The Secrets of HR Automation

HR teams handle many repetitive tasks every day, from interviews and new hires to expense claims, payroll taxes and employee benefits. HR automation software takes over much of this work.

HR staff, managers and recruiters use it to speed up these tasks and reduce errors.

How HR Automation Software Enhances Recruitment And Other Processes

Many HR departments already use HR automation software. Below are its benefits, the tasks worth automating first, and the assessment software Go Wombat built for hiring sales managers.

What Is HR Automation?

HR automation means using software to replace manual HR processes. Many HR functions suit digitalisation: creating and editing employee records, collecting statistics, analysing data and managing time.

There is no standard way to use HR automation software. Each company chooses the approach that fits its processes.

The goal is to take manual work off HR specialists so they can focus on tasks that need people. Automation also makes processes faster and reduces human error.

Automation suits work that does not need complex judgement or empathy. Payroll, reporting and personnel records can be automated; training employees, running motivational courses and other interactive events cannot.

ERP and CRM systems can also help automate HR processes. Read our articles on reasons to use a CRM system and on the benefits of an ERP system.

Contact us if you need advice on HR automation systems.

Benefits Of HR Automation

Work enhancement

Software reduces errors, so HR staff spend less time finding and fixing mistakes in HR data and documents.

Higher recruitment level

Sometimes an HR specialist finds a candidate and sets up an interview, but the department manager rejects them. Or HR rejects someone who would have been a good fit. A standard questionnaire that assesses hard and soft skills gives HR and managers the same data to decide on.

Go Wombat built a system of this type; see the case study below.

Transparency

An HR system keeps all current tasks in one place, where employees record what they have done, are doing and plan to do. Managers see the status of each task and each person's workload, so they can set realistic deadlines.

Elimination of routine tasks

Say a company needs three new salespeople. With HR software, managers can write the vacancy, publish it on job sites and prepare employment documents in a few clicks. This kind of Business Process Automation (BPA) leaves more time for interviews and feedback.

Statistics

HR managers can record candidate information and interview decisions in the system, which shows the data as charts. This helps spot problems in the hiring process: for example, if candidates ask many questions, the vacancy description probably needs more detail.

HR Tasks That Should Be Automated

Each company decides what to automate first, and most HR automation software can be customised. Still, most HR teams start with the tasks below.

Recruitment

HR automation software can use AI to screen CVs and shortlist candidates for interviews, which is slow and error-prone by hand. Under the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Annex III), AI systems used to filter job applications and evaluate candidates are classed as high-risk and must meet additional requirements.

Employee Onboarding

Onboarding involves paperwork, document signing and other admin. HR software set up according to your internal rules can give each new employee the documents and information they need, which makes onboarding faster for both HR and new hires.

Time Tracking

HR automation can track working hours, so HR specialists do not have to. A timesheet app can flag overtime, speed up payroll approvals and send automatic notifications.

Performance Monitoring

Tracking each employee's KPIs by hand takes a lot of time. HR tools can flag overdue reviews, workload spikes, or unusually low or high performance, so managers can look into the details. Under the EU AI Act, AI systems used to monitor and evaluate employees are also classed as high-risk.

Payroll

HR managers and accountants calculate each employee's pay from their timesheets. Automation makes it easier to add new employees to payroll and removes duplicate manual data entry, which improves accuracy.

Notifications

With performance reviews, onboarding and interviews happening on any given day, automatic reminders keep HR managers on schedule. The tool notifies the HR manager and the employee involved, and all meeting participants get updates if anything changes.

To build HR automation software, contact us.

A Case Study of The Automation Of HR Processes

Go Wombat has worked on an HR project: a SaaS solution for B2B tech startups that need to hire sales staff.

Project Goal

Users (HR managers or companies) sign up for the service and send candidates a unique link, similar to a Google Doc link. The link opens an assessment for sales candidates, so every candidate gets the same test.

The assessment is a questionnaire written by the HR team and stored on the server. It covers the skills the company requires from sales managers.

A candidate answers the questions, and a custom algorithm calculates the score. The results go to the user's dashboard, where managers see each candidate's skill levels and overall indicators.

A hiring campaign runs for a set period. During it, candidates answer the questions, and their data is analysed and sorted in a table.

When the campaign is complete, the system picks the most suitable candidates, so employers know who has the right skills and can decide faster.

Challenges We Faced

The main challenge was the scoring formula. The client gave us a model in which data could be entered and all indicators seen; our team had to reproduce its calculations precisely in Python.

Tech Stack

The team comprises three back-end and three front-end developers. We implemented the algorithm using Python (calculations and indicators) and Django framework (web).

We deployed the project on AWS infrastructure, using the Elasticsearch API for search and analytics (on AWS, the service has been called Amazon OpenSearch Service since September 2021) and a Load Balancer to distribute incoming traffic across targets such as EC2 instances, containers and IP addresses. We used PostgreSQL as the database.

Risks Of HR Automation

HR automation also has risks.

Wrong assessment

Software can handle routine tasks and analyse data, but it cannot read a person's mood, and people prefer to discuss sensitive issues with a human.

Some questions need an HR professional's judgement and soft skills.

Privacy and security

Automated HR tools collect a lot of company data, some of it sensitive, and a poorly protected tool can leak it. Go Wombat pays careful attention to software security: our staff includes a CSO (Chief Security Officer) who makes sure all the apps we create meet high cybersecurity standards. There is also the consideration of European guidelines with GDPR. These regulations oversee the safety and use of personal data collected by organisations within Europe.

Complexities with integration

Adding AI to an existing HR system takes time, and even an experienced team cannot guarantee it will work perfectly; much depends on how well the existing system integrates. We recommend building an automated HR solution from scratch with AI designed in.