In the modern, fast-paced business environment, efficiency has become the name of the game. Departments, individuals, techniques, activities, and every other aspect of business operations have been impacted by this trend.
 
Your HR department is one area that is often ripe for an efficiency overhaul. A Human Resource Management (HRM) team covers multiple areas of business. It manages recruitment, oversees continual learning, works as a liaison between management and staff, and even helps with strategic planning.
 
In short, HR managers have a lot of plates spinning at any one given time. With so many ongoing responsibilities, there are many different business tools that can help an HR team stay lean and mean. Here are a few of the most important solutions that your HR department needs.

1. Simplify Payroll
Payroll is one of the simplest yet most important elements of a successful business. If you don’t pay your employees, you cease to exist as an organization. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or what products or services you provide, every company needs to manage payroll successfully.
 
As an HR manager, you may or may not be hands-on with the payroll process. In either case, though, it’s important to consider how your payroll is helping or hindering your company’s productivity. 
 
Payroll activities can soak up either an HR manager’s time or the time of their accounting staff. Mundane tasks like cutting checks and filing payroll taxes can consume entire workdays. Staying compliant and up-to-date on current legislation can be both intimidating and time-consuming. 
 
Finding a quality payroll solution is important. It allows you to streamline the entire compensation portion of your enterprise. Even better, you don’t have to be a large corporation anymore to benefit from this kind of software. There are payroll solutions for small businesses as well that provide integrated platforms, mobile-friendly options, and are well within the budget of most smaller enterprises.
 
If you’re feeling strained by your HR duties, a third-party payroll solution can help ease the day-to-day burden of running your department.

2. Consolidate Workflow
The modern world has become remote-friendly very fast. The transition to remote work was already taking place over the course of the past decade. However, the advent of the coronavirus pandemic served to accelerate the change to virtual work. 
 
As the crisis begins to recede, companies are finding their new way forward. Some are returning to in-person offices. Others are remaining 100% remote. Still others are adopting a hybrid work model. 
 
Regardless of your situation, though, you want to create a workflow infrastructure that can last. It’s impossible to know what the future may hold. Another pandemic-level catastrophe could strike at any time. If that happens, you want to have a workflow setup that can adapt to any scenario without impeding your daily activity.
 
Finding a good HR SaaS provider is a great way to guard against the unknown. A workflow platform of this nature can consolidate all of your HR activities into one, cloud-based space. It can help you manage recruitment, onboarding, and offboarding all from one place. 
 
With so many different activities demanding your attention, a workflow platform like this can be the perfect organizational tool. It keeps critical information stored in one, easy-to-access location.

3. Automate Scheduling
Scheduling can be a bear, especially if you’re working with a staff that works in shifts. The simple act of setting up a schedule can eat up huge quantities of time. From there, the need to continue to monitor and manage the schedule can be exhausting.
 
Good scheduling software can eliminate nearly all of the time spent setting up and managing your team’s schedule in an instant. There are countless employee scheduling apps available that can automate your scheduling needs.
 
These software tools can receive your scheduling information and then produce consistent schedules as a result. You can also access them remotely, and they can double as communication tools for your team as they coordinate their work.

4. Shift to E-Signatures
Once again, the shift to remote work has put a strain on many areas of HR activity. One of the easiest of these areas to overlook is getting signatures. On the surface, this is a minor requirement. However, it’s also one of the most common human resource activities.
 
HR reps require signatures at every turn. Payroll, onboarding, contracts, and endless other items require signatures and initials, both of which have historically been provided “in the flesh.” Of course, with so many companies going remote, the need for signatures can become an issue. This is where a good e-signature tool can come in handy.
 
In some cases, you may find an e-signature solution built right into a larger HR SaaS platform. However, if you don’t have a native option that works for your needs, you can also find an independent e-signature software solution. This can enable you to get your needed signatures from any cloud-based employees in a quick and efficient manner.
 
Managing an HR department has never been more challenging, and the evolving post-pandemic business landscape isn’t doing HR reps any favors, either. As many teams settle into remote or hybrid work situations, HR managers are finding even the simplest tasks challenging. Activities like getting a signature or cutting a paycheck have become complex activities. More robust responsibilities, like onboarding a new recruit, have become nearly impossible in some cases.
 
However, the modern, tech-driven world is a resourceful place, and for every problem that arises, there is always a business solution to address it. You can simplify payroll, automate scheduling, and obtain signatures online. You can even consolidate something as vague and nuanced as HR workflow into a single platform. 
 
Taking the time to invest in genuine HR solutions like these isn’t just a good idea. It’s essential to survival in the rapidly changing 21st-century world. If you want to both survive and thrive as you and your company move forward, it’s essential that you take the time to find the best solutions available. Once implemented, these can keep your HR department in fine form as you help your organization charge into the new normal that lies ahead.