Automation is a growing trend in several areas of business management, with employee benefits being a top choice. Both employers and employees are embracing employee benefits automation and self-service options among other automated HR processes, thanks to increased efficiency and fewer errors that manual processing is often rife with.
Is it time for your organization to automate employee benefits management? Here are our top five reasons why it makes sense to automate employee benefits management, and why employee benefits software has gone from "nice to have" to "must-have".
Benefits management automation reduces or outright eliminates many of the time-consuming repetitive tasks associated with this function. For example, if employees request time off during peak times, many people want to take off work, such as during summer vacation or winter holidays, so HR staff would normally need to check who else is available during that time manually. Several simultaneous PTO requests can cause schedule conflicts and make it difficult to see who is scheduled if some employees' time off was already approved but others were not yet.
Employee benefits automation provides a more accurate top-down view of time off allotments, automatically approving and denying requests since the system can tell if a conflict exists. This enables HR professionals to focus on more strategic initiatives and tasks that require a human touch.
Automated HR processes vastly reduce the errors that arise during data entry, benefits calculation, and enrollment processes. While some aspects of these processes require a human touch, an automation system can easily manage most day-to-day benefits management. When new tax rates roll out, automated employee benefits are adjusted for new rates and rules instead of needing manual entry for each employee.
When taxes are correctly withheld from employees' paychecks and they receive the correct benefits they signed up for, it equates to increased trust in their employers and higher satisfaction.
Taxes, immigration, labor laws, and the covenants of government contracts and grant funding all have massive impacts on how employees get paid. Time tracking, tax withholding, employer responsibilities, and other aspects of payroll and benefits are all made easier with payroll and employee benefits automation.
Staying compliant with a complex web of federal, state, and local regulations, in addition to stipulations for organizations that have government contracts or grants, can put a massive burden on HR. It's time to automate employee benefits management once an organization reaches a certain headcount or complexity level with payroll and benefits, because automated systems offer enhanced abilities to stay updated with regulatory changes. Not only does this ensure employees and employers maximize any tax and legal benefits available to them, but it also reduces costly penalties and disruptive compliance errors.
Benefits and payroll automation lead to increased employee satisfaction, especially if they have self-service options.
Self-service tools that come with employee benefits automation give employees real-time access to their information and the ability to manage their benefits and enroll in programs without having to go through HR. Employees who relocate or change other personal information can make these changes on their own without having to wait to speak to HR.
Enhancing the employee experience like this reduces turnover, bolsters the employer brand, and equates to happier and more productive employees.
Automating employee benefits management creates several opportunities for upfront and long-term cost savings. It reduces administrative overhead, minimizes errors, increases compliance, and facilitates HR functions while increasing employee satisfaction. All around, employee benefits automation has a high ROI.
Employee benefits management and payroll automation leads to more accurate benefits calculations and greater compliance. As more organizations embrace automation in different functions, employee benefits management is a prime area for automation as it frees up HR professionals to focus on more strategic work rather than tedious manual processing. Enhanced compliance and increased employee satisfaction are other major benefits of automation.
Take the first step towards smarter benefits management. Contact Payday today to discover how our automation solutions can transform your HR processes and enhance employee satisfaction.