How Robust HRMS Can Support Remote and Hybrid Work Models

The workplaces and work policies have seen a vast change in the last few years, driven by the fast-evolving needs of the modern workplace owing to technology advancements. This has also resulted in increased remote workforces as organizations look to attract the best available talent outside their base geographies. Remote and hybrid models of working, once considered niche, have now become mainstream.

Human Resource Management Software (HRMS), too, has seen its role and scope change as more organizations have started to take the remote and hybrid models of work. Most organizations, even those working on the best payroll software, do not recognize the need for an equally robust HRMS, one that can enable dispersed teams to perform their tasks efficiently, raising productivity and ensuring smooth communication across.

Now let's see how intelligent HR management software can support complex work environments for seamless operations and organizational growth, irrespective of where the teams operate from:

1. Effective Facilitation of Communication Between Remote Teams

Major challenges with remotely working teams and in the hybrid model is

• To keep communication flawlessly intact, and
• To meet the required collaboration across teams, with a few working from office premises, some from their homes, and some in the field, a pretty complex setup.

Advanced and intelligent HRMS software can be integrated with a variety of tools that may facilitate much more than just real-time communication, enhancing the overall productivity of the team.

• Communication Channels: Any modern HRMS will have inbuilt features to consolidate various communication tools into one platform for a seamless experience for the employees.
• Shared Workspaces: Modules in B-HRMS make document editing and project tracking easier, facilitating collaboration. This way, a team can engage in co-working on anything easily, regardless of how far apart they may be working at various remote locations.

2. Remote Hiring Management

• Candidate Experience: Profiling, scheduling interviews, collecting feedback on L1, L2, and technical interview levels, and sharing timely feedback with candidates make it an improved and positive experience for candidates.
• Onboarding Precursors: User-friendly document submission interface, company culture introduction, and preliminary training prior to the start date itself, help the joining candidates prepare well for their new endeavors.

3. Efficient Onboarding & Offboarding

Employee onboarding and offboarding from remote locations for remote teams sometimes becomes challenging and time-consuming if not addressed via an efficient tool. In order to give employees an excellent experience, while onboarding, it is important to make them feel included and engaged with the smooth process of onboarding & induction. Likewise in order to protect knowledge within the organization, while transitioning employees out, keeping positivity in relationships is important.

• Onboarding Programs: Submission of digital documents, e-signatures, and introductory programs, policy documents, team introductions improve employee experience and retention rate.
• Offboarding & Exit: Holding exit interviews for feedback, clearing the air on grievances, if any, understanding the reasons for parting, transition of responsibilities, handover of assets and accesses, final settlements, etc leaving a positive experience for leaving employees and decrease chances of disruptions in work.

4. Time Management & Attendance Tracking

In the remote and hybrid working setup, tracking of productive time and attendance becomes a bit difficult for managers and HR professionals. This is because the separator lines between work and personal life get blurred with an overlap.

B-HRMS can accurately record the in & out time of the employees working from outside the office premises, whether they are working on a system or are in the field for client meetings, capturing the productive time & ensuring that the teams are productive during their working hours.

• Time Tracking: Tracking of employee hours, geo-tracking for field time. Automated Reporting: Report on time worked, overtime, and absences from work for invaluable insights from the management.
• Automated Reporting: Report on time worked, overtime, and absences from work for invaluable insights from the management.

5. Geo-Tracking & Geo-Fencing

In continuation to what we just discussed about the difficulty in tracking productive working hours of teams working in the field or working from home, geo-tracking and geo-fencing can help in identifying the availability of the employees at the place where they are supposed to be at.

With GPS tracking and geofencing of the premises, one can get accurate work hour reporting, preventing time theft and guiding the field team to be more efficient.

• Geolocation Tracking: This module can trace the location of employees while working, with the help of a GPS-enabled tracker to trace their location confirming their geo-location's alignment with the day’s plan. This can extend to providing route support to the field workers by guiding them on road closures ahead or diversions to be taken to help them reach client locations quicker and avoid unwarranted disruptions.
• Geo-Fencing: Through geo-fencing technology, virtual boundaries are set up around their designated work premises home, client site, etc. Check-in and -out to and from that premises are tracked automatically to mark attendance and work hours for remotely operating team members.

6. Performance Review & Improvement

Real-time performance monitoring to assess productivity and being able to provide timely feedback on the scope of improvement is important for all teams. In the case of remotely working employees, tracking & accessing their performance can be tricky unless every activity is tracked and measured for performance linked with their KPIs and KRAs.

B-HRMS has provisions for constant monitoring and analysis of performance, helping team leads identify performance issues on time and providing feedback on time allowing the team members for an improvement. Timely identification of bottlenecks can help in the timely completion of tasks, positively impacting the performances of the employees involved.

• Defining & Tracking Measurable KPIs and Metrics: The managers can define and track key performance indicators for each role, with different measurable metrics and units of measurement.
• Performance Dashboards: B-HRMS provides AI-driven, customizable dashboards for different stakeholders (HR-BP, team leads, managers, top management, leaders) giving real-time performance metrics and analytics.

7. Online Appraisals

Goal-setting discussions, performance reviews, and appraisals are among the most critical components of performance management but become complex in an online setting. Creating a 360-degree feedback system, from several sources - personnel, subordinates, and supervisors & above, for remotely working employees can be made possible with a robust HRMS module only.

B-HRMS manages the entire process seamlessly with the help of integrated appraisal features and tools. This not only simplifies the online appraisal process but also makes it efficient with timely and constructive feedback provided by appraisees & reviewers.

8. Employee Payroll Processing

Payroll and expense processing are inevitable parts of remote & hybrid teams (teams who need to travel or stay in the field for their work).

• Payroll Management: B-HRMS has an inbuilt payroll processing module, which automates payroll calculation deducting taxes and streamlines payroll management with efficiency and accuracy ensuring timely payroll processing with the least human intervention.
• Expense Management: The expense management tool in B-HRMS makes it easier to submit, approve, and reimburse employee expenses, allowing for smooth claiming of expenses and reimbursements with reduced administrative workload on the HR team.

9. AI-Driven Reports & Analytics

Timely reporting & in-depth analytics helping the stakeholders make data-driven informed decisions is critical for business success.

AI-enabled analytics in B-HRMS enables leveraging employee data and providing useful deep insights that when viewed and analyzed in dashboards, enable organizations to make effective decisions.

• Predictive Analytics: Our AI-powered tools help the HR team perform employee trend predictions, and identify any potential problems with employee efficiency or productivity or any possible attrition. This predictive analytics helps the HR team to plan their workforce more efficiently and work on improving employee retention.
• Intuitive Dashboards: AI-driven analytical dashboards, customized for the different stakeholders, provide visualization of data, assisting them in making informed and timely decisions and better managing the talent and resources in their team/s.

10. Simplified Asset Tracking

It is very important to manage the company's assets & resources, putting them to proper use, and minimizing the losses.

B-HRMS helps teams manage their assets effectively reducing the risk of asset loss and improving the ways in which these assets are allocated, used, and maintained.

• Asset Management: Procurement, maintenance, and disposal of all assets is easily managed with data maintained for future reference and ready reports available for different purposes of review and management.
• Barcoding Assets: Utilize barcode or RFID to allow automated tracking of assets and inventory in much more efficient than manual tracking. Through regular audits, businesses are able to account for and track the assets well.

11. Helpdesk

With a service ticketing system and satisfaction ratings, businesses ensure effective support for all employees, working from office, home, field, or branch offices in smaller setups, resolving their issues and concerns promptly, continuously improving service quality.

B-HRMS helps in the efficient management & resolution of support requests/tickets raised by remotely working employees and helps improve service quality based on feedback and ratings given by the employees.

• Service Ticketing: Track and manage support requests through a ticketing system, escalation matrix, issue prioritization, and ticket allocation.
• Satisfaction Ratings: Collect ratings from employees based on their experience of the support, to identify areas for improvement.

12. Learning Management System

With centralized, remote learning modules on a common platform, this module supports remote learning, providing employees with continuous learning and development opportunities.

B-HRMS allows employees to access learning modules remotely, allowing them self-paced, flexible learning opportunities.

• Centralized Learning Platform: A common platform from which relevant training materials, courses, and interactive sessions can be accessed by all employees of all levels and teams.
• Remote Learning: Self-help tutorials, role-specific training, process training, etc help employees catch up with the pace and support new hires joining mainstream quickly.
• Tracking and Reporting: Tracking and reporting on the learning progress and completion confirmation help HRBP and managers plan the task allocation for the teams.

Conclusion

With cases of remote and hybrid work models on a complete rise, where it becomes almost essential for any organization to make use of the right tools to manage such complex work environments, A strong HRMS like B-HRMS will streamline communication and ensure the HR team can administer efficiently and help improve performance. Thus, B-HRMS ceases to be just a tool or software and becomes a strategic asset—one that should allow organizations to realize the full potential of their workforces, be they remote or hybrid, and subsequently open up ways for long-term success in a dynamic work environment.

With an investment in an HRMS, your organization confidently and efficiently overcomes challenges with a remote and/or hybrid workforce to build a productive, engaged, and well-supported workforce.

FAQs

Q1. How much does HRMS cost for small businesses?

A. The cost of an HRMS (Human Resource Management System) for a small business can vary widely depending on the features, and the number of users. Generally, you can expect:

• Basic HRMS Solutions: These might cost around $10-$15 per employee per month. They often include only essential features like payroll management, attendance tracking, and basic reporting.
• Mid-Tier Solutions: These typically range from $15 to $20 per employee per month and offer more advanced features such as performance management, employee self-service, and customizable reporting/dashboards.
• High-End Solutions: More comprehensive solutions like B-HRMS, with advanced analytics, integration capabilities, and extensive customization options, costs can be much higher.

Bharuwa Solutions is offering all the high-end solutions at never-before and never-after costs. Contact us to ask for a demo or check how our B-HRMS can bring about the much-needed transformation in the way you manage your HR operations.

Q2. How do I choose the best HRMS system?

A. It’s a good idea to evaluate your business’s specific needs and compare different HRMS options to find the best fit in terms of features and cost. A few considerations to be made, over and above the features are –

• Scalability: To ensure the system can grow with your company.
• User-friendliness: To ensure ease of adoption.
• Integration capabilities: With your existing tools and
• Customer support: To handhold in the event of any issues.
• Training options: Helping the users master the software.

Compare costs and check reviews or seek recommendations to gauge reliability and satisfaction.

Q3. What is the difference between HRIS and HRMS?

A. The terms HRIS (Human Resource Information System) and HRMS (Human Resource Management System) are often used interchangeably. In reality, they denote different scopes and functionalities:

HRIS: Primarily focuses on storing & managing the employees’ information, such as personal details, employment history, and benefits given to them based on their profile/designation. It typically includes basic record-keeping and reporting features.

HRMS: Offers a broader range of functionalities, including payroll processing, expense management, performance management, recruitment, training, employee self-service, and more, in addition to HRIS features. It integrates various HR functions into a cohesive system and is interactable with other tools/software.

Q4. How can HRMS make the HR Team’s role & deliverables role smarter?

A. An HRMS can enhance the HR team’s role and deliverables in several ways:

Automation: HRMS automates administrative tasks like payroll, expense management, and attendance tracking, freeing up HR professionals to focus on strategic activities.

Employee Self-Service: Employee self-service portals allow staff to manage their own information, request time off, and access pay stubs, reducing administrative burdens on HR.

Compliance: Compliance tracking features help ensure adherence to labor laws and regulations, minimizing the risk of legal issues.

By leveraging these features, HR teams can become more strategic, efficient, and effective in their roles.

Q5. When is the right time to get an HRMS?

A. There is more than a single way to look at this. You may want to automate HR processes as you grow, with the growing needs of the organization because managing these processes manually has become cumbersome and time-taking. On the other hand, you can introduce the HRMS when you are still a small team to ensure that your team gets an excellent experience and translates the same experience to the clients. To be able to decide the right time to get an HRMS, you need to evaluate the business vision and align the HRMS plans with them.