Tools that the HR Industry Should Use

If you work in the human resources industry, you know how challenging it can be, especially if you are a part of a large organization. There's a seemingly endless amount of information to keep track of and a constant flow of difficult problems to solve. While you can try to please everyone, it is almost always impossible to do so. Below, we outline 5 tools that will help human resources employees better manage their work flows, data and time.

1. Labor Time Tracker

While some companies still rely on old fashioned physical time sheets to track the number of hours that employees work, the majority have moved onto the digital realm. Some request that employees create their own versions of time cards on Excel spreadsheets and then e-mail them to human resources at the end of every week. This is a flawed approach that places an abundance of trust in the employees to create honest time cards. Oftentimes, employees forget to mark their time of arrival and exit and their spreadsheet time card ends up as a mere estimation of hours worked.

Enter Labor Time Tracker. This handy tool lets your company's employees punch in their times of entry and exits for shifts, breaks, lunches etc. on a virtual time card. Labor Time Tracker makes things much more orderly and guarantees accuracy. It also empowers human resources personnel and other managers to monitor which employees are on the clock and which ones are gone for a break, lunch or for the remainder of the day. Labor Time Tracker can also account for overtime pay and it even functions in different time zones.

2. Trello

While there are numerous websites out there that will help busy human resources departments stay organized, Trello is unique. This handy tool basically functions as a collection of digital sticky notes. While this might sound a bit simple, it is actually a very helpful tool. Trellow allows individual employees and contractors to be added to the system so that it's not just the human resources managers who can see these digital sticky notes. When properly utilized, Trello's services will serve to unite a human resources department or even an entire organization to keep everyone on the same page. All employees can see the system's digital notes so that key information can be accessed and shared with ease.

Trello's creators went out of their way to build a clean visual platform that anyone can read. The company invested significant time and resources into the look of this service and you'll find that it makes a big difference. Sometimes, you'll find yourself bumping around Trello just because it looks so visually pleasing and easy to use. Show it off to your fellow human resources employees and you'll find that they'll be willing to hop on board and use the service to keep track of key deadlines and other important information. There's also a handy drag and drop interface that lets human resources managers assign specific responsibilities to individual employees. Trello really is a convenient way to bring a human resources department together and also to delegate work in an efficient manner.

3. TribeHR

While there are plenty of expensive human resources apps on the market that cost much more than most small to medium sized companies can afford, there are also affordable solutions as well. One such example is TribeHR. TribeHR does just about everything for a human resources department. It has all sorts of helpful features including employee profiles, the generation and organization of performance evaluations, managing scheduling and time off, organizational charts, recruiting and much more. It only costs $2 for each user per month. Human resources employees who've used TribeHR love it for more than its wide ranging dexterity. While it handles a good number of traditional human resources tasks, it is also built with a fantastic interface. It doesn't have a steep learning curve that will chew up your valuable time and energy. You'll be able to understand it within the first few sessions and you'll find that your organization benefits from TribeHR right away.

4. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is used by human resources departments, businesses and freelancers far and wide. It's a web based service similar to the popular software called Sharepoint. Smartsheet allows people to create mutually accessible spreadsheets and other documents. Many organizations use it to log employee hours, prioritize projects and document tasks. You can even customize your Smartsheet to receive alerts when employees update one of the system's “sheets” of data. This way, you'll be able to monitor the status of projects and keep track of who has contributed what and when they did it.

5. Grapevine Evaluations

Grapevine evaluations is a web-based tool designed for HR departments to create, manage and distribute online 360 employee evaluations. It is a great solution for any sized company whether it's 5 or 5,000 employees. It makes it easy to perform a 360 degree evaluation, employee performance evaluation, employee assessment and performance review. It is easy to use and navigate and has hundreds of questions to choose from.