Posts Tagged ‘information’

An Overview of Human Resource Information Software

As the very nature of business has evolved over the past couple of decades, the task of managing a company’s human resources has become increasingly intricate. It is the duty of HR to organize employee information, including background, education, skills, and job history. Historically, larger organizations have struggled to efficiently manage their massive amounts of HR data without the use of computers. A Human Resource Information System, or HRIS, is a type of software application explicitly designed to handle matters of employment and personnel. In the past, HRIS were run only on vast, centralized mainframe computers. Now, however, technology has matured to allow these applications to be run easily from smaller computer systems, making them accessible to all. In order to understand the importance of having a company HRIS, consider a few of their common components. 

Payroll. The payroll system, of course, functions to ensure that each employee is delivered the correct pay based on salary and work. The HRIS payroll system collects data on employee work hours and absences, records overtime, and, depending on the complexity of the software, can calculate taxes and deductions in order to generate and deposit various employee paychecks, government checks, and reports. The module must observe federal, state, and city tax regulations exactly, and navigate technical documents and union contracts. Data flowing out of the payroll system should filter back into financial management systems in order to aid executives in making financial decisions. 

Benefits. The benefits administration module allows a company to track employee engagement in a variety of benefits programs, including life and health insurance, retirement pensions, stock purchases, and profit sharing. Benefits are an extremely valuable component of worker compensation packages. Competent HRIS benefit modules will furnish elaborate reports which will assist the company in creating an attractive yet affordable benefits package for its employees. 

Recruiting. Recruiting software is an essential component of every HRIS. When the economy is good, an organization must endeavor to recruit new employees; and even if not presently hiring, it is to the advantage of the company to still accumulate resumes of qualified candidates so that, when the need arises, positions can be swiftly filled. Nowadays, a majority of employee recruiting is being done online. Recruiting software such as Talent Management Systems, or Applicant Tracking Systems, can evaluate a company’s existing personnel usage and needs, target both internal and external qualified applicants, and execute the actual process of recruitment. Such organized systems are also extremely useful in ensuring that the organization is obeying all Equal Opportunity Employment laws. 

The three points mentioned above are by no means the full complement of useful Human Resource functions. Other processes exist which assess employee production, catalogue individual qualifications, and track business training exploits, to name only a handful. Organizations interested in delving further into HRIS have innumerable options before them, not only in terms of software vendors, but also the features offered by the individual software packages.  HRIS is highly customizable, and, if put to the right tasks, it can do wonders for your business.

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Small Business Financing Credit Cards: Important Information and the Rule of Four

Money is not everything. There are travelers’ checks, money orders, and credit cards. When you start your own business, there’s a way for you to obtain much-needed capital, too. This way is called small business financing credit card.

Small business financing credit card, also known as small business starter credit cards, is a great way to keep your personal and business finances separate.

Personal Credit Card Versus Small Business Financing Credit Card
In the past and even at present, lots of entrepreneurs rely on their personal credit to get their business up and running. The problem with this is that they carry the debt from their business into their personal credit cards. Ultimately, they end up hurting their personal credit scores.

This is where small business financing credit cards come in. They offer higher credit limit. Additionally, they keep business and personal expense separate, thereby making it painless to track tax deductions. More importantly, you may write off your small business financing credit card’s finance charges and annual fees.

Why Get a Small Business Financing Credit Card

1. Build Credit
A small business financing credit card is a good way to build a financial history. Your business is a start-up; it’s unknown. This makes it difficult for your business to obtain loans. A small business financing credit card will remedy this. It will provide banks with the spending footprints they need to reassure themselves you’re a responsible borrower.

2. Avoid Intermingling
When it comes to managing your expense, there’s one thing you should always do. Segregate, segregate, segregate. Do not mix business and personal transactions. This might later on create tax and money management problems.

3. Prevent Shoebox Accounting
It is always a nightmare to track business expenditures. With a small business financing credit card, however, you can turn the nightmare into one you can easily snap out of. Your credit card company will provide you with a year-end statement where you can find your transactions summarized, itemized, and categorized. With such a report available, there’s no need to keep a shoebox stacked with receipts.

4. Special Rewards
The credit card industry is so competitive providers fall over themselves to lure borrowers. Accordingly, a reward and discount program for small business credit card users was developed. Every time you use your small business financing credit card, you qualify for discounts and rewards, ranging from office supplies and plane tickets to phone services.

How to Manage Your Small Business Financing Credit Card Effectively
Credit cards, whether personal or corporate, will always be open to potential abuse. Effectively manage your small business financing credit card by:

1. Limiting card hopping
Sure, you qualify for multiple cards, but this does not mean you should sign up. You shouldn’t. This will only tempt you to overspend. It will hurt your credit rating, too.

2. Steering clear of cash advances
Never use this credit card feature unless you need to bail yourself out of jail. It comes with whooping credit card fees and interest costs.

3. Avoiding late payments
The more delinquent your payments are, the higher the fees and interest rates you would be saddled with. Moreover, late payments hurt your credit reputation.

4. Using grace
Many companies offer a 21-day grace period to clients before asking them to pay for purchases. Turn this to your advantage by drawing up a schedule of your purchases and payments.

Use your small business financing credit card prudently. Remember, credit cards should be a financial safety net, not a trap.

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Immediate Access to Human Resource Management Information Inspires Employee Loyalty

As an employer, you have a responsibility to make sure your employees are happy and safe. Happy employees are the most productive, and aren’t looking for an alternate job. Safe employees aren’t suing their employers. The best way to make sure that your employees are happy and safe is by researching human resource management information and using what you learn to develop hr policies and procedures for your company. There are some HR topics that you will want to pay careful attention to, as the information can be a huge benefit to your business and employees.

 

Make sure that you clearly describe each person’s duties. When you hire a new employee, make sure that one of your hr policies and procedures includes providing the new employee with an outline of the responsibilities they will have and the duties that they will be expected to preform. This lets the employee know exactly what their job will entail and usually cuts down on the amount of time you have to spend training the employee. They can focus on the aspects of the business that apply directly to them, rather on trying to learn everything. The reduction in training time means an increase in the businesses  profits.

 

In addition to handing out the outline of job responsibilities another one of your hr policies and procedures should be to provide all employees with a copy of your human resource management information. The average employee is most interested in information pertaining to their health benefits, pay scales, and advancement procedures, number of sick days, and vacation policies. Having information regarding human resource management information often gives the employee the sense that they are starting a new career and not just another job. Making an employee feel like they have a future with your business is important. Employees who feel like they are part of something are less likely to leave your employ to go and work for your competition. Another interesting phenomenon some employers have noticed is that when they provide their new employees with human resource management information, the employee tends to be more trusting. Apparently knowing hr policies and procedures the gives the employee the sense that you don’t have anything to hide, and that you run a legitimate business.

 

Providing employees with hr policies and procedures provide legal security. Most business owners find that taking the time to know exactly what policies employees should be privy to can help you avoid a headaches if your employment techniques are ever questioned. Most employers ultimately decide that the time spent researching human resource management information and hr policies and procedures is time well spent. When you are drafting your policies you want to make sure you include clauses that describe how your business will handles complaints, grievances, confidentiality, inter-employee disputes, and safety protocol. Make sure every single person you employee can access this information quickly and discreetly.

 

Every company has a different way that they prefer to provide their employees with the hr policies and procedures. Some prefer to have an official company handbook, others a poster on a wall, and still others design a central computer systems that lets employees access the human resource management information they need. The way the employees get the information isn’t nearly as important as making sure they have access to it.

 

Playlist: www.youtube.com Human Resources explores the rise of mechanistic philosphy and the exploitation of human beings under modern hierarhical systems. Topics Include; behaviorism, scientific management, work-place democracy, schooling, frustration-aggression hypothesis and human experimentation. Featuring interviews with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Rebecca Lemov, Christopher Simpson, George Ritzer, Morris Berman, John Taylor Gatto, Alfie Kohn and others.

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Human Resource Management Information Found Online Protects Businesses

When someone is putting together a small business, they know that not everything is going to be smooth sailing, that there are bound to be some bumps along the way. What they seldom anticipate is that most headaches are somehow connected to human resources. As if finding people who are both qualified and willing to work isn’t difficult enough, keeping those people in your employ is even harder. The best way to handle and avoid problems is by having hr policies and procedures. The best way to come up with the best hr policies and procedures is by setting aside a long chunk of time to collect as much human resource management information as you can. The good news is everything you need to know can be found online.

 

Before you start your research it is important that you understand that there is a ton of human resource management information and much of it won’t apply to your business. The best way to weed through the non-relevant information is by knowing exactly what you are looking for. In the beginning you should stick to finding information about hr policies and procedures that include things like the hiring of employees, establishing benefits, and how to handle employee complaints. Once you start to become more comfortable looking up human resource management information, you will have an easier time finding information about how you can retain your best employees. During your research, stick only to hr policies and procedures that pertain to the country and state where your business is located.

 

When you are looking up human resource management information make sure you pay special attention to specific laws both state and federal. Breaking a single one of these laws can cause you to get fined and may give an employee an excuse to sue. It is also important to make sure you are using current research as state and federal laws regarding hr policies and procedures are constantly changing.

 

Nearly every business owner requests software when they are looking up human resource management information. The hope is that the software will make life easier and cause the business to run more smoothly. Many business owners are thrilled when they learn that there are software programs that they can use to help them develop all sorts of hr policies and procedures. In addition to helping develop the policies, the owner can also program the software to help them keep track of  every single aspect of your human resources program. This is how many of the largest corporations in the world are able to keep watch over the thousands of people they employ. The software provides them with information about performance reviews, pay raises, vacations, and health benefits.

Another aspect of human resources that sometimes gets forgotten is confidentiality. As an employer you will be given access to information about the employ that is private. It is up to you to have some sort of policy for making sure that they information stays private.

 

If you are ever unlucky enough to find yourself in the unfortunate situation of dealing with either a strike or having to layoff your employees, you will be very grateful for your hr policies and procedures. These policies will help you chose the best course of action.

 

The key to starting and running a successful business is going to by your employees. Studies indicate that when a company has a good human resources program the employees are usually happier and more apt to stick around, instead of looking for other employment.

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Getting the Human Resource Management Information you Need to Protect Yourself and Your Business

There is a great deal more to hiring a new employee than simply reading over their resume, conducting an interview, and saying you’re hired. There are several federal and state laws and regulations that must be adhered. Any company who violates the rules will find themselves facing a very steep fine. The best way to avoid the fine is by creating a series of hr policies and procedures. Once drafted, the policies must be adhered to each time you hire a new employee. When you sit down to draft your companies hr policies and procedures you need to make sure you do so by using current human resource management information.

 

Contrary to popular opinion the Federal Labor Laws weren’t drafted and implemented simply to give employers a headache, the laws are designed to protect companies. At the same time they are also protecting the rights of employees. When drafting your companies hr policies and procedures it is important that you consult the Federal Labor Laws and make sure that nothing you write is going to violate regulations on topics like medical leave and discrimination. Most companies find themselves in the middle of an HR nightmare when they have skipped over something that was clearly addressed in the federal laws. Spending some extra time to reread your human resource management information can help prevent a costly mistake in the future.

 

When you are sorting through the endless human resource management information and drafting your hr policies and procedures , you may want to consider purchasing an HR software program that can be installed on your business computer. The software is cheaper than hiring an HR professional to oversee your companies human resources program. In addition to helping you keep track of your hr policies and procedures, the right software can also help you with financial issues, such as payroll, payroll taxes, and employee taxes, which pertain directly to your employees. The software can also be used to keep track of other critical human resource management information such as remaining vacation time, sick days an employee has used, and how much training the employee has received. The software is an excellent HR tool for streamlining your companies HR program.

 

While there are times when sifting through human resource management information and drafting your companies policies can seem like an enormous waste of time, especially since many of your procedures will never be used. If a situation, such as a strike or layoffs, ever arise, you will be grateful you spent the time drafting your hr policies and procedures. The trick is to not allow yourself to get overwhelmed by the human resource management information, and to take advantage of things, such as HR software, that will make your job simpler.

 

In the long run, you will be grateful that you put the effort into creating the human resources policies that your company adheres to. Not only are you protected, but having the policies in place usually makes your employees feel better as well. If you get stuck you can go online and find human resource websites that have huge databases full of information and templates you can use. When dealing with human resource issues is to stay calm and focused, and to take advantage of every single resource that is available to you.

“Enabling Your Human Resource Information System To Support Hr Strategic Roles”

Human Resource Management (HRM) has shifted its function within Organisations over the last few years. Its function has grown considerably and has shifted into a more strategic role rather than providing support for administrative paperwork. There has been a shift too, in terminology, with the term Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) becoming more common.

Dave Ulrich, a well-known HR Guru from the University of Michigan says that the purpose of the HR function is simply twofold: firstly, to improve the organisation’s capability, and secondly, to improve individual capability within the organisation.

To improve Organisation performance and create competitive advantage, the HR team must focus on a new set of priorities. These new priorities are more business, and strategic oriented and less geared towards traditional HR functions such as staffing, training, appraisal and compensation.

Strategic priorities include team-based job designs, flexible workforces, quality improvement practices, employee empowerment and incentive compensation. SHRM was designed to diagnose organisation strategic needs and plan the development of talent which is required to implement a competitive strategy and achieve operational goals (Huselid et al., 1997).

This strategic role not only adds a valuable dimension to the HR function, but also changes the competencies that define HR professional and practitioner success.

In response to its new role and responsibilities, HR professionals need a system that can manage as well as handle the “traditional” HR work. This is where Human Resource Information System (HRIS) starts to come in. Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) refers to the systems and processes at the intersection between human resource management (HRM) and information technology (www.Wikipedia.org). It merges HRM as a discipline and in particular its basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field and have been used in HR Departments for many years now. It is now expected to drive Human Resource (HR)’s transition from an administrative and operational role to a strategic role.

Many companies now strive to become ‘world class’. The goal is to work and perform in ways that are comparable to the most successful players on the world stage. If we explore the question: “What does World Class HR mean in practice” we will see two descriptions consistently cited. The first is that World Class HR functions manage their strategic work through the ability to measure what they do, and how they contribute. The second is that World Class HR functions consistently utilize technology to enable them to track, analyse, and report those measures. They also use technology, HRIS, to enable them to continue to handle the traditional transactional HR work – which still has to be done!

So for companies aspiring to be World Class, Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) play an important part in an organisations’ HR function. Any ‘transformation’ of HR, or of ‘People Management’ or of ‘Performance Management’ without paying attention to their HRIS capability and needs will be unable to (a) handle their strategic role and measure their contribution to the organisation, and (b) run the risk of letting the traditional transactional functions of HR administration falls behind, and drag down the transformation efforts by failing to deliver the  fundamentals.

After all, we live, work and play in the information technology era. Implementing an effective HRIS keeps the HR Department in the right path to deliver more effective and streamlined service to the Organisation. Since the rapid development of technology, software developers are continuously creating new and sophisticated softwares that can help companies execute day-to-day HR administrative tasks as well as enabling them to perform fast and effective recruitment process, performance management, compensation & benefit, etc.

They do this by streamlining workflow processes through controlled processes, system interfaces and database validation. Not only should things flow more smoothly, but the big plus for top management and function management is that HRIS helps to ensure a greater control over any HR management related processes, enabling users to follow through tasks more easily. It lets us set measures for task process as well as completion. We can know how far a process has gone, before its too late to speed up or correct direction.

Typically, the people in the firm who interact with the HRIS are segmented into three groups: (1) HR professionals, (2) managers in functional areas (production, marketing, engineering etc.) and (3) employees (Anderson, 1997).The usages of HRIS have increased quite significantly among Organisations of different sizes due to their enhancing the strategic human resource management role in the company.

Kovach et al., (2002) listed several administrative and strategic advantages to using HRIS. Similarly, Beckers and Bsat (2002) pointed out at least five reasons why companies should use HRIS. These are:

1. Increase competitiveness by improving HR practices

2. Produce a greater number and variety of HR operations

3. Shift the focus of HR from the processing of transactions to strategic HRM

4. Make employees part of HRIS, and

5. Reengineer the entire HR function

Despite the fact that it has become quite common amongst HR practitioners – it is still uncertain whether the Organisation are using their HRIS optimally in terms of supporting the strategic role of HR. Many organisations still use HRIS as a database pool as well as to complete basic HR transactional tasks only, and have not yet optimised the actual capability of HRIS. If your company is using HRIS, let’s assess the benefit of utilizing HRIS by comparing it against the above five reasons. Ask yourselves:

How far is your HR administration supported by HRIS?
Do managers and employees have access to HRIS for transactions, and participate in its use?
You might know what metrics you would like to use to measure your HR acitvities ands results. BUT how many of those measures can esaily be tracked analysed and reported using an HRIS system?
Is your company – its employees and managers -  equipped at their places of work, with the technology to respond to new tools for organisation and people management purposes? (Online surveys, Performance management, Intranet communications, online HRM transactions for benefits, employee data).
Is there a need to ‘bring your HR group’ up to the 21st century, and contribute to the strategic management of the business?
Are there any similarities between your company’s reasons for considering enhancing HRIS, with the above five reasons on the use of HRIS?
Do you believe that HRIS benefits your company, and in what way?

In brief HRIS is an enabler and empower for the HR function, and HRIS can provide line managers with a functionality to meet each of their work unit goals and objectives as well as providing data and analysis, especially for performance appraisal and performance management of their subordinates.

Additionally, individual employees can also benefit from HRIS. They can interact more flexibly by having an access to the system and conduct a self-service modification process of many benefit options and administration alternative as well as updating their performance and task achievements status in realtime.

It is now critical for Organisations who are currently using HRIS to enable its HR managers, line managers and employees in making the most out of available technology. By enabling HRIS in the Organisation and leverage the use of technology to support the overall strategic responsibilities of HR, it will put your Organisation in a roadmap towards the best practice of world-class HR.

—TR2010–

By: Tewu Rama – Consultant OPUS Management  Indonesia 2010

Sources:

Anderson R. Wayne (1997) “The future of Human Resources: Forging Ahead or Falling Behind in Tomorrow’s Human Resource Management.

Huselid, M.A., Jackson, S.E. and Schuler, R.S. (1997) “Technical and strategic human resource management effectiveness as determinants of firm performance”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 40, pp. 171-88.

“Human Resource Management System” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HRIS

Kovach, K.A., Hughes, A.A., Fagan, P. and Maggitti, P.G. (2002), “Administrative and strategic advantages of HRIS”, Employment Relations Today, Vol. 29 No. 2, 43-48.

Ulrich, D. (1997) Human Resource Champions: The Next Agenda for Adding Value and delivering Results. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. p.38

The Importance of Human Resource Management Information for Small Businesses

It is impossible for a company to survive if they don’t have have access to human resource management information. Business managers need to use this information when if comes to every single aspect of dealing with employees. In addition to dealing with workplace policies and procedures, human resource management information also helps managers know how to handle delicate situations such as performance reviews, the hiring of employees, and the firing of employees. The easiest way for a company to make sure that everything goes smoothly and that they don’t inadvertently violate any workplace policies and procedures is to hire a human resources professional, but for the average small business, this isn’t financially feasible. The best way for a small business with limited financial resources to get the human resource management information they desperately need is via the internet.

 

In most cases the internet is the only way small business employees can gain access to human resources management information on a regular basis. It is important that the business manager keeps track of any links that pertains to workplace policies and procedures that an employee may request. The more quickly the manager can access the information the sooner the employee gets answers to their questions and the happier everyone is. The manager needs to make sure that they have current human resources management information that pertains to everything including vacation compensation, health and dental benefits, performance reviews, advancement opportunities, and severance procedures. When employees know that they will be able to quickly get accurate answers to all of their human resource questions they are usually happier.

 

If you are in the process of getting your own business up and running, you might be overwhelmed by all the human resources management information you find. The trick is to take a deep breath and get yourself organized. Make a list of all the workplace policies and procedures you will need to have; make sure the list includes things like grievances, raises, and benefits. Set aside time each day that you are going to use to find the human resources information you need to deal with a single issue. Going through everything one step at a time will help ensure that everything gets covered, and prevent you from feeling like you are drowning under all the information. Although there is always room for compromise, once you have settled on your businesses workplace policies and procedures try to adhere to them. There is no point in having policies if they are never followed.

 

It doesn’t matter how many or how few employees you are in charge of, it is extremely critical that you have posted a copy of your workplace polices and procedures somewhere that your employees can quickly and easily skim through them. Having this information posted will eliminate any confusion or misunderstandings.

 

There are two ways you can use the internet to get the human resource management information you need. The first method is by employing the services of a virtual human resource professional, the virtual assistance is more economical that a real world HR professional and will still help you find solutions to your own unique situation. The second option is to take advantage of a human resource website which has a database full of human resource information. The website is the cheapest alternative, but it will require you to do some of the legwork.

 

What you should not do is make a snap judgment. Take your time and carefully consider the pros and cons of both options. It is important that you make the right decision for you which may or may not be what others would do.

Or is that moreso for a marketing major?

I have an exam, and one of the topics I have to cover is B2B online marketing, I cannot seem to find any useful information about it, all just companies but nothing that will be of any use in an exam. Could someone just give a link to website that might be of more use?

I’m a recent MIS grad and I’m looking to go down the Business side path of MIS. I’d love to be a Project Manager or a Business System Analyst down the road but I’m having a hard time finding an entry level job for these roles. What type of job (title would be helpful) should I be looking for here?