A Sneaky Little Cause of Major Chaos for HR Professionals
When one considers the chaos in HR, what comes to mind first? Maybe hiring and firing, people issues, budget limitations, growth, PTO, payroll, regulations, policies and procedures, open enrollment, executive drama? The list never ends! There are so many tasks to juggle, and so few resources, that HR constantly scrambles to get things done. Human resources software, or the lack thereof, is likely the last thing that comes to mind…
Among the causes of chaos lies a sneaky, annoying cause that doesn’t get much attention but has a huge impact on a business in subtle ways – and that cause is inaccurate and poorly maintained data. If a firms most important asset is its people, why don’t firms do better with their data? After talking with thousands of SMB firms, and dealing with SMB data, I know – and we all know – that it’s typically a disaster, rarely complete, difficult to maintain, and doesn’t paint a clear strategic picture of what is really going on within the business.
With data in so many places (your head, your payroll, your benefit provider, multiple other data silos, paper-based systems, even post-it notes), lack of support from the executive level to improve your systems, and all the fires HR deals with, how can HR possibly have time to keep up with the flood data? As these little inaccuracies grow – such as a incorrect training record, PTO inaccuracies, an address change, an employee complaint, an accident – they become little fires and then big fires, until your time is consumed cleaning up the mess.
One reason employee data management is such is a hassle, is that the number one human resources tool for SMB’s is the good old spreadsheet, invented in 1979! Just think of how many times a week you touch a spreadsheet, update one, forward one, double – triple – quadruple check one, or start a new one? Why is HR still using spreadsheets when systems exist to take away all that inefficiency and pain?
Einstein allegedly said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. If HR wants to get out of the fires they deal with daily, and move to the strategy table that they say they want, then HR has to change! Have you looked lately at what is happening in HR technology? Maybe it’s time to jump on your favorite search engine and see what’s available.
The old, expensive, enterprise solutions are still out there selling to large firms with million dollar budgets. However, there are also new Software as a Service companies building Human Resources Software specifically for HR in the small to medium business. Human resource teams can move from their old-school spreadsheet past into today with efficient, accurate, human resource information systems where you rarely touch a spreadsheet, all of your data is in one secure place, you can share access easily, and you can get to it anytime and anywhere.
Technology is amazing, user interfaces are intuitive and easy to use, costs have gone down, and systems like BambooHR are growing fast because demand is high. HR can get rid of the pain caused by spreadsheets today, the hard dollar benefits will begin almost immediately, AND HR will have accurate data. Who woulda thought?
It’s time for firms to step out of their status quo of dealing with spreadsheets, and step into an incredible Human Resource software like BambooHR.
