How Robotic Process Automation Transforms HR Operations for Optimal Efficiency

HR departments worldwide are increasingly implementing RPA. This technology allows you to work smarter, save money, and focus on the people behind your organization. According to the 2019-2020 Sierra-Cedar HR Systems Survey, RPA technology adoption in HR processes increased by 50% since the previous year’s survey.

RPA takes over your repetitive administrative tasks so you can focus on the value-added work you enjoy doing.  While RPA can offer great value to just about any department, its benefits extend even further in HR due to the high volume of manual administrative tasks. As a result, many organizations choose HR as the first department to kick-start their RPA journey.

It’s simply a natural fit. Plus, seeing HR experience a successful RPA implementation first can help other departments warm up to the solution. This impact can go a long way in change management, allowing your HR department to become the catalyst of enterprise-wide change.

Why RPA in Human Resources?

Human Resources is so much more than just tedious, time-consuming, transactional work. At the core of HR is the human-to-human interactions that build relationships and drive organizational change.

Most employees don’t want interactions with machines to fully replace the human connections needed to create a sense of belonging at work. A study by PwC found that 45 percent of respondents said that they prefer face-to-face interactions for tasks like asking their HR departments questions or getting help with problems. Rewarding work like this is probably what drew you to the HR field in the first place. But it can be hard to find the time when you’re preoccupied with an endless list of administrative tasks to complete.

RPA can help.

RPA bots can take over the tedious, manual tasks that make you feel like a robot. Then, you can pursue more fulfilling, value-added work. Work that uses your “human strengths,” like business insights, innovation, creativity, strategic decision making, and employee engagement.

How Can RPA Help HR Professionals?

Eliminate Processing Errors

Since most HR processes are manual, the risk of processing errors is higher. This issue poses a significant threat to your department’s credibility and can lead to wasted time. Not to mention, high error rates are a compliance nightmare. Government regulations are constantly changing, and it can be difficult to keep up. But when RPA takes over your processes, you can expect them to be 100% error-free every time and always in compliance.

Receive the Help You Need, Fast

The idea of adopting a new software solution is intimidating. Fortunately, it’s easy to get started with RPA. Its user-friendly design allows you to easily install and personalize it without needing considerable customization, coding, or technical knowledge. Additionally, you don’t have to disrupt your system’s underlying infrastructure to introduce RPA. This technology allows you to automate processes on your various business applications without any complex integrations, even when it comes to legacy systems.

Higher Productivity and Efficiency

With RPA, you get a “Digital Workforce” on staff to supplement your hard work. It tirelessly completes your manual processes in the background while you tend to other work. Work you may not have had the time to focus on previously. As a result, you’ll save money and time.

Keep Your Employees Happy and Watch Your ROI Grow

When you have happier, more engaged employees, you’ll naturally experience a lower turnover rate, bringing ROI from increased retention. ROI can also come from reduced manual work and improved task efficiency. And because RPA is easy to deploy, use, and manage, you can start using your solution quickly and begin seeing ROI sooner.

How is RPA Used in HR?

10 HR RPA Use Cases

1. Resume Screening and Candidate Shortlisting

RPA bots can screen resumes and online application forms, execute thorough background checks, and analyze the candidate’s qualifications given the job requirements. Through this process, they shortlist the best candidates so you can promptly connect with them. It only takes a single click of a button to generate interviews, feedback, or rejection notifications. This way, your recruiters can focus on determining which of the best candidates would be the ideal fit.

2. Creating Offer Letters

RPA can automatically create candidate-specific offer letters. The contents are 100% accurate, comply with local and company regulations, and are personalized to your candidate. Meanwhile, your recruiters can spend their time, talent, and energy on proactive, strategic hiring.

3. Streamlining Onboarding Experience

RPA can help you streamline your new hire set-up and onboarding end-to-end processes with 100% consistency and reduced error. This solution can automatically trigger a predefined onboarding workflow upon the new account’s creation. While the bots take care of set-up, you can spend time connecting one-on-one with your new hires.

4. Smarter, More Efficient Employee Training

Employees must learn to execute business processes according to company policy, compliance standards, and without error. RPA supports this goal by improving training effectiveness significantly. It enables managers to set training goals and assign necessary training for new employees. The bots can even block off employees’ calendars for designated training time. The bots can also set up a training checklist and send notifications to keep employees on top of their training responsibilities.

5. Employee Data Management

Managing employee data involves consistent, systematic actions across different databases, sometimes with varying data formats. This task becomes difficult to keep up with as employee data continues to roll in rapidly as employees change roles or leave the company. RPA can ease the burden by making it easier to manage the various tasks that go into data management. As a result, your risk of mis-keyed data can decrease dramatically. Robots can also execute data cleansing tasks routinely, which secures data compatibility from one database to the next.

6. Survey and Company Reviews

RPA bots can fulfill complex periodic reporting HR analyses, even when data exists across different systems. It can also automatically screen reviews and surveys coming in from various sources. You can even receive direct email notifications, so you don’t miss a single company review.

7. Payroll Processing

Most payroll processes are rule-based, heavy in data entry, and repetitive, making them ideal RPA candidates. When you implement RPA, you can improve payroll process-related consistency, accuracy, and service quality, while saving money in the process. For example, robots can automatically track and produce paychecks, benefits administration, reimbursements, and rewards. As a result, you can avoid submission inaccuracies and delays. Plus, RPA ensures that you remain in full compliance as it carefully follows local rules and regulations.

8. Data Management

With RPA, you can automate the reading, copying, and synchronization of data between your ERP, web applications, and other systems. As a result, you can realize significant time savings and enjoy better compliance.

9. Time and Attendance, Vacation Time, and Expense Management

RPA bots can automatically validate records in search of incorrect or missing information. If any such inconsistency exists, the bot will alert the user and provide guidance on resolving the problem. As a result, you can stay in compliance with legal requirements and enjoy fewer delays all around.

10. Performance Management

As a time-consuming, repetitive process, performance management is an excellent candidate for automation. Bots can rapidly complete many of the tasks involved with performance management with 100% accuracy.

Put the Human Back in Human Resources

RPA is ready to help you reclaim your time by taking care of your manual, repetitive tasks. Before long, you’ll be able to get back to doing what you love, whether it’s engaging one-on-one with your employees or resolving challenging problems.

Want More Content Like This?

Subscribe to the Naviant Blog. Each Thursday, we’ll send you a recap of our latest info-packed blog so you can be among the first to access the latest trends and expert tips on workflow, intelligent automation, the cloud, and more.