An approach to managing core HR records

The People Inc. system provides a wealth of features and benefits, and most users will only take advantage of a few of these. This article goes back to basics and takes a look at the core functionality the system offers, and how you can make use of this.

From time to time it is helpful to take a step back and look again at some of the basic principles associated with the management of information. Day to day, most People Inc. users will often focus on keeping records up to date, and running reports; ground that they have covered many times, every day.

The system could however offer most organisations (and most users) a lot more. With some simple changes, the productivity within the HR team can be enhanced (and the same can easily be applied across the wider organisation generally).

Centralised HR Records

Why not store everything in one place? There are some real benefits.

Organisations will often store HR information in a variety of different ways (and might also have records stored in a number of different places). Documents are often kept in paper-files, and Excel is used routinely to manage lists focussed on specific topics. Electronic files that relate to individual employees are often kept in folders on a server. Having information recorded in different ways and spread across various media, can make it difficult to track changes, analyse information, or just simply find the latest copies of particular records.

Wouldn’t it be easier to have everything stored in one place so that HR can access records easily, run reports, see what is missing and what needs updating? People Inc. provides users with a repository for all your staff records; a secure location to store and manage employee information.

Records held within People Inc. can be made up of both screen-based details (for example, an absence record, or details of an emergency contact) and attached documents (letters, a CV, or a certificate). Comprehensive information can be recorded for each member of staff and standard screens are provided to record and manage a wide variety of historical HR records (for example, salary history, benefits, absence, staff training, appraisals, equipment issued, etc.)

Accommodating all of your HR records

People Inc can also help you manage records that are specific to your organisation.

The People Inc. system is supplied with around 40 screens designed to 6 or 8 key areas of HR record keeping. These areas are: recruitment, jobs, remuneration, absence, staff development, vehicles, and general employee records. The variety of system screens that are included with the system will cover all of the core requirements of the majority of organisations.

Where organisations have additional information they need to record and manage (information relating to their own practices, processes, etc.), these details can be accommodated using custom screens (and custom fields on existing screens). Users can adapt the content and layout of all of the standard system screens; additional boxes (fields) can be added as required. It is also possible to add entirely new screens if needed.

Standard features such as letter generation and reporting, user access-profiles, data import/export, e-mail notifications and reminders, all use data held within the system screens. All of these tools will work equally well with custom fields and screens. So you can build a report that contains information held in custom fields, or use these details in letters, and the system can send e-mail reminders based on any new date-fields that you have add to the system. Where employee records have been recorded and managed using Excel, this information can be imported into the People Inc. system (into both standard and custom fields).

Granting Access to HR Records

Give staff access to the information they need to do their job.

In smaller organisations, there will be just one person in HR and they will have access to all of the records held within People Inc. Larger HR teams will often need different levels of access depending on role or seniority. It is possible to set this up using the security tools provided with the system (and security-profiles can manage access to both standard fields and fields added by the user).

It is also possible to give other members of staff access to records if needed. There are often staff elsewhere in the organisation who will need access to some HR records so that they can undertake activities and tasks that they have been assigned. Once again, People Inc. includes a security profiling tool for exactly this purpose. This might be useful for payroll staff, people in IT, the car-fleet manager, or quality/training team members.

It is also possible to provide controlled access to information for line-managers. They could then manage absence and lateness records, or training needs or appraisals. Note that this is most commonly done using the Employee Self-Service module (and this module also makes it very easy to grant employees with access to their own information too).

Where access is granted to HR records, the security tools are designed to enable users to maintain the confidentiality associated with personal information. For example, a line manager can be granted access to records for their team, but could be barred from seeing employee letters, address information, etc.

System Tools

Once the data is recorded within the system, how can the various features and tools help?

The People Inc. system includes a range of features or tools that are designed to help users access and process the information stored within the system.

The letter generation allows users to create letters based on a library of user-defined letter templates. When letters are generated, information taken direct from the People Inc. screens is merged with pre-defined letter-text. This can include information recorded in custom fields (fields that have been added to screens by the user). Letters (or e-mail) can be generated individually, or for a selection of employees (or even for all employees) and copies are automatically saved against individual employee records.

A comprehensive library of reports and graphs is included with the system, and users can also select and download report templates from the People Inc. online resources centre. Reports are used to analyse the data held in the system, or to look for certain records and export them (to Excel). The reporting tool included with the system allows users to create their own report templates, and these can include data held in custom fields (fields added to the system by the user)

People Inc. can generate notifications and reminders (via e-mail) as key dates are approaching. For example, a week before the end of an employee’s probationary period, the system can send a notification e-mail to their line manager. Notification messages can be sent for dates that are included as standard fields in the system, or for those added as custom fields.

In addition, you can benefit from audit trail features (who last updated the information and when), the convenience of filters and preferences (only show the information you need on a regular bases, while retaining full historical record) and from the validation built into screens (make sure users do not save incomplete records and that the information they save makes sense.

System Overview

If most of your HR records are stored in one place, it is then easy to spot any issues that need addressing.

How good would it be if you could go to one place and, at the click of a mouse, see:

• Information about resourcing levels (based on work-patterns and holiday bookings), together with a summary of sickness absence (and late arrival at work) for the last month/quarter
• Details of any actions that are due; actions related to key HR processes such as onboarding, absence return-to-work, overtime requests, disciplinary and grievance etc.)
• An overview of employee-related documentation, highlighting where there are missing items (for example, right-to-work papers, signed contracts, signed HR policies).
• A list of employees who have not had a review (appraisal) during the last 12 months, or perhaps employees who need to attend refresher training courses (or simply have training needs).
• Where key employee information is missing or now out of date (for example, details of emergency contacts, a copy of their passport or driving license, etc.)

When all your HR records are in one place, it is easy to see where information is incomplete or where records have expired. If information is hidden away in spreadsheets or filing cabinets, this is much more difficult to do.

Management Reporting

Providing HR information to help manager plan and maintain performance levels within their teams.

Systems such as People Inc. are regularly used to provide detailed HR information to senior managers throughout the organisation. This usually includes headcount and turnover records, measures relating to the levels of resource available (and an analysis of staff absence), an overview of development activities, and any compliance-related alerts or indicators.

When all your HR information is held in one place, it is possible to provide on-demand management reporting tailored to the different areas and levels across the organisation. Individuals have just one place to go to access up-to-date information, and this provides them with a full overview of HR-related activities.

The latest People Inc. reports include a colour-coded side-bar giving an indication of the area of HR the information comes from. For managers who want just a quick overview for their team, the ESS statistics tool, and the ESS Indicators feature can provide HR information at a glance.

GDPR

There are a number ways that centralising HR records can help with compliance with GDPR legislation

Subject Access Requests

Employees have the right to request access to any personal information you hold (information that relates to them). This is usually referred to as a Subject Access Request. When an employee asks to see their records, you must provide access to all of the personal data you hold, including details held within your personnel system, paper-based records, information in spreadsheets and other documents, and any e-mail correspondence that refers to them, etc.

Employees should be able to request access to a wide variety of different records. This includes personal information that identifies them (name, address, etc.), records relating to absence from work, details of job and career discussions (including interview notes), performance review records, payroll information, disciplinary and grievance records.

If you keep personnel information in a number of different ways (different systems, different locations, in different formats), providing access to the information can be a real headache. In particular, if line managers keep their own records, it makes it nearly impossible to pull everything together (and screen it to ensure it only relates to the employee in question). It may not even be possible to work out where all the information is, or extract and compile it sensibly.

To make this even more challenging, you need to respond to this type of request within 30 days and the information you provide to the employee needs to be easy to access, easy to read and understand.

Using an HR system such as People Inc. can of course help. The system allows you to keep employee records and any related documents in one place, and provide access quickly and easily (to the employee) via a secure login.

The Right to be Forgotten

Employees can also request that information that relates to them personally be deleted, this called 'the right to be forgotten'. The right to be forgotten is closely linked to the right that employees have to access their personal information.

Employees can request that information is removed from company systems if they believe that (for example) the data contains significant errors, or if they feel the information is being kept without good reason. They do not however have the right to have the data erased (only to request that it is).

Retention of Personal Information

Organisations can only retain personal information relating to ex-employees for a specified period of time (once the employee has left). Personal data includes anything that can identify the individual (name, address, phone numbers, date, of birth, national insurance number, bank details, etc.).

Personal information should only be kept for as long as it is necessary to do so, and in the UK, the GDPR legislation includes some recommended retention periods (based on the type of records, this is likely to be either three or six years). Organisation then have an obligation to delete personal information.

>p>Note that personal information is also likely to be found within recruitment records, employment history information, accident at work logs, details of performance appraisals, details of absence from work (and sickness/health records), etc. If these records are kept on e-mail, paper-based records, spreadsheets and Word documents, finding a way to comply with the requirement to remove personal information for leavers becomes a real nightmare.

When you are away from your office...

With everything stored in one place, being able to access records remotely is much easier.

As well as having access from your computer at the office, you can also use People Inc. to manage HR information when you are working away from your desk. If everything you need is stored and managed using People Inc. (rather than in spreadsheets or paper-files), you could then have easy access to all your HR information.

This is particularly useful if you are working from home, or need access to a report during a meeting. Some HR staff will also travel to satellite offices from time to time. If all your HR records are managed within the system, all you need to do is open People Inc. if you need to look at employee records or update some details.

If your organisation has a copy of the Employee Self-Service module, you can also access the system form any work-computer by using your normal login details (via a web browser).

More Information

If you have have any queries relating to these People Inc. features, please contact us on 01908 265111, or click the button below to request a call-back.

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