Research by employee engagement company, Reward Gateway earlier this year found that HR professionals are spending 366.6 hours a year manually checking, responding to and keeping up with multiple HR applications.

The research highlighted that integrating new HR tools into current workplace technology is a key priority for 89% of HR professionals, as many struggle with processes that could be automated.

One of the challenges though is that there’s a lack of unification and HR professionals can be forced to access multiple systems, with a quarter of companies saying they use eight or more different systems and apps every day for work.

However, it doesn’t have to be this complicated and digital technology is available that can simplify processes in one system and transform how HR teams work.

HR technology has the power to radically change how HR departments are run, automating key processes, improving efficiencies, reducing hours spent on administration and better engaging people in the business. However many companies are lagging behind when it comes to adopting technology.

We still come across companies that are managing employee absence and holiday leave using bits of paper. This just isn’t efficient and can be a real headache for the HR team to keep on top of, not to mention costly for the business with wasted hours spent doing things manually or a rising sick leave bill.

This is where absence management technology can help. This software enables HR teams to track sickness absence accurately and uncover the root causes, so companies can better support their workers. It also records holiday leave and other absence, helping to ensure there are no clashes and that the workplace is fully staffed at all times.

Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2019 report also highlights that introducing faster and simpler HR tech is a key trend for this year; however it pointed out that digital HR still has some major work ahead. Their research found that just 5 percent of respondents believed their HR technology was doing an excellent job meeting full-time workers’ needs.

Technology is out there but HR professionals need to find the right system for their workplace. We offer a suite of cloud-based HR software for example that can help companies improve their HR management, so they no longer need to struggle with mundane, manual processes that are time consuming and could be automated.

We digitalise every aspect of HR through this one system – from recording employee information and running HR reports, managing sickness and absence and return to work processes, planning staff holidays, conducting appraisals and performance management and managing training records.

The system is module based too, so companies can pick and choose the modules they want and only pay for the tools they need, when they need them. HR managers need to catch up with the digital revolution and start taking advantage of the tools available to make their jobs easier, more efficient and spend less time doing things manually.