Which parts of your HR operations are easiest to automate? HR is such an expansive business function, from benefits administration to payroll and timekeeping to employee onboarding and more. You can find several tools for each of those functions in a quick Google search. On the other end of the spectrum, there are several all-in-one tools that bundle all this HR functionality into one software. For many businesses, this can be overkill. They may not need every feature. Plus, custom modifications often come with extra monthly costs. It’s easy to lose time comparing which tool is the best. The better place to start is looking inwards. Once you pinpoint high-impact tasks, you can evaluate your options. Compare a connected platform against an integrated tech stack, and decide whether to manage the software yourself or partner with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). Which HR Tasks Are Worth Automating? Most businesses already use technology to run payroll. The better question is whether that technology handles the tricky scenarios well, like shift differentials, blended overtime, or multiple pay rates in the same pay period. These are the situations where payroll errors carry the highest risk and cost. With the right setup, rules for shift differentials and multiple pay rates are configured once and applied every pay period. Blended overtime is calculated automatically on the weighted average of every rate an employee worked that week. Payroll follows the same rules every time. READ MORE: Building Payroll Systems for Compliance and Efficiency Where else could technology and automation make a meaningful difference in your HR operations? Hiring is a good place to start. An applicant tracking system brings job postings, applications, and interview scheduling into one place, so candidates’ information isn’t scattered across separate inboxes and spreadsheets. When you make an offer, their information carries straight into onboarding. No one re-enters data, and your new hire can start their paperwork right away. From there, the same thinking applies to: Employee onboarding: digital new hire paperwork, employee document storage. Benefits enrollment and administration: carrier reconciliation, COBRA administration, leave management. Time and attendance: mobile clock-in/clock-out, timesheets approved digitally and sent to payroll automatically. Performance and learning management: reviews, goals, and training records tied to the same employee file. Employee portal: self-service access to pay stubs, W-2s, and PTO requests, plus company-wide announcements. When this all runs in one system, every employee’s information stays together in one place. Each connected process saves time, and in businesses where leaders who aren’t HR professionals are running HR, that time adds up. Saving just four hours a week with automation adds up quickly. That frees up over 200 hours every year for high-value strategic work. Turning Employee Data into Better Decisions Reporting is where HR technology starts answering the questions business owners ask every week. When HR functions share one system, employee data stops being scattered across spreadsheets and inboxes. Keeping that information accurate and in one place is valuable on its own. The next step is turning it into insights that help leaders understand what’s working and what might need to change. Can the people who need the metrics, from an owner on a phone to a manager reviewing team hours, get them without waiting for someone to run a report? Can you customize reports to fit your business and export them to your accounting software or CPA? Do dashboards and visualizations show trends like turnover or overtime clearly enough to catch them before they hit your margins? READ MORE: How Does HR Technology Benefit Business Owners? Evaluating a Connected HR Platform Versus Standalone Tools Many businesses run on a stack of HR tools – separate platforms with separate logins for payroll, benefits, time tracking, onboarding, and so on. A connected platform offers a single source of truth, with one place for leaders and employees to log in and view everything they need from HR. For businesses to really get the most out of their HR technology, a connected platform should provide: Payroll, benefits, and HR in one connected system Employee self-service portal (pay stubs, W-2s, PTO requests, personal information updates, company-wide updates) Mobile access for managers and employees Electronic onboarding with customizable documents Accessible, customizable reports with dashboards and visualizations Integration with accounting software like QuickBooks Time-tracking with digital approvals that go straight to payroll Applicant tracking, performance, and learning in one system If you’re deep in this evaluation and considering an all-in-one connected platform for HR, here are some more things worth looking for: Do you truly have one login for the platform, or do you have to log in multiple times when accessing different functions within the platform? Does the tool offer a mobile app? Does the reporting tool offer what your business needs? Are you able to customize and design reports the way you want? Does the system offer a dashboard to see your key employment metrics at a glance? Is there dedicated support for implementation and for day-to-day issues? A connected platform that’s implemented effectively makes your processes run smoothly and helps any employee across the company access what they need. Candidates onboard into one system from day one. New hires find everything they need in one place. Employees have one login to track their time, access their HR paperwork and make updates, enroll in benefits plans, and request PTO. Leadership can access reports that share the insights they need and integrate into the other tools they use every week. Your HR system should be your single source of truth, and that only works if everyone can actually get to the information they need. The Trade-Off of Managing HR Technology Yourself Buying your own HR software solves distinct problems in your processes. When you do that, you also take ownership of finding solutions when something goes wrong. Add in the complexities of managing different vendor relationships and different logins, and the management of HR technology becomes its own job. If your business has someone who can own HR processes and related technology, that makes a significant difference. For those who don’t, partnering with a PEO makes business sense. With a PEO on board, you’re gaining access to both a connected HR platform and a team who can provide support knowing both your business and the tools you use. Consider what happens when a business headquartered in New York makes its first out-of-state hires. Out-of-state growth triggers new state registrations, specific tax withholdings, and unemployment filings. It also brings additional compliance rules you must master. READ MORE: Growing Across State Lines No software will catch those changes on its own. With a PEO, you get an HR business partner who can identify the process changes you need to make, having kept up to date on different states’ labor law compliance rules. Technology and payroll team members can then ensure the proper changes are made and set up in a repeatable system from the first payroll cycle. That’s the power of a PEO. You get both the technology your business needs, and the expertise and support needed to get the most out of that technology. The Right Technology Helps You Run HR Confidently You don’t need every tool and every new capability. The right HR technology for your business is the tool (or tools) that remove manual work and compliance risk, backed by a supportive team that keeps everything working correctly as your business grows. Employer Services Corporation has been offering trusted PEO services to businesses in Buffalo and beyond for 30 years. We invite you to learn how we use technology to help businesses like yours turn HR into a competitive advantage. Contact us to start a conversation and learn how a connected HR platform could benefit your business.