Enhancing Employee Efficiency with an HR Mobile App

Human resources is one of the most important departments in any business. Yet, so many HR departments struggle with efficiency issues. Paper piles up, phones ring off of the hook. Emails go unanswered. HR inefficiencies can lead to more significant problems in the workplace. Your employees need HR to gain access to crucial information related to things like their compensation, benefits, schedule, training, and more. 

The inability to access this information can create disgruntled employees and low productivity. Some companies have HR functionalities and information accessible through a web portal but that’s really not enough. The best way to have an efficient HR department is with a workforce mobile app. Mobile apps make it easy for human resources to improve internal communication with its deskless workforce. 80% of workers across the globe are considered “deskless.”

Your staff, deskless or not, needs to be kept up to date and have access to critical information in real-time. 

97% of HR leaders plan to increase technology investments in the coming year. So if your company can’t adapt, your problems will only get worse.

In this guide, I’ll explain why you need to have an HR mobile app for your business. I’ll also go through some real-life examples for how you can use this technology to improve efficiencies. 

Benefits of Building an HR Mobile App

The advantages of an HR mobile app are seemingly endless. But to simplify things, I’ve segmented these benefits into five main categories.

• Convenience
• Productivity
• Engagement
• Accuracy
• Speed

Check out my detailed explanation of these perks below. 

Convenience

81% of Americans own a smartphone. 61% of people check their phones within 5 minutes of waking up. 

As you and I both know, mobile technology has taken over our lives. Your employees are using their phones every day, even while they’re working.

In fact, more than 90% of people use their smartphones at work.

Since your staff is already using these iOS and Android devices on a daily basis, it only makes sense to provide valuable HR resources to them via mobile as well. 

Yes—theoretically, they could use a smartphone to access an HR web portal. But that won’t deliver a good user experience, so they probably won’t take advantage of it. 

90% of mobile time is spent in apps. This is how your staff wants to access information. 

Plus, most of your workers may not have another option. We have already established that the majority of the workforce is deskless. Think about all of your staff that aren’t tied to a desk. How are they supposed to access HR information?

Deskless employees, remote workers, and staff who are on the go need a mobile solution for human resources. 

Being forced to visit the HR office, make a call, or send an email isn’t nearly as convenient as opening an app on the devices that they constantly each day. 

Engagement

Employee engagement can be challenging to manage. Regardless of your industry or business size, engagement can make or break the success of your company.

Communication is the key to success at every level of your business. But it’s even more important for HR departments since the information being provided is so crucial to the lives of your staff.

So many businesses fall short here, and it’s causing major engagement issues with their employees. According to a recent survey, 80% of the US workforce says that poor communication is causing them stress at work.

This stress is impacting performance. In fact, 63% of workers in the same study said that they’ve wanted to quit because ineffective communication has hindered their ability to do their jobs. 

A mobile app can drastically boost engagement at work. It’s also one of the best ways to improve internal communications and performance management with field employees.

Check out this case study on Preferred Materials. 

To summarize, only 20% of their 1,875 employees were office-based. It was challenging for them to communicate with remote staff, and their HR department couldn’t keep up with the calls and emails. 

The solution—Preferred Materials built an HR mobile app, which resulted in a 300% engagement increase.  

Productivity

Low engagement results in reduced employee productivity as well. This is a significant problem since it directly impacts the bottom line of your business.

If your staff isn’t getting as much work done, then it costs you more money to operate, which results in lower profit margins. Depending on your scenario, poor productivity could even cause an operational loss.

70% of employees feel overwhelmed at work due to broken communication methods. That’s why your company needs to adapt to new technology.

However, mobile workers say they could get half of their work done using just a smartphone. 

By giving your staff access to work-related information in a mobile app, it will automatically boost their productivity.

Without an app, your staff is forced to connect with HR by either calling, emailing, or physically visiting the human resources office. This takes too much time away from more important tasks. 

It creates productivity problems for the workers seeking information, as well as your HR staff that needs to provide them with assistance. 

An app essentially kills two birds with one stone. Your staff will be able to access information more efficiently without causing any bottlenecks in the HR department via phone or email. 

Accuracy

An HR mobile app reduces the risk of human error. If you aren’t using technology to streamline your HR department, there’s a good chance that you’ve run into problems like this in the past.

In terms of scheduling, vacation time, and time tracking, an app will be much more efficient. You can even automate certain workflows.

Your staff, management, and HR team will all have access to everyone’s schedule. So there won’t be any miscommunication about who was supposed to be working or when they were supposed to arrive.

If someone wants to request vacation time or call in sick, everything can be managed directly within the app. 

This is much more accurate than relying on email correspondence for something so important. If your team has to email their manager for time off, and the manager hasA web-based employee portal is not a substitute for an employee self-service iOS or Android mobile app. Those only perform well from laptop or desktop devices, and we already know that your staff prefers to use their phones. Plus, your team may not even have access to a computer throughout the day.

Feature	Web-Based Portal	Mobile App
Device Compatibility	Best on laptops/desktops	Optimized for smartphones
User Experience	Not user-friendly on phones	Faster and more responsive
Accessibility	Limited without a computer	Accessible anywhere, anytime

Can employees access a web-based portal from their smartphone? Sure. But the experience won’t be user-friendly. Mobile apps are faster and more responsive than mobile websites. 

Examples and Use Cases For an HR Mobile App

The advantages that we’ve just discussed showcase the importance of an HR mobile app. But how can you actually get those benefits?After launching a mobile app using BuildFire’s platform, Praxair saved $480,000 in training costs in just the first eight months of deployment. At this rate, the app will save them $720,000 per year in employee training. 

Time Period	Training Cost Savings
First 8 Months	$480,000
Per Year	$720,000

Granted, not all of you have employee training costs that are this high. But everything is relative. Even if you have 40, 400, or 4,000 employees, saving money and time on employee training will improve your company’s profitability. 

It also makes things easier for your employees and ensures that they are always up to date on any required certifications.