Tools To Help HR Teams Thrive Amidst Uncertainty
AI tools empower HR teams to prioritize people over processes, enhancing efficiency and strategic focus.
As HR teams get smaller, they have to be more nimble and strategic with how they spend their time. AI tools help HR professionals become more efficient so they can focus on people instead of processes, says Tarek Alaruri, COO & co-founder at Fairmarkit.
While we are still in the year’s first half, 2023 has already been tough for HR teams. With ongoing layoffs and reorgs, HR teams manage a difficult path through an uncertain economy. And they are doing it with a lot less. With leaner teams and tighter budgets, HR teams emphasize the importance of tools and resources that improve their processes and meet the changing needs of their workforce.
Crucial to any organization’s success, the HR team is responsible for recruitment and hiring, managing employee benefits and compensation, providing training and development opportunities, and ensuring compliance with labor laws and regulations. In today’s fast-paced and technology-driven world, software that simplifies any of these tasks helps HR professionals focus more on the people and less on the processes.
AI Tools for Efficient HR Teams
Many HR responsibilities, such as resume screening, interview scheduling, and answering routine applicant and employee questions, could be more varied and time-consuming. Like many workflows, automation, and AI tools can be a game-changer for HR teams. By adopting these tools, HR teams can streamline operations, save money and time, and make data-driven decisions about spending, workforce planning, recruitment, training, and retention. These tools can help teams focus on higher-level tasks such as developing strategic HR initiatives and improving employee engagement.
Here are some AI tools HR teams can use to become even more efficient and effective in today’s economy.
1. Applicant tracking systems (ATS)
According to Jobscan, more than 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies use an ATS to streamline recruiting and make applications easier to manage. With an overwhelming amount of tasks to run, even at smaller companies, HR teams rely on ATS to track the influx of applications and their statuses. ATS solutions can help HR teams manage recruitment processes more efficiently by automating job postings, screening resumes, and communicating with candidates. With ATS, HR teams can create more job postings, screen resumes, schedule more interviews, and communicate with more candidates from one place. By filtering out unqualified candidates, HR teams can focus on evaluating the most qualified people and improving the overall quality of their applicant pool.
Many ATS solutions are easy-to-use and offer many features, including job posting, candidate tracking, interview scheduling, and reporting. Some resources offer comprehensive HR software that includes an ATS module and features for onboarding, performance management, and more. Using applicant tracking systems can help HR teams save time, improve candidate quality and experience, ensure compliance, and reduce costs.
See More: How To Simplify the Recruitment Process Using ATS
2. Spend management tool
HR Teams often bear the brunt of shrinking budgets, and reductions in force are a reliable way to find dollars fast. But they also know firsthand how such moves can impact the teams they worked tirelessly to hire and train. Companies can look elsewhere for significant savings before cutting HR benefits and perks that employees have come to expect and rely on. Spend management tools help organizations manage spending more effectively by providing real-time insights into purchasing patterns. In a down economy where cost-cutting is a high priority, some of the best savings opportunities can be found in indirect spending.
There are spend management tools that boast technology and features that save companies an average of 10 percent by automating tail spend – otherwise known as the money a company spends on purchases that account for roughly 80 percent of total transactions, which makes up about 20 percent of the company’s spend by volume. In addition to optimizing tail spend, spend management tools further support budget management by automating procurement processes, setting up approval workflows, and creating customized spend policies.
See More: A Healthy Data Pipeline: The Key to Solving Ad Spend Waste
3. Performance management software
Adopting performance management software for HR teams has several benefits, such as enhanced collaboration and transparency, but increased efficiency is one of the most impactful. Performance management software automates many administrative tasks associated with managing employee performance, like scheduling and tracking performance reviews, setting goals and objectives, and managing employee feedback.
Performance management software saves HR teams time and allows them to focus on more strategic tasks. Additionally, performance management software enables HR teams to provide regular employee feedback and coaching, helping improve engagement and performance.
See More: 5 Performance Management Trends
4. Employee engagement tools
HR teams recognize the significant benefits of an engaged workforce. A Gallup study found that companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21 percent more profitable and 17 percent more productive than those with disengaged staff. It’s also understood that engaged employees outperform their peers because they tend to be more innovative and efficient and have higher customer retention rates. HR teams should implement employee engagement tools to impact employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention significantly.
These tools enable HR teams to communicate more effectively with employees. It helps to build trust and transparency – critical components of a positive employee experience. Employee engagement tools can also help HR teams identify areas where employees are struggling or feeling unmotivated and provide the necessary support to get them back on track. These tools also help HR teams monitor employee workload and ensure that employees have a healthy work-life balance – helping reduce stress and burnout, leading to a more engaged and productive workforce. Most highly regarded employee engagement tools based on features, user reviews, and industry recognition provide an analytics platform that offers pulse surveys, employee engagement surveys, and onboarding surveys.
See More: 9 Great Tools That Enable Employee Engagement
Improving HR Processes with AI
There are several reasons why it can be challenging for HR teams to adopt AI tools — they can be difficult to integrate with existing HR systems, teams may not have the skills and expertise required to utilize them, or they may be resistant to change. However, in these unprecedented times, HR teams need these AI tools and resources now more than ever to improve their processes and meet the changing needs of their workforce. As everyone adjusts to doing more with less, the benefits of data-driven technology solutions are critical factors in creating smarter systems that deliver big results.
With applicant tracking systems, spend management tools, performance management software, and employee engagement tools, HR teams can work more efficiently, effectively, and accurately, saving time and resources while improving the employee experience. By embracing these tools and resources, HR teams can help organizations thrive in today’s dynamic business environment.
Which AI tools have you used to transform your HR operations and unleash the potential of your team to drive impactful results? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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