Our very own DM Collaborators’ editor takes a look into two new US surveys of HR professionals that look at the challenges and opportunities faced by the HR industry in using software better to support this vital part of the business. 

On the one hand, we have HR professionals believing they could win back over a day of each and every working week if they could automate administrative and other manual tasks – especially in recruitment, the administration of benefits and the management of employee records.

A company called Kronos went out and asked 100 senior HR staffers about this idea, and were told by 32% of the respondents that HR automation would save over two hours every day.

A slightly bigger total, 35%, thought it would save just under the same amount – meaning that one in three were convinced automation could save them between a day and a day and a half every week.

It’s also interesting to note that 49% said that as high as automation of tasks was in their wish-list for HR software, a pretty big chunk, 28%, said they wanted better ways to gauge employee sentiment.

Commenting on the findings, Claire Richardson, director, the Workforce Institute at Kronos, EMEA & vice president EMEA professional services at the firm, claimed that, “These statistics confirm that there is more that HR technology can do to improve efficiencies, and also increase satisfaction among those using this technology.

“HR leaders should work closely with IT teams to implement meaningful technologies that automate administrative tasks and enable them to focus on more rewarding and impactful tasks.”

Examples cited in the study about how automation could be useful to HR included suggesting suitable applicants for open positions – go here to find out more. And as if to underline how HR is crying out for more help from software, another study, this time from cloud-based HR firm BerniePortal, claims to prove that HR managers say they feel more overworked amid shrinking departments, and a big part of the reason is not enough digital or human help.

Indeed, a majority (56%) of the 136 small and mid-sized organisations polled by the firm say they have just one person working in HR – which would suggest that there is a big market waiting to be tapped out there for any ECM expert able to provide the right toolset to allow these guys to focus on what they really need to, value-add activities to really aid their teams and Human Capital resource.

Ed.