Best Practices Checklist for HR Automation

By Marianne Chrisos - Last Updated on January 6, 2020
Best Practices Checklist for HR Automation

If you’re thinking about automating some of your processes, make sure you follow these HR checklists to get everything in order.

From recruitment to onboarding to reviews, HR automation tools make HR processes easier. Here’s how to never miss a step in any process.

There are plenty of places that automation can make the lives of HR professionals better, easier, and more productive. Plus, HR automation tools can create more accurate, efficient, and data-safe HR departments. It’s clear that HR automation is the future of HR and that HR automation benefits everyone from the employee to the employer. But just because processes are automated doesn’t mean they’re foolproof and hands-off. There are still best practices to know and follow to make sure the automation goes smoothly and actually help to support your business goals.

When starting out on your automation platform journey, deciding on an automation solution that’s right for you, or figuring out which processes to automate, it’s important to be aware of how your current processes work and how automating will change them, plus your goals for automation overall. It can be a lot to consider, which is why we recommend following a checklist for each automaton area. Here’s how to make sure you don’t miss anything when starting the process of automating HR functions.

Onboarding

One area that really benefits from automaton is onboarding and offboarding employees. You want to make sure that your onboarding automaton process starts on an employee’s first day as a way to introduce them to the business, and that it also covers the areas of legal compliance, benefits, employee culture, specific job duties, and more. Smartsheets offers a comprehensive onboarding checklist and schedule that you can easily adapt to work with any onboarding automation you might have – like emails being sent out after onboarding tasks are completed or reports being run about how far an employee is into the process and if they’re tracking against your timeline.

Time Tracking

Another place that benefits from automated human resources systems is employee time tracking. Rather than manually inputting handwritten time cards, most HR systems now operate off of a digital time system that lets employees update their timeclock at their workstation or even through an app. This SHRM checklist helps employers and HR audit their time keeping practices before implementing an automated timekeeping solution and help to make sure they find the right fit to meet their current needs.

Payroll and Benefits

Payroll and benefits are another area that HR departments have moved to automation versus manual processes. Businesses aren’t cutting checks for their employees anymore, but have moved to direct deposit. Plus, many kinds of payroll software now allow your business to integrate benefit information, so things like PTO accrued and used, are displayed as part of an employee account. If your small business is moving towards a more automated payroll process, make sure to follow this list of questions when deciding on what payroll policies to automate and what payroll solution to use.

HR automation tools can be a game changer for businesses looking to streamline their processes, create more efficient operations, and save time and money. Asking the right questions – and using tools like checklists – can help you find the right automation solutions and set up your HR department and your whole business for success.

Marianne Chrisos | Born in Salem, Massachusetts, growing up outside of Chicago, Illinois, and currently living near Dallas, Texas, Marianne is a content writer at a company near Dallas and contributing writer around the internet. She earned her master's degree in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University in Chicago and has worked in publishing, advertising, digital marketing, and content strategy.

Marianne Chrisos | Born in Salem, Massachusetts, growing up outside of Chicago, Illinois, and currently living near Dallas, Texas, Marianne is a content writer at a c...

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