The hottest commodity around -time. You can't save it or get it back and it most certainly doesn't grow. Staying organized and saving time is always going to produce better work. Time savers don’t have to be about cutting corners, they are about getting better at your job. Some time saving practices will initially slow you down, but in the long run, they’re worth the effort. Every business and every employee wants to be quicker and better at what they do. Here are a few time savers specific to HR professionals.

Templates

It’s at the top of the list for a reason. You should be using templates and outlines to not only streamline each process, but to save that all important time. Having an arsenal of commonly used templates, on-hand and organized is a huge time saver. There are several sites with great templates to download for free. When using templates, be sure to update them regularly. In the world of HR, policies and practices are constantly changing.

The Right Technology

Ditch the spreadsheets and find technology that works for you. Talent management systems are doing some pretty amazing things right now. With the rise of big data, there is simply too much information to be processed in the traditional way.

Knowing how to use that technology is step two. Bookmarks for commonly used sites, shared documents and cloud storage are all wonderful tech time savers, but if you don’t know how to use them, they’re worthless.

Communication

Regular communication is essential to any successful HR department. First of all, there should be an established means of communication. Timely feedback and check-ins ensure that nothing slips through the cracks. Companies will often let things slide until reviews come around, but by then the damage is done and habits are formed.

If there is a problem with management, you need to know now. The retention of employees is vital to the success of an organization, so when a bad manager chases off good talent, you shouldn’t be the last to know. Having a finger on the pulse of the office catches issues at their source and facilitates quick problem solving.

Evaluate Your Processes

Taking a step back and looking at your everyday processes can help find the slack. Are each of these processes necessary and/or efficiently done? What can be improved upon in each of these processes?

Things like paid time off and vacation tracking are like a black hole of HR time. It is processes like these that can be automated. Yes there is an investment here, but when you consider that…

…the average employee submits 14.5 time-off requests each year, an organization with thirty employees wastes more than 150 hours — or four weeks — every year, simply by tracking vacations.

Consistency is a Must

HR professionals put on a lot of different hats on any given day. The vast array of tasks that an HR department carries out are each vital to the success of the organization, so they should be done well and in a timely manner. Along with evaluating processes comes consistency. Every employee, manager and situation are going to be different, but it is HR's job to be the grounding wire for consistent treatment and practices.

photo credit: Roby Ferrari via photopin cc