which HR tasks are best-suited to automation?

Automation is a concept that seems to be growing in importance for businesses and industries with each passing year.

The consequences of this trend have been particularly noticeable in work. As KPMG noted in its Rise of the Humans report series, the convergence of artificial intelligence, automation, machine learning and cognitive platforms 'has profoundly impacted the workforce'.

Looking at this trend from an HR perspective, managers will be thinking about how they can realise the benefits of automation without creating any negative consequences for the business and its employees.

With that in mind, here are some of the critical areas of HR where automation can prove particularly advantageous:

hiring.

Finding and hiring the people your organisation needs to succeed is one of the HR department's fundamental responsibilities. It can be time-consuming and challenging, particularly when facing obstacles like skills shortages and a need to hire staff quickly to meet urgent needs.

Automated tools can make a big difference by taking some of the more demanding parts of the hiring process off your hands, freeing up the human members of the HR team to focus on high-value tasks that require a personal touch.

Modern businesses have various tools and technologies to choose from that can help you optimise hiring through automation. Chatbots, for example, can take on a lot of the work involved in early applicant screening and managing large candidate pools. 

One system offering chatbot functionality is  Allyo, an AI-driven recruiting platform that can support various tasks and workflows, including candidate capture, screening, assessment and interview scheduling.

Randstad's video interviewing and digital assessment (VIDA) technology can also help optimise the selection and screening process, with features like virtual tests and in-depth evaluations to gauge candidate capability.

reference checking.

One part of the hiring process that can benefit from the efficiencies achievable through automation is reference checking. This is a vital stage of the recruitment process, where you want to ensure you're being thorough and making the right decisions without dedicating an unfeasible amount of time to the job.

When this task is done manually, it wastes your team's valuable time. If you cannot commit sufficient resources to the process, you risk hiring people who aren't suitable for the role or the company. 

This is a clear example of how automation can benefit a business - by making a critical process quicker, more efficient and more reliable. 

Again, there are software solutions entirely dedicated to this aspect of HR. Checkster, for instance, utilises concepts like collective intelligence to enable better talent decisions.

onboarding.

Optimising your onboarding process can deliver a range of benefits for the business and your workforce.

If you do an excellent job of bringing recruits into the business, you can expect to see advantages like:

• Strong engagement from the start
• Reduced staff turnover
• Positive workplace relationships
• Better performance and productivity

Incorporating automation into this aspect of your HR function means you don't have to worry so much about the various administrative tasks and paperwork involved, so you can focus on the human element of helping new hires settle in.

This puts you in a better position to avoid some of the most common onboarding mistakes. 

workforce analytics and scheduling.

One of the most common challenges HR managers face today is collecting, managing and analysing large amounts of workforce data.

If you can do this effectively, you can gain valuable insights into your human resources, how they're deployed and where you might be able to make changes to deliver improvements.

When you're faced with complicated data sets, getting to grips with the information isn't necessarily easy.

routine tasks.

Research by Gartner has shown that 69% of a manager's time is typically taken up by activities that could be handled by technology. 

The firm offered the example of expense reports, which could be looked after by expense management systems, and in-the-moment coaching, which could be replaced by real-time chatbot interventions.

There are many other examples of routine tasks that could be automated, such as:

• Timesheet approvals
• Handling leave requests
• Updating employee records
• Scheduling training

With technologies in place to look after jobs like these, you'll have more time to concentrate on the human side of HR.