Article written by Stephanie Onofri
Just like in any other Industry, the Human resources department in Higher Education is the core of the organizational infrastructure of the Institution. It holds responsibility for drawing and assessing potential human capital for every institutional role, whether a professorial or janitorial, maintaining institutional and governmental compliance standards, payroll, scheduling, PTO requests, travel arrangements, as well as safekeeping a myriad of crucial employee documentation pertaining to insurance, previous employment, and historical records.
Is it really a wonder, then, that most of these departments are seeking to strategize and restructure their former processes to ensure that resources and programs are aligned to meet academic standards and goals?
Higher Education institutions suffered like the rest of them in our most recent financial downturn. Human Resources jobs in Higher Education took a beating and yet educational budget cuts took the backburner on the list of the nation’s biggest losses. Luckily, there are ways to ensure that budget cuts don’t take away from the quality of Universities’ student and employee services, and they don’t have anything to do with cancelling chess club or weekly Quidditch practice. It merely consists of implementing a more strategic HR practice.
The most immediate, cost-effective, ROI-yielding solution adopted by Universities since the downturn has been the implementation of paperless solutions in their Human Resources departments. For instance, since budgetary cuts, DataBank has helped dozens of Universities achieve their Human Resources goals and standards. From automating academic payrolls and Institution approval processes to cost-effectively streamlining administrative processes, these offices have managed to cut paper and paper storage costs by switching their paper practice to an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system tailored to the specific needs of the HR department.
Once documents have been converted to an electronic format, the opportunities for better University talent development, better project management, inter-departmental collaboration, and improved alignment of administrative staff with institutional strategy are truly endless. Some of these include:
- Faster Candidate Selection process – Since candidate resumes and application materials are scanned and stored electronically, access to relevant data is faster and more efficient, ensuring that University HR personnel snag the best before the competition
- Automation of approvals and document audits – Automation of approvals cuts considerable time off HR processes, allowing departments to achieve their academic goals faster and, thanks to automated system audits, with a lower risk of human error
- Streamlining of HR process workflows – Things like payroll, PTO requests, employee status changes, and other academic processes are streamlined to ensure that as much time as possible is cleared up so that HR personnel have more time available to focus on academic growth
Getting ahead of the curve in a time of rapidly diminishing budgets is paramount. Academic standards should not have to suffer from cuts in budget appropriations. Contact DataBank or download our FREE ECM GUIDE below to learn how going paperless can ensure the long-term success of your Higher Education Institution.
