Balancing payroll and HR tasks from compensation to employee time management can be time-consuming, especially when performing them with manual or scattered solutions. Modern HR technologies, while advancing the capabilities HR professionals can perform, are also able to deliver mobile solutions for not just your HR team, but your entire workforce, ultimately providing convenience for each stakeholder of your business.
This article will detail not only the importance of managing your workforce with an HR app but also explore what key features they can provide and how each feature can be leveraged for easy, instant access on any device.
HR Apps: Why HR Self-Service is Key for the Modern Workplace
In today’s fast-paced business environment and an increasingly remote workforce, HR self-service solutions have become foundational for businesses of all sizes. An HR app serves as a centralized hub that allows employees to access important information and complete essential HR tasks on their own from their mobile devices, reducing the time needed to consult HR for each update and request.
By embracing payroll and HR self-service features, businesses can expect advantages including:
- Reduced administrative burden on HR teams
- Increased transparency between HR and employees
- Time savings from completing tasks on mobile devices
- Real-time access to critical personal and company data
- Increased employee engagement and satisfaction, adding value to the employee experience
Self-Service Features of HR Mobile Apps
Many HR apps are all-encompassing solutions that cover your business’s HCM strategy needs. These apps are engineered to put powerful tools in the hands of every member of your organization.
HR apps are packed with many solutions and convenience features that can increase your organization’s overall workforce efficiency, including but not limited to:
- Payroll and Employee Compensation Access
- Time and Labor Management Tools
- Benefits Administration & Open Enrollment
- Recruitment and Onboarding
- Company Resource Hubs
- Instant Employee Data Updates
- Security and Privacy Features
Payroll and Employee Compensation Access
One of the most important aspects of HR is making sure employees are paid both on time and accurately. With a mobile payroll system, you can deliver compensation details to your employees in real-time, providing a transparent pay solution while giving your employees instant satisfaction.
Mobile payroll systems can give your employees easy access to their compensation information by giving them access to:
- Direct deposit adjustment tools
- Latest pay statements with digital, downloadable copies
- View and manage tax documents, including W-2s, W-4s, and 1099s
- Track earnings, deductions, and contributions
When employees can view and manage their compensation information independently, adjustment requests, questions, and confusion are drastically reduced, allowing HR to focus on other crucial responsibilities.
Time and Labor Management Tools
Tracking hours worked, scheduling your workforce, and managing time-off requests take up a considerable amount of HR’s workload. Additionally, with many workplaces adopting remote work options, suddenly managing employee time gets even more complicated.
That’s where a key strength of an HR app comes into play, giving employees mobile-friendly access to time and labor tools.
Employees can:
- Punch in and out on their mobile device, simplifying time capture for remote workers
- View and adjust their availability
- Submit time-off requests digitally
Having a mobile time and labor system can help your business excel at communicating crucial time information between the employee and the employer.
Employers can:
- Approve time-off requests
- Manage and adjust employee timesheets
- Receive push notifications for availability and shift changes
Improving communication within the organization regarding employee time saves time for both the employee and the employer, but also emphasizes accountability and accuracy.
Benefits Administration and Open Enrollment
Benefits programs can be inherently self-service by nature, making mobile optimization the next big step. With an HR app, employers can simplify the entire benefits experience, from setup to enrollment.
Mobile benefits administration and open enrollment features include:
- Review and accept health plans, retirement options, and voluntary benefits
- Managing employee dependents and beneficiaries
- Notifications for enrollment deadlines and important documents
- List additional company benefits or perks
Offering mobile access to benefits strengthens engagement and ensures that everyone stays informed and compliant throughout the open enrollment process.
Recruitment and Onboarding
The recruiting and onboarding process sets the first impression for new hires. That’s why it’s crucial to engage new hires with self-service recruitment and onboarding tools to help them advance to their new role quicker.
Mobile apps help you manage the whole new hire journey, allowing HR professionals to:
- Post job openings and review applications on the go
- Allow candidates to apply from their phones, upload resumes, and answer screening questions
- Send and receive accepted job offers
- Review onboarding compliance checklists
- Administer welcome videos and virtual tours to introduce culture and expectations
Mobile recruitment and onboarding features make acquisition easier for HR and job searching easier for candidates. Candidates apply faster, and new hires start with less stress, while HR spends less time on paperwork and more time building their teams. The app becomes the first connection between employee and company, setting the tone for what comes next.
Company Resource Hubs
Many mobile app solutions offer centralized resource hubs to keep your workforce informed and engaged.
These resource hubs can include immediate access to key company resources such as:
- Company policies
- Employee handbooks
- Training modules
- Compliance notices
HR professionals can also utilize the same resource tools as employees while also leveraging organizational directories, creating company-wide announcements, and sharing updates with employees. Expense management tools are also incorporated to ensure you're able to run your company and workforce efficiently.
Instant Employee Data Updates
Keeping employee records accurate and up-to-date is vital for payroll compliance and accuracy. With a powerful, mobile-friendly HR resource, employees can review or adjust important information without the need to consult an HR team member.
Employees can take advantage of user-friendly self-service features for easy data entry, including:
- Change personal information from address to emergency contacts
- Making updates to direct deposit and tax withholding
- Adjusting availability or shift preferences
- Report and adjust timesheet errors as soon as they’re flagged in the system
This interactive functionality reduces manual errors and keeps your employee records clean, current, and ready for compliance audits.
Security and Privacy Features
An HR app retains sensitive employee information, including wages, addresses, social security numbers, and more. As the employer, protecting critical information is not optional; It is a promise between the employer and the employee.
These apps use several layers of security:
- Encryption: Scrambles data so only authorized people within the company can read it
- Multi-factor authentication: Adds a second step, like a code sent to your phone, before you log in
- Biometric login: Some apps use fingerprint, palmprint, or facial recognition for extra safety
Security and privacy are fundamental to every payroll and HR platform. A secure app allows everyone to focus on work, not risks.
Additional Questions About HR Apps
There are a lot of topics to cover when it comes to HR apps, ranging from the solutions included to the overall functionality. Here are some common questions and answers that might help you out when deciding to adopt an HR app.
1. Are payroll and HR apps only for large businesses, or can small businesses benefit too?
These mobile solutions are scalable for businesses of all sizes. Small businesses benefit just as much by reducing administrative workload, improving compliance with easy digital management, and providing an enhanced employee experience.
2. Will my team need training to use an HR App?
A basic overview training for HR apps is recommended; however, most modern mobile solutions are designed with intuitive interfaces that hardly require additional instruction. HR apps with built-in help centers and customer support features can also assist users at any time.
3. Can an HR app help our company stay compliant with labor laws and regulations?
HR apps themselves ARE NOT compliance tools; however, they are often built with features that make maintaining compliance easier, such as time capture accuracy, documentation of regulatory forms (such as W-2s and W-4s), automated benefits compliance, secure employee recordkeeping, and more.
Explore the Convenience of HR Apps
With so many essential payroll and HR functions available at your fingertips, it’s hard to know where to begin. Mobile HR apps aren’t just for employee convenience; they’re also designed to transform how you manage your workforce. HR apps offer a full suite of HCM solutions that help streamline workflows, improve employee transparency, and ultimately save time on tedious tasks by completing them using a simple interface.
If your business is ready to upgrade workforce efficiency and empower your team through modern HR technology, contact us today to learn how a mobile solution can help support your business.
