You’re probably considering HR software because your small business has come up against one or more of the following problems:

In this guide, we’ll look through how HR Software can help small businesses streamline and improve their people management, and whether software’s the right option for your business.

The Small Business Buyer’s Guide to HR

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• You’re spending too much time spent on HR admin and paperwork• You’re not sure whether you’re doing everything you need to when it comes to HR• You’re uncertain of how to handle employee data in the face of new GDPR data protection legislation (or you’re not sure what GDPR is)• You want to do more for your employees’ development and job satisfaction

Cut down paperwork with HR software

It’s been reported that the CEOs of small & medium-sized businesses spend one fifth of their working week on HR alone. As companies look for ways to reduce their administration time without cutting necessary jobs and processes, many are turning to HR software.

Why choose HR software?

HR software enables you to record and manage employee details (including their role, contract and salary information, emergency contact details and equipment that has been issued) all in one place.

HR software offers employees the chance to manage many time-consuming admin tasks themselves, while still giving you final approval so you can remain in control.

Leading HR software like IRIS HR enables you to access to a wide range of ACAS-approved letter templates for hiring staff, managing employees and disciplinary procedures. This means you can remain confident in your compliance.

One of the trickiest parts of managing HR is tracking absences. With HR software, employees can easily submit sickness and holiday requests to their line manager to approve or decline. And as everything is recorded in one place, it’s easier for you to run reports on absences and headcount to better understand how your staffing is affected.

Within HR software, you can offer a centralised, digital version of your company handbook, poli-cies and procedures for staff. This will be available 24/7, allowing employees to answer many of their own questions and improve transparency within your company.

Employeerecords

Employee self-service

Stay compliant with ACAS Templates

Absencemanagement

Store your Company Handbook & documents

ACAS is the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitra-tion Service. They provide free and impartial advice and information to both employers and employees. They act as a valuable resource and authority on workplace relations and employment law. If you need to visit their site, you can do so here.

What is ACAS?

ACAS

0330 057 4204 | kashflow.com/hr

0330 057 4204 | kashflow.com/hr

Simplify your HR processes

Adopting HR software can simplify admin by automating and streamlining basic processes. This makes it ideal for newcomers to HR who want to ensure they’re getting the essentials right.

What are the basic roles of a HR professional?When you hire someone, you’ll need to take on some HR responsibilities. These will include defining job roles, hiring the right talent, ensuring employees work the right number of hours, that they get any compensation and benefits they’re entitled to, and offering training and development alongside performance appraisals.

How HR software can help

The overall goal of HR management is to improve a company’s productivity by enhancing the employees’ overall effectiveness. HR software helps you become more effective in two key ways:

You do all your work from one placeWith real time information management in HR software, you’re always working from one true source of data. This means you don’t have to spend time cross-referencing files, even if you’re working from multiple sites.

This is also useful if you’ve introduced employee self-service, as any amends your employees make are saved to your master document.

HR software can also allow you to track assets like business-owned tools or vehicles. Working digitally grants you quick access to sophisticated reports that can be created with

Going paperless

In reducing the amount of paperwork you do in HR, you can also improve your data accura-cy and security. By using more templates and automated procedures, you’re reducing the potential number of errors in your records and reports.

And using less paper can also support your business’s environmental initiatives. With HR software, there’s no need to print and file forms, and even payslips can be distributed electronically.

Getting the most out of your team

HR is ultimately about the people in your business. With staff turnover costing UK businesses at least £4.13 billion per year, and the average length of time for an employee to reach optimum productivity at around 8 months, employee retention is important for businesses of every size.

HR software can help you stay on top of staff development in a number of ways, including:

You’ll also be able to use HR software’s comprehensive view of your people and business to develop an awareness of problems before they affect the business. You can, for example, calculate an employee’s Bradford Factor to identify any problems with disruptive, unplanned absences in select employees and take relevant action.

You can further boost your employee’s engagement and manage their development with Performance Appraisal facilities within your HR software. This will allow you to build personalised and detailed objectives for each employees and store them in one, easy-to-update location.

Identification and management of KPIs (including absence levels, turnover and performance)

Identification and fulfilment of skills gaps through Performance Appraisals

Creation of best-practice workflows ensuring the right tasks are undertaken by the right people at the right time

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Adopting employee self-service

Employee self-service (ESS) allows employees to easily view, create and amend their own HR data in a secure online environment.

This is a major time-saver for small businesses, as it allows employees to take responsibility for their own data and admin. As ESS HR software can be accessed via a web browser anytime and anywhere, it means generic HR admin can be completed at a time and in a place that suits your business and employees.

Where to start encouraging employee self-serviceThere are several areas that employees can take control of their own data and admin. These include: updating personal information, making holiday requests, registering absence – self certification, updating appraisals and training & development, making internal requests & alerts, navigating the company directory, viewing pay slips and authorising expenses.

Employee self-service is one of the biggest time-savers for small businesses, by taking repetitive admin tasks out of your hands. With a streamlined approval process, it means you can maintain control without sacrificing time. Learn more.

Benefits of employee self-service

Among the many benefits of employee self-service are:

•Faster response times to general HR queries

•Higher accuracy in HR transactions

•Tighter legislative compliance

•Increased employee empowerment/autonomy

•Quicker inductions and reinforcement of values

•Enhanced communication

•Shared knowledge

•Total reward understanding

•Increased employee satisfaction

HR

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Staying GDPR-compliant

If you’re not already aware, then you need to know that data protection laws are changing from 25th May 2018 – and the way you store and handle any personal data (including that of employees) will be affected.

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation is wide-reaching, but there are several ways HR software can help keep your business compliant.

Managing Subject Access Requests Under the GDPR, individuals will have the right to confirm their data is being processed. They’ll also be allowed to access this personal data and other supplementary information. When choosing a HR software, make sure you pick one that gives employees access to all their data.

Securing consent By including “Read & Accept” acknowledgments, you can secure and document proof of consent for data handling. HR software also ensures any relevant files, such as employee data, can be accessed from anywhere - meaning employees can check their personal information and make approvals even when they’re not in the office.

Secure storage While not part of GDPR law, it’s important that all personal data is securely stored. Using cloud software means you’re not relying on a potential insecure cabinet in the corner of your office. As everything is kept in a remote, online server, it’s secure and accessible from anywhere – meaning you’re meeting compliancy demands without creating extra work for yourself.

The KashFlow Promise To YouAny extra product functionality required by GDPR will be fully implemented into the KashFlow software range prior to the 25th May 2018 commencement date. All customers will be kept fully informed of any significant changes that may be necessary to your software’s service provision due to the new legal requirements.

Read & Accept

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KashFlow HR

KashFlow HR provides all the functionality you’d expect from an award-winning, self-service HR software and can be customised to the specific needs of your organisation.

Online Self-Service

Available 24/7, KashFlow HR gives your employees the opportunity to manage many of the tasks that can take up so much of your time.

Employee Records

Record and manage employee details including their role, contract and salary information, emergency contact details and equipment that has been issued. These are all stored securely and as per GDPR-standard.

Absence Management

Employees can easily submit sickness and holiday requests to their line manager to approve or decline.

Payroll Integration

This feature enables staff to access their payslip anytime. Information held within IRIS HR can then be exported into IRIS or Earnie Payroll for processing.

ACAS Templates

Access to a wide range of ACAS-approved letter templates such as hiring staff, managing employees and disciplinary procedures.

Company Handbook & Documents

A digital version of your company handbook, policies and procedures for staff will be available to access online.

ACAS

Want to see how KashFlow HR can help you manage your workforce

more efficiently? Try a 14-day free trial or arrange a free 1-2-1 demo

with our team.

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About KashFlow

This guide to HR software was brought to you by KashFlow – specialists in straightforward accounting software for sole traders, micro- and small businesses and freelancers.

Founded and still based in the UK, KashFlow offers award-winning, cloud-based software to over 70,000 users, and helps every one of them stay in control of their accounts. KashFlow HR is our latest software, and is designed to help you keep on top of business data compliance legislation and people management.

From first hires to full teams, KashFlow HR supports your team’s growth without increasing your workload.

Want to try us out for free? Sign up for a free trial of KashFlow HR today to see where we can take you.

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Interested in Accounting or Payroll software? You can also take a free trial of them both.

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