6 Essential Tech Tools for Your HR Department

HR departments are at the centre of every organization, undertaking recruitment and management roles. With continued advancements in technology, it becomes increasingly necessary for organizations to equip their human resources departments with the necessary equipment, applications and software.

The use of technology in Human resources departments hastens activities and improves employee output. Various tech tools are required for recruitment, training, management of information, storage of documents/safety of data, motivation and performance appraisal, among other activities.

Are you looking to boost the operations of your HR department? Read on and find out the kind of software your department needs to increase performance, boost productivity and keep up with the competition.

Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

HRIS is an application package used to collect and store employee data and information, employee development, hiring, performance and appraisal, and training. Other uses of the HRIS are automated payrolls, recruitment/application tracking, work attendance and creation of reports and analytics.

The software can be cloud-based or otherwise, and organizations that use this software benefit from:

Ease and secure storage and retrieval of employee data and information.
Where the organization requires to collect and safely keep special information as required by the law.
An efficient and accurate data storage system that saves the organization on time and finances from errors.
Helps in data tracking to meet the departmental strategy.
Helps in enhanced user experience through a self-service platform.

Performance Evaluation

Performance evaluation or appraisal is essential in boosting employee productivity. Each employee in an institution has specific duties. After a given period, usually annually, every organization needs to determine if its employees effectively carry out their responsibilities.

It becomes difficult to appraise staff without the right technology, more so in large organizations. However, with the availability of performance evaluation software, companies can streamline their evaluation processes and boost employee performance.

Unlike traditional appraisal methods, these applications also help determine a real-time evaluation. They also provide critical information on specific employees, such as their strengths and weaknesses. Organizations use the information in promoting, rewarding, retaining and training. Some of this software include Trakstar, Reviewsnap, and bamboo HR.

Recruiting software

The employees you hire determine the success of your organization. For this reason, companies have equipped their HR departments with the right recruiting software for the smooth acquisition of the right talent pool staff.

Recruiting software helps streamline the talent acquisition process by advertising available vacancies, attracting the right talent, screening applicants’ CVs, and conducting interviews. Also, by using recruiting software, the HR department enjoys a more efficient and effective talent acquisition system free of tedious paperwork.

Most recruiting software have common features, which also influence choice by users. These features include data analytics and reporting, applicant tracking, accepting applications and screening.

Businesses also need to consider the functions offered by recruitment software, with some focusing more on the recruitment process and others on attracting talent. Consequently, businesses may want to combine two of these applications to meet their needs. Some of the most used recruitment software are interviewing software, candidate relationship management and applicant tracking software (ATS).

Employee feedback

Employees feel valued whenever they are offered an opportunity to give their opinions on the running of the organization and their experiences at the workplace. The data collected is also critical as it helps an organization fix certain problems that could be coming in the way of meeting its goals.

Employee feedback is one-way of motivating staff. A company can use certain employee engagement software to achieve their goals, instil purpose in their workforce, drive and create room for open communication, gather and implement feedback, improve employee experience, and structure employee recognition.

Some top-rated employee feedback software includes Inspire, Officevibe, Empuls and Wagg. The choice of software depends on the business objectives as some software such as Inspire provides real-time feedback. You also need to consider the software compatibility with other HR tech tools in your organization.

Learning management systems (LMS)

Human resource departments have a critical role in training and educating their employees for continued employee development. Companies use various LMS software to meet the training needs of their employees. These systems also help customise, manage, and track employee training needs from a central platform.

Organizations can either purchase the ideal software or have their own customized depending on their training needs. Some of the features contained in this software are a content library with specific topics or courses, completion tracking, user information, scheduling and alerts.

These systems also integrate easily with other human resource applications and are accessible across different platforms. The commonly used LMS include Kallidus, Talent LMS, Decobo, BetterUP, LearnDash, Hone, and Skillsoft.

Some of the benefits of using LMS in organizations include:

Reduced training cost as they no longer need in-person training sessions.
Organizations can have the software customized to their needs.
The content used is already tested and proven
It is suitable for large organizations without additional costs

PDF tools

Human resources departments also need to use standard PDF editor tools to manage, access, edit and store PDF documents. HR departments often create and share documents in PDF format, including letters and forms. Having a PDF editor app is essential for HR as it eases their operations.

Different online PDF editors offer different features. For instance, the Lumin business collaboration app has an e signature pdf feature, among others easily accessible on the toolbar. These small business tools also help in remote team operations where employees are delocalized, as it allows for ease of sharing and real-time edits in shared documents.

Other PDF tools for managers in HR include Infix professional, lightning PDF professional, PDF Suite Pro, PDFelement and Foxit PhantomPDF.

Wrap up

The operations of a human resource department affect the overall organizational productivity. Consequently, companies need to facilitate this essential department with essential task managers to streamline their operations. There is a need to invest in software to help the department acquire the necessary workforce, train them, appraise, manage employee data, acquire employee feedback and edit PDF documents.