You’ve Installed the HR Software, and Your Staff Still Overburdened

The promises of HR software and web-based HR systems are hard to beat. Promises of ‘effortless’ HR management, time and money savings, flexibility, power, security, automation… you might start to believe your HR department will run itself! Yet, if you’re like many companies that have installed or signed onto HR software you might find yourself 3 months, 6 months, a year, two years down the road wondering why your staff is STILL over-tasked, why your costs are STILL high, why your time is STILL being filled with manual HR administrative tasks.

What happened?

3 Reasons Your HR Software Has Failed You

We would argue that there are three main reasons your HR software has failed to deliver on its promises.

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Does the Administrative Noise in Your HR Department Need Soundproofing?

If you were to relocate your desk into the middle of the HR department, what would you hear? Or maybe you’re already sitting in HR. What does it sound like? Are you hearing conversations along these lines?

“Hold on, let me just tally up how many vacation days you have left.”

“I’m hoping to have that Form 5500 ready to go in a couple weeks.”

“Sally Jones has requested pay stubs for the past 12 months. Does anyone have time to take care of that?”

“The executive team needs those payroll reports by Wednesday and I haven’t even started pulling all of the numbers.”

“Where are the timesheets for the west coast office?”

Ah, so THIS is the real purpose of those noise cancelling headphones!

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More CFOs Taking on HR Tasks

Workforce.com recently featured an article on the growing role of CFOs in performing HR administrative tasks. The article points to the results of a Robert Half Management Resources study which found that one-fifth of 1,400 chief financial officers surveyed have taken on additional responsibilities for HR administration in the past three years. It also features remarks by the president and CEO of the 2,000-member CFO Alliance, who suggests that taking on HR tasks “is becoming the norm” for CFOs at midsize firms.

It makes sense, according to the article, that CFOs would take on HR roles when you consider the economic downturn of the past several years. Companies had to cut costs. And personnel-related costs are a big draw. Thus, CFOs are involved. Plus, CFOs have a natural inclination toward compliance and process issues that make them a natural fit for dealing with many HR-related tasks.

“If CFOs take over HR, what will happen to the people?”

We can imagine HR managers and employees reading an article like this and wondering what in the world will happen to the people side of the business if CFOs are running HR. After all, it’s true that CFOs don’t always make the best “people-people.” They are thought to be so focused on costs that the human side of the resources equation can get lost.

In reality, if CFOs can address the right costs there should be no need to cut into the programs that benefit their workers. Payroll, employee benefits, insurance, retirement… the administrative processes required to run these programs are saddled with hidden costs that might surprise even the most prudent CFO. And these costs add nothing to the value of the programs. They simply weigh things down.

What CFOs need is a mechanism to reveal the hidden costs and control the sources of hidden costs within their HR processes. If successful, the reward can lead to as much as $30k per month in bottom line savings to the 250-person organization, not to mention the headaches that will diminish when repetitive and burdensome tasks are eliminated.

To do this, companies need to implement technology that integrates their existing programs, automates their repetitive tasks, and embeds communication tools, bringing all critical processes into a single source solution. Such a solution does exist.

The answer? HR Software Known as “Administrative Cost Control”

At Lyceum, we’ve created a payroll and HR system that allows you to control hidden HR costs and deliver savings of up to 50% per employee, per month, in administrative savings alone. Through a combination of Lyceum services and technology companies can maintain the services and programs employees deserve while still delivering bottom line savings to the organization.

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Is it Possible to Cut HR Costs without Sacrificing Benefits?

Today the pressure to cut costs prevails inside most every organization. Just read the headlines. You’ll find companies taking measures that range from across-the-board budget cuts to slashing employee benefits. If you’re a CFO, you feel certain that everything that can be cut, has been cut. Still, the pressure remains.

In addressing HR costs, CFOs have turned to payroll, employee benefits, and pensions – making cuts that have unfortunate impact on employees and their families. And when that doesn’t go far enough, hardworking employees open their email to find news of yet another round of cuts. You’re doing what you have to do but with many unintended results. Employee morale suffers, commitment wanes, productivity declines, the business suffers, more cuts are required and the vicious cycle continues… Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Does a better way to approach cost cutting really exist? Yes, you just can’t see it.

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HR Administrative Tasks Are Causing More Than Just Headaches

A recent statistic attributed to Forrester Research says that 50% of a human resource department’s time is spent processing employee information and answering questions. Another reported statistic from the Society of Human Resource Management says 60% to 80% of the time spent by HR staff is devoted to repetitive administrative tasks, including answering common employee and management questions and retrieving information.

If you ask us, this just doesn’t seem right. How is it possible, with the incredible advances in technology to automate just about every other area of our lives, can we still be left with this? The infamous article published back in 2005 by Fast Company, “Why We Hate HR,” poked serious (and painful) holes in the notion that HR is becoming more strategic. The author referred to HR as neither strategic nor leaders; the corporate function that most consistently underdelivers; and even “not the sharpest tack in the box.”

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