If you find yourself printing out paper to complete any people process at your organization, consider this your official intervention. It’s 2023, my friend. Put. the paper. down.

People data and processes can be organized, completed, and stored in a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) or Human Capital Management (HCM) platform securely, accurately, and in real-time.

To cut down on the alphabet soup, I will refer to these systems as HRIS from here on out.

What does an HRIS do?

Most HRIS’ can help you with the following (and some have even more bells and whistles – either built-in or as add-ons):

• Store all of the important employee documents
• Create an engaging and consistent onboarding experience for new hires 
• Make your recruiting more efficient
• Process payroll
• Time tracking for your team, including clock in/out and taking time off
• Enroll employees and their dependents in benefits
• Create the foundation for performance management
• Develop a compliant process for offboarding that ensures you’re parting ways in the right way
• Get a visual of your team with live, up-to-the-minute org charts
• House all of your training and development materials

When should I consider an HRIS?

Consider adding an HRIS once you have 5 employees or if you find that manually completing any of the above processes is taking up too much of your valuable time (hard truth: if you’re the one doing it, it already is!).

What’s the ROI of an HRIS?

An HRIS is going to pay dividends once it’s up and running. Some HRISs come with built-in HR features (HR articles and templates, or even access to a live HR rep), bringing you peace of mind and great resources to stay compliant with state and federal laws.  Streamlining your workflows will give you and your team back valuable time, allowing them all the information they need for people processes to live at their fingertips wherever they have access to a computer or the platform’s app. 

To calculate the ROI of an HRIS, consider annual costs and set-up costs, as well as ongoing expenses such as maintenance time (we always suggest a bi-annual audit of your personnel data). Now calculate all the tasks you’ll save time with as a result of an HRIS implementation. What ineffective processes are costing you or your people time? Increased productivity and reduced employee turnover can be hard to calculate, but the bottom line is; when you choose an HRIS that fits your needs, you’ll see 30-60% time savings on administrative tasks right out of the gate.*

What should I consider in an HRIS?

It is crucial that you shop for the HRIS tool that works for your company – now and in the future. These tools cost money. Some are priced at per employee per month (PEPM) model, and others charge per payroll run. Once you’ve spent the time selecting the tool, setting it up, and rolling it out to your employees, you want to make sure all the work is going to work for you for a long time to come.

In our next installment, we’ll be sharing our tips for shopping for the right HRIS. If you want to outsource the selection and implementation of an HRIS for your company, Montani Consulting has you covered! Reach out to us for a free 30-minute consultation.

Written by Katherine Daniel and spotlighted on the Wilmington Business Insights.