How to Give Your Business an Affordable, Low Cost HR Online Makeover

By Jaime Lizotte, HR Solutions Manager of ComplyRight.

Are your employee records a mess? Does scheduling shifts take up too much of your time? Is keeping track of attendance driving you crazy?

If you can say “yes” to any of the above, your HR is due for an online makeover.

If you’ve ever considered changing the way your business handles HR or think, “Why fix what isn’t broken?”, read on. We’re going to show you that moving online can improve your HR… and save your business time and money.

The Case for Better HR

Better HR is best for everyone. Using online HR tools can make creating work schedules, quick and easy. They can enhance the application and interview process – and attract more quality candidates. Increased efficient HR practices also can add value to your business and help retain current employees. Finally, more up-to-date HR will help you stay compliant with the most current labor laws.

How do you make improvements without spending an arm and a leg?

Move Your HR Tasks Online with Low-Cost Web Apps

There was a time if a business wanted to switch its HR tasks online, the only game in town was a Human Resource Information System, or HRIS. However, these software systems are expensive and technically complex for a small business.

Well, there’s good news!

Small businesses now have an affordable alternative to expensive HRIS systems: low-cost Web apps that do one thing only – and they do that one thing extremely well. Best of all, because these apps have a singular focus, getting started is quick and easy.

How to Select the Right Web App for You

As HR Web apps have become increasingly popular, the number of new ones cropping up has increased. That means finding the app that best suits your needs can be overwhelming.

Here are five guidelines to help you choose the right Web app for your business:

#1: Use Narrowly Focused Apps to Solve Your HR Pain Points

To begin, you need to identify which tasks cause you the biggest headaches. This is your pain point. Perhaps it’s the stress of filing W-2s or 1099s, the frustration of rifling through piles of paperwork looking for a single piece of employee information or the monotony of handling employee “When do I work?” calls or emails. Prioritize pain points so you can solve the top one first. Some examples of narrowly focused apps are:

A tax-reporting e-1099 filing app would eliminate cluttered paper tax forms, has everything needed to file year-long 1099s to recipients and IRS – and stores data up to four years.

An employee records app would help you keep essential employee information, organized and in one secure place.

And a scheduling app would allow you to automate scheduling according to an employees’ skills… and let them check their own schedules and swap shifts without bothering you.

#2: Choose Apps That Work Well Together

Selecting tools that integrate are the ideal solution when using multiple apps. As your needs grow, choose apps that interact with each other. Enter data once and it’s shared across all your other apps – saving time from having to input the same information over again. When you log in, you can see and access all your apps from a common interface. From an efficiency point of view this is the “holy grail.”

#3: Look for Built-in Compliance

An important function of HR is ensuring that your business is compliant with labor laws. That’s why you need Web apps that have built-in compliance (HR experts and employment law attorneys supply and review content). A warning: Not all of them do, even if they claim they do. Some don’t stay current with changing labor laws. So it’s essential that the app you’re looking at has deep HR expertise and preferably an in-house legal staff that specializes in employment law.

#4: Benefit from Employee Self-Service

This is a big win for small businesses. Employee self-service once was a feature that was only offered with large HRIS systems. Now it’s available in some of the best HR Web apps. This timesaving feature frees you up from the hassle of doing certain HR tasks – and shifts the burden to your employees, allowing them to update personal information, view schedules and make time-off requests on their own from any computer, tablet or smartphone.

#5: Choose Your Vendors Carefully

Finally, do your research before you select an app vendor. Here’s what to watch out for:

• Is the company financially stable?
• Have they been around more than a few years?
• Does the app offer multiple layers of security?
• Is the app designed specifically for small business?
• Do they have expertise in labor laws and HR compliance?

Once you follow these five guidelines, you’ll give your business an affordable HR online makeover faster than you can say, “I hate paperwork.”

 

Making HR Easy: A Smart Way to Start

The sooner you make the switch online, the faster you’ll be able to streamline HR tasks. Here’s a smart way to get started.

HRdirect, the leading provider of HR solutions for smart employers, is introducing HRdirect Smart Apps – a fresh approach to employee management. Unlike expensive Human Resource Information Systems(HRIS) that offer everything you don’t need, HRdirect Smart Apps, has just the right things to solve your HR pain points — that fit your needs and budget. And here’s the best part.

You can start at no cost with Employee Records. This easy-to-use Web-based app helps you keep all your employee information organized in one secure place. Additional Smart Apps will be available throughout 2017.

To sign up for your Free Employee Records app, just go to www.HRdirectApps.com.

Contributed by ComplyRight, Inc. ComplyRight creates practical solutions to help employers streamline administrative tasks and simplify compliance with federal, state and local labor laws. From hiring and training, to employee recordkeeping and time tracking, to labor law posting and tax information reporting, our family of brands, including eFile4Biz, HRDirect and Poster Guard, gives employers confidence that they are doing the right things, the right way. Learn more at ComplyRight.com.