Actually yes, IT can really provide some great value.
In the past month I have come across two software packages that assist companies in staying up to date with IR and HR issues. There may be others that I am not aware of.
In each case their solutions cover recruitment, start-up, performance management and business reporting. They are database applications that provide sample letters and forms for every action, from defining job roles to position descriptions and creation of job ads, through to staff policy and procedure templates and staff review documents, warning letter samples and termination letters. The sample letters and policy documents have, in each case, been carefully put together by IR lawyers so the value of the products appears to be real and significant.
I have not used either product in person so cannot comment on their content, usability or performance.
In each case the applications encourage you to create a folder for each staff member and scan completed versions of the template forms and letters into the system to create a permanent record.
In this way a complete IR/HR profile can be extracted for each employee at a moment's notice.
One of the applications I have seen presented is Key Business Advisors, which is a traditional install-it-on-your-PC solution.
The other is WorkForce Guardian, which is offering a hosted solution on a subscription basis.
Implementing these tools will not give you a complete IR/HR solution for your business, but it will significantly cut down on the time you spend managing the issues and documenting the steps and processes.
With flow charts, organisational charts and more, it will offer enormous benefit and reduce your dependence on outsourced or in-house resources by giving you a well structured central repository with a wealth of information at your fingertips.
You could create all this material with your lawyers but the time effort and expense will be significantly higher than it would be if you made use of one of these solutions where the creation costs have been spread across many clients.
Of course, each of the vendors offers a subscription based update service to ensure this stays current.
Do let me know if you are aware of other products that service the same space. Sharing of information is the key to our shared business success.
David Markus is the founder of Melbourne's IT support company Combo. His focus is on big picture thinking to create value in IT systems for the SME sector.
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