Being a line manager is pretty demanding. The range of challenges they often find themselves dealing with is broad: engaging and motivating employees, acting as coach and mentor, dealing with underperforming team members, handling sickness and absence issues, managing any interpersonal problems that crop up…and everything else that’s part and parcel of running a team.
To carry out their role successfully, line managers must be given the right kind of support by their organisation. As well as providing personal development and training in the skills they need, companies can make the most of the opportunity technology offers by giving them access to HR and payroll software. Here are just some of the ways that payroll and HR software can help your line managers to carry out their roles more effectively and efficiently.
1. They can respond promptly and appropriately to sickness absence issues
While line managers will obviously be aware at the time when people are off in their team, it can be trickier to spot patterns and to know at what point they need to get involved if it seems that longer term problems are developing. By being able to check records quickly and simply, along with indicators like the Bradford Factor, they’re better placed to identify any issues that are starting to manifest themselves and devise a plan of action sooner rather than later to respond appropriately.
2. Software supports effective management of training and development
HR software can help line managers keep track of the skill sets within their team. That’s important for manpower planning and it also makes it far easier to keep on top of the training and development that’s needed, particularly when refresher training is due or when licence renewals are coming up. The software can send out prompt notifications helping line managers to make sure that nothing is overlooked.
3. Holiday management is more straightforward
Holiday planning can become quite complex, especially if a line manager is responsible for a large team. HR software can help them by providing a streamlined system where they take a look at requests, review them against the overall holiday plan for the team and check against leave balances. They can then authorise or decline requests depending on whether they can be accommodated, with the employee notified straight away.
The software can be set up for employee self-service so employees can keep track of their own balances rather than needing to check with management and submit requests directly, making it even easier for everyone in the loop.
4. Software provides ready access to policies and procedures
Some software systems can be set up to hold information about relevant company policies and procedures. That provides line managers with a quick and efficient way to get hold of any information that they need without spending hours looking for it on the company intranet (or even worse, in a filing cabinet!).
5. It helps line managers to make pay recommendations and decisions
An integrated payroll and HR software system provides a single place where the details about someone’s pay history can be held. When the time comes to review an employee’s pay, all of the information is readily available, and the line manager can be confident that they are making recommendations or decisions based on data that is both up to date and accurate.
6. Key reports can be pulled together quickly, easily and securely
Inaccurate reports, or the inability to get hold of the information quickly, can cause problems in all kinds of ways. If there’s an issue potentially manifesting itself, line managers need to be able to swiftly review the data behind it in order to decide on the most appropriate next steps. But if information and records have to be sent between departments, that slows the process down and carries with it a real risk of data being lost or emails accidentally going to the wrong recipient which can be a cause of pressure and worry for line managers.
A central system means there’s no need for that information to be sent, keeping it safe and secure. HR and payroll software data can be pulled together quickly and reports run according to what the line manager needs, enabling them to plan and make decisions in an accurate and timely way.
Do you want to make life easier for your line managers by giving them all the information they need relating to payroll and HR in one central system? It can save them a lot of time and having direct access to employee records in one place means they don’t need to keep on submitting questions to Payroll and HR teams, removing bureaucracy and helping those functions save time too. Contact us today to find out more.