Do you need human resources software? Why can’t your HR department manage itself? And will this replace the humans in the human resources department? There are a lot of questions about the use of these programs and whether or not they would be a benefit or yet another money-drain for your business. In today’s economy especially, each decision you make impacts your business, from spending on supplies to hiring new candidates to dispersing benefits. Should you make one more investment in a comprehensive technology system for HR?

Worrying about the cost of any business decision is understandable. The right investment in HR management software can significantly improve your business, saving you money, time and manpower. No software program will replace human resource professionals; it will, however, allow them to do their jobs much more efficiently. The eight hours per week an HR employee spends on filing could be applied to reporting, recruiting, or managing benefits. The money spent on paper and toner for the photocopier or printer can be saved as much of the routine business of HR is completed electronically. The time spent sifting through resumes or trying to match applicants to openings is eliminated. There is no doubt that effective management solutions are tremendously efficient.

In what other ways does human resources software help improve the productivity and efficiency of your business?

* Streamlined access of relevant data. Maintaining a database of applicants, openings, current employees, trainings needed and completed, benefits, professional development, and more is a gargantuan task. It is made much more easy and efficient with a system that allows you to access what you need when you need it.

* Option for employee self-serve. You can choose a system that allows employees to access information, such as the trainings they need, what benefits that are eligible for, enrollment times, etc. This saves an HR employee from having to look all of this up. More time and money saved.

* It can integrate various tasks for a more streamlined process. Payroll, performance appraisal, benefits, training, recruitment, compensation, safety, and other modules are able to make each of these areas much more efficient as well as help you maintain that enormous database easily and conveniently.

* You can probably free up some floor space by making those file cabinets even more obsolete. Electronic solutions provide a higher degree of ease, as well as document security, than their paper counterparts.

Besides helping the HR staff make decisions and provide information more efficiently, management software can help facilitate communication and keep managers and employees informed. For instance, human resources software is able to compile reports on demographics, including EEO and veteran statistics which can be made available to managers or departments outside human resources.

Productivity and efficiency are the goals of any business, and with the right human resource management solution, you can achieve both while freeing HR specialists for more appropriate tasks. Does your business want to spend money on filing or on finding the best candidates? On photocopy paper or on trainings and benefits? When put that way, there is no reason to delay integrating a resource technology system into your business’s everyday operations.