A Great Example of How Automation Complements the HR Function

Today’s workplaces are increasingly “going paperless”, with a growing number of organisations opting for cloud-based solutions to offer secure and systematic business processes.

The HR industry is no different when it comes to basic processes such as file storage and sharing. Other more critical, practices are still stuck in the past.

Recruiters face the different challenges and there is no time for manual and repetitive tasks.

Automating the HR Function‍

When you’re looking to implement automation for the HR function, make sure you look at the development road map. When introducing HR automation, you and your business are going to have changing requirements.

HR teams need automation. Technology will support you in ways you’re not aware of right now and it’s important that you can change, and adapt at the rate of your market. 

With Xref, our clients are now hiring better people more often with usable, insightful data – and at the heart of this transformation is automation.

What is HR Automation?

HR automation is the process that replaces manual and repetitive tasks with software and technology. Human resources technologies aim to enhance the efficiency of the team by freeing employees from tedious manual tasks. The objective is that by freeing time from repetitive tasks, this allowing recruiters and HR teams to focus on complex tasks like decision making and strategising. 

What are the main benefits of HR Automation?

By automating standard and repetitive HR activities, organisations reduce the cost and time they spend on manual HR planning and processing.   With strategic automation, HR departments reduce manual work and focus their attention on more strategic roles.

Automation can be used for the recruitment process, employee onboarding, to manage employee benefits and all other human resource management that involves time-consuming tasks that would normally involve manual processing for the HR staff.

HR Processes that could be automated with software:

These are some of the tasks that see great results by automating processes with technology:

‍1. Pre-hiring

2. Onboarding

3. Time management

4. Leave requests

5. Performance management

6. Exit interviews

A great example of HR Automation

‍Automating Reference Checking

Reference checking is a great example of how automation has empowered and complemented the HR function.

This is certainly what we’ve seen with reference checking. Reference checking is often still conducted via phone, reliant on referee availability for a call, recorded via written notes during the discussion and subsequently typed up. The man-hours required make it an inefficient HR process. The margin for human error makes it unreliable, and the scope for loss of information or unrestricted data sharing make it a huge privacy risk.

When speaking at an Australasian Talent Conference (ATC) earlier this year, I discussed my perceptions of the way in which automation will (or at least should) take a primary role in transforming the industry. I shared my experience of starting Xref, which I introduced with co-founder Tim Griffiths, as a means by which to navigate the risks associated with traditional reference checking methods. -- Lee Seymour

At Xref’s core is automation, and a guarantee of fast, reliable and secure information sharing that will benefit recruiters and candidates alike. We ripped the existing reference checking process apart and provided, in its place, something genuinely useful for the industry.

Importantly, we made one particularly significant move, we put the candidate at the heart of the process. Xref gives candidates the power to drive the process forward, recognising that, without references winning that dream job will be delayed.

So, we speed things up with the candidate but we also, of course, make life easier for the hirer. Losing ideal candidates while checking references will be a thing of the past when software is implemented. 

Reduced turnaround times give employers more power to make quick decisions, which can be particularly important when hiring for executive-level roles.

However, one of the most significant benefits of the solution is the data collected. When you make a hiring decision based on an Xref report you’re not relying on a gut feeling. 

Technology provides solid data to compare with your shortlist of candidates or even with thousands of others who have answered the same question around the world. It’s collected, analysed and shared in a digestible format.

Automation Complements the HR Function

Automation solutions should not stop human intervention, it should complement it.  Any automated business process should be layered with the opportunity for a professional and expert in the field to add value. That’s what Xref does. 

The platform saves time by taking the legwork out of the hirer’s hands. Online reference checking adds a layer of security that simply cannot be met without a secure platform. 

HR tech doesn’t stop recruiters or HR managers from making follow up calls to confirm details shared by referees if necessary. HR Software helps the professional do their job better, it doesn’t replace them.

HR teams should stay ahead of automation by reducing manual and repetitive tasks that can be performed by software or technologies and investing more time in managing people.