Improving the company’s HR processes: the major challenge for HR departments

Mastering the management of internal processes in an agile manner is one of the biggest concerns of companies. The improvement of HR processes is a crucial task to optimize the global performance of the company. Many companies have become aware of the importance of digitalization and automation, particularly through the choice of an HRIS.
Automation, piloting, dematerialization and digitization have recently become key concepts for many HR departments. It is therefore necessary to take the time to understand the issues.

HR process improvement: the HRIStool

The work of the human resources department contains an important administrative part. In order to improve HR processes in the company, it has become necessary to automate certain time-consuming tasks. To allow the HR department to focus on higher value-added projects such as rethinking HR strategy, talent management or HR development, investing in an HRIS solution has become a necessity. The emergence and democratization of HRIS has been a response to the need to improve HR processes.

Among other things, an HRIS solution enables you to :

• handle the administrative side of the HR department and increase productivity by automating time-consuming tasks
• provide access to all employee data in a single tool
• facilitate reporting and cross-referencing of data for analysis
• give employees access to their internal files, giving them greater autonomy to manage their annual training courses, paid leave, absences, etc.
• enable employees to follow their own career paths

Company performance is thus directly targeted. Implementing a coherent HR information system is a long-term project, as its benefits are far-reaching.

Automate more and more to improve HR performance

The automation of internal HR processes includes the management of recruitment, training, absences, payroll and, more generally, the administrative management and monitoring of careers. But it is possible to digitize more elements according to the problems of each one. It is important to know that without data stored in a computer system, automation will be tricky. Digitalization implies the dematerialization of information. For this, the EDM (Electronic Document Management), allows to manage documents, to classify them and to make them accessible to people authorized to handle them. To date, there is still a long way to go before 100% of the documents can be stored. When all the company’s data is dematerialized, it will be easy for artificial agents to process it. This data could, for example, be useful in the operation of a decision-support tool.

In the field of artificial intelligence, chatbots have recently made their appearance. These virtual assistants are able to answer various questions and assist you in making the right choices. Computer-aided decision-making is one of the most important aspects of digitalization, as it offers the chance to lighten certain tasks and optimize the work of your employees. In the long term, automation will reduce your operating costs, bring real satisfaction to your teams and partners, while greatly simplifying their daily lives.

HR process improvement: a long-term vision

Many other subjects linked to process automation are at the heart of HR concerns such as data protection, for example, framed by the new GDPR regulations. Indeed, automation implies the handling of a large amount of information which must be traceable according to the reference system defined at European level. We can also talk about the notion of cloud computing, whose objective is to allow a total decentralization of data. Security, accessibility, performance and stability are key success factors of this new way of thinking and structuring IT. In addition, automation will offer the long-term opportunity to leverage data in areas that are still underutilized. One example is the planning or prevention of risks, more precisely psychosocial risks. On the other hand, artificial intelligence and predictive analysis will allow us to respond to new issues, particularly in relation to the recruitment process. Finally, the commitment of all employees will be of paramount importance in meeting the challenges of tomorrow. By motivating employees and providing them with access to ergonomic tools, it will be easy to gather everyone’s feelings. The semantic analysis of the data provided will make it possible to realize the disengagement of certain employees and to take the necessary measures to remedy the situation.

See also our feature on "HR strategy management tools".

• What are the key issues facing HR departments today?
• Organization, talent management, recruitment: priority HR projects?
• Human resources management: what HR strategies for the future?
• Best practices to manage your HR strategy in an optimal way
• The different HR management tools to carry out your HR strategy
• HRIS software: the different areas of intervention for the HR function
• How to convince your management to invest in an HRIS tool?
• Is it necessary to be accompanied in the management of an HR strategy?
• What indicators should be defined to measure the performance of an HR strategy?
• HR strategy: how to achieve effective HR reporting?
• Who should drive HR projects in the company?
• Setting up a working group for an HR project: who should be involved?