It's Time to Invest in HR Tech: Here's Why

HR departments are under a lot of pressure to perform in today's environment. These professionals have to juggle a wide range of responsibilities, from attracting the best talent to maintaining a positive culture.

To meet these demands, more professionals are turning to technology solutions to give them an edge. There are a wide variety of tools available that can do everything from eliminating any inefficiencies in your hiring processes to streamlining interactions with your existing workforce.

If you haven't yet investigated what HR tech has to offer, now's the time. You can be sure your competitors will be, so you need to know what it can offer you. Here are a few key reasons why you need to invest in these solutions.

1. It helps you make smarter decisions

A key benefit of HR tech is that it can equip you with all the information you need to make smart, informed decisions. This means no more working off gut feelings - instead you'll have clear data to guide you.

This comes in the form of people analytics, or talent analytics as it's sometimes known. This can analyze your workforce's performance and look for trends, highlighting any potential red flags and letting you know what to do about it.

For example, people analytics can be used to study why people are leaving an organization, or spot any patterns such as tardiness that can be initial signs of bigger issues. You can then use this to inform management and adjust practices accordingly.

Therefore, it's no surprise that people analytics are becoming ever-more popular among HR professionals, with one study showing that 84% of respondents consider this technology as important or very important to their operations.

2. It improves your recruitment

People analytics is also highly useful in the recruitment phase. Recruitment software that includes these capabilities can evaluate candidates in more depth, looking not only at their work history and educational background, but also determining whether they'll fit into your company's culture, based on how well they align with your current employees for key metrics.

In addition to reducing the likelihood that you'll misjudge a potential applicant - something two-thirds of hirers have done at least once - it can also help you improve your onboarding processes by identifying any issues that cause new hires to leave quickly, thereby saving you significant amounts of money that may have been wasted on hires that don't stay the course.

3. It makes your day-to-day life easier

As well as analytics, another key area for HR technology is automation. Many HR processes are still heavily process-driven and come with a lot of paperwork, so embracing HR automation can take much of the tedium out of these essential tasks, freeing up your time for more interesting activities and those that’ll bring value to the business.

For example, using robotic process automation alongside human workers to create an augmented workforce can streamline data entry processes and file transfers, ensuring speed and accuracy. You could even set up a chatbot that can answer common employee queries or deal with vacation requests, which can give responses to employees quickly and make the HR department as a whole more productive.

4. It helps boost inclusion and diversity

HR tech can also improve diversity and inclusion by removing unconscious human biases from decision-making processes, as well as expanding your reach for recruitment, thereby ensuring you have a much wider pool of talent to choose from.

There are numerous ways you can achieve this. For example, some systems use 'blind' assessments that strip applications of any identifying information to remove bias. However, you can also use technology to actively search for and prioritize underrepresented groups to boost your firm's diversity. For instance, this may be particularly useful in fields that have been historically male-dominated, such as IT.