À La Carte HR Technology Offerings
À la carte HR software can do much to automate the more time-consuming and tedious responsibilities you face on a daily basis, without putting a big dent in company capital. It's quick and easy to get up and running, so your organization will see benefits sooner rather than later. The cost is a drop in the bucket compared with integrated, enterprise-grade HRMS (Human Resource Management Systems), HCM (Human Capital Management) or talent-management packages that can keep on subtracting implementation and maintenance costs from your bottom line for years to come.
For compensation and performance, here are a few highly rated integrated solutions; they can be rolled out fairly quickly and at a low cost. Selecting key modules from these larger suites enables you to take advantage of the most strategic HR functionality available, without biting off more cost and effort than your organization can chew.
Benefits Administration
HROffice : With this solution, you can control your company's benefit policies, employee eligibility, rules and procedures, and you can automate carrier bill reconciliation. It communicates enrollment data to insurance providers through a clearinghouse.
eHealthsuite : This suite administers complex benefit offerings including Medicare, Medicaid, indemnity, HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) and commercial, consumer-driven, correctional and federal employee products. The software supports case-management and embedded workflow with data warehousing.
Compensation Administration
Pay-for-performance is a strategic, software-enabled compensation initiative that all HR managers working in growing companies should become familiar with. The idea is to reward worker achievement throughout your company (not just in key areas such as sales and management) based on performance that clearly supports company goals. Industry analysts speak of compensation and performance solutions in the same breath, pointing to them as the top two areas to focus on in the hot talent-management software space.
eCompensation : Halogen Software's solution has been named by Forrester Research as a leader in performance and compensation solutions. It's wise to consider integrated solutions that include compensation because it's so interconnected with other strategic HR functions. Yes, companies that offer these suites will try to up-sell other modules to you. Just start with one or two and decide later whether to expand your system.
Salary Assessor: The ERI Economic Research Institute Inc. offers several small solutions that provide vital salary data to HR professionals. The institute conducts ongoing surveys to keep the data accurate and current so HR can make intelligent compensation decisions.
Compliance Tracking/Reporting
HR Compliance Reference System : Ceridian Corp. provides this Web-based system, which can be used as a go-to source for compliance answers related to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and more. It's updated by a large law firm and includes a live help line and a newsletter that monitors the latest compliance requirements.
FMLA/ADA DecisionMaker : This artificial-intelligence software asks you yes and no questions about policies and issues at hand, then provides instructions to lead your company to adopt more compliant processes.
Employment Screening
Atlas , Watchdog and Guardian: These are just a few of the many online search programs offered by USIS , a U.S. information and security services company, in order to screen employees for criminal backgrounds and to verify identity, driving records, employment, education and more. International screening is also offered, as well as drug and alcohol testing options.
Performance Appraisal and Management
eAppraisal : As noted in the compensation section, it's wise to consider integrated solutions for both performance and compensation. Halogen Software's performance solution works with its eCompensation solution to evaluate performance and then adjust compensation accordingly. eAppraisal enables HR to design the necessary forms, track and manage the information collected, and tie a pay-for-performance approach to strategic company objectives.
Other integrated solutions: A recent Forrester report ranked software from Authoria Inc. and SuccessFactors Inc. quite high in the area of performance appraisal functionality. Rich user interfaces and embedded tutorials and wizards make the solutions easier for HR employees to put to work. SuccessFactors is a pure-play SaaS (software as a service) solution, meaning that HR pays for using the software via the Web, not for owning it.
Recruitment and Applicant Tracking
Hirebridge Recruiter : This solution allows you to create an online company career center with applicant-tracking capability. Candidates can search for jobs, submit résumés and create their own job profiles that will trigger a call back to the site when positions are submitted that meet their personal requirements. HR can manage job requisitions, search and track candidates, rank résumés against job requirements, and store a variety of staffing information.
SmartSearch Online : This is another career center and tracking system that adds the ability to integrate with Microsoft Outlook for calendaring and scheduling. It offers wireless access to your applicant database.
Time and Attendance Management
TimeClock Plus : Available as a stand-alone or Web-based solution, TimeClock Plus enables employees to perform time clock transactions from their workstations. Managers can create schedules, add or edit shifts, monitor the system to see who is clocked in and out, and generate reports.
iEmployee : This company's on-demand time and attendance package is integrated with a variety of payroll and benefits systems providers. It offers automated approvals and overtime calculations based on business rules. Email reminders are automatically sent to approvers, and employees are automatically emailed if they forget to submit time sheets. Reports are designed to help HR analyze and improve performance by department.
TimesheetPlus : Also Web-based, this solution adds the ability to automate benefit entitlements, expense reimbursements and project tracking in conjunction with time and attendance.
