HR staff members are busy, but their job gets even more hectic without the right tools. With automation, software, and applications, your HR department could benefit from improved productivity and efficiency. Streamline your business operations today with the following tools.

10 HR Tools to Increase Productivity and Efficiency 

From employee databases to talent management tools, there are hundreds of ways you can make HR easier. Here are 10 tools that you need to share with the rest of your HR team.

1. Internal Communication Tools

Internal communication tools help HR speak to your staff members while monitoring business performance. Consistent communication will provide direction to the people in your company, ensure everyone is working towards the same objective, and motivate hybrid or remote teams.

Companies may use phones, performance awards, newsletters, and formal/informal meetings to communicate or offer feedback internally, or they’ll adopt tools that combine these methods.

Slack is among the most used communication tools, but Google Forms, Loom, Zoom, and Igloo are also popular. But any tool that engages, activates, or aligns your team will work well.

2. Slack Add-On Tools

Since so many of us use Slack, we wanted to touch upon apps and add-ons that improve the Slack experience. For example, Donut can introduce team members to each other and schedule meet-and-greets, while Pingboard can share real-time updates about coworkers or events.

TimeBot allows your team to book vacation days and lets employers place a cap on PTO. Polly, a survey app, can empower your HR department to offer feedback and run social games. Peer recognition app, HeyTaco, uses gamification as a way to offer appreciation and feedback.

3. Employee Database Tools

Employee database software is a tool that helps HR teams store, organize, and manage data and documents. While it sounds like an upgrade of the traditional filing system, it’s much more than that, as these tools can track performance, schedule time off requests, and boost morale. 

What’s more, employee database tools can use employee information to create customer reports that provide insight into your business. HRMS, HCM, and HRIS software are also used.

BambooHR, monday.com, Workday, Zenefits, and Staff Squared are essential web-based tools that also provide robust hiring management tools and high-quality applicant tracking systems. 

4. Document Editing Tools

Document management and editing tools can range from complex to simple. For example, PDFSimpli is a simple PDF editor that allows you to easily edit and change text. However, more complicated tools, like PandaDoc, give users the ability to manage, organize, and reuse assets.

Evernote is perfect for anyone who takes notes at meetings, while Adobe Document Cloud has eSigning options (but is limited to PDF files). Finally, the Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms can serve as a great alternative to Microsoft Office, which lacks collaboration tools.

5. Health and Self-Care Tools

We’re living in stressful and uncertain times, which puts self-care at the front of your HR team’s mind. Even at the best of times, human resources struggle with layoffs, balancing employee advocacy with business metrics, economic pressures, and a high amount of unfinished work.

HR staff could benefit from tools that put them in a positive headspace, support their health, or reduce work-related stress when they’re feeling overwhelmed, overloaded, and overworked. 

For example, MyNoise is a free app that blocks out distracting noises with ambient music, Calm offers hundreds of meditation topics, and Headspace for Work supports your team’s happiness. 

6. Talent Management Tools

Talent management tools support the talent management process, like recruitment, onboarding, performance management, professional development, compensation, and succession planning. These systems allow for consistent feedback, which can help improve employee engagement.

All-in-one tools like Culture App use research-backed surveys to create engagement plans, skill improvements, and peer feedback documentation. Clear Review is a supportive software that helps employees self-reflect, whether they’re in an in-office or remote work environment.

7. Policy Writing Tools

Your company’s policies should be updated frequently to keep up with federal and state laws, but you also need to review your documents regularly to grow and evolve. To make this process easy, you’ll need various tools that help you write, manage, and supply your policies to staff.

Coogle is an exceptional mind-mapping software that helps plan and organize your ideas, while tools like Hemingway App, Grammarly, and Nimbus Screenshot can improve your document. 

However, Trainual is a playbook that can categorize every policy and process in your business. Trainual is perfect for startups that want to scale their operations with the help of HR leaders.

8. Scheduling Apps

HR teams have to handle a lot of employees, dates, and schedules, but it’s not always easy to keep everything straight. Your staff needs to utilize scheduling apps, like Calendly and Google Calendar, to schedule meetings, events, and anything else your HR department needs to plan.

Your HR department can also use these apps to stay productive and on schedule without compromising their own mental health. They can easily switch between a personal and professional calendar, or they can integrate their own schedule on your company’s computer.

9. Professional Development Tools

Professional development tools account for a wide range of mediums and software. But if they’re used to facilitate growth in your company, then they count as “development” tools. For example, an HR blog or podcast could be utilized to teach staff or customers about your startup.

TED talks, MIT Opencourseware, and LinkedIn are also perfect for learning. While figuring out your key development tools, make sure you don’t forget to include your employees first.

Cross-training and online courses can engage your employees and help them improve their skills. If you have some cash flow for paid education, you’ll increase employee retention.

10. Project Management Tools

Project management tools include software that helps teams plan, track, and manage their projects. They can also be used to accelerate the project and collaborate effectively. Project management software is useful on a client and employee level as it organizes workloads.

Asana and Zoho projects are the more popular project management software because they offer tools that automate recurring tasks and streamline workflows. However, free software like Trello are useful for smaller organizations that only need to store and manage a few projects.

Image Source: Unsplash

HR Future  Staff Writer