Small business employee management, or human resource (HR) management, is a strategic process to ensure all workers perform their job roles to the best of their abilities to help the small business achieve its goals and gain an advantage over its competitors.
Employee management teams must build healthy relationships with employees, understand their roles and responsibilities, monitor their daily labour, create a positive work environment, and offer constructive feedback.
With HR budgets modestly increasing, businesses are being encouraged to embrace these five transformative and user-friendly technology trends that will assist small businesses with their employee management in 2024:
Artificial Intelligence
PwC estimates that by the mid-2030s, automation could impact up to 30% of jobs. However, as a people-first team, human input is crucial to maintaining accuracy, emotion, and understanding.
However, as artificial intelligence (AI) gets more competent, the amount of mundane HR tasks that can be automated, such as payroll and data entry, will increase.
Hostinger’s AI statistics project that by 2030, approximately 30% of work hours within the US economy could be automated using AI. So, here are some ways AI can lessen the workload for employee management teams:
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- AI chatbots can immediately provide employees with the information they need, which enhances employee experience (EX) and leaves HR teams with fewer emails to answer daily.
- AI tools such as Olivia can transform the recruitment process by looking through CVs, analyzing candidates based on their education and experience, and interacting with them.
- Machine learning algorithms can help HR teams determine how employees can best be utilized to benefit small business operations.
- Chat GPT and other natural language processing (NLP) tools can create a job description, content for recruitment marketing, or an interview question bank.
Flexible Working Tools
78% of organizations allow hybrid working, whilst just 8% don’t, and 13% said it wasn’t possible in their job or sector.
However, being able to offer remote and hybrid working arrangements comes with a unique set of challenges for small businesses, as HR teams are tasked with keeping an eye on employees spread across the US or even the world.
In 2024, HR managers should consider using tools like TinyPulse to send out regular pulse surveys and gather employee feedback that can be used to improve the flexible workplace.
In addition, some small businesses are now using advanced employee monitoring tools that track employees’ engagement and what they do when working from home.
Here are some tools you can use to monitor the productivity of your employees:
- Blip by BrightHR offers clock-in functionality so managers can track who’s in, off, or on a break.
- Insightful monitors the time employees spend productively on their workstations.
- Connecteam monitors remote workforces using online forms and checklists.
- Kickidler allows managers to monitor multiple employees’ computer screens simultaneously.
- Monitask allows managers to analyze an employee’s computer usage.
In addition, you could implement hot desk booking software to help maximize your office space for those who want to come into the office.
(Image Source: Unsplash)
Telehealth Mental Health Services
According to Deloitte data, 52% of employees don’t feel their employer offers enough support for their mental well-being.
Following the pandemic and the continuance of remote working, employee management teams should focus on the link between loneliness and declining mental health. Many apps have been developed to help teams build relationships from home, including Zoom, Slack, or Teams.
HR teams should also give employees unlimited access to telehealth mental health services such as Talkspace and BetterHelp.
In addition to telehealth services, employee management teams should implement training programs for business managers to understand better how to deal with the mental health of their employees. This is important because missing work is estimated to cost the US economy $47.6 billion annually in lost productivity.
Cybersecurity Tools
As the workplace becomes increasingly digital, cybersecurity will be an ever-growing concern.
With 47% of small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) falling victim to cyber-attacks in 2022, HR teams should ensure that employee and company data is as secure as possible.
Human error is responsible for 52% of attacks on SMBs, so employee management teams should lay out a clear set of policies for data security and facilitate training for all those involved with the business.
Here are some cybersecurity tools for small businesses:
- Endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions make detecting devices that connect to your network easy.
- Domain Name System (DNS) protection prevents employees from accessing dangerous websites. DNS’ can also filter out content you do not want infiltrating your business and content you would prefer your employees not to access.
- Antivirus software can catch malware attacks by checking computers for evidence of known threats.
- Email gateway security can prevent undesirable emails from entering your employees’ accounts. This includes spam emails and more direct threats, such as emails containing malware.
In addition, HR managers will need to support employees who lose their personal information to a cyberattack to minimize the harm caused and maximize employee retention.
(Image Source: Unsplash)
Recruitment Tools
A new year typically brings a surge in hiring activities. Small businesses can take advantage of various AI tools that can assist with recruitment, saving you time and eliminating repetitive tasks so that you can focus on other activities.
For example, conversational AI technology Mya can interact with candidates via text to determine their start date and salary requirements. Based on preprogrammed criteria, Mya can also select candidates who should be moved to the next part of the interview process.
There’s a 36% increase in applications for a job post if a recruiting video accompanies it. So, VideoMyJob is an excellent software for small businesses to create branded video job ads. The mobile app guides you on what to say and helps you record a professional-looking video of you chatting about the job opening.
In addition, with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) a priority in 2024, small businesses should use recruiting tools that help them source more diverse talent and minimize bias in their hiring process. Here are some tools:
- Pinpoint makes applications and resumes anonymous.
- Fetcher improves diverse recruitment with the help of AI.
- ClearCompany tracks diversity metrics across the employee lifecycle.
- Eightfold AI uses AI to eliminate hiring bias.
Gianna Driver, chief HR officer at Exabeam, said: “I would encourage people teams to remain steadfast in DEIB prioritization and also continue to weave the narrative around DEIB into all of the work that we do.”
Wrapping Up
2023’s State of People Strategy Report found that HR teams are a rock for employees and executives to lean on.
So, small business employee management teams should lean on these brilliant tools and technologies to lessen the workload and create a better employee experience.
