Digitally Transform Your HR Functions Now

As more organisations encourage or require their staff to work from home, SMEs globally are beginning to see the unexpected benefits of this action amidst the COVID-19 pandemic — a boost in the mood of their employees, additional productivity, and lower costs just to name a few.

Working from home has been made necessary during the circuit breaker but it is highly unlikely that work practices will return to the way they were post COVID-19. In a survey with over 300 CFOs, Gartner found that three quarter of them plan to permanently transition at least 5% of formerly on-site team members to remote arrangements.

This shift towards remote working is nothing new — the COVID-19 pandemic only sped it up. But this sudden acceleration across the board has forced HR departments to quickly adapt and ramp up the process of digital transformation.

This is not a bad thing. In fact, because of the benefits that digital transformation brings to both businesses and employees, it might be one of the few silver linings that will emerge from this pandemic.

The Benefits of HR Digital Transformation

Digital transformation simply refers to the use of new technologies to innovate and improve on current business processes, culture, and customer experiences. It is a philosophy of continuous improvement through technology.

When it comes to HR, digital transformation has three main benefits:

• Cost and time savings from the automation and digitalisation of manual processes, as well as remote working arrangements. In fact, cost savings was the main reason why the CFOs wanted to continue remote working post-pandemic, reported Gartner. Major companies like Siemens, Google and Amazon are leading this trend.
• Improved employee engagement and retention — research shows that an upgraded employee experience can significantly increase bottom line profits (up to 147%). With most people working from home, improving employee engagement has never been more important.
• Higher quality hiring from a smoother and more streamlined employee onboarding process.

SMEs May Be Better Positioned for Digital Transformation Success

While the benefits of digital HR transformation are clear, implementation is always trickier. As with any change to business processes and culture, there will be challenges.

For instance, research by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. found that less than 30% of digital transformational efforts succeed. But it also identified key success factors from companies that did achieve their digital transformation goals. Most of these had to do with coordinated management efforts that set clear goals and communicated with employees openly.

This is good news for SMEs. As a smaller business, you are better positioned for success. Only a small number of decision-makers need to be aligned with fewer stakeholders to manage, and only a few legacy systems and processes to upgrade.

4 Easy Ways for SMEs to Digitally Transform Their HR Functions

Digital transformation is not a ‘one and done’ thing; it is a continuous process of improvement. But we all need to start somewhere. Here are four convenient methods on how SMEs can begin digitally transforming their HR functions and reap its benefits — all using easily available HR-management software.

Method #1 The Hiring and Onboarding Process

A survey by recruitment agency Randstad revealed that 91% of Singaporean candidates would reject a job offer if the recruitment process took more than four weeks. A smooth and efficient hiring process is a key factor in winning the talent war.

Apps such as Bamboo HR enable you to efficiently track all your relevant job applicants. They also allow other stakeholders to weigh in on potential candidates.

Moreover, they offer intuitive employee onboarding interfaces, where new employees can immediately learn about the company’s culture, policies, and introduce themselves to the team. The result: higher-quality hires, improved retention, and lesser workload on hiring managers.

Method #2 Managing Employee Leave, Staff Schedules and Attendance Tracking

When your staff size is small, scheduling employees’ leave manually is a trivial matter. But as your business grows, you may soon find valuable time being eaten up by managing all the different types of leaves your employees require — sick leave, emergency leave, vacation leave etc.

Rather than hiring more admin staff to handle all these issues, you can use software like Bamboo HR and Talenox to do it quickly, easily, and cheaply. This saves your staff’s time, and helps them become more productive.

If managing employee leave is a hassle, handling staff schedules and tracking attendance is definitely harder. But with the aid of software like When I Work and Deputy, employees can clock in and out using their smartphones, and you can manage and track everything in real-time from a convenient and intuitive interface.

Method #3 Managing Payroll

Payroll management is one of the most important HR aspects of running a business, and failing to pay your employees on time or accurately can have serious repercussions. Moreover, precise payroll accounting is paramount for filing taxes properly — you don’t want to run afoul of the law.

Having a digital payroll system like Talenox ensures that you pay all your employees’ salaries accurately, since it offers built-in calculations of ad hoc deductions and allowances. It is also automatically updated according to the latest regulatory requirements, and it integrates with other popular software like Xero and Deputy.

All these systems will go a long way in saving you the stress of having to backtrack and straighten out your bookkeeping manually every time payday arrives.

Method Method #4 The Performance Review Process

Many employees dread the (often one-sided) annual job performance review process. And on the employer’s side, its effectiveness is limited — it simply doesn’t happen often enough. But with software like Bamboo HR and Deputy, employers can replace that outdated annual review model with on-the-spot feedback delivered digitally.

Feedback (both ways) can be given as needed. The data is aggregated to give you a clearer picture of employee performance, so you can adjust as necessary, and immediately. At the same time, employees’ morale is improved because they feel you are listening to them which helps reduce turnover rate.

Start Right. Start Digital

Keen on digitalising your human resource experience? Consider OCBC’s Start Digital bundles that provide your business with up to 12 months free subscription for selected apps.