AD. HR is that one department that you absolutely do not, nor can you, afford to have issues with. They're supposed to be the department that deals with the issues within your business and prevents many of the more avoidable ones so you can stay legally compliant and support the company and your employees.
But if your HR department isn't running correctly, you're going to make life harder.
The best thing you can do is to identify where things aren’t running correctly and then rectify them one by one. Here are a few ideas on what actually helps and how you can improve your HR processes.
Centralise Personnel Records
The last thing you want is for your staff details to be scattered across spreadsheets, email threads and paper files, as this will make it practically impossible to get a clear picture of who is on site, what their status is or when something was last updated, like training or health and safety records.
You need to bring every single record relating to your employees, contractors and visitors into a single structured system where everything is logged as and when it happens, and nothing is missed or overlooked, and you don't need to go rummaging through different files to get what you need.
HR software built to do just this means you are feeding directly into a structured system that is designed to support what you do. Everything gets logged automatically; some software integrates with your existing software so you can merge your files and ensure everything internally is operating seamlessly wherever you need it, and nothing gets lost in the cracks.
Track Training and Competence
One of the biggest gaps you can ill afford in your HR department is not knowing who is trained on what and when the last time any training occurred was. You shouldn't be assuming anything: you should be able to track training and know exactly where everyone is up to, and that training is happening as standard.
Stop tracking training on notes or files that are separate or even in spreadsheets. Because all it takes is one little mistake and everything is thrown out of order and errors are made.
Trusting platforms like CalmCompliance means that you get to tie training records to personnel files so overdue reminders flash up immediately, or you can spot gaps in your training without needing to sift through copious other files to find what you need and make sure everyone is where they need to be in regard to training and competence for their job role.
Streamline Incident Reporting
Incidents happen regardless of how much you try to limit them or erase the possibility. That's a fact, and you need more than a generic incident form that asks basic questions. You need to ask the right questions at the right time to get a better overview of the incident itself, how it occurred and what you can do to spot it again.
Remove ad-hoc paper-based reporting by integrating incident reporting software in your HR processes to give incident reporting a more structured flow. Software like this means you can program it to ask the questions you need the answers for and log and track all activities relating to this and ongoing concerns and future incidents to give you a better picture and to keep HR in the loop at all times.
Digitise Forms and Data Capture
Again, it's a recurring theme here that you need to get all the relevant data you have on anything regarding the business digitised. Having the right software isn't any good if you're still relying on paper notes and you're not digitising your data capture or forms. You need to remove as much of the manual process from HR operations as possible to ensure everything is logged as it needs to be and how it needs to be.
Digital forms can be built, scheduled and shared by links or QR codes to remove the friction from paper lists or forms, and they enable people to submit them directly and not lose them or forget to do something like file them. You can even set this up for visitors too, even without login, so you can still capture the right details. This is especially important for anything time-sensitive or if you need a pre-shift safety check or to verify a visitor.
Improve Onboarding
Onboarding sets the tone for an employee's time with you, and if your onboarding is poor or you're not giving them the details they need, this will impact how effective they are in their job role. Disorganised onboarding processes filter through into the new employee's workday and into company ethics too. You need to set the tone with new employees right from the start.
Strict onboarding means that the employee gets all the data they need when they need it. You get to create clear milestones, create records to track this and issue training automatically, as well as issue key documents and get acknowledgements that they've been received or read through and verified from the employee's end so you can change things as required.
Standardise Policy Distribution
If everyone is singing from a different hymn sheet, so to speak, then chances are you're simply making HR’s life more difficult than it needs to be. Policies are only effective if the right people know they exist and know what their policy requires of them. This is especially important if you're updating anything.
And honestly, sending it via an email is hit and miss, as you don't know if it will get opened, never mind read and actioned.
If you issue this via a system, however, you can track it; you'll know who received it, who opened it and acknowledged all the documents, and you can get a proper timestamp and sign-off, allowing you to track who is and isn't following policy and where gaps are appearing with ease rather than pointing fingers in a general direction.
