HR professionals are too often “buried in paperwork,” overwhelmed by outdated, manual processes that prevent them from meeting the strategic expectations of the C-suite. It’s no wonder HR has become the most burned-out profession, with turnover rates through the roof and experience levels plummeting.
But fear not, buried HR heroes! There is hope for survival and even thriving. By adopting the right technology, paired with expertise, and ensuring compliance is built into systems, HR can move beyond the mountain of paperwork.
Check out this day-in-the-life-of before and after scenarios when you have the right tools in place.
9:00 am
You arrive at the office and face a mountain of paperwork. You need to add a new hire’s emergency contact information in three separate systems. Then, to adjust an employee’s pay rate, you have to dig out the paper pay adjustment form, fill it out, get it signed by a manager, and walk it over to payroll. You’re not even sure when the change will take effect.
10:30 am
You’re drowning in a sea of paper timecards. Employees scribbled their hours, some are illegible, and you have to manually calculate overtime and check for errors. You suspect some people might be rounding up their hours, but you have no easy way to verify.
By Noon
New hires are piled into a cramped conference room for a boring orientation. You hand out stacks of paperwork. You’re already behind on sending out welcome emails and setting up training schedules for the next group. You worry that new employees feel lost and overwhelmed.
After Lunch
Lunch? What lunch? You grab a quick bite at your desk while trying to catch up on emails and phone calls. Oh, and don’t forget your boss’s request to guesstimate headcount for next year’s busy sale season. You have some basic spreadsheets with employee data but that’s really it.
2:00 pm
You meet with your direct reports. Tracking their goals and progress is a nightmare. You rely on a mix of emails, sticky notes, and vague memories. Performance reviews are stressful and time-consuming, with no clear way to link individual goals to company objectives.
3:00 pm
You try to remember to send a thank-you email to a team member who went above and beyond last week. Employee morale seems low, but you have no recent data or insights from employee engagement surveys to be sure.
Before You Leave for the Day
The boss calls (again) and demands an update on succession planning. You scramble to pull together some outdated org charts and try to remember who has expressed interest in leadership roles. You have no real way to assess flight risks or identify potential successors based on skills and performance. You feel completely overwhelmed.
95% (!!!)
of HR leaders say they are overwhelmed by their workload.
(Sage)
