How Evolving Technology is Affecting Human Resources Departments

Human resources (HR) may not get the attention that many other areas of your business do, but it remains critical. HR plans and coordinates most of the administrative issues of a business, deal with onboarding and offboarding personnel, are a big part of a business’ strategic planning, and function as a bridge between a business’ workers and its decision makers. With all that responsibility, HR can sometimes get bogged down with work, putting a business behind. 

We discuss automation quite a lot because it is the way business is going. More tasks can now be completed without the need for human interaction and this trend isn’t going away. In HR, where humans are a big part of it, automation is helping organizational HR directors avoid the litany of mundane tasks they were once responsible for, and now focus on the more pressing side of business relationships. This does have its detrimental effects, as well. Let’s discuss how technology is affecting the human resources department. 

Recruiting Automation

The Internet is a great tool for job seekers and recruiters. New technologies are pushing the recruitment of talent off of the plate of human resources professionals by automating a lot of the process. Instead of having to coordinate with multiple periodicals, and sift through loads of paper applications, much of this process can be accomplished online via third-party recruiters. Automating this process has freed up a lot of time for HR professionals and, while it can be a hindrance if online forms are standardized for specific recruitment needs, it is very beneficial for businesses. 

Communication

HR’s core responsibility internally is to coordinate business initiatives. There are modern communication tools utilized for collaboration that can keep employees in the know, while also saving the HR department’s time. Company-wide instant messaging, email, and other tools helps HR coordinate with employees better than ever.

Employee Performance Reviews

Another of HR’s mountain of responsibilities is to keep up with employee reviews. Analyzing employee performance was once a difficult task that required a lot of time and effort from HR professionals. Modern technology is in place that makes it easier for HR professionals to gather and process information to get an overall picture of performance. 

Enhancing Security

Formerly, the HR department would hold paper files on all employees, vendors, and other people that interact with the business. This was secure, but slow and expensive. Enhancements in HR technology have pushed these records to digital storage, so tools need to be used to secure this information, as digitizing it and keeping it offline takes away the speed and effectiveness of digital systems. 

Policy Creation

Technology has changed the way that HR is able to disseminate information, so much so that many companies rely on their HR department to put together policies and procedures that are available online. Working with IT, the HR department can assign and remove access and ensure that a business doesn’t have any loose ends that could potentially harm it. 

Human resources are evolving; there are new tools that can save a business’ HR department a lot of time and grief, but also require HR professionals to be proficient with many types of technology. If you would like to talk about how to upgrade your HR department via software or cloud-based HR-as-a-Service platforms, reach out to the IT experts at Macro Systems today at 703-359-9211.