How to Make Sure Your Employees Love Your HRIS

Jan 11, 2022 · 9 mins read ·

HR Strategies & Systems
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Is your HR Department thinking about implementing a new HRIS (HR Information System) anytime soon? If so, you are no doubt walking through, or about to walk through, the steps you usually take when deciding upon which new software solution to adopt.

After all, as companies of all sizes have found out to their cost, flipping a coin or plumping for the first product they come across is simply not the route towards successful software implementation - or its enthusiastic adoption by your employees.

How to make sure your employees love your HRIS

First of all, you have identified a problem within your company: habitual lateness is becoming a problem, candidates are dropping out of your application process and ghosting you, or new employees are leaving a worryingly short time after being hired.

You know that the answers to at least some of these issues can be solved through better use of technology: for example by an HR Information System. Meanwhile, others might be addressed by stricter implementation of policies.

Read more: Does Your Company Need a Lateness Policy?

Make a list of all of the problems that can be eliminated by an HRIS - for example: candidates ghosting you mid-application can be addressed by creating a new hire engagement strategy, streamlining your application process, and sending out welcome emails.

Meanwhile making sure you retain your newer employees can be supported by creating new hire checklists and a proper, engaging and professional onboarding process.

Read more: Why You Need a New Hire Checklist & How to Create One

You’ve got your list of problems to solve, eliminate or reduce, so that means it’s time for...

Research, research and more research

Next up, it’s time for all that lovely research. As we mentioned earlier, implementing a new software solution needs to be done carefully and thoughtfully with all options explored.

Otherwise there’s a high chance you’re going to waste a good deal of time and money, and face massive backlash from your employees - and that’s exactly what this article is trying to prevent!

It’s also worth remembering that not all HRIS are created equally. That’s not to say that some are bad (although they might well be!) - they just might not be suitable for your industry, your business and/or the specific concerns that you’re trying to address.

Read more: 5 Ways Using a HRIS Can Save You Time & Effort

Once you’ve sorted the wheat from the chaff and eliminated any you’re sure aren’t suitable, list your potential software solutions and rate them on various factors:

  • How they can address or support your requirements (functionality)
  • Whether they are in your budget (price)
  • What kind of help and advice you can expect both pre- and post-implementation from the vendor (support)
  • What other people are saying - particularly people in your industry and in similarly sized companies (reviews)

Great - you’ve found the right HRIS for you!

You’ve chosen your HR Information System. It seems perfect for what you need it for, it’s within budget, the vendor is friendly, knowledgeable and supportive and their customer reviews are glowing.

The implementation goes without a hitch and, yay!, you have a brand new shiny HRIS to play with that will make your life easier, as well as that of your managers and employees.

But then...something unexpected happens.

Your employees complain constantly how much they hate the new system. Or they have trouble using it and mistakes are made left, right and center (and, of course, they complain constantly.) Or, perhaps even worse - no one uses it at all.

So now what? Well, you have a decision to make. You can either:

  1. Find a new HRIS and go through the entire research and implementation process again. But there’s a few problems with this: you may be tied into a contract with your original vendor which could be costly to get out of. It’s also a huge waste of time, money and effort. It’s not going to make the decision makers look great in the eyes of the company. Plus there’s absolutely no guarantee your new HRIS will fare any better when it comes to employee satisfaction.
  2. Stick with the original HRIS that everyone hates or flat out refuses to use.

Where did it all go wrong?

So what happened? You did your research. You read customer reviews. You spoke to different vendors. You didn’t make a rash decision, only one that was based on your requirements.

Why does everyone hate your carefully chosen HR software so much?!

Here’s the issue: you probably didn’t look at the software from another point of view i.e. from the viewpoint of the majority of people who would be using it.

Read more4 Key Features Every HRS Should Have

Did you step into your employees’ shoes and run through the different facets of the software that would be used by them i.e. booking time off, finding company documents or forms, or going through the onboarding processes?

If not, the reason you could be facing so much backlash is because the system hasn’t actually solved the issues you were facing before - in fact it’s increased them due to a poor user experience.

What is a poor user experience?

Much as it says on the tin, a poor user experience, in terms of your HR software solution, means that the people using the system find it difficult, confusing, annoying or complex to use.

It’s not making life easier for them - it’s creating another level of stress to be dealt with when all they want to do is to book a day off.

(And let’s not forget that many people are resistant to change, so even if everything with your new system was intuitive and straightforward, you’d still have that hurdle to overcome.)

Read more3 Common HR Hurdles and How to Overcome Them

How can you make sure you find the right HRIS?

So how can you make sure that the HR Information System you’re considering will tick all the boxes for your ‘end users’ - your employees?

  • Ask your people what they dislike about the current way of doing things and what they’d like to see in a new system.
  • Make sure the HRIS solutions you’re considering make it easy to perform the actions needed to reach the end goal: i.e. booking leave or going through the onboarding process.
  • Ensure potential systems are intuitive so people can become well acquainted with them from the first time they log on, and then remember where everything is on subsequent occasions.
  • Invite a cross section of employees to take a trial run of the HRIS systems that are on your shortlist and ask for their feedback.

Read more: 5 Ways to Collect Feedback and Increase Employee Retention

How to make sure your employees your HRIS: conclusion

Whilst there’s no guarantee absolutely every person in your organization will genuinely love your new HR Information System, you can certainly increase the chances of people using it whilst limiting the amount of resistance you encounter by taking their needs into account too.

Employees today expect the company they work for to be run on efficiency - it makes their life easier and helps them to be more productive after all.

Therefore implementing a great HR software solution that takes care of all of your day-to-day needs in Human Resources, as well as making it easier for employees to take care of personal admin such as vacation leave, while also increasing engagement for new hires through an uncomplicated onboarding process is crucial. 

Eve Church

Eve Church

I'm a UK-based content writer here at Hezum. I've an interest in all things HR and company culture.

United Kingdom