Since the beginning of human civilization, human resource management has been crucial for the success of any collective work. From the first industrial revolution, its professional demand reached a high level that continues today. The widespread spread of Internet technology has ushered in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

As a result, HR managers today don’t rely only on traditional but digital technologies for strategic and effective human resource management. They also depend much on online online based resources and helpful materials to gain knowledge and enhance their skill sets.

If you want to build your career as an HR professional and don’t know where to start, this article will help you learn how to empower yourself with digital HR resources.

What Does the Digital HR Resource Mean?

Digital HR resources refer to the collection of online and electronic-based tools and platforms by which a manager can enhance his HR management capabilities and execute the necessary tasks. These resources may include a wide variety of solutions, including HR software, tracking systems, analytical tools, handbooks, etc.

These resources facilitate communication, training, and performance feedback so HR managers can more effectively engage employees in the workplace and bring out the best in them. The recent development of digital HR resources supports remote work culture and flexible arrangements.

Types of Digital HR Resources

As mentioned in the above section, digital HR resources may include various solutions. In this section, we will discuss the main types of these solutions in full detail and provide suitable examples. Please keep reading to explore them.

1. ERP Software

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. It is a type of software that covers a suite of applications that HR managers and business organizations can use to manage and automate various activities. ERPs help handle not only human resources but also departments like finance, supply chain, customer relationships, manufacturing, etc. 

In the case of human resource management (HRM), ERPs include various modules to handle tasks like recruitment & applicant tracking, onboarding, employee records management, payroll processing, administering employee benefits, attendance tracking, and analytics monitoring.

Most ERP software today complies with labor laws and regulations by maintaining accurate records and necessary audit documentation. This not only mitigates risks associated with non-compliance but also reduces human errors that we usually do mistakenly. Thus, it can improve trust and transparency within the organization.

Moreover, the reporting capabilities of the ERP software ensure all the necessary information of a workforce into a single dashboard. This supports data-driven decision-making. Some most popular ERP software in the market at this moment are WP ERP, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, Sage Business Cloud X3, and Bitrix24.

For more information, explore this blog post on ten top enterprise resource planning software (ERP).

2. HR Management Systems

Some people conflate ERP with HR Management Systems, which is actually confusing. There is a considerable difference between them, although they may overlap in some functionalities. While ERP helps handle various tasks required by an organization, HR Management Systems focus only on human resource management.

Its main focus is to automate and streamline regular HR activities so that HR professionals can easily manage the employee lifecycle. For example, Workday is a popular HR Management System. It provides a great collection of tools and modules for managing HR processes, like talent management and workforce planning, so respective organizations can properly manage their human capital.

3. Payroll Software

Payroll software is a specific application designed to automate the calculation and distribution of employee salaries, tax deductions, and other financial benefits and to maintain labor laws. There are many payroll software that offer direct deposit options.

This means salaries are automatically deposited to employees’ accounts electronically. This upholds convenience and security. Besides, most payroll software is able to calculate employee taxes, ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal tax laws.

What’s more, the payroll software covers reporting capabilities by which HR and finance teams can generate payroll summaries, tax reports, and employee earnings statements. Gusto is a famous payroll software that you can explore.

Learn how to manage employee salaries with payroll plugins.

4. Recruitment Platforms

Recruitment platforms are specialized job sites like Indeed and GulfTalent. They serve as online platforms that facilitate various stages of recruitment. They help you source interested candidates and onboard the newly hired ones, making the entire process more efficient and effective.

HR managers can create job postings, including detailed requirements and benefits for the respective posts. After that, they can distribute them across multiple job sites, social channels, and company websites. If necessary, they can boost the reach of those posts through advertisements to attract a diverse pool of candidates.

Today, most recruitment platforms utilize AI and machine learning technologies to screen and quickly find the resumes of the most qualified personnel based on predefined criteria. This feature significantly reduces the time needed to manually review lots of resumes and decide on the right set of candidates.

5. eBook & Online Courses

eBooks and online courses are two proven sets of digital resources to help HR managers grow with knowledge and skills on diverse topics. eBooks can enrich your psychology with the theoretical aspects of human resource management, professional development, and case studies.

Besides, most online certification courses are designed to help you grow your managerial skills through hands-on experience and case studies. Together, both of them provide a flexible and cost-effective way for HR professionals to sharpen their skills.

Benefits of Empowering Yourself with Digital HR Resources

As an HR professional, you already know the benefits of empowering yourself with Digital HR Resources. However, some of its benefits are explained below. Do keep reading them.

a. Increased Efficiency and Productivity

Successful people always follow tricks and strategies to accomplish long-range tasks quickly. Once you know the ticks, you can also perform many tasks quickly by automating repetitive tasks, such as payroll processing, recruitment, and employee record management.

Access to digital HR resources can simplify many of these long workflows, allowing you to increase productivity and organizational efficiency successfully.

b. Access to Real-Time Information

HR teams can make viable, timely decisions only when they have real-time information about employee performance, track records, and crucial metrics. By using HR tools like WP ERP, Workday, and Gusto, you can keep yourself 24/7 aware of the performances of your employees and take informed decisions.

c. Know Market Trends

Like any other industry, the HR Industry also comes with new trends over time. If you compare the time from the first industrial revolution to the present, you can easily understand these trends.

For example, remote jobs became a big trend during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, hybrid job structures are also a trend. Also, tracking employees’ performance without disturbing them and leaving room for doubt is also a trend now.

d. Employee Engagement and Satisfaction

When you follow the natural trends and employees are treated as they should be according to their performance and track record, they tend to become more loyal and engaged in the workplace. This satisfaction leads to improved retention rates and a highly motivated workforce.

e. Improved Communication and Feedback

Whenever you think of working with multiple human resources in an organized manner, there is no substitute for an effective communication system to achieve your desired goals. Digital HR software like Slack, WP ERP, and BambooHR have honestly developed the communication system.

Most of these tools facilitate multiple communication methods/systems, like one-to-one communication, emailing, note submission, etc. Thus, these tools help ensure the employees’ voices are heard at the top end.

Best Selling eBook on Human Resource Management

In one section above, we have briefly discussed the importance of eBooks as digital HR resources. Now, in this part, we will list some highly rated eBooks on human resource management that you can explore to grow your knowledge base.

1. Human Resource Management Essentials You Always Wanted To Know

2. Human Resource Management

3. The Big Book of HR

4. Making Sense of Change Management

5. Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations

Best Online HR Certification Programs to Have a Solid Foundation

As we said before, you need hands-on human resource management experience alongside theoretical knowledge. In this section, we’ll list several top HR courses and certification programs so you can have a solid foundation on this topic.

1. HRCI Human Resource Associate

In this course, you’ll learn the techniques for recruiting and retaining the most talented people for your organization. It helps you understand how performance management and feedback can strongly impact employee relations. Finally, you will learn about various benefit programs and how they impact workers in the organization.

2. Human Resource Management: HR for People Managers Specialization

This course is run by the University of Minnesota, a prestigious educational institute. Things you will learn in this course are:

• The alternative techniques to human resource management and the diversity of factors that motivate workers.
• Best practices in hiring and rewarding organizational employees.
• Common mistakes HR professionals make and how to avoid them.

3. Human Resources Analytics

This course is conducted by the University of California, which is also a prestigious educational institution. This course covers four modules. They are:

• HR metric life cycle
• Staffing, training, and compensation
• Employee relations and the overall human resources organization
• Building your case and creating action

4. The Manager’s Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Managing People at Work

This course is run and managed by the University of London. You’ll have hands-on experience in this course on how to manage your organizational people strategically. Things you will learn in this course are:

• How to conduct good interviews to recruit the best people
• How to lead people and make good decisions
• A well-designed framework for performance management
• Finally, how to manage conflicts in the workplace

Conclusion

Development is a continuous process. Once you halt, your development stumbles, and you soon become powerless. And again, empowering oneself with digital HR resources is a transformative step that takes your capabilities to the next level so you can drive organizational success.

By following the guide and utilizing the tools described above, you can surely simplify your human resource management system, access real-time information, and make informed decisions that can positively impact the growth of your organization.

Hope you enjoyed this discussion. If you feel like we have missed any important information in this article, we request you to mention it in the comment section below.