As early as eight years ago, any company below 1,000 employees has no “off the shelf” tools to support their Human Resource (HR) professionals in their critical task of creating and sustaining a viable people agenda.
The picture was stark: large companies had expensive tools (such as PeopleSoft) to help them, which was great for them; but at the opposite end of the market, no affordable tools existed. HR teams basically made do with what they had – Email, Excel and possibly Adobe Acrobat!
Here in 2018, the landscape is rapidly changing.
In a series of articles, we explore this trend of empowering employees and its effect on the Human Resources function. It is a compelling story of how this new generation of tooling, when implemented with ambition and enthusiasm will lead to success.
So what do we mean by “HR Tools”?
Simply put, this covers a wide range of tools affecting the employee. This encapsulates the full employee lifecycle, for instance:
- Workforce planning
- Recruiting and Selection
- Onboarding
- Performance Management
- Organizational Development
- Conflict Management
- Off-boarding
- And of course, Payroll!
Later in the series of blogs, we will explore each area and the latest thinking in every individual specialism, but before this, to paint a picture of what success looks like when tooling complements good management, here are the ten things:
Employee Retention: You will keep hold of your most valuable people
Satisfying the basics enables each employee’s payroll to be correct every time, meaning the employees learn to trust their employer. This should be simple but in complex markets such as the Philippines, there is a high chance that without a good payroll tool you will introduce errors in this process.
Once the basics are satisfied, your organization planning processes will match organizational needs with a worker’s aspirations (e.g. “more responsibility” or even “working fewer hours”) and provide a forum and process to continually assess this is key.
Life Betterment: You will be enriching people’s lives
In many markets such as the Philippines where JustPayroll and PhilPay operates, an easy way to remit salary to relatives in the province (without queuing at the remittance office) makes a real difference. Moreover, as a caring company, you will be able to encourage employees to manage their long-term cash flow by offering savings plans this will contribute to the overall feeling of well-being.
Be Enterprise Level: You will be able to think and act more like a larger company
In the past, small companies could not afford tooling to structure the dialog between employee and employer. Even smaller companies collect huge amounts of data related to employee performance, and in most cases, this is wasted and does not contribute to enriching the employee-employer relationship.
Imagine where the previously expensive flexible benefits programs can be offered in a cost-effective (and targeted) way to companies of as little as 5 employees!
Save Money: You will keep more of your hard earned money
Clearly, there is an opportunity to reduce administrative burden and costs by automating the linkage between payroll and HR. For example, how many times has your organization overpaid overtime or had an irate employee complain about their payslips!
A number of our clients are surprised we can make a small change to their compensation structure to simultaneously provide more value per payslip to the employer and employee (for example, better use of tax-free allowances).
Better Credibility: You can more easily prove compliant employees to customers and partners
In many sectors, companies need to prove to partners, suppliers or the government they are controlling working hours, salary and work parameters of their employees. Tooling can help you respond quickly to issues and provide data to prove compliance.
Improved Strategies: You will have a better plan for your workforce
Do you know how much your workforce costs? Do you know why there is high attrition in a department (perhaps high overtime and attrition mean you need more employees or an intervention)? Tooling used in the larger enterprise will mean you can effectively plan the future of your company from a people perspective.
Having a Disaster Plan: Making your workforce safer
In the Philippines, there are many devastating typhoon events each year. They are of course disruptive to work and families. Communication and planning are critical to reducing their devastating effects. Tooling plays a significant role in responding to a disaster.
Reduce Risks: Spotting potential risks early
Social media is a great tool for business but if rogue employees are blogging against the company or posting comments that might be an embarrassment to the reputation of the company, this should be addressed early.
Likewise, if you notice strange patterns of behavior (e.g. negative patterns of leave-taking, abnormal arrivals or exists to work) this can suggest a risk to the business.
Acquire skilled employees: Introducing the right talent into your teams
In the near future, you will have a better idea, perhaps even in “real-time” of what competencies are missing in your teams and get an exact match with potential candidates possessing those skills through hiring platforms (and networking tools such as LinkedIn) mean irrespective of your size you can get a better fit of employee to your requirements.
Talent planning means developing an individual career plan for every employee irrespective of their level in the organization.
Improve Employee Engagement: Rewarding employees will become more meaningful
Your world in the future will be one where not only financial rewards can motivate. With flexible benefits, you can reward exceptional performance with time off, family breaks and even shopping vouchers. Read more about it here: Snag and Retain Millennials by Contemporizing Your Technological Tools
So in summary, this is a very exciting space to be in.
Human Resources and Payroll in the Philippines is shifting with the needs of the times and technology. While many would find it complicated, but it doesn’t have to be… After all, there’s JustPayroll.
We offer innovative payroll systems, superior outsourced payroll processing services, and premium biometric devices that are in line with contemporary business solutions.
Discover how easy payroll can be by choosing us, simply give us a call at +63 (02) 808-4707 or fill out the form below to get in touch with our payroll customer care.
