Human resource management (HRM) is one of the core functions of an organization that involves a lot of repetitive and tedious tasks that are time-consuming and prone to human errors. Although these tasks were previously handled manually, with advancements in technology and the emergence of power automation solutions, businesses are now able to automate HR processes to optimize operations, save time & money, and improve efficiency.
Stats suggest that automating HR processes has greatly benefited businesses globally. According to Nucleus Research, companies that switched to an HR automation system reported 90% time savings on admin tasks. A study by CareerBuilder stated that HR managers lose more than 14 hours per week on tasks that can be automated. In another report by Frevvo, it was found that about 73% of HR’s time is taken up by monotonous admin tasks. Clearly, HR automation has a lot of potential with proven results.
Although there are multiple tools that businesses can use to automate processes, such as Power Automate, UiPath, and Logic Apps, in the blog, we are primarily focusing on Power Automate and discussing what advantages this tool can bring to organizations, particularly in HR management.
What is Power Automate?
Previously known as Microsoft Flow, Power Automate is a cloud-based automation tool by the tech giant Microsoft that allows businesses to create automated workflows for their various applications and services. The tool is a part of Microsoft’s Power Platform family that includes multiple software solutions for business intelligence (BI), app development, and app connectivity.
HR Processes Power Automate can Streamline
Although Power Automate can be used to automate various business processes, let’s discuss how it is particularly helpful in HR automation. Here are the various tasks that HR professionals can automate through Power Automate to improve efficiency.
Recruitment
Recruitment is a cumbersome and time-consuming process that consists of various manual but critical tasks, such as posting job advertisements, screening resumes of applicants, scheduling interviews, and more. Using Power Automate, businesses can set up workflows to automatically search for suitable candidates, scan resumes by matching keywords or skills, and send interview invitations to both candidates and recruiters. They can also integrate the tools with platforms, such as LinkedIn and Indeed to import potential applicants into their applicant tracking system.
Employee Onboarding
Employee onboarding is an important HR process that can make or break a company’s first impression. It involves various tasks, such as welcoming the new employee into the company, filling out joining forms, collecting and verifying documents, providing access to necessary tools and equipment, setting up meetings with managers, and much more. HR professionals can integrate Power Automate with their respective HRIS and set up workflows with SharePoint to automate different onboarding tasks, such as sending welcome emails to new hires, generating forms for documentation, and sending reminders to IT and other departments to schedule meetings and provide necessary training to new joiners.
Request & Approval Management
Generating requests for leaves, attendance regularizations, and reimbursements is a common phenomenon in offices. When large in numbers, handling these requests can be a hassle for HR professionals. With Power Automate, businesses can set up workflows and pre-defined rules to streamline request submissions and approvals. The respective managers or supervisors are automatically notified whenever a new request is made, and reminders are sent in case the request is pending or no action has been taken. The employee also gets a notification in real-time whenever the request is approved or rejected.
Employee Performance Management
Managing employee performance is a critical step for human resource professionals to ensure the company is meeting its short- and long-term objectives. HR needs to conduct review meetings for employees, obtain feedback and ratings from respective managers, and execute appraisals based on the rating provided to the employees. With Power Automate, HR professionals can set up workflows to automate tasks, such as sending reminders to respective managers for performance reviews, setting up meetings for periodic employee assessment, collecting feedback for appraisals, and getting alerts for below-par or poor performance.
Staff Administration
Managing employees is a big challenge as they are constantly on the move. That is why there is a need for an automatic, adaptable system that can allow HR managers to administer their staff better. Power Automate allows them to set up workflows to provide easy access to employees to various important HR and other tools by seamlessly integrating them into the system.
Attendance Tracking
Keeping track of employees, especially those working remotely, can be a challenge for HR professionals. Power Automate allows them to create workflows to track employee availability and productivity with automated time attendance tracking. Employees can easily clock-in/out via mobile and web, configure work schedules, fill timesheets, and safely access company data through integrated tools, such as SharePoint.
Payroll Management
Manually handling payroll is a cumbersome task that can lead to various errors, which can be difficult to resolve. Using Power Automate, businesses can set up workflows to automate certain activities in the payroll process, such as timely payment of salaries to employees, tax calculations, generating pay slips, etc., which allows HR to save time and avoid complexity. Alerts can also be set to detect any potential issues or changes in the payroll system.
How Power Automate Works?
Although the setup varies depending on what processes you planning to automate, Power Automate usually works in the following way:
- Select the process you are looking to automate.
- Choose a workflow for the process from the available templates or create a completely new one from scratch.
- Once the flow is decided, integrate it with the required datasets via Power Automate’s pre-built connectors.
- Test your workflow via the “Run” option to see if there are any errors.
- If no errors are found, set the workflow live.
Based on how they are created, Power Automate workflows can be divided into three categories: cloud flows, desktop flows, and business process flows. Cloud flows are online flows that feature trigger-based actions while desktop workflows are offline and based on a set of actions provided by a user. Business process flows primarily aim to digitize paper-based business processes.
Power Automate Use Cases in Different Industries
The endless possibilities of Power Automate are not limited to just Human Resources management; the tool allows to automate different processes across various industries, including:
Healthcare
Although it is one of the most technology-driven sectors, the Healthcare industry still involves a lot of paperwork and manual handling, from writing prescriptions to filling patient forms, and scheduling appointments. Power Automate allows healthcare facilities to automate:
- Appointment scheduling
- Form filling during patient admission & discharge
- Patient information management
- Moving test results to EHR systems
- Information distribution and shift management
- Billing & Claims
Retail
One of the biggest challenges faced by the retail industry is inventory management. Customer demand keeps fluctuating and there is constant pressure to deliver products fast, also known as “the Amazon Effect”. Power Automate can optimize manual activities in the process for better productivity and throughput. Businesses can create flows to automate:
- Repetitive, routine tasks in production
- Inventory & shipment tracking
- Updates on product demand & supply
- Billing and Sales summary reports
Banking
Although initially considered to be very labor-intensive, banks are rapidly adopting automation solutions to avoid manual tasks that are time-consuming and prone to human errors. Power Automate in the banking sector can be used to automate:
- Loan Applications & Approvals
- KYC (Know Your Customer) Verification
- Customer Registration
- Account Closure
- Customer Support
Hospitality
The hospitality industry is one of the major industries worldwide that is deploying automation technologies to increase customer engagement and satisfaction. Businesses in this industry can deploy Power Automate to automate:
- Hotel and room bookings
- Guest communication, including welcome messaging, booking confirmation, and feedback collection
- Housekeeping management
- Inventory replenishment
Real Estate
The real estate industry is one of the most competitive industries out there that aims to streamline property buying, selling, and management. Businesses in the real estate sector can deploy Power Automate to automate:
- Lead management via websites or online portals
- Client communication, such as promotional and follow-up e-mails
- Property visits scheduling
- Property Listing
- Document management
Power Automate vs UiPath vs Logic Apps
Featuring an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, UiPath is a popular robotic process automation (RPA) tool that allows businesses to create, deploy, and manage RPA bots for business process automation. Just like Power Automate, the tool also offers ease of use and precision, however, Power Automate has an edge over UiPath as it allows for:
- Better integration with Microsoft products, including Office 365 and SharePoint.
- Easy application for users who are already familiar with different Microsoft products
- More cost-savings for users requiring only basic automation capabilities.
Logic Apps is again a powerful automation and integration tool for business processes; however, it is designed to handle more complex tasks, which require manual handling at some points. Power Automate is much easier to use with fewer codes and requires minimal human intervention. Also, as compared to Logic Apps, it offers more flexibility in terms of connecting to different data sources.
Final Thoughts
At Contata, we carry over 20 years of experience in data science and app development. We have top-notch solutions available pertaining to custom application development, digital transformation, cloud migration, software testing, and product engineering. Leveraging advanced tools and technologies, such as Microsoft Power Platform, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML), we help businesses optimize their processes to minimize costs and maximize ROI.
Partner with Contata today to embrace the power of automation and safely integrate Power Automate into your systems.