HR teams are tasked with handling dozens of different employee processes, from leave of absence requests to workers’ compensation claims. Without the right software tools in place, HR professionals can struggle to address employee inquiries promptly and accurately, leading to slow response times and a subpar employee experience.
HR case management solutions allow you to streamline your workflows and automate HR processes, saving you time and money and increasing employee satisfaction. Let’s take a look at the basics of HR case management, and how HR departments can use automated workflows to resolve employee relations cases in real-time.
What Is HR Case Management?
HR case management refers to the set of tools and practices your HR department uses to handle employee requests. This often takes the form of a ticketing system, similar to what you might use for customer service requests, but with a focus on internal uses.
For example, when an employee submits a leave of absence request, your HR case management system will route it to the right person and send automatic notifications along the way. Any further messages related to the issue will be linked to that case, helping you stay organized and maintain a digital paper trail.
Your HR software may also include a self-service portal where employees can log in and resolve issues without your human resources team having to get involved.
Why Should You Use HR Case Management Software?
Configuring a new case management system isn’t an overnight process, and you’ll need to get buy-in from your HR department. But once you have your new case management platform up and running, you can expect to see the following key benefits.
Improved user experience
HR case management software provides a better experience for employees and your HR team alike. HR team members don’t want to spend their time on extensive paperwork and data entry, and employees don’t want to wait days for a response to straightforward employee relations issues.
With a built-in knowledge base and self-service portal, employees can get answers to their questions a lot sooner. And with workflow automation, your HR team can reduce the amount of time spent on tedious manual tasks in favor of more engaging ones.
Increased accuracy and compliance
Manual HR processes have a higher risk of human error and may be more susceptible to compliance issues and data security vulnerabilities. By digitizing and automating your case management processes, you can standardize your workflows and increase your data protection practices across the board.
Employees can feel more secure uploading their personal information to a self-service portal rather than sending them in a PDF or spreadsheet. And if you’re ever subject to an HR compliance investigation, you’ll have an audit trail to back you up.
Expanded visibility
HR case management platforms also offer increased visibility into employee issues, with 360-degree views of individual cases, as well advanced reporting dashboards. Use this to track common problems across the employee lifecycle and improve key metrics like case resolution rates or escalation rates.
Plus, by centralizing your employee data in one place, you can use workforce analytics to provide the big picture data you need for real-time decision making.
When to Use HR Case Management Software
HR case management tools can bring speed and efficiency to nearly any aspect of HR service delivery. Here are just a few ways you can implement it at your organization.
Employee onboarding
The employee onboarding process is a great candidate for digitization and automation because it involves a standardized process that all new hires need to follow. By using an HR case management platform to guide new hires through the process, you can reduce the time it takes to go from recruitment to employment.
With a user-friendly helpdesk or HR knowledge base, you can introduce new hires to your company culture while getting them up to speed on their responsibilities. Set up new user accounts and passwords, assign roles and permissions, and use pre-filled forms and templates to streamline document management.
Leave of absence requests
From short-term disability leave to an extended leave of absence, your employees all have different reasons for taking time off work. Not only does your HR team need to approve or deny each request, you need to ensure that you comply with state and federal laws like the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Leave of absence requests can be complex, especially if they involve a medical issue and require certification of an injury or illness. With an HR case management platform like Pulpstream, you can create a custom rule engine to quickly assess each request and let employees know if they need to provide additional documentation.
Workers’ comp case management
Filing a workers’ comp claim involves several different stages. There’s the first report of injury with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and your state’s workers’ comp board; communications with your insurer and with the injured worker’s healthcare provider; and the return-to-work process once they’ve recovered.
Using a workers’ comp case management platform can help you keep track of these moving parts and centralize your communications with third-party providers.
HR Case Management Best Practices
HR case management tools can speed up your digital transformation — but they can also present some challenges if you go about it the wrong way. Here are three best practices to follow when configuring your HR case management platform.
Empower employees
First, give employees the opportunity to fix some of their own issues with an FAQ page or HR knowledge base. While these resources shouldn’t replace your team’s ability to step in and provide personalized support, a self-service portal can be an easy way to address common HR issues and increase employee engagement.
Train your HR team
Rolling out a new HR case management platform can be a challenge, especially if your team is used to more traditional HR solutions. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) can be intimidating to team members who haven’t used them before.
Fortunately, no-code platforms like Pulpstream allow you to set up and configure digital workflows without having to learn any code. Take the time to train your team members on how to use these new tools so they can make the most of their capabilities.
Customize your HR platform
Finally, you don’t have to use your HR case management platform as-is. Platforms like Pulpstream are fully customizable, which means you can configure them to meet your needs and you don’t have to throw your existing workflows out the window.
Most platforms offer integrations with other HR tools and apps, such as human capital management (HCM) software, so you can share data between multiple systems.
Automate HR Case Management with Pulpstream
Your HR department is responsible for everything from employee onboarding to benefits administration, each of which has its own documentation requirements and workflows. HR case management tools allow you to manage employee issues as discrete cases, so you can route them to the right team member and track them more accurately.
Pulpstream is an HR management platform that uses workflow automation to streamline HR processes of all kinds. Not only does Pulpstream make life easier for your HR team, it empowers employees to resolve issues on their own via a self-service portal.
Request a demo today to see Pulpstream in action and learn more!
