What are the Most Under-Utilised Features of HR Software?

As HR professionals you’ll use your HR software every day. No doubt you’ll have areas of your software which you know inside out, but your HRMS platform will host a range of features that you’re probably not too familiar with.

We’re all guilty of it, when you use a piece of software every day, you fall into a rhythm of which areas you access and which you don’t. To get the most out of your HRMS systems, it’s important to evaluate which software features you’re unfamiliar with and what tools you could use more to maximise the value of your system. 

We’re going to share which areas of our HR solution often get neglected and which areas you may not be using to their fullest potential. 

Maximising HR reporting and analytics

As you know, the reporting and analytics capabilities of your HR system are invaluable for HR teams to build out reports and strategies for an organisation. You’ll probably have a few key automated reports which you lean on regularly, like employee engagement and experience or tracking productivity levels in the workforce. But when was the last time you explored the range of HR reports available in your HR software?

Unfortunately, reporting and analytics are often one the features of HR software which can be under-utilised in a business. With over 150 Human Resource reporting templates available as standard on the XCD reporting and analytics functionality, for instance, it’s likely that you haven’t fully explored the capabilities of the reporting solution.

HR value drives the most value to your organisation by utilising its bank of employee data to gain valuable insights into the performance of your workforce. Of course, you’ll be familiar with the automated HR reports which bring insights into lulls in employee engagement, inefficiencies in workflows and bottlenecks in productivity, but more niche reports could highlight trends in employee leave and reveal cases of absenteeism, for instance. XCD reporting also includes valuable payroll reporting functionalities, which enables Human Resources to track and control all spend and budgets.

Another way in which HR can maximise their reporting features of XCD HR software is by utilising the AI-powered analytics and prediction builder in order to forecast performance using the Salesforce-powered Einstein AI tool. Learn more about how XCD is the only HR and payroll software built on the Salesforce platform.

Making the most of your dashboards

Of course, you’ll see your HR software dashboard every day, but are you utilising it as effectively as possible?

Company dashboards are the all-in-one hub for HR in your organisation, not just a springboard to access different HR functionalities. Dashboards are often under-utilised features in HR software as they don’t always drive engagement from staff. Your HR dashboard should act as an instant source of information and connection for your organisation, providing staff with a birds-eye view of current company focuses. 

The key to a successful software dashboard is that it is bespoke to your company and speaks the language of your employees. There’s no value in having a dashboard that displays basic information and doesn’t enable staff to access the core HR functionalities that they need. The XCD platform allows for completely custom dashboards which you can tailor to the needs of your company. Employees can access their payslips instantly, submit any HR requests, and manage their time off, all from their software dashboard. These core HR functionalities can be highlighted alongside company updates, reminders and social media posts. 

Management can also utilise dashboards to highlight current staff initiatives, surveys, notices and events to promote employee engagement in their roles and with the company more broadly. Making your dashboards the heart of your HR system centralises all of the essential information and HR functionalities for employees, empowering them to rely less on HR teams and more on self-service. 

You may also be interested in: How Do You Measure the Impact of Employee Experience?

Explore your HRMS integrations ecosystem

Most HR softwares on the market will feature integration opportunities with different HR solutions in order to give HR teams more tools to operate effectively. However, the integration ecosystem of most software systems is a massively under-utilised feature of many HR solutions. 

The XCD HR software solution is built on the Salesforce platform, the world’s leading CRM tool. HR departments using XCD can access the full Salesforce ecosystem of integrated tools and expertise, meaning that HR leaders can simply integrate with thousands of apps for every area of business within the cloud HR software. Salesforce provides the full picture of a business’ operations, from HR and payroll to finance and marketing. This 360 degree view of business processes being accessible via HR software is invaluable to HR, as they can see how different areas of a company may impact HR processes. 

For example, businesses that integrate their sales and marketing software and HR software through Salesforce will empower HR to spot trends between the departments. A successful marketing campaign could impact the number of candidates that apply for vacancies, and a staff incentive in the workforce could improve productivity in the sales team. 

Check out our whitepaper: 10 Reasons to Move Your Whole Business onto Salesforce

Read into your recruitment and onboarding data

Recruitment and onboarding are crucial HR processes, but many HR managers won’t have to utilise these functionalities too often, especially if their organisation has a high staff retention rate. However, the recruitment and onboarding features of HR software can provide useful data for HR teams, even if you’re not actively hiring. The data which you collect from your applicant tracking and interviews is invaluable in creating more efficient, effective recruitment processes in future. 

HR managers can utilise the recruitment and onboarding features of their HR software when rehiring for a role. It can be useful to look into the interview notes of previous candidates, both successful and unsuccessful, to see what qualities were the right fit for the role and refine what hiring managers should outline in future job descriptions. It could even be useful to gain insights on which hiring managers have the highest acceptance rates on job offers and offer support and training to others in the HR team. 

Encouraging employee self-service

Human Resources teams will know the pain of having to chase employees to complete forms, surveys and documentation. Employee self-service in HR software is key to streamlining HR processes and alleviating the admin-heavy workload of HR professionals, but only if your employees utilise self-service effectively. 

Some HR software systems function on the principle of self-service, but the solution itself is not intuitive and does not account for employees being slow to take on the responsibility of their own HR requests. It is important to establish a company-wide focus on self-service HR to ensure your HR software is being utilised effectively. XCD HR software tracks the actions required by employees on the system, whether they’re renewing certifications or completing surveys, and sends automated alerts to ensure completion.

XCD HR software offers a full hire-to-retire suite of self-service modules for employees to take control of their own data, making them able to view and review their own information and manage simple tasks which would usually require HR and payroll involvement, such as submitting leave requests and viewing payslips. Employees can even access their HR modules from anywhere via the XCD HR and payroll mobile app.

Learn more below about HR technology, from cost and ROI, to the different types of systems and their benefits.