HR Automation: How to Streamline Key Workflows in 2024

Welcome to your guide on transforming HR operations through automation! By digitizing manual, repetitive processes, HR teams can focus on more strategic priorities like talent development, employee experience, and data-driven decision making.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore:

• The top 8 HR processes ripe for automation
• Real-world examples of automation benefits
• How to build a case for HR automation
• An in-depth look at leading automation tools

Let‘s get started with the basics…

What is HR Automation and Why Does it Matter?

HR automation uses technology like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and process automation to optimize routine HR tasks like:

• Collecting employee paperwork
• Managing timecards
• Processing leave requests
• Onboarding and offboarding
• Performance management
• And more!

By streamlining these time-consuming administrative tasks, automation enables HR staff to focus on more impactful initiatives like:

• Talent development – With time savings from automation, HR expands leadership training, upskilling programs, and more to nurture talent.
• Analytics – Automation provides the data foundation for analytics on workforce trends, allowing data-driven decisions.
• Employee experience – Employees engage through self-service apps, chatbots, and mobile access powered by automation.

According to LinkedIn‘s 2022 Global Talent Trends report, 73% of HR professionals say workflow automation is a top priority because it directly drives productivity and efficiency.

Additionally, a Paychex survey found that 67% of HR leaders believe automation will let their teams focus on enhancing company culture and employee satisfaction.

Clearly, HR automation has become a strategic imperative. Now let‘s explore the top processes to target.

Top 8 HR Processes to Automate

While every HR team has unique needs, these eight processes offer some of the highest potential for optimization through automation:

1. Recruiting

Manual recruiting simply can‘t keep pace with today‘s dynamic talent market. Intelligent automation delivers major gains:

• 75% faster time-to-hire, according to Ideal
• 55% more qualified candidates, per Phenom
• Up to 90% reduction in administrative work for recruiters, as noted by Harver

Specific recruiting automation tactics to leverage include AI screening, digitizing interviews, automated communications, and more.

2. Onboarding

Onboarding is a massive undertaking spanning equipment, system access, paperwork, training, and more. Automation ensures onboarding checklists are completed efficiently and accurately.

According to a SHRM survey, organizations automating onboarding see:

• 69% faster time-to-productivity for new hires
• 80% reduction in paperwork time
• 66% improvement in hiring manager satisfaction

3. Time and Attendance Tracking

Monitoring when hourly and contract workers are on the job and approving timesheets is manual and error-prone. Automated time tracking provides new levels of efficiency and accuracy.

Construction firm Brasfield & Gorrie cut time tracking efforts by 83% using automated time cards. Even more incredible, CompuCom achieved 99.7% time card accuracy with automation.

4. Performance Management

Annual performance reviews are outdated. Automation drives continuous performance management through on-demand feedback, goal tracking, and automated development planning.

PwC saved over 35,000 hours annually by applying AI to streamline performance coaching and feedback analysis – allowing managers to have higher-value development discussions.

5. Travel and Expense Processing

Manually tracking receipts and reconciling corporate travel and expenses is hugely cumbersome. Intelligent automation delivers massive time and cost savings.

Nestle cut expense reporting time by 75% using automated travel and expense systems. Even more compelling, Capgemini achieved 90% faster expense processing at a 40% lower cost with automation.

6. Leave Management

Tracking vacation and sick days in spreadsheets is messy and inefficient. Automated leave tracking ensures accurate accruals and smooth approval workflows.

"Automating leave management alone can reduce HR service delivery costs by up to 70%," explains Kronos.

7. Benefits Administration

Managing health insurance, 401Ks, HSAs, and other complex benefits eats up huge HR resources. Automation simplifies benefits management and reduces costs.

WEX found that 78% of organizations saw cost reductions after automating benefits administration.

8. Offboarding

Offboarding, or employee termination,spans multiple workflows – from locking access to closing out payroll and benefits. Automation reduces risk and complexity.

According to Rippling, offboarding automation can reduce errors by up to 90%, ensuring separated employees don‘t retain access or continue receiving pay.

As you assess these top automation opportunities, also consider quick wins like automating HR help desk requests, reporting, and employee data management.

Now let‘s explore top platforms enabling end-to-end HR automation.

Leading HR Automation Tools

Dozens of HR technology vendors offer automation capabilities, from full-suite HCM platforms to point solutions for specific functions.

Here is an overview of leading platforms:

HR Automation Software	Key Features
SAP SuccessFactors	Full cloud HCM suite with AI across recruiting, onboarding, learning, performance, compensation, and more.
Workday	Cloud-native HRIS emphasizing ML-driven automation for processes like benefits enrollment, life events, payroll, and reporting.
UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group)	Focus on automation for timetracking, payroll, scheduling, leave management, and attendance.
Greenhouse	Applicant tracking system with powerful automation for recruiting workflows like screening, interview scheduling, candidate communications, and more.
BambooHR	Cloud-based HRIS for SMBs with automation across onboarding, offboarding, time-off tracking, applicant tracking, and more.
Zenefits	Leading benefits and payroll automation platform. Also provides HR workflow automation for leave, timecards, onboarding, offboarding, and more.
Paycor	Unified HR platform with automation for time tracking, onboarding, payroll, benefits admin, performance management, and more.
Oracle HCM Cloud	Full-suite HCM tools with built-in automation powered by AI across all HR processes.
Gusto	Cloud payroll and benefits platform aimed at SMBs. Automates onboarding, payroll, leave management, employee self-service, and more.

This graphic provides a helpful overview of key software categories enabling HR automation:

[Insert image: HR automation technology landscape]

How do you determine which solutions are right for your organization? Let‘s explore that next.

How to Assess Automation Tools

With many options to consider, focus your search by:

1. Identifying Priority Processes

Target solutions that automate the specific HR workflows causing your team the most pain. Avoid overinvesting in software with unnecessary bells and whistles.

2. Evaluating Ease of Use

The system should have modern, intuitive interfaces to drive employee adoption. Complex solutions with steep learning curves lead to spotty usage and low ROI.

3. Reviewing Integration Capabilities

Seamless integration with your HCM system, ATS, payroll platform, etc. is critical for data flow and adoption. API support makes integration faster.

4. Validating Scalability

As your workforce grows, the system should easily scale up in a cost-effective way. Cloud solutions have inherent scalability advantages.

5. Checking Security & Compliance

Any system handling sensitive employee data must have robust security protections, access controls, and compliance certifications.

By focusing on must-have capabilities vs. nice-to-haves, you can zero in on the right automation tools for your tech stack and business needs.

Building the Business Case for HR Automation

Gaining leadership support for an HR automation investment requires a compelling business case. Be sure to cover:

• Hard cost savings like reducing overhead through streamlined operations. Tool ROI calculators can estimate savings.
• Soft benefits like improved employee satisfaction and retention through faster, simpler HR interactions.
• Current pain points like manual processes delaying critical operations or hurting the employee experience.
• Scalability to show how automation enables growth and strategic priorities like entering new markets.
• Competitive advantage – highlight how top rivals are using automation to get an HR edge.

With credible projections of ROI through efficiencies and strategic impact, you can secure buy-in for automation.

Starting Your HR Automation Journey

Embracing automation may seem daunting, but following best practices ensures a smooth implementation:

• Take inventory – Document current workflows and pain points. Know which are top automation candidates.
• Clean your data – Automation magnifies bad data. Garbage in, garbage out. Clean up records in your HCM.
• Phase rollouts – Don‘t boil the ocean. Start with a pilot focused on 2-3 high-impact workflows.
• Communicate to stakeholders – Get buy-in by showing how automation helps employees and managers do their jobs better.
• Leverage vendor support– Tool configuration guides, training resources, and support can accelerate success. Don‘t go it alone.

With the right strategy, you can minimize disruption and quickly demonstrate automation‘s upside. Over time, you‘ll build the case to expand automation across all HR processes.

The Bottom Line

HR automation is fundamental to creating capacity for strategic priorities while providing a lean, modern employee experience. By following the guidelines above, you can build a rock-solid business case for automation and implement solutions smoothly.

The reward? An HR team able to focus on the human element – not administrative minutiae. That is the real transformational benefit of HR automation.

Now I‘d love to hear from you! What HR processes are you looking to automate? Feel free to ask any other questions in the comments.