HR turns to automated systems for efficiency, savings
Boston Business Journal - by Joan Goodchild Journal Staff
An overabundance of processing and paperwork in human resources management has prompted many companies to invest in automated systems to handle employee benefits and recruiting.
A human resources information system -- also known as an HRIS -- is a broad term for a system that HR managers use to keep track of employee information. More HR managers are upgrading their management systems to ones that include features such as an online, self-service element that workers can use themselves. These high-tech systems cut costs, save time and reduce the burden on the HR department, according to many of the businesses that are using them today.
A recent survey of 137 companies conducted by Boston-based Aberdeen Group Inc. found 51 percent of companies classified as industry norm are using some form of automated management system for employee benefits. Businesses categorized as cutting-edge, or best in class, by Aberdeen had an even higher percentage: 66 percent.
The same Aberdeen survey found nine of 10 respondents cited reducing benefits-related costs as their top HR priority.
"Many Boston-based companies, particularly the large high-tech and biotech companies, are leveraging benefits management systems to centralize their global HR processes," said Shafiq Lokhandwala, CEO of NuView Systems Inc., a Wilmington-based provider of HR systems.
Enterprise Bank in Lowell has been using NuView's HR and benefits administration module for mere weeks. The company went live with the system in January to keep track of data on the firm's 302 employees. The immediate benefit is the decrease in the need for manual entry, said Jamie Gabriel, Enterprise's HR manager. But long term, she said, the hope is the investment will pay off in giving the company more time to focus growing other areas of business.
"We won't need to increase the number of HR staff going forward," she said.
Foster-Miller Inc., a QinetiQ Group PLC company in Waltham, has approximately 330 employees and has been using a system called HROffice from Ascentis Corp. for two years. An enrollment wizard, which walks employees through the benefits enrollment process online, means the HR department is spending mere minutes assisting with enrollment -- instead of hours, as it had in the past.
But Foster-Miller also sought to automate employee information to provide more customized data and financial reporting.
"For example, finance would say 'We need a report with the information on X, Y, Z,' " said Darlene Stokes, a senior human resources representative at Foster-Miller. "With our previous database and system, it was hard to get historical information. Now we can customize information and get it broken out the way we need it."
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