10 Benefits of HRIS Software for Modern Teams

The right HR tech makes everything simpler — for HR professionals, the employees they support, and the organizations they work for. By combining streamlined workflows with automation, reporting capabilities, integrations, and more, a human resource information system (HRIS) can help level up your people operations. 

Here’s why these platforms are swiftly becoming a go-to choice for modern HR teams, including the key benefits they bring and how to choose the right HRIS for your organization. 

What is an HRIS?

An HRIS is a central hub that helps HR teams manage every element of the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, payroll, paid time off (PTO) tracking, performance reviews, promotions, career development, and employee management. 

This kind of unified access creates a seamless flow of data, making HR processes smoother and more intuitive. And by collating people and performance data, HRIS software can also generate reports that transform data on a screen into meaningful insights that help inform business growth. 

10 Benefits of an HRIS

Transitioning to a new HR system might seem overwhelming, but the benefits are worth it. That’s because an HRIS brings many advantages for HR teams, employees, and organizations. 

1. Enhances Compliance

There are a lot of labor laws and regulations for companies to comply with, even more so if your employees work across different regions. An HRIS can help ensure compliance with relevant regulations, and even provide reminders of deadlines like tax filing dates. 

By offering customizable permissions, an HRIS can also help companies comply with data protection laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) by controlling which users have access to confidential employee information. 

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2. Offers Access to Real-Time HR Analytics

You can’t make good decisions without good data. Which is why real-time, accurate information is so crucial. Having a single source of truth — your HRIS — for all your people data makes it easier for HR to harness the power of people analytics during the decision-making process. 

This data can help monitor the success of your people program, tracking the effect on key metrics like employee performance, engagement, and retention. 

Some HRIS software also offers the ability to create visually appealing reports quickly. This makes it much easier for HR teams to share key insights with C-suite leaders, which helps connect the dots between HR functions and their impact on organizational success. 

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3. Enhances HR Teams’ Productivity 

HR teams can spend a significant amount of time on manual, administrative tasks, but the automation offered by an HRIS can cut this down. 2021 research from Zapier found that automation at work helps HR professionals save eight hours a week on average. 

That’s an entire working day freed up, allowing HR teams to focus on strategic activities like quantifying the impact of their people initiatives. Sometimes, working with an HRIS manager can help ensure your HR team knows how to make the most of your new system. 

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4. Streamlines Recruitment With Applicant Tracking Systems

By integrating with an applicant tracking system (ATS) like Lever or Greenhouse, an HRIS can streamline the recruitment and hiring process. Once a candidate is marked as hired within your ATS, it’s easy to create and update their employee profile within your HRIS. 

This reduces the risk of errors, saves time, and ensures the continuity of data across both platforms. Once a candidate starts the onboarding process, they won’t need to enter all their data again, because it’s already been synced. 

5. Improves Onboarding

As the saying goes, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. A company’s onboarding process also has a huge impact on employee satisfaction. In 2021, Gallup found that if an employee's onboarding experience is exceptional, they’re 2.6 times more likely to be extremely satisfied in their new workplace. 

That means creating a smooth, coordinated onboarding experience is critical, and that’s something an HRIS can help achieve. Providing comprehensive checklists, automating essential tasks, and storing documents make it easier to set new employees up for success. 

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6. Simplifies the Employee Experience

Employees shouldn’t have to use three different platforms to check their pay, request PTO, and complete employee engagement surveys. And with an HRIS, they don’t have to. Providing one easy-to-use platform streamlines the employee experience, making it easy for your people to complete everything they need to — all in one place. 

Many HRIS solutions also include employee self-service portals containing essential information like tax documents, pay stubs, and training opportunities. They also allow employees to submit PTO requests, check their benefits, and update their information when needed. This helps empower employees and keep them informed while also freeing up HR’s time. 

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7. Makes Performance Management Easy and Intuitive

Creating a high-performance business culture hinges on the types of performance management systems and processes you rely on. By connecting employee data and your performance and talent management systems, an HRIS can streamline performance reviews while also cutting down the time and effort needed to keep them running smoothly. 

When all the information you need is in one place, it’s easier for everyone. Employees can review their progress, managers can provide meaningful feedback, and HR departments can process the compensation adjustments that follow successful reviews and promotions. 

8. Reliably Secures Employee Data

Collecting and storing employee details in one place makes it easier to ensure everything is accurate and up-to-date. No more trawling through multiple platforms to discover an employee’s address is different in each one. 

An HRIS also assists companies in protecting employee data, an increasingly important consideration as organizations continue to be threatened by ransomware attacks that put confidential employee information at risk. Implementing an HRIS that offers strong data security measures including encryption of personal data, security audits, and penetration tests helps keep employee details as safe as possible. 

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9. Improves Scalability

As companies grow, HR systems should be able to grow with them, so they can meet the demands of an expanding workforce. Modern HRISs are designed with scalability in mind and offer cloud-based infrastructure that allows companies to add new features, tools, or users without disruptions.

Without this flexibility and scalability, growing HR teams would need to find a replacement platform that could cope with more users or offer the kinds of additional features needed by larger organizations. 

10. Offers a Single Source of Truth for All Data

By integrating with your existing tech stack, an HRIS can create a single source of truth for all employee data, removing the risk of duplications or errors. But for an HRIS to have this kind of impact, it needs to blend with your existing tech stack. Look for a solution that integrates with a wide range of systems, including:

• Payroll
• Benefits administration
• Communication channels 
• Applicant tracking systems 

These integrations also help save time because HR and employees aren’t working across multiple systems. Instead, all essential data is synchronized, making it easier to find the right information, right when you need it. 

Common HRIS Features 

Most human resource information systems include some or all of these features: 

• Payroll
• Onboarding
• Compliance
• Integrations
• Employee records
• Employee self-service
• Reporting and analytics
• Time off and attendance
• Professional development
• Performance management 
• Employee benefits administration 

Choosing the Right HRIS for Your Organization

There isn’t a single HRIS out there that will meet every organization’s needs (although Lattice HRIS does come pretty close). That means HR leaders need to work out what to look for when choosing a new HRIS. Here’s what to look for. 

Identify your current HR challenges or gaps.

Maybe your HR team is bogged down with manual data entry across multiple platforms, or engagement survey results are left sitting on the shelf because no one has the time to collate and analyze the results. Perhaps your onboarding process is smooth from HR’s point of view, but high employee turnover suggests something is missing for new hires. 

Whatever your specific challenges or gaps, identifying them can help you figure out exactly what you’re looking for from an HRIS. 

Determine what your team needs from an HRIS.

Once you’ve identified any challenges or gaps in the step above, it’s much easier to determine what kinds of support your HR team needs from any new HR software. Think about which features and functions will make the most difference in helping you meet those challenges or gaps. 

For example, if your HR team needs support with managing routine tasks like PTO requests, an HRIS that automates this will help. If your main area of focus is onboarding, a platform with a self-service portal for employees to access and complete important documents and work their way through any training might be the priority. 

Review top HRIS vendors.

Now, it’s time to create a shortlist of vendors that can match your requirements. Some of the top HRIS platforms include Lattice, ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, and Deel. During this stage, it’s also important to make a list of all the technology you already use. Check whether the platforms on your shortlist offer integrations with these. 

Most HRIS providers offer a free trial or demo, so it’s worth signing up for them to get a feel for how the platforms work. During these trials, check if the platform meets your top requirements, matches your pricing expectations, offers all the functionality your organization needs, and integrates with your existing tech. 

Want to know more? Read our article on the 10 best HRIS platforms for modern HR teams for a full rundown.

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