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HR Case Management: Benefits and...

HR Case Management: Benefits and Best Practices

Written by Rhonda Gardner

8 minutes read

A key function of any HR department is managing the cases that are submitted to the department. As HR has evolved over the years, case management has become critical to providing a positive employee experience. A dedicated HR case management software is an indispensable part of reliable HR case management. Let’s look at different types of HR cases, the benefits of HR case management software, and some HR case management best practices.

Contents
What is HR case management?
Types of HR cases
Benefits of HR case management software
HR case management best practices

What is HR case management?

HR case management is the process by which the HR departments resolve submit inquiries and questions that employees submit to them. Typically, the inquiries and requests are submitted to and managed within an HR case management system, which is a technological solution to improve case management efficiency. Within such a system, employees are able to track how their queries are being resolved and by whom.

Having a good Human Resources case management process is a part of effective HR service delivery, and HR shared services.

Types of HR cases

HR cases are queries or issues employees may encounter that they need HR to resolve. Some of these can be related to:

Onboarding – New employees often have many questions about the organization, key HR processes and procedures, policies, and benefits as they begin their journey into a new organization. HR case management software is a great tool to answer their questions and provide a positive employee experience as their journey commences.
Benefits – This function also becomes more efficient using case management software. There are many questions that arise, ranging from Open Enrollment to processing claims and changing dependents. Investing in case management software will help HR and benefits specialists have standard questions answered easily and quickly, so they can focus on resolving more complex issues.
- Leave – Managing leave can become complicated as each employee’s life situation is unique and can change without notice. However, with case management software, the HR team members can address each employee’s unique needs promptly and in compliance with statutory requirements.
Employee grievances – Employee relations cases can also be complicated. Employees are usually trained and coached, so they collaborate professionally and cordially with their peers. However, there are still instances where Employee Relations specialists or the HR function must intervene to resolve disputes between employees. Case management software is a critical tool for ER specialists to manage and resolve grievances in a timely and professional manner.
Policies & procedures – There are always questions from employees that sound like, ‘What should we do in this scenario?’ and “How should we do it?” There are usually policies and guidelines that can answer these questions. Case management software can help provide the answers or guide employees to FAQs stored within the system.
Performance – Employees may want to know how their performance is being measured and if there are compensatory benefits associated with their performance, like merit increases and bonuses. This is another type of query that your organization can quickly address through case management software.
Payroll & taxes – HR case management system helps payroll specialists focus on payroll administration by providing some documented responses. It also creates pockets of time for them to resolve those complex problems that do arise and need special attention.

Benefits of HR case management software

One of the critical functions of HR is to provide excellent service to employees. Some of the queries and problems that come to HR are simple, and some are quite complex. As a result, these issues often have different prioritization levels and different anticipated resolution dates.

In large organizations, managing the volume and complexity of queries coming to HR necessitates having HR case management software to ensure consistency and accuracy in resolving the cases. We’ve summarized the benefits of HR case management software in the table below:

Immediate access	The software gives immediate access to HR. Employees do not have to wait for a meeting with HR to ask a question or communicate a concern.
Status tracking	HR case management technology enables employees as well as HR to track the status of each case by giving them ticketing numbers.
Prioritization	Cases can be prioritized and assigned through the system. This helps HR address a myriad of issues in a timely and efficient manner. A harassment complaint may be more critical to address than adding a dependent to a benefit plan. However, adding the dependent can be quickly addressed and removed from the queue, so there is more time and resources to address the harassment complaint.
Enabling rapid escalation	It is easy to pass cases to other employees, teams, or management with all the information needed already there. This is critical to providing a positive employee experience. Cases that linger with an inexperienced HR employee not only delay the cases from being resolved but can make the resolution of the case more complicated than it needs to be. An HR case management software can prevent this by ensuring it goes to the right HR person with the requisite experience to efficiently resolve the case.
Grievance reporting	Investigations may become more manageable as employees are provided with a standard template to describe and communicate complaints. When all the information is accessible in one place in a standard format, HR can respond with a customized response to each complaint.
Workflow automation	The technology solution reduces repetitive questions by supporting FAQs and HR knowledge base that your employees can easily access, defining workflows of different case types. This frees up the time of the HR team to focus on those issues that do need more in-depth analysis.
Improving collaboration	Multiple team members can collaborate to resolve complex cases as they all have access to the same information at the same time.

HR case management best practices

1. Choose a reliable HR case management software

Your choice depends on your needs. However, there are a couple of universal features and capabilities that you should consider for your system. Look for systems with easy-to-use UI, scalable, allowing for integrations and different levels of access. It is a key part of your digital employee experience. Which are the best HR case management solutions? Here are some you can look into:

ServiceNow – This platform may eliminate frustration and improve employee satisfaction with efficient, intelligent services. It provides efficient service to employees with ServiceNow HR Service Delivery. It may use fewer resources to serve more employees by minimizing repetitive tasks with automated workflows and case management. The platform manages lifecycle events like onboarding and offboarding across multiple departments. ServiceNow enterprise-wide workflows increase efficiency and provide full visibility of the entire process.

HR Acuity – HR Acuity is a technology platform specifically built for employee relations and investigations management. Organizations can build a better workplace by easily performing thorough and comprehensive fact-finding into allegations of employee conduct, minimizing legal and financial risks. The platform includes tools for consistent documentation, search and reporting, and post-hire and exit interviews.

AdviserPlus – A cloud-based technology solution that revolutionizes the management of employee relations processes for HR, line managers, and employees. An innovative technology that provides HR, line managers, and employees with easy access to the right ER tools at the right time to support taking the necessary action with confidence, delivering efficiencies, reducing risk, and capturing data to feed actionable insight.

Leena AI – This software offers an AI-powered HR assistant providing instant responses to employee queries, improving employee experience. Leena AI is available on multiple platforms and channels of communication. It uses standard platform UI to minimize confusion and the best user experience. The tool can communicate with multiple employees at the same time and eliminates the waiting between asking a question and receiving an answer.

Mihi – Mihi meets all your global Human Capital Management (HCM) needs in one system. It is a unique HCM solution where country-specific labor, HR, benefits, and data privacy requirements are pre-built to keep you compliant with local laws while giving your employees a robust self-service tool to manage leave, time and attendance, and more. Mihi’s user-friendly modules make it easy for employees to manage their day-to-day needs while the system logs all critical data and makes it available to HR.

iCasework – iCasework allows your HR team to effectively log, manage and analyze their casework, ensuring processes are handled consistently and within time scales. The solution also enables employees and line managers to log and track a wide range of HR requests, from general inquiries to requests to retire. Intelligent use of the solution’s self-service features through web-based staff portals as well as mobile devices enables significant efficiency gains.

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2. Onboard your employees properly

If you’re changing your HR case management system or when onboarding new employees, you need to adequately train your workforce to use the system. If you don’t, employees will be bombarding HR with questions; questions may go to the wrong person or remain unresolved.

Proper onboarding empowers employees to make use of the system for self-service, for raising questions/cases, and empowers HR to provide quality customized service.

3. Ensure different levels of access

Users should only be able to see what they really need. This helps ensure confidentiality and data protection. HR professionals, likewise, should have different levels of access. The most complex cases should be automatically escalated to the most experienced HR professionals.

4. Create comprehensive and accurate documentation

You should have an auditable trail for each of the cases for compliance and transparency purposes. HR needs to continually ensure:

The processes are aligned to statuary regulations like HIPAA,
Processes and responses are standardized and not resulting in disparate treatment.

5. Identify frequently occurring issues

When you have all your HR cases in the same place, you can review the types and frequency of cases and employee interactions. That enables you to spot potential problems and/or trends, which helps you make better, data-driven decisions.

For example, if you repeatedly receive grievances from the same unit, ER Specialists may want to investigate the management style and competence of the managers in that unit and can even conduct an engagement survey for that unit to gather more information.

Summing it up

A solid HR case management process will enable you to quickly resolve issues and answer questions but also help your organization stay compliant and able to provide a better employee experience. It is an investment with returns like retaining employees and obtaining predictive analytics to strategize. It also provides valuable insight into pockets of employee populations that may be dissatisfied with their employee experience.

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Rhonda Gardner

Rhonda Gardner has been a HR Professional for the past 19 years in diverse industries such as Banking & Insurance, Professional Consulting Services, and INGOs. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States of America.