We already know that the use of global payroll software can improve efficiency within the HR department. But by employing the tool in the field of staff planning, efficiency can spread to every facet of the organization.
The workforce is the most important asset in the modern workplace. Its efficient management by human resources teams is one of the biggest challenges. This is truer than ever in the face of international expansion and fluid market conditions.
Global payroll software can equip HR professionals with enormous amounts of valuable data. From statistics on acquisitions, absences, employee turnover and consolidated employee cost reporting to information regarding employee skills, productivity and progression.
Essential to turning this data into profit, the use of AI and RPA offers the opportunity to spot trends that staff members might otherwise miss. Perhaps one manager is seeing high employee turnover, or a particular pay strategy has led to a decrease in productivity. AI will run the numbers and provide HR teams and business owners with data around which they can create strategic action plans.
Some of the areas in which payroll reporting can inform business decisions include turnover and absenteeism, staff retention, talent acquisition and development, and competitor analysis. What this allows businesses to do is work towards company objectives, save money and maximize productivity. Rather than influencing short-term decisions, workforce planning allows for long-term strategies to emerge over the coming 3 – 5 years. Thanks to the analysis of past data, HR teams can now predict future issues before they arise. This kind of forward planning and strategy will be an essential component of the future success of today’s dynamic scaling businesses.
What areas of workforce planning can payroll reporting improve?
Turnover and absenteeism
Payroll companies can work with HR teams to analyze the data around employee turnover and absenteeism. Consolidated payroll reporting and AI will be able to spot trends in the data which human resource managers can use to reduce these rates.
Consider a change in the work environment or increased stress levels gets reported in employee surveys. If this tallies with the increase in turnover, it is up to the HR department to design and implement improvements that will keep staff.
Payroll data allows HR employees to predict when another round of absenteeism is likely to start and take early action. They can make the necessary adjustments to mitigate any risk to the company. This may involve improving employee well-being. Or HR teams may need to strategize employing a different kind of candidate who relies less on employee benefits to stay motivated.
Employee retention
In a similar vein, the use of payroll data can help HR team members understand what drives retention amongst employees. Is it workers’ compensation, structured career paths or the ratio of managers to employees? HR professionals can explore and understand all these factors without the need for time-consuming data analysis.
HR teams can then use this knowledge to tweak department pay strategy, promotions or even management styles to keep the best performing employees motivated and happy in their roles.
Vacancies
Payroll analytics takes external conditions such as the job market and economic situation, employee demographics and workplace conditions to assess which employees are high-risk and may create a future vacancy.
The full inventory of staff that payroll reporting offers will include detailed information on each employee and where they are in their career. Using analytics, the system will be able to predict the state of the company in five years' time, plotting each employee’s likely trajectory through the business.
The system will also demarcate those that are in line for retirement. It can then propose potential replacements or recommend the need for a new hire.
Not only will payroll reporting predict when vacancies are likely to arise, but it will assist in the filling of said vacancies. Data analysis will show how and when to develop internal talent and when it is necessary to seek external human capital to fill a gap.
Productivity analysis will even suggest how urgent it is that the role is filled. Or if over-staffing will allow the employee to be replaced with a part-time hire instead of wasting budget on a full-time employee who is not required.
Where vacancies do arise, the use of employee data will steer the HR department on which kind of applicants make good employees. The data will even show which channels of employment bring the best hires. HR teams can then focus their efforts and their budgets on these funnels.
Over time, the system will record vacancy lengths, recruitment rates and the number of applications for specific roles. This allows HR teams to assess exactly how much time they need to save for the seeking of new hires as well as their onboarding. This way, the company will suffer minimal disruption in productivity or profit as new employees get up to speed.
The system will also understand which gaps are particularly hard to fill and flag the cost of not filling them. This gives the HR team ample time to react.
What benefits does workforce planning have for business?
Meet company objectives
Using payroll data in conjunction with company objectives, HR departments can adapt their hiring, training and onboarding strategies to match. Say a small business is targeting international expansion. Global payroll planning can identify which employees would be well suited for a move abroad and which are likely to achieve most in a new market.
Or, if a company hopes to take a more creative approach. The system will recommend the promotion or reshuffling of certain employees in line with the company’s new direction.
More than a simple headcount, payroll planning allows HR teams to predict the managers of the future according to their present skill sets. They can then ensure these candidates receive all the training and support that will allow them to succeed when they reach that role.
Save money
Payroll planning will not only save money in the timely closing of human resource gaps. It is not cost-effective to leave an important role unstaffed, it is also poor management to onboard a new hire too early, paying double salary for longer than is necessary. The system will also present where it may be possible to save money by understaffing if a team is overperforming.
Maximize productivity
But where payroll software offers the most benefit is in improving productivity. This will occur on an employee level: identifying weaknesses in productivity so that HR teams may address them. But also, on a wider scale, assigning employees to the tasks at which they are the strongest. This will not only improve workplace efficiency but ensure employees feel happier and more satisfied in their role.
Company-wide productivity will improve over time as new hires become more suited to their roles, vacancies are filled on time and retention improves. This is likely to have a significant and positive impact on the company's bottom line.
Payroll software that has the ability to provide the HR and Payroll departments with consolidated reporting empowers the payroll department to provide key business insights for strategic decision making.
To learn more about reporting offered by the Payslip platform contact us today!