Why you shouldn't be afraid to use project management software for HR

The human resources department is basically the backbone of a business. 

They hire new recruits, manage employee requests, onboard new employees, and ensure every department is working well together. But, with so many tasks to juggle, things can quickly become chaotic and HR projects can slip through the cracks.

Luckily, there’s a solution: project management for HR. 

While project management software is often used by teams that run time-sensitive projects with multiple stakeholders, it can be hugely beneficial for HR departments too. More often than not, HR departments are managing several tasks and trying to keep team members updated.

Unfortunately, HR doesn't always consider a project management tool first. But once an HR team can see the benefits, it starts making a whole lot more sense.

Let’s dive into why HR teams shouldn’t shy away from project management software, and how to use it effectively.

The benefits of project management software for HR teams 

A survey from HR Executives found 51% of HR leaders think their department lacked the appropriate staffing to get through their workload. 

While Hiring additional team members is certainly an option, it doesn't always solve the problem of more efficient workflows for your team. Instead, teams need better processes in place to complete projects on time and on budget.

A surefire way to optimize your workflow and processes to save time and minimize workload stress is with a tech toolkit. No modern-day team is complete without one and the HR department is no different.

Gone are the days of disorganized spreadsheets and lengthy email chains. Instead, there’s a much easier way to manage the hiring process, work requests, and other HR-heavy activities.

The key benefits of project management for HR departments include: 

• Creating a standardized and streamlined hiring process

• Tracking employee productivity and performance levels

• Storing and organizing information on new hires and existing staff

• Tracking costs and managing budgets and forecasts

• Tying the cost of HR efforts to actual business outcomes 

Systemized processes and a central place to store all HR-relevant information make it quick and easy for team members to access what they need.  This eliminates the clunky back-and-forth of never-ending email chains.

It also prevents the chance of documents, interview questions, and resumes getting lost in the scroll. 

What project management in HR looks like in action

HR projects span different departments and activities. They’re not only reserved for the hiring process or tackling internal disputes.

Here are some scenarios where project management software can be a huge help, as well as some examples of what it might look like in action. 

1. The recruitment process 

The recruitment process is the bread and butter of HR activities, but it’s a complex and highly collaborative process that requires input from multiple stakeholders and internal hiring managers. 

Not only do you have to wrap your head around requirements from department leaders, but you have to help create job descriptions, screen candidates, organize and host interviews, make offers, follow up, and onboard new hires.

That's a lot of moving parts. And even more so, that's a ton of internal people on your team involved in your day-to-day.

Trying to plan all of this manually with, say, a spreadsheet, an internal document, or just by email leaves you prone to missing certain steps. A project management tool brings a sense of order to what can be a chaotic process. 

Even though Chat software isn't the only answer, it can help you create certain channels and share important files. What's better is when your chat software is connected directly to your project management solution.

Teamwork makes it easy to move from chat, to file sharing, to project tasks. Its internal chat, which comes with the option for video chat, is a great pairing resource to keep employees connected with the same tool.

Keeping track of the full prospect lifecycle

When HR teams are solely in charge of recruiting, it can be a challenge to keep track of the applicate's process. There are awesome tools like Greenhouse and JazzHR that help involve stakeholders and hiring managers.

However, these tools can be expensive. And sometimes they do not make it easy to keep track of the applicant's workflow and your day-to-day projects.

With Teamwork, you can create easy-to-use Kanban boards to track the progress of an applicant through the entire process. The drag and drop interface makes it easy to add communication, move cards through the stages, and keep track of where each candidate is in the hiring process.

You can also manage the intricacies of the recruitment process, like creating interview question checklists, and scheduling additional rounds of interviews.

2. New-hire onboarding

Once you’ve made a hire, you have to bring the new recruit up to speed on company policies, processes, and workflows pretty quickly.

Aside from the standard office tour and meet-and-greets, you need to familiarize new employees with the tools you use, current projects, and the formalities of submitting work requests.

Keeping track of the training and onboarding tasks a new hire has completed, and how much they have left to do, is a tricky task. Project management software makes it much easier by:

• Creating interactive checklists that can be shared with new hires.

• Adding training documents and onboarding videos to relevant cards.

• Directing recruits to a centralized dashboard filled with onboarding forms, training, and information. 

With Teamwork, you can also assign tasks to new hires and add various resources related to your company’s personalized onboarding process. Whether you need to match new hires with a mentor, encourage one-on-ones, connect with colleagues, or provide a place to share updates from senior management, it's all right there. 

3. Managing work requests and outside resources

HR teams are constantly dealing with work requests from employees, including short-term leave requests, company training, 30-60-90 reviews, co-working issues, or swag requests.

Sifting through and manually reviewing them can be a time-consuming process. It also takes HR staff away from other, more pressing activities. 

Instead, HR teams can use project management software to get team workload overviews and reallocate resources to those who have the ability to take on the work. By seeing how individual tasks are progressing across your team, you get an immediate idea of how to fix any potential bottlenecks.

Not only does this give you a complete overview of how many requests are in action at any given time, but it also keeps employees updated about the status of their requests (which means no more incessant follow-ups).

Many HR departments also work with recruiting firms to help find talent. Luckily, Teamwork offers free client users so your outside partners can join on specific projects.

Additionally, there can be confusion around billing and tracking total hours worked by recruiting sourcers that spend a lot of time searching for potential talent. Teamwork's timing tracking feature makes it easy to determine the billable hours and ensure they're paid.

Project time tracking doesn't have to feel like an overwatching eye on team members. Instead, time tracking gives you real data for billable hours, which helps you understand how much an outside partner will cost for certain work.

4. Organizing and storing internal resources

HR departments are in charge of a lot of documents, including health and safety guides, staffing plans, salary structures, and holiday schedules. 

Keeping this information safe and in one easily accessible place is key to streamlining each activity. Imagine spending half a workday trying to find next month’s holiday schedule because it’s been saved in the wrong Google Drive folder.

Project management software allows HR teams to create a central database of important documents that’s easily searchable and accessible by anyone with access rights.

This makes the world a lot easier when searching across different project files and documents all within the same tool. Having everything in one place reduces the chance of duplicate copies and versions that aren’t up-to-date. 

As you can see, there are a variety of HR projects that could benefit from project management tools. These are the most prevalent HR activities, but software can be implemented for many other processes, including training, merging, and disciplinary action. 

Using a project management tool to manage, review, and accept work requests removes the need for cluttered email chains or buried threads in a sea of direct messages. It makes it far easier to keep track of who’s asking for what and where each request is in the process.

Your new favorite HR software might be under your nose

Stop manically juggling multiple tasks, manually implementing repetitive processes, and losing important information. 

You’re too valuable for that.

Instead, start creating reusable systems, effortlessly tracking processes, and storing resources all in one place.

Using project management software for HR projects is not as far-fetched as it seems. Try a tool like Teamwork to see how we can help you streamline and systemize all your daily activities to speed up workflows and eliminate pesky mistakes that could be extremely costly.