4 HR Activities That Are Wasting Your Time

One of the sacrifices you have to make to keep your business going is your own time. One area of your business that requires a large amount of effort is human resources. Many HR tasks are repetitive but necessary. Business owners like you don’t usually go into business to be HR professionals though.

The hours and days you may be sacrificing on HR could come from your personal time or work time. But these moments could be better spent on strategic components of your business that impact growth — or better yet, with loved ones. So here are the areas that could be taking up your days and our one solution that helps you get time back from all of them. Because at the end of the day, they still need to be done.

1. Securing & Offering Employee Benefits 

Depending on the size and goals of your business, you can look at employee benefits in a couple of ways: as a must-have for everyone or as a strong recruitment tool to get the best talent. According to a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), retention and recruiting are the top reasons companies increase benefits.

But there are a lot of items that go into an employee benefits package. Medical, dental, and vision insurance for one. Then there are 401(k) retirement options, life insurance, long-term disability, and accident insurance to consider.

Curating some or all of the benefits above could take weeks or months when you have to comb through hundreds of options across multiple providers. And based on what you’re able to offer and the cost, this could be a process you go through every year.

2. Handling Payroll, Compliance & Legalities 

There are a lot of rules and regulations that come into play when you run a business, especially in Colorado. And if you don’t understand them, or don’t have an in-house expert who does, you can find yourself in some sticky situations. Paying your employees, staying on top of changing industry regulations, and dealing with tax and legal issues all require a steady hand and the right know-how.

To effectively handle payroll, compliance, and legalities, you need to understand:

• Local, state, and federal laws
• Tax filing requirements
• Proper payroll processing procedures and record-keeping

As you can imagine, each of these areas could require at least one designated HR person to properly support them.

3. Managing HR Operations 

HR is a whole organization unto itself, which means managing HR operations could be a full-time job for multiple people. But many business owners fall into the trap of trying to manage it themselves. The administrative burden of HR is taxing, especially when there are other, equally pressing tasks to prioritize.

Unfortunately, the general, day-to-day HR tasks are usually the first to go when you’re trying to save on time. But these tasks are usually the most important to your employees. Activities like performance reviews, time and attendance tracking, HR policy development, and payroll processing all factor into your HR operations. It might have been a while since you last evaluated these areas, which could mean your HR operations are lacking the foundation you need to hire and retain good employees.

4. Onboarding & Growing Teams 

Finding and hiring top talent is a process on its own. But once you’ve got new recruits ready to join, there are a series of steps that need to be taken to onboard them effectively. Sadly, according to Gallup, only 12% of employees say their organization does a great job of onboarding. Even if you’re doing the best you can with it, chances are that important details are falling through the cracks if you don’t have an onboarding roadmap in place.

Using an HR Partner Can Save Time

It’s hard to assign a dollar value to your time, but needless to say, it’s one of the most valuable things you have. There are ways you can reclaim your time while still ensuring your business runs smoothly. One way is to outsource tasks that aren’t critical for you to actively manage and execute, such as human resources (HR).

Our payroll, compliance, and legal experts take on these responsibilities for you. Instead of trying to understand the intricacies of the tax code or the most recent changes to HIPAA, you can focus your time elsewhere—and breathe easier knowing that those details are in the hands of a trusted partner who specializes in them.

Relying on a partner with a robust human resource information system (HRIS) allows you to store and access HR-related details and expedite important HR tasks—electronically, in one place. You don’t have to hire or enlist other employees to manage HR operations or do it yourself, since your partner and the platform do it for you.

To get more time back in your day, learn more about how an HR partner like us can help and download our guide on HR activities you could let go of. You’ll learn about the activities, all that’s involved in them, and what we can handle for you.