Wednesday 9 January 2013

Why Use HR Software?

Many small and medium businesses are so concentrated on building and supplying their core products that HR (human resources) record keeping may take a back seat, or be neglected all together. Often even if Human Resource data is maintained, it is stored using dated paper methods which require considerable space to store and also a significant time commitment, which can take valuable staff away from more profitable job roles.

In this day and age many small business owners or managers are looking for software to assist them, and make their organisations more efficient - Human Resources and Workforce Management is no exception!

Utilising software in this way can among other things greatly reduce the man hours required to maintain satisfactory records on all employees, often these solutions can be scaled up with your company as it grows - so it's important to start as you mean to go on!

Benefits of HR Software:

  • Easily store extensive employee records including:
    • Personal Data, Next of Kin and Medical Records
    • Holiday Sickness and Absence Records
    • Remuneration:- Vehicle Pensions Benefits and Salary
    • Education, Skills and Training Records
    • Appraisal and Discipline Records
    • Safety Equipment and Uniform Management.
    • Job History
  • Store all relevant documents electronically (identification, contracts, handbooks etc)
  • Employees can service themselves, taking the onus off management when booking holidays, and updating details
  • Quick access and search - no more rooting through filing cabinets
Of course there is one major con; the cost of establishing a system. Often this proves to be the major factor, not only is it the initial outlay of cost for the software but also the cost of man hours to setup and maintain the records. 

New to the market however is a range of free human resource software from freeHR. Which is provided by an established software company - this means you get a robust piece of software which provides all the benefits without the major con, the COST!

Using free HR software is a great way to ensure you are keeping sufficient records but also reduce the amount of admin time that goes into servicing all employee needs such as holiday and details updates.

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Free HR Software

The options for HR (human resource) management software range from complete enterprise level options right on down to free solutions aimed at small to medium businesses. For example some HR and Time and Attendance software, such as the Intelligent Time & Attendance supplied by Isys are aimed at larger scale companies from Enterprise down.

One problem facing many small businesses and start ups, particularly when looking for HR management software or solutions is the cost to entry. Many of these companies will neglect this important element, or perhaps on occasion they will search for free alternatives.

Free HR Software is few and far between, with only a few possible solutions available. Many of these are developed by one or two people as a side project and as such do not come with the support and growth most people expect from software these days.

One exception we've found is a solution developed by the aforementioned Isys Group. Isys is a development house that has been developing work force management software for many years. They maintain not only a large experienced development staff, but also a fully manned support team. Recently Isys have begun the development of a piece of free hr software call freeHR.

This software marks a departure from Isys' normal offerings in that rather than being aimed at companies with hundreds or thousands of employees, it is aimed at smaller teams and companies numbered in the 10's instead.

This software is being offered free, allowing small companies to track and maintain extensive HR records with no barrier to entry. Another benefit is that, there are additional 'bolt-on' modules to round the system out into a fully featured workforce management suite. The first of these modules is the free HR time & attendance add on. For a small monthly fee, companies are able to rent a terminal which by interfacing with the free hr software, allows staff to clock in & out of shifts and allows management a powerful reporting tool to calculate pay & benefits.