The Benefits of Automation for HR Compliance

Why is Automation So Important for Wage and Labor Law Compliance? Data Collection and Analysis

Positive news about job growth has been prevalent lately. Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 242,000 new jobs, and the unemployment rate was reported at 4.9%, the lowest since 2008.

HR compliance

This economic strength is also reflected in the world of Human Capital Management. In a just-completed Brandon Hall Group survey, 86% of organizations expected their workforce management technology budget to increase or stay the same over the next year and a half.

However, in a separate, earlier survey, only 32% of companies surveyed planned on investing in new software to help them manage wage and labor law compliance, and 19% of organizations still use manual measurement and reporting of employee actions such as punching in, time-off requests, time-to-hire, etc. rather than using an automated system.

Why is automation so important in wage and labor law compliance? Generally speaking, automation is one of the easier HCM practices to quantify the value of because there is a direct line from hours saved by an automated process and the former spend on that process in terms of employee hours.

With legal/compliance automation, there’s another large factor justfying automation, and that is in the data collection and analysis. With much of the upcoming legislative changes (or proposed changes), the new rules are about what type of data is gathered, how it’s classified, stored, and what it can then be used for. All of those types of changing regulations hinge on an organization’s ability to comprehensively gather data in specific ways, and then to ensure that there are the fewest possible errors in that data.

The other strength of automation in terms of compliance has to do with the analysis. By using techniques such as cluster analysis in large sets of data, pay discrepancies can be found that might otherwise have escaped even a trained human practitioner, as sometimes these discrepancies are not noticeable except as a pattern over time, or as a slight difference that only affects a specific group.

Automation is one of the great features of modern HCM systems, and not just for its time-saving potential. It also allows for the type of data collection and analysis that is intrinsic to the legalities of modern HR.

Cliff Stevenson, Principal Analyst, Workforce Management, Brandon Hall Group

@CliffordDarrell

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Mike Cooke

Chief Executive Officer of Brandon Hall Group Mike Cooke Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Mike Cooke was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AC Growth. Mike held leadership and executive positions for the majority of his career, at which he was responsible for steering sales and marketing teams to drive results and profitability. His background includes more than 15 years of experience in sales, marketing, management, and operations in the research, consulting, software and technology industries. Mike has extensive experience in sales, marketing and management having worked for several early high-growth emerging businesses and has implemented technology systems to support various critical sales, finance, marketing and client service functions. He is especially skilled in organizing the sales and service strategy to fully support a company’s growth strategy. The concept of growth was an absolute to Mike and a motivator in starting AC Growth, in order to help organizations achieve research driven results. Most recently, Mike was the VP and General Manager of Field Operations at Bersin & Associates, a global analyst and consulting services firm focused on all areas of enterprise learning, talent management and talent acquisition. Tasked with leading the company’s global expansion, Mike led all sales operations worldwide. During Mike’s tenure, the company has grown into a multi-national firm, conducting business in over 45 countries with over 4,500 multi-national organizations. Mike started his career at MicroVideo Learning Systems in 1992, eventually holding a senior management position and leading all corporate sales before founding Dynamic Minds. Mike was CEO and Co-Founder of Dynamic Minds, a custom developer of software programs, working with clients like Goldman Sachs, Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill and Merrill Lynch. Also, Mike worked for Oddcast, a leading provider of customer experience and marketing solutions, where he held a senior management position leading the company into new markets across various industries. Mike also serves on the Advisory Board for Carbon Solutions America, an independent sustainability consulting and carbon management firm that specializes in the design and implementation of greenhouse reduction and sustainability plans as well as managing the generation of carbon and renewal energy and energy efficiency credits. Mike attended University of Phoenix, studying Business Administration and Finance. He has also completed executive training at the Chicago Graduate School of Business in Chicago, IL.