Completely FREE & open-source HR software.
Comprehensive solution to manage all HR challenges in one single place.
Evolving HR management and the benefits of an HRIS/HR software
HR management is not simply maintaining employee records anymore. HRM over the years has evolved into being one of the most important departments helping to direct human resources towards achieving organizational objectives.
At the top of the HRM cycle, increasing competition for the best talent is pushing HR departments to have robust recruitment and onboarding processes. When hiring, it’s necessary to process candidates quickly by avoiding clutter and the possibility of accidentally losing out on applicants as a result of managing recruitment via traditional methods such as email. This is an instance where an HRIS comes into play with recruitment management features that allow you to maintain applicant databases, create workflows, create applicant filtering, add notes, and progress shortlisted candidates in the workflow in just a matter of a few clicks. That is why 78% of hiring managers feel that a recruitment system (ATS) has helped them acquire the best talent much faster than traditional methods (G2).
Afterward, when the candidate is hired, it’s important to have a culture that ensures the employee will be happy and will progress in the career. Studies have found a direct impact on employee retention and performance when a positive culture is present in an organization (Forbes). One aspect an HRIS can help in developing a positive culture is through performance appraisals that allow HR teams to get timely insights about employees and take prompt action on those who are struggling with so much less time and effort than paper-based performance appraisals.
In addition to that, an HRIS also allows to maintain digital employee databases instead of excel sheets, allow employees to easily apply for PTO and supervisors to approve/reject the request in a few clicks, allow employees to change personal information through self-service facilities, maintain a corporate directory with contact information of all employees for easy access, track employee time to identify needs for productivity improvements, generate reports to get key insights on employees and so much more.
Why free HR software?
Two of the common roadblocks holding back most small and medium scale businesses from adopting an HRIS is the inability to pay for an advanced HRIS or the reluctance within the management to adopt an HRIS. However, what most organizations don’t know about an HRIS are the multiple savings that it can generate for the company in addition to the benefits mentioned above. Below are a few such takeouts from the OrangeHRM ROI document.
Save $16,000 and 500 hours per year on people management
Save $30,000 per year on training costs
Save $14,900 on recruitment costs
Save $768 per employee and 120 hours per year on manual payroll errors
While these savings are very appealing, you still might not be able to afford a fully-fledged HRIS as a growing organization. That is where free HR software can help you capitalize on these benefits without requiring any financial investment. Therefore, free HR software can be recommended as a potential starting point for small and medium businesses who wish the digitize the HR department.
How to select the best free HR software
In most cases, free software is restricted to a certain number of users or has a small range of features. On the other hand, when it comes to free HR-related software, most of them are stand-alone software for different functions such as recruitment, employee management, performance review, etc. requiring you to use multiple systems to run your HR department.
However, the OrangeHRM Starter version which is a completely free and open source software HRMS covers all these areas such as employee management, performance management, time tracking, PTO management, HR administration, recruitment, and reporting in one single place. On top of that, as open-source software, OrangeHRM Starter is free for life and allows organizations to add up to any amount of employees as users to the system allowing any organization to utilize the capabilities of powerful HR software to develop people and achieve objectives.
OrangeHRM provides the options to use Starter free-of-charge on the cloud or to be downloaded via the website.
Sign up for free cloud hosting of the OrangeHRM Starter here.
Download OrangeHRM Starter here.