and processes throughout the employee lifecycle instead of the people themselves.

HR software is designed to streamline routine HR tasks and responsibilities while eliminating manual processes, paperwork, redundancies, duplicate data entry, and multiple systems. HR software often provides a single-employee database, where all employee data is kept safe in a secure, cloud-based system. This single system can help manage employees throughout the entire lifecycle, from onboarding and recruitment to benefits administration and payroll. 

In the rare instance where an HR software solution is not a single platform or tightly integrated suite of applications, open APIs and standard integrations should be available, which will allow for up-to-date employee information with real-time reporting and dashboards. This way, even if you can't get everything under one roof, you won't have to worry as much about duplicate data entry and so on. Automation should also be available throughout the employee lifecycle with workflows, configurable checklists, and standard processes & policies that help reduce administrative workload and minimize compliance risk.

HR Functions - Managing the Employee Lifecycle

Core HR starts before the employee lifecycle even begins by creating job requisitions or descriptions that attract talent across an organization's open jobs and developing an employer brand with existing team members. The HR department or function is typically responsible for direct recruiting efforts including sourcing, evaluating, and tracking best-fit candidates and applicants or managing third-party recruiters.

As new hire decisions are made, offer letters are signed, and then employee handbooks, the employee onboarding process and the creation of the employee record, benefits enrollment, payroll setup, asset assignments, and training and certifications come into play. 

HR doesn't stop there, it expands into ongoing employee performance and reviews, employee management, employee engagement, compensation management, benefits administration, incident tracking, leave management, straight on through the employee lifecycle to the exit interview and COBRA.  

All these different responsibilities are intended to retain a happy and high-performing workforce and workplace, but there must be a core focus on HR compliance. Throughout the employee lifecycle, at every step, complying with federal, state, and local labor laws and legislation should be an employer's top priority. 

Why Is HR Software Important?

The simple answer is... "HR software gives employers and professionals back the time spent on paperwork and processes so that they can focus on what their primary focus should be, their employees".

Human resources software and solutions streamline the management of HR processes and documentation, making it a crucial part of business and workforce management.

The best HR software is typically found in a single database platform or cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) HR solution, which allows for the management of employee information in a single employee record. This should eliminate mountains of paperwork, manual data entry, or re-entry of data throughout multiple systems for payroll or other core back-office functions. Not only will this help you better manage compliance, but it'll help you avoid losing important information (possibly violating recordkeeping requirements), and avoid making mistakes as a result of duplicate data entry. 

Advantages of HR Software

The benefits of HR software can include, but are not limited to the following: 

  • Streamlining of routine tasks
  • Elimination of duplicate data entry and manual / paper processes
  • Improved compliance
  • Process employee changes and updates faster
  • Reduced time-to-hire with improved employee experiences for new hires
  • Strategic insights through real-time reporting
  • Greater employee engagement and satisfaction
  • Monitor goal status in real-time to align the organization for success
  • A single and secure employee record
  • Simple benefits administration: set up, configure, modify, and manage multiple benefit plan types — quickly and easily

HR System Requirements

An HR software solution should have features that streamline HR operations, and allow for self-service while eliminating error-prone, manual tasks. It should empower companies to focus less on administration and more on HR strategy that allows them to manage, grow, and retain their employees. 

HR Software Functions Every Solution Must Have

HR software should allow you to streamline your HR management from start to finish and should include the following features:

  • Flexible Workflows - that use visual drag-and-drop tools to easily model your current
    business processes and policies. This enables you to streamline routine tasks
    such as approvals, updates, changes, and more.
  • Robust Reporting - via configurable dashboards and reports that provide real-time access to accurate, consistent data, visibility, and insight needed to drive better decision-making.
  • Self-Service Tools - enable employees and managers to complete forms, update
    their information, review requests, and more through our modern self-service tools and mobile application.
  • Integrations - for HR, time and attendance, payroll, scheduling, and more on a centralized platform with a single, consistent source of employee data.

Matching HR Software With Other Workforce Management Solutions

Included in HR tasks and responsibilities are many other business functions that depend on constant employee data.

With a cloud-based HR system, you can streamline your onboarding, recruitment, employee benefits, timekeeping, performance management, and more. Specifically, HR enables organizations to automate core HR functions, including onboarding, while providing a single database that stores and tracks all employee information in one place.

HR Tools - What Features Should Payroll Software Have?

HR software can have a plethora of features that span different areas of workforce management. Below is a sampling of some of the most important and common HR software features that every solution should include:

Core HR
  • Custom workflows and checklists
  • Standard and custom forms
  • HR document storage and retrieval tracking
  • Onboarding, preboarding, and offboarding
  • Skills and certifications tracking
  • Position control and budgeting
  • Automated step and grade pay schedules
  • Mass editing tools
  • Incident tracking and management
  • Asset management
  • Organizational charts and employee directories
  • Organizational news, announcements, and events
  • Custom forms creator
  • Auto-populated EEO, VETS, OSHA, and new-hire reporting
  • Workers’ compensation tracking and management
  • Engagement surveys with sentiment analysis
  • SMS, email, and in-application push notifications
  • Employee self-service mobile application
Employee Onboarding
  • New Hire Checklists and Workflows
  • Employee Self-Service
  • Custom HR Forms Creation 
  • Employee Handbook Maintenance
  • Digital Document Signing
  • HR Document Storage
  • I-9 Compliance or E-Verify Integration
  • New Hire Reporting
  • Asset Allocation
  • W-4 Elections and Approvals
  • Employee Benefits Selection
  • An integrated employee record that starts with talent acquisition
  • Talent management: compensation, training, attendance, asset and performance management
  • ACA management and other compliance reporting 
  • Employee self-service with access to benefits, payroll data, timekeeping, and more
Talent Acquisition
  • Job Requisitions
  • Job Board Integration
  • Digital Application Process 
  • Candidate-Self Service 
  • Resume Parsing
  • Pre-screening Capabilities 
  • Applicant Tracking and Notifications
  • Configurable Candidate and Interview Stages
  • Background Checks
Benefits Administration
  • Comprehensive plan rules for eligibility, waiting periods, age, and banding, to ensure your policies are enforced
  • Effective dated plans to eliminate manual date-based changes
  • Coverage levels based on pricing or units
  • Evidence of Insurability settings for open enrollment, new hire, and life change events
  • Passive enrollment option for automatic enrollment in the same benefits
  • Premium surcharges capabilities
  • Automated enforcement of court-ordered dependent coverage
  • Customizable electronic forms for the collection of additional plan data
  • Automated notifications to easily communicate to targeted employee populations
  • Easy-to-use workflows to automate review and approval processes
  • Automated connections to 600+ carriers, financial partners, and COBRA administrators
  • Smart Forms, used when EDI files are not accepted
  • Proactive, continuous data monitoring for data updates or changes
  • Over a dozen real-time, benefits-specific reports that allow you to get a full picture of plan effectiveness at any time
  • Benefits dashboard for visual insights and trends
  • Employee self-service, including reviewing and enrolling in benefits, comparing benefits, understanding contribution amounts, and updating personal information
Performance Management
  • Custom performance reviews, ratings, and feedback forms
  • Goal, competency, and core value libraries
  • Peer and continuous feedback
  • Focal, annual, and 30/60/90-day reviews
  • Unlimited nine-box matrices, succession slates, and talent pools
  • Gap analysis and scenario planning
  • Flexible workflows and approvals
  • Multiple manager reviews
  • Visual drag-and-drop tools
  • Real-time reporting and analytics
Learning and Development
  • Drag and drop course and curriculum creation
  • Store, curate, and share any type of content
  • Upload content from any source or leverage built-in content marketplace
  • Course recommendation engine
  • Automated exams and grading
  • Groups and discussion boards
  • Company and group news feeds
  • Badges and peer achievements
  • Leaderboards and gamification
  • Automated notifications and reminders
  • Track KPIs and performance level benchmarks

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