The work processes in most of today’s Human Resources (HR) departments are still primarily manual, according to a new report released by HR.com in partnership with Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), the global leader in storage and information management services. Most HR professionals believe, however, that greater automation will help their HR departments become more strategic and productive.
The two newly released research reports, The State of HR Automation in Large Organizations and The State of HR Automation in Mid-Sized Organizations, are based on two industry surveys by HR.com.
“Despite all the innovative HR technologies on the market these days, most HR functions remain surprisingly manual,” said Debbie McGrath, Chief Instigator and CEO of HR.com. “Large organizations tend to be a little more automated than mid-sized ones, but both have a long way to go. The good news is that virtually all HR departments plan to become more automated. This trend could help them become not just more efficient but more effective.”
Among large organizations, only 37% of HR departments can be considered “highly automated,” and among mid-sized organizations the proportion is just 33%. Nearly all HR professionals in both groups said, however, their companies intend to automate more HR processes in the future.
The research also indicates that HR automation can result in a variety of advantages. In both sizes of organization, most HR professionals plan to spend more time on strategic HR and business initiatives if it reduces the burden of performing manual administrative tasks. In large organizations, for example, 70% intend to spend more time on strategic planning and 64% on serving as business partners.
The study also suggests that more highly automated HR departments are already reaping dividends. Highly automated HR departments are twice as likely as the least automated HR departments to report above average HR productivity.
The two surveys generated responses from 397 and 244 HR professionals, respectively. Large organizations were defined as those with 2,500 or more employees, and mid-sized organizations were defined as having between between 500 and 2,499 employees.
DOWNLOAD REPORTS (2 versions): The State of HR Automation in Large Organizations OR The State of HR Automation in Mid-Sized Organizations
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), founded in 1951, is the global leader for storage and information management services. Trusted by more than 225,000 organizations around the world, and with a real estate network of more than 85 million square feet across more than 1,400 facilities in over 50 countries, Iron Mountain stores and protects billions of valued assets, including critical business information, highly sensitive data, and cultural and historical artifacts. Providing solutions that include information management, digital transformation, secure storage, secure destruction, as well as data centers, cloud services and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps customers lower cost and risk, comply with regulations, recover from disaster, and enable a more digital way of working. To download the “State of HR Automation” reports and access more resources around automation for HR professionals, please visit Iron Mountain’s dedicated Workflow Automation for Human Resources webpage: ironmountain.com/workflow-hr
About HR.com
HR.com strives to help create inspired workforces by making HR professionals smarter. Over 1,200,000 HR professionals turn to HR.com as the trusted resource for education, career development, and compliance: thousands of lessons and tips in the HR Genius on-demand training library, 400+ webcasts yearly, the largest HR certification exam preparation practice supporting SHRM and HRCI certification, a legal compliance guidance program, 12 monthly themed interactive HR epublications, and 65+ primary research reports. HR.com offers the best training and networking for HR professionals globally 24/7/365. www.HR.com
For more information, contact:
Debbie McGrath
Chief Instigator and CEO, HR.com
dmcgrath@hr.com
877-472-6648
www.HR.com
Christian T. Potts
Iron Mountain Incorporated
617-535-8721
christian.potts@ironmountain.com
www.ironmountain.com