The world of Generative AI is impacting the way of work in all business functions. Generative AI utilizes techniques such as deep learning and neural networks to analyze and synthesize complex patterns in data, enabling it to produce realistic images, text, music, and even videos. As the pace of Generative AI accelerates, applications of Generative AI are expected to transform multiple processes and functions, including Human Resources(HR).

HR is more of an integration function than IT or finance, which deals with onboarding and performance management issues. In today’s competitive landscape, organizations are dealing with a competitive labor market, workforce stress and the need to reskill and intelligently move people internally. HR teams also worry about employees’ productivity, experience, and efficiency.

Gaining insights is another challenge the HR team struggles with, as HR data is often scattered across the system. AI here holds the promise to integrate this data for better understanding. Around 87% of employee believe they are operating at their full potential, so there is a dire need to simplify work, reduce the number of systems and save time spent on administrative functions. Generative AI emerges as a fitting tool to address the multifaceted challenges faced by the HR team. According to a report, Generative AI in HR market is expected to hit around USD 2091.4 million by 2032.

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In this article, we will explore the impact of Generative AI use cases in HR operations and where it can be implemented to transform the HR process and create a better workplace experience.

1. Job Description

   Creating, revising, and refining job descriptions, manuals, and HR policies is often a time-consuming and meticulous process. Generative AI offers a solution by efficiently handling these tasks, enhancing the speed and quality of document creation.

   A prevalent challenge faced by HR professionals, especially recruiters, is the presence of biases in hiring practices. An effective way to mitigate these biases and promote inclusivity is to begin with the drafting of inclusive job descriptions using generative AI. These descriptions are designed to eliminate language and job titles that may perpetuate racial or gender biases. Generative AI can analyze skills profiles, employment histories, and other external sources to generate job descriptions tailored to company standards and required competencies, thereby establishing realistic job requirements.

   For example,- the HR team can put their requirements for new job descriptions. Generative AI systems can enrich job descriptions by incorporating compelling language, highlighting opportunities for growth and impact, and emphasizing the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

2. Employee Onboarding:

   In HR, employee onboarding is a critical process that sets the tone for a new hire’s experience. Automation streamlines repetitive administrative tasks associated with onboarding, such as document processing, form filling, and compliance checks. HR process automation here can generate and distribute required paperwork, initiate background checks, and facilitate the setup of employee accounts and access permissions.

   Unlike HR automation, Generative AI leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze data and generate dynamic content tailored to individual preferences and requirements.
   Generative AI-powered chatbots serve as virtual assistants, guiding new hires through the onboarding journey and addressing common questions and concerns in real time. These chatbots can provide information about company policies, culture, and benefits, as well as offer personalized recommendations for training and development opportunities based on the new hire’s role and career aspirations.

3. Performance Management

   In HR organizations, performance management is a critical aspect of organizational success, encompassing processes such as goal setting, performance evaluations, feedback mechanisms, and skill development initiatives. By leveraging HR workflow automation, organizations can facilitate the digitization of performance appraisal forms, enabling seamless data entry, tracking, and analysis.

   According to a report, the HR team’s total share of time in performance management is 10%-20%. Moreover, automated notifications and reminders ensure timely completion of performance evaluations, enhancing accountability and transparency across the organization.
   Unlike traditional automation, Generative AI in HR can go one step further and analyze vast datasets, including performance metrics, employee feedback, and developmental needs, to generate actionable insights and recommendations. Take for example – Generative AI can generate personalized performance reports for each employee, highlighting areas of strength and opportunities for improvement, thereby facilitating meaningful discussions during performance reviews.

4. Learning and Development:

   According to a report, 10-20% of HR time is spent on learning and development. In modern workplaces, training and development are vital for fostering employee skills and organizational growth. HR workflow automation can streamline administrative tasks, optimize content delivery and enhance learning outcomes. Generative AI in HR further scales these efforts by creating personalized content, enabling adaptive learning, facilitating interactive dialogue, and offering predictive insights. Suppose an employee working in the content team might receive suggestions to improve their writing skills autonomously on their learning management system based on learning preferences and methods.

   Together, automation and Generative AI revolutionize training and development, empowering organizations to nurture talent effectively and stay ahead in a dynamic business landscape.

5. Self-Service & Knowledge Management

   Generative AI can enhance organizations’ self-service and knowledge management systems. HR teams can create and curate knowledge base articles, FAQs, and instructional materials using AI algorithms. These resources cover various topics, from IT troubleshooting to HR policies, ensuring employees can access accurate and up-to-date information whenever needed.

   Also, the natural language processing capability enables chatbots and knowledge management systems to understand and respond to natural language queries effectively. Employees can ask questions in their own words, and AI algorithms decipher the intent behind the query, retrieving relevant information from the knowledge base. Further, by analyzing user interactions and feedback using Generative AI, HR teams can identify areas for improvement with self-service and knowledge systems.

Scaling HR with Generative AI

Generative AI, along with HR automation, can empower HR professionals to scale their operations and deliver personalized experiences at scale. By harnessing the power of data and advanced algorithms, HR teams can drive innovation, optimize workflows, and unlock valuable insights that drive organizational growth.

In conclusion, integrating generative AI in HR operations signifies a paradigm shift in how organizations manage their most valuable asset: their people. By embracing these innovative technologies, HR professionals can navigate complex challenges, foster employee engagement, and position their organizations for success in the dynamic landscape 2024 and beyond.

The human resources landscape continues to evolve rapidly, reshaped by the lingering effects of the pandemic, technological advancements, and shifting employee expectations. To thrive in this dynamic environment, HR professionals must stay ahead of the curve and embrace emerging trends. In 2024, HR leaders are expected to embrace a range of trends aimed at enhancing employee experiences, driving organizational growth, and adapting to emerging technologies. Let’s delve into some of the top HR trends to watch out for in 2024.

1. Generative AI

   We all have seen the adoption of AI in HR in the last few years in accelerating employee experience, and HR processes. In the year 2024, Generative AI in HR is going to get deeper into accelerating employee experience. As per a survey, 61% of HR leaders are planning to invest in Generative AI to streamline HR processes in 2024.

   Even Accenture in its report stated that Generative AI has the potential to transform 40% of all working hours in the organization. Utilizing this technology in the HR process will create a more productive work environment for employees who are indulged in monotonous tasks.

   Generative AI when integrated with the chatbot enables HR to offer real-time assistance by understanding customer intent from the conversation for their queries on onboarding, salary processing, leave & attendance management, and others. Also with Generative AI integration HR can create self-service assistance by creating a knowledge base from the service request received. With a sea of opportunities with Generative AI in HR, it is time for HR to help establish policies for responsible and ethical AI use, as well as to create training programs to address concerns such as bias, discrimination, data protection, and appropriate data use.

2. HR Tech Platform

   As HR technology advances, including the rise of sophisticated platforms like HCM, organizations of all sizes are shifting towards a platform-oriented approach to meet their HR tech platform needs. The imperative drives this shift to accelerate growth, manage talent effectively, ensure consistent user experience and support, and make informed decisions amidst evolving compliance regulations and remote work dynamics.

   The integration of AI and ML introduces significant considerations, particularly in areas such as recruitment and retention prediction. Integrating chatbots with legacy systems enables the HR team to create a seamless employee onboarding experience. Right from keeping employees informed about their joining to handling their queries about salary structure, joining dates, and leave policy, the HR team can build brand confidence and retain their employees.

   HR organizations must carefully navigate how they deploy these technologies. Many are turning to seamlessly integrating AI and ML capabilities while providing unified user environments. These platforms not only empower large enterprises but also offer valuable solutions for SMEs.

3. Predictive Analytics

   According to the Gartner report, around 56% of HR leaders confirmed that their HR technology solutions don’t match their current and future needs. HR professionals and analysts foresee significant benefits for HR through the adoption of more advanced predictive analytics tools. These tools promise to enhance workforce planning and facilitate data-driven decision-making processes. By leveraging larger datasets and refined algorithms, HR departments can mitigate the cyclical fluctuations in hiring that have characterized recent years.

   However, many HR functions have overlooked the potential of data analytics, missing valuable opportunities. Neglecting investment in the necessary tools and skills to analyze HR data can lead to overlooked insights and hinder the alignment of HR strategies with broader business objectives.

Employee offboarding is often overlooked in HR processes, yet its significance cannot be overstated. It’s the final touchpoint between the departing employee and the organization, influencing their lasting impression. Also, these departing employees walk out the door with valuable company information in tow, posing serious risks to your organization.

Such breaches can lead to regulatory violations, such as those outlined by HIPAA and GDPR, or expose proprietary knowledge to competitors. To mitigate these risks and streamline processes for HR, the solution lies in employee offboarding automation. But how exactly does employee offboarding automation function, and how can it benefit the HR team employee offboarding?

Let’s delve into the mechanics of offboarding automation and delve into strategies for seamless implementation.

What is Employee Offboarding?

Employee offboarding entails guiding an employee out of a company when they depart from their role. It constitutes a pivotal phase of the employee lifecycle, often underestimated despite its significance, comparable to the onboarding process. Offboarding encompasses a spectrum of tasks, including disabling access to company systems, reclaiming company assets, conducting exit interviews, and facilitating the seamless transition of ongoing projects. According to a report, on average HR service desk spends an average of 5 hours per employee offboarding. To put that into perspective, it would take a full-time IT administrator 26 years to finish offboarding Meta’s 2023 layoffs alone. An effective offboarding Having a well-considered employee offboarding process is important to

• Ensures compliance
• Avoids legal risks
• It helps businesses understand and limit further turnover.
• Nurtures and maintains relations with remaining employees

As per the 2023 data breach and investigation report, 74% of breaches involve human elements which includes errors and information misuse. To create a well-considered employee the offboarding process, an automation solution can be a viable tool. Let’s discuss further how automation in HR benefits the employee offboarding process.

How can Employee Offboarding Automation Help?

Automating employee offboarding requires the use of automation technologies like RPA, AI, and chatbots that can streamline various components of employee offboarding. According to a survey around 32% of organizations have implemented employee offboarding automation partially and 5% of employees have fully automated employee offboarding. Some of the ways automation solutions help HR teams with employee offboarding are-

1. Transferring Role and Responsibilities

   Automated workflows streamline transitioning tasks and responsibilities from departing employees to their successors. This entails documenting the duties, projects, and knowledge held by the departing employee and ensuring a smooth transfer to the incoming team member. By automating this process, organizations maintain operational continuity and minimize disruptions caused by employee turnover.

2. Exit and Feedback

   Leveraging automated chatbots, the HR team can create exit surveys and feedback mechanisms that enable organizations to gather valuable insights into the employee experience during the offboarding process. These surveys can encompass various aspects of the employee’s tenure, including job satisfaction, reasons for departure, and feedback on organizational culture and processes. Analyzing this feedback helps identify areas for improvement, refine employee retention strategies, and enhance overall employee satisfaction.

3. Access Control

   Automation plays a crucial role in swiftly revoking access privileges to company systems, applications, and physical facilities upon an employee’s departure. By integrating with identity and access management systems, automated processes ensure that departing employees no longer have access to sensitive information or critical company resources.
   For example, using automated access management, the HR team can de-provision the assets assigned to the departing employees. Once this system receives a request to offboard an employee, bots can automatically evoke and lock the asset, and once the asset is received it updates the status. This way automation helps safeguard against data breaches, unauthorized access, and other security risks associated with employee turnover.

4. Records Update

   Automated systems streamline the process of updating employee records across various platforms and databases. This includes updating the HR system, payroll databases, benefits enrollment systems, and other relevant platforms with accurate information regarding the employee’s departure, final compensation, benefits, and employment status. By automating record updates, organizations reduce the risk of manual errors, ensure data accuracy, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.

Ever wonder what happens to your job application after you hit submit? Let’s break it down with a bit of math and insight into the challenges faced by talent recruitment teams.

Picture this: A typical job posting attracts 75-100 applicants. Now, only 4-6 of those lucky candidates make it to the interview rounds. What about the other 71-94 applicants?

Ever thought about why this happens? The hard truth is that recruitment teams often get overwhelmed and burned out. They end up unable to cover the entire lifecycle of every application.

Now, let’s dive into the data challenges. Collecting, standardizing, and reconciling data and sharing it further with company stakeholders and candidates is a time-consuming process. The recruitment team, already stretched thin, can only focus on those who meet the initial qualifications. In this blog, we will explore how automation and AI solutions can help talent acquisition teams handle data management effortlessly with the help of bots.

Understanding the Talent Acquisition Process and Its Challenges

Talent acquisition in the organization involves identifying, attracting, and hiring qualified candidates to fill various positions within financial institutions. The process typically includes sourcing candidates, conducting interviews, managing documentation, and creating seamless employee onboarding. When it comes to talent acquisition, the HR team has to handle a lot of manual processes like-

1. Creating a standard template for the candidate
2. Checking candidate responses and following up
3. Validating vacancy reports on a weekly basis
4. Sharing reports with stakeholders and saving candidate details
5. Handling employee onboarding
6. Employees attendance and leave management

With this high volume of manual activity and the pressure to offer easy access to information, employees struggle to focus on the decision-making process. To aid the HR team in handling talent acquisition documentation, automation and AI can be a great help. Let’s see how automation and AI can accelerate the HR talent acquisition documentation process.

Automation and AI in the Talent Acquisition Documentation Process

Utilizing automation and AI in the talent acquisition process means manual efforts will be reduced, and AI bots will take care of the data management tasks that need to be done. Here, the AI bot will start with sending a standardized template to candidates, facilitating the collection of necessary documentation.
Once the candidate responds, the bot efficiently reads the reply email, extracts attachments, and initiates the creation of a dedicated folder identified by the candidate’s email ID. The downloaded files are then systematically saved within the candidate’s folder for easy retrieval and management.

The AI bot doesn’t stop there—it goes on to send automated reminder emails to candidates for any pending documents, ensuring a proactive and organized approach to documentation. Furthermore, on a weekly basis, the bot compiles a comprehensive Vacancy status file and shares it with relevant stakeholders. This multifunctional AI bot not only enhances efficiency in the talent acquisition process but also introduces a level of accuracy and consistency that significantly benefits recruiters and hiring managers alike.

In the contemporary workforce, the traditional HR process has lost its appeal. From employee onboarding to resolving employee queries, repetitive tasks take a toll on the HR team’s productivity. Employee performance management is one such process that is a routine and uninspiring task that employees endure rather than a valuable exercise. Employees perceive these appraisals as merely a checkbox activity, and this sentiment extends to managers and HR leaders as well. The manual nature of performance management systems exacerbates the issue, leading to employee disengagement and creating more problems than they resolve.

Both employees and those responsible for appraisals, such as managers and HR leaders, are growing weary of this yearly obligation. According to a report, a company with 10000 employees spends around $35 million per review to conduct reviews. The substantial time and effort invested in carrying out performance reviews yield minimal benefits in terms of enhancing employee performance and, consequently, business performance. But what’s the solution to these challenges? In this blog, we will explore employee performance management and how automation can accelerate this process.

Why Automate Performance Management?

In the context of a forward-looking approach, organizations are shifting from merely analyzing past employee performance trends to a more proactive focus on enhancing employee performance in alignment with the organization’s overarching objectives. Also, with a manual performance management system, the HR team struggles with-

1. Efficiency in gaining data insights
2. Fair Evaluation of employees
3. Easy Accessibility of Information
4. Higher employee retention

To address the struggle and create efficient performance management, businesses are adopting HR process automation to handle HR processes efficiently. By implementing a robust performance management system, HR professionals can efficiently provide high-quality, precise, and uniform employee assessments while expending minimal time and effort. This system, in turn, facilitates more robust support and commitment from both managers and employees.

Let’s look at the benefits of using automation in performance management-

1. Instant Feedback

   Around 74% of employees undergo performance evaluations annually or even less frequently. However, only a meager 15% feel motivated to enhance their performance due to these assessments. This data underscores the perception that conventional performance management practices are considered outdated and may have a detrimental rather than a beneficial impact on organizations. Through the automation of the employee performance data collection and analysis process, HR teams can achieve the following:

   1. Deliver consistent and ongoing employee feedback throughout the year, eliminating the need for scheduled formal reviews.
   2. Facilitate the seamless exchange of feedback across different departments, reinforcing positive behaviors and ensuring that all organization members remain aligned with critical objectives.
   3. Enhance their ability to monitor an employee’s development progress over time and pinpoint areas where they may benefit from additional training or guidance.

2. Improve Transparency

   As per the report, less than 30% of employees perceive their performance review as fair. And only 25% consider them to be precise.
   Through the automation of the performance management process, organizations can elevate transparency and accountability among all stakeholders:

   1. Managers and HR departments gain the capability to collect performance data and continuously monitor employee progress in real-time.
   2. This empowers HR professionals to furnish each team member with specific feedback derived from objective metrics instead of subjective evaluations.
   3. Instead of periodic reports, a performance appraisal grounded in objective, real-time data empowers employees to take responsibility for their development and bolsters trust within HR.

3. Increase Training & Skills Quality

   According to a report, more than 70% of employees express a likelihood to depart from their current employer due to the lack of desired training and development opportunities.

   Dependence on manual systems for monitoring employee progress and ensuring uniform instruction can be a laborious and ineffective process. Implementing an automated performance management system can enable organizations to:

   1. Utilize real-time performance data for the assessment of both employee and departmental strengths and weaknesses.
   2. Establish personalized development goals for individual employees and customize training and skill transfer plans based on their advancement and requirements.
   3. Monitor and assess the effectiveness of different training approaches, enabling companies to make informed comparisons.

Managing payroll is a crucial aspect of any business, especially for the HR team, but it’s a task that can be both time-consuming and error-prone when done manually. Right from entering the wages of employees into the system to applying the deduction in the final reconciliation, there are a lot of tasks and processes that require human attention.

This is the reason automation is the most reliable approach when managing substantial volumes of payroll data. In this blog, we will explore the payroll process, its challenges, and how automation can simplify it.

What is the Payroll Process?

Before delving into the benefits of automation, let’s first understand what the payroll process entails:

1. Data Collection

   This step involves gathering essential employee information such as hours worked, overtime, deductions, and other compensation-related data.

2. Calculation

   Once you have all the necessary data, you need to calculate gross wages and account for hourly rates, salaried pay, bonuses, and other elements.

3. Deductions

   This step includes withholding taxes, Social Security contributions, retirement fund deductions, and other benefits and deductions to which employees are entitled.

4. Payment

   This is where you distribute employees’ net pay through various methods like direct deposit, checks, or other payment options.

5. Reporting

   Ensuring compliance with tax regulations and providing employees with pay stubs and tax documents are crucial parts of the process.

Performing these tasks manually is time-consuming, leading to errors like missed tax deductions and employee data. Also, with manual payroll management, the risk of data breaches also increased. With these challenges in the payroll process, it is time to put automation in the front to accelerate it.

Benefits of Using Payroll Automation for Business Process

Automated payroll processing involves using computerized systems to manage and execute the payroll process. Typically, it is seamlessly integrated with the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

This automated process in the HR automation not only handles recording employee wage information, computing deductions, and generating reports for tax authorities but also streamlines the management of employee benefits. It also contributes to improved customer relationship management and smoother accounting procedures within the organization. Some of the payroll automation benefits are-

1. Easier Wage Calculation

   You no longer need to deal with piles of manual paperwork each month to kickstart the payroll process. Think about the hours dedicated to collecting data, crunching payment numbers, managing deductions, distributing checks, and possibly sharing data with third-party vendors.

   With payroll automation, you not only save time but also reduce the effort needed to organize and execute the payroll cycle. The system takes care of most tasks, from calculations to automatic payment transfers. Your main role is to ensure that the entered payroll data is accurate.

2. Improved Time Management

   Traditional payroll systems involve manual calculations of hourly wages and time clock data, which can be an uphill task. Automation simplifies the process by effortlessly integrating time clock data into the payroll system, ensuring timely and accurate payments. This automated method eliminates the possibility of errors associated with manual interventions.

3. Faster Tax Management

   The process of tax calculation is crucial but often tedious and prone to errors. It entails computing a variety of taxes, such as state, federal, medicare, and social security, each governed by distinct formulas and inclusion rules.

   With the use of an automated system, preconfigured tax rate codes take charge of gathering pertinent data and executing the calculations. This ensures precision and punctuality in employee payouts and guarantees accurate tax reporting to the authorities.

4. Cost Saving

   High volume manual effort is required to perform data extraction, input data into the system, and process it further for payroll. Using an automation system reduces the manual labor requirement, which reduces the operational cost of payroll management in HR automation.

5. Offer Robust Data Security

   Manual payroll systems lack robust security features. Moreover, these systems often rely on unsecured email communications for sharing bank details and sensitive payroll data. Physical copies of payroll information also present security vulnerabilities.

   In contrast to traditional filing cabinets, an automated payroll workflow employs cutting-edge security measures. This encompasses various security layers, such as one-time passwords (OTPs), two-factor authentication, and encryption, ensuring the confidentiality of your payroll information.

   A modern payroll system transmits all data through secure, encrypted channels. Typically, payroll information is securely stored on networks with encryption, offering the utmost security and peace of mind.

6. Smooth Payroll Reconciliation

   Payroll automation streamlines the payroll reconciliation process by consistently verifying payroll data against both the entered employee information and company standards at each stage. It offers the option to compare the current payroll run with previous ones, enabling the identification of any irregularities.

   Additionally, you can tailor the salary register and payroll statements to meet your specific needs. Since calculations are performed using predefined algorithms and formulas, the payroll data is highly accurate, reducing discrepancies during reconciliation.

7. Faster Data Processing

   Whether it’s onboarding a new employee, promoting someone, or handling an employee’s exit from the company, these processes require manual effort. However, using automation no longer requires manual intervention. Payroll automation manages all the intricate details effortlessly. For example, when a new employee joins, their information, such as personal data, salary details, address, deductions, tax status, and payment preferences, is seamlessly inserted into the system.

8. Higher Employee Satisfaction

   An automated payroll system enhances employee satisfaction by ensuring timely and accurate pay, reducing payment errors, providing easy access to pay-related information, and offering self-service options. Using AI chatbots, organizations can offer AI agent assistance to employees for resolving customer requests by giving the data and information on time.
   Having all data in one place, employees can create a knowledge base for easy information access for better process execution that boosts trust, reduces financial stress, and empowers employees, ultimately contributing to higher job satisfaction.

9. Ensure Compliance

   Keeping track of every new rule or regulation can be a daunting task. Businesses also have to navigate the complex realm of taxes, including the challenge of adhering to regulations and tax laws. Payroll automation takes care of intricate processes like withholding federal income from an employee’s earnings, providing employers with the assurance that the outcome is precise and in compliance.

10. Easy Accessibility

    An automated payroll system offers the convenience of remote access, which means it can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. This remote accessibility empowers employees to conveniently view and manage their own payroll information, providing them with greater control over their financial details and reducing the need for them to be physically present in an office to address payroll-related matters. This not only enhances flexibility for both employees and employers but also aligns with the modern trend of remote and flexible work arrangements.

Conclusion

The payroll process is a critical function for businesses of all sizes, and automation is the key to optimizing this operation. By embracing payroll automation, companies can reduce errors, save time, ensure compliance, enhance data security, and ultimately improve their overall financial well-being. In the ever-evolving landscape of business, leveraging technology for payroll processing is no longer an option but a necessity. Make the switch to automation and watch your business thrive while ensuring your employees are paid accurately and on time.

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (BALIC), is one of the fastest growing private life insurance companies in India. Can you guess its growth formula? It consistently uses technology very smartly to boost efficiency and productivity. Presenting some recent examples.

Every company uses tools like WhatsApp, MS Teams and Robotic process automation (RPA). What BALIC did was put them together in such a way that it revolutionized employee productivity. This transformative approach has enabled BALIC to overcome operational challenges and create a seamless work environment. Addressing key pain points using automation has brought forth remarkable benefits to the organization.

With an employee count of more than 21,000, BALIC faced several challenges prior to embracing automation in processes like employee onboarding, employee queries and vendor payouts. Employees grappled with either calling HR staff with their queries or accessing multiple applications to retrieve crucial documents and data, resulting in inefficiencies and wasted time. Manual data extraction and approval processes caused delays and hindered productivity. The existing systems provided a suboptimal user experience, negatively impacting employee satisfaction. Moreover, high turnaround times for approvals and critical processes created bottlenecks within the organization.

Through automation, BALIC employees experienced a range of substantial benefits. What made a considerable difference is EEze, an AutomationEdge powered Conversational AI and automation solution integrated with WhatsApp which has greatly enhanced employee experience. With HR and IT systems now working in sync, employees are now productive from day one.

A unified platform within WhatsApp really helps employees save time by eliminating the need to navigate multiple applications.

The integration of WhatsApp and MS Teams has ushered a digital work environment that ensures 24/7 accessibility to applications and services. This flexibility promotes collaboration among team members and allows employees to access critical information from anywhere, at any time. The employee experience will improve further with adoption of ChatGPT like Generative AI technology in the chatbot.

Centralized access to applications is a significant benefit of automation for BALIC. Integrating various applications within a single chat window has simplified the user experience, and reduced the complexity of accessing essential information. Employees can now navigate tasks more efficiently, and this has boosted the employee onboarding satisfaction score from a low 30% to a high 93%.

Another area of notable progress at BALIC is vendor payout. This involves coordination between HR, IT and Finance systems. The AutomationEdge solution processes 10,000 invoices by automating 9 processes including invoice tracking, payment management, and purchase order creation. It has reduced manual intervention, improved accuracy, and ensured timely payments to vendors. The vendors are happy because payout happens in days instead of weeks and months after automation.

The third notable area of progress at BALIC is customer lifecycle management. A newly developed RPA bot talks to 6 business systems to concentrate all customer lifecycle data at a single location. The bot also shows the earning potential to salespersons on their mobile phones and keeps them updated on the lead status.

To recap, BALIC’s implementation of strategic automation solutions, powered by WhatsApp, MS Teams, and AutomationEdge, has boosted employee productivity and satisfaction. By addressing challenges head-on and capitalizing on the benefits of automation, BALIC has created a digitally sophisticated work environment. Their notable success is an inspiration for organizations seeking to optimize operations and stay ahead in today’s fast-paced business landscape.

The Human Resources(HR) department plays a vital role in every business that takes care of each phase of an employee’s life cycle, right from employee onboarding to employee exit management. However, considering the process and tasks involved in the HR department requires high skill requirements and effort, and offering on-time resolution is quite a challenge for the HR service desk.

Imagine a scenario where routine, repetitive tasks within the realm of HR could be entrusted to machines, freeing up human resources to concentrate on crucial decision-making, cultivating interpersonal relationships, and nurturing the well-being of employees. Let’s explore the potential of RPA in HR operations and how it can impact the customer-employee experience.

Why RPA in HR Operations?

The integration of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) within HR functions offers a transformative solution to enhance operational efficiency and elevate the role of HR professionals.

https://www.workato.com/the-connector/hr-automation-statistics/

By automating repetitive and standardized tasks, RPA empowers HR teams to allocate more time and energy towards strategic decision-making, fostering meaningful human connections and prioritizing the overall well-being of employees. As per the report, HR automation makes up 11% of total automation built at an organization.
As we can see the widespread adoption of RPA in human resources, you might be thinking that all enterprises can automate HR processes. Let’s explore the HR process that can be automated using RPA.

Top Use Cases of Robotic Process Automation in HR

Right from reducing manual intervention in the HR process, RPA in HR operations can create a digital experience for employees and customers. Let’s have a look at some of the use cases of RPA in HR-

1. Employee Onboarding

   Employee onboarding in HR requires a lot of task management, such as creating new user accounts, email addresses, and access to data, applications, and new files. This whole process requires data integration from several systems, which makes employee onboarding more challenging.

   RPA can expedite the onboarding process by automatically-

   • Generating and sending offer letters
   • Setting up new employee accounts
   • Initiating background checks

   This not only accelerates the hiring process but also ensures data accuracy and compliance with company policies. Apart from this, organizations can also integrate communication technologies like WhatsApp and MS Teams with RPA bots to facilitate communication between employees and new joiners.
   

2. Recruitment & Hiring

   Sifting through a large volume of resumes and finding the ideal candidate is an uphill task. RPA can be employed to scan and evaluate resumes against predefined criteria, shortlisting candidates whose qualifications match the job requirements. In addition, the RPA bot can help in scheduling job interviews and drafting messages to new employees with ready and automated templates. This enables HR professionals to focus their attention on more strategic aspects of recruitment.

3. Leave and Attendance Management

   Logging attendance and leaves on a daily basis is quite challenging for employees, especially when it requires filling up several forms. RPA can manage employee leave requests by verifying available leave balances, cross-referencing them with the company’s leave policy, planning training & events, and updating the records accordingly. It can also track attendance data and generate reports, minimizing errors and facilitating payroll processing.

4. Payroll Management

   Payroll management in HR operations involves high-volume data extraction and verification for counting working hours and considering potentially variable tax regulations. Automating payroll processes with RPA ensures accurate calculation of salaries, taxes, and deductions. The technology can extract data from timesheets, attendance records, and other sources to generate error-free payrolls, reducing the risk of human errors.

5. Performance Management

   Creating an employee performance review requires HR managers to gather valuable data from various surveys and KPIs and compile it into reports, which represent a holistic picture of the employee’s performance. RPA can help schedule and manage performance reviews by sending reminders to employees and managers, collecting feedback, and consolidating performance data. This simplifies the review process, enhancing transparency and accountability.

6. Employee Data Management

   An organization’s employee data management involves collecting, storing, and maintaining employee information. From employee bios and medical information to employment details and performance data, HR requires employees to provide data about themselves. However, this operational need of maintaining and managing the information collected at onboarding and during employment is an arduous task. Using an Intelligent document process solution integrated with RPA can handle this data extraction from multiple systems, reduce the chances of data entry errors and maintain accurate employee records.

7. Compliance and Reporting

   HR managers have to comply with complex and ever-changing regulations when it comes to reporting, which is strictly required by labor law. Often, HR departments are responsible for ensuring compliance with various regulations. RPA can automatically track and monitor changes in labor laws, generate compliance reports, and notify relevant stakeholders about necessary actions.

8. Employee Offboarding

   In a similar way to onboarding, RPA can be used to improve employee exit experiences. The HR team handles various tasks during employee offboarding that can be automated using RPA. Some tasks RPA can automate during employee exits are

   • Generating exit documents,
   • Conducting exit surveys,
   • Notifying the right people,
   • Revoking system access,
   • Collecting company assets,
   • Processing final payments.

   Skipping any of these tasks may result in multiple audit flags. But, RPA can simplify this process just by integrating an intelligent data management solution.

Conclusion

Robotic Process Automation is transforming HR operations by automating mundane tasks and enabling HR professionals to focus on strategic endeavors. By leveraging RPA, organizations can enhance efficiency, accuracy, and compliance across various HR functions, ultimately leading to a more streamlined and effective HR department. As the business landscape continues to evolve, embracing RPA in HR becomes an essential step toward success.

The HR process has always posed a significant drain on time and resources within organizations. As companies experience rapid growth, particularly beyond the initial breakthrough phase, aligning with this progress becomes a formidable task. This challenge is particularly pronounced for HR teams.

However, a promising avenue toward cultivating a more engaging work environment has emerged with the integration of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in HR operations.

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The initial big step was to move from conventional Excel sheets to systems that could integrate with the HCM suite, ESS portal, and mobility. But by automating an increasing array of manual tasks, RPA liberates HR teams to engage in high-value endeavors that can propel the business forward. In this blog, we will discover the need for RPA in HR and how it can benefit enterprises.

Why RPA in HR?

Most of the HR work is carried out manually on spreadsheets which makes it the best candidate for automation. A few tasks that can be automated are employee onboarding, manually keying in the potential candidate information from new hire Excel reports into different systems, for example, requesting laptops/desktops, seat allocation, and software licenses.

Once automated, these tasks’ completion time will be reduced to seconds from hours and reduce cost and manual intervention. In fact, it is much easier to make changes to automated tasks than to manual processes, and that too, without any probability of introducing errors. Also, it is easy for other teams and departments to adopt the process changes.

By implementing RPA in human resources, HR practice can look forward to improvements in their HR data management & reporting, HR process flow, functionality, and employee experience.

As per the report, the HR software market is expected to reach 33.57 billion by 2028 (from 15.59 billion in 2020, a growth rate of 10%).

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Moreover, Companies that made the switch to an HR Process automation system reported 90% time savings on administrative tasks. With these enormous benefits of HR process automation coming on the table it’s truly time for enterprises to embrace the new wave of technologies.

How to Start with HR Process Automation?

One of the significant challenges that cannot be ignored by the HR department is that there are various technological skills required by the counterpart who would work with bots. Working with bots requires an interdepartmental approach. Varied skills are essential to working with bots and will have to be cross-trained; HR Professionals will need to know how to handle these various systems.

People working with RPA as tools need to understand not only functional but also technical details to an extent. Also, they need to have sharp analytical and problem-solving skills to analyze the challenges that appear from various angles. Working with robots might seem pretty hard, especially because both technical and soft skills are required. However, with the selection of the right tool for RPA, the technical understanding requirement can be minimized to a negligible level allowing you to concentrate only on the functional aspect of the process to be automated.

[Also Read: Conversational AI- Oomphing Up HR Digitization Factor]

Given the need for HR professionals to ensure smooth integration of men and machines, HR must also upgrade their understanding of technology and start engaging in constructive conversations with the technical team working at the forefront of this emerging new technology.