Include these four features in your HRMS requirements
Written by Dave Foxall.
In a recent report on HR technology projects, almost 50% of respondents stated their main motive for a new HRMS was to improve efficiency and gain greater functionality. But which functions do you need? When you have them nailed down, they’ll be the core of your RFP to send out to vendors. But what to include? Talk to your stakeholders and users, that’s essential. But in addition to that input, the following four features offer some distinctly practical benefits…
Recruitment reporting and analytics
When it comes to recruitment features, by all means give a big yes to automatic posting of vacancies to jobs sites, a yes to resume parsing, a yes to social media talent pipelines. But actually, if you really want to improve your recruitment practices, there’s a more mundane feature with high impact: reporting and analytics.
Standard reports and metrics like the following can be used to continuously improve your recruitment and retention strategy:
- Source of hire – where do your best recruits come from?
- Time to hire – between identifying a vacancy and filling it.
- The time per process stage – how long each stage of your recruitment process takes.
- Turnover – where are you losing most staff, and which people are more likely to leave.
Self-service
This is an oldie but a goodie. And as such, it might seem a little obvious to include it here but self-service implementation can transform how your HR services are delivered, and have an impact on factors such as organizational culture and employee engagement. The benefits include:
- Better access to HR services – automated transactions (such as booking time off) avoid ‘gatekeepers’ such as line managers or HR staff slowing things down; they also frees up those gatekeepers to do higher priority work.
- Lower HR overheads – with HR handling less routine inquiries, there’s a consequent reduction in administrative costs.
- Accuracy – automation means fewer people involved in routine tasks, and that means less likelihood of errors (human beings are great but they do make mistakes).
Compliance
Staying in line with national and territorial labor laws is essential for any employer and an HRMS compliance module can really take the strain, ensuring you record and report the right workforce information at the right time. However, that compliance is only as accurate as the information held in the system. Some cloud HRMS are automatically updated with changes to current labor law (e.g. to tax or social security rates), issuing notifications as and when requirements change.
Security
Keeping your workforce’s information safe is (or should be) of paramount importance. However, a potential hole in your ‘security net’ is the use of mobile functionality. Being able to access your HRMS via the internet (anywhere, any time, any device) is convenient and increasingly essential. But when the user’s device holds non-authorized apps, there’s a risk to your data. And then there’s the possibility of theft or loss of the device… look for a system feature or compatible app that enables you to shut down and track devices in the event of a problem.
It’s entirely possible that your HRMS RFP requirements list will be as long as your arm. However, as well as looking to fill your stakeholders’ wish lists, there’s a benefit to focusing on practical issues such as process improvement, data security and legislative compliance as well.
Dave has worked as HR Manager for the Ministry of Justice for a number of years, he now shares his expertise on the HRMS software market as a columnist for HRMS World.
