HR Workflow Automation: 6 Common Workflows for Human Resources

By now, everyone’s fully aware that automation is a worker’s best ally. It’s the definitive way to make processes more efficient and less prone to errors, with the addition of allowing people to focus on the tasks where human input does make a difference. Luckily, it can be applied to several business departments, and here we’ll focus on HR workflow automation.

According to a report from Workato, HR automation has risen by 235% in just a year. And even though onboarding remains the most automated process in the department, hybrid work has made automation a priority and pushed its adoption in other processes. We’ve already discussed its importance for offboarding too, but that’s not all.

By using HR workflows, you can set sequences for repetitive tasks such as PTO, leave of absence, employee transfers, and more. What is more, thanks to the expansion of ITSM principles beyond IT (known as ESM or Enterprise Service Management), you can use your company’s help desk software to do it, avoiding having to purchase HR automation software.

Keep reading to discover more about the processes that can be automated within HR – and quick tutorials on how to do it with !

HR workflow automation: 6 common workflows for HR

Let’s try to bring down that 73% of time dedicated to administrative tasks and free up your Human Resources team’s days for more relevant tasks with these six examples of automated HR workflows.

1. HR onboarding workflow

Since we have a whole article on tips, benefits, and best practices along with a checklist to automate employee onboarding, and even a workflow demo, here we’ll focus on a short set of steps to do it right.

Before you begin configuring this particular InvGate Service Desk workflow, make sure to have a list of all the processes your company requires when onboarding a new hire and all the different departments involved in the process. This will make it easier to build.

Now, let’s get at it.

1. Create a form to trigger the sequence (this would be completed by the Hiring manager).
   
   
2. Create a review instance to double-check that the data the hiring manager enters is correct to avoid issues in the future.
   
   
3. As soon as the data is approved, set your HR workflow so it pushes the details to your HR system.
   
   
4. Once the details are in the HR system, you can automatically trigger the following tasks:
1. Start with the paperwork sequence.
2. Create an Active Directory account.
3. Request the creation of all the required accounts from IT.
4. Request the security clearance and IT card.
5. Send the welcome package (if it's not digital, you can send a reminder to the HR employee in charge of this).
6. Request the configuration of the office from Facilities (or the digital workplace elements, in the case of a remote employee).

The beauty of this is that since you automate HR workflows within InvGate Service Desk, all the other departments involved will already be using that same tool, so you can monitor the process from a centralized platform. Moreover, its drag-and-drop features make workflow creation a piece of cake (even for non-IT savvy users)!

2. Employee HR offboarding workflow

When it comes to offboarding workflows, what will trigger the automation will be the employee leave request. Once that’s submitted to InvGate Service Desk, a tier 1 HR agent will make the exit interview, and then decide whether to make the employee a new offer. 

You can set up the workflows to move along based on the decisions:

• If the organization wants to retain the employee, the agent will automatically send the offer. Once that’s done, it’s time for the employee to accept or decline it. If the answer is yes, a new contract will be created. 
• If the organization decides not to retain the employee (or if the worker decides not to accept the new offer), the workflow continues by notifying an infrastructure agent to remove access to company accounts.

Furthermore, you can add to the offboarding workflow the following steps:

• Employee returning equipment (if you have the service desk integrated with , you can automate a checklist linked to your inventory).
• Severance and final documentation.
• Automated farewell email.

3. Automated payroll inquiries

Another useful service desk workflow to create is the one related to payroll inquiries. In this case, you can opt to route issues and inquiries to payroll experts, or the payroll third-party provider, or create an integration with your payroll system.

By automating it, you’ll be on top of requests such as withholding amounts, pay rates, time off, accumulation rates, and other aspects of the payroll process. And the best part is that you can solve most of them with knowledge base articles!

4. Recruiting automation

With InvGate Service Desk you can also automate non-employee HR requests like opening requirements, changing headcounts, and role development. By doing so, you’ll improve the hiring process, prevent miscommunication, enhance collaboration, and keep the candidate pools ready for the next opening. 

Plus, you can connect this process with onboarding and fully automate the whole recruiting process!

5 Automation for WFH requests

The perks of remote working have been profusely discussed, but working from home can also pose some challenges. Not sharing a common workspace makes some processes harder and extends timelines. However, automation can be helpful to avoid employees “falling through the cracks” and being neglected by the support teams. 

Human resources workflows to address WFH requests can speed up approvals from supervisors and managers to aid remote workers when they need it. But they can also help you protect their health, for instance. With automation, you can take care of their specific needs and requirements in terms of equipment (both IT and non-IT).

The positive side of using InvGate Service Desk, in this case, is that you can tag Facilities and IT to fulfill requests while having complete visibility of the request status. Plus, if you have it integrated with InvGate Insight, you can also check inventory and track the assigned assets.

6. General inquiries workflow

Lastly, you can also create an HR workflow that works as the catch-all for anything that isn’t automated or has never been asked. This way, you ensure that no inquiry is left unattended, and spot new needs and improvement opportunities at the same time.

Bottom line

Creating ITSM workflows for Human Resources can make your team’s work more efficient, allowing its members to focus on more strategic tasks where their expertise is most needed. The ultimate goal with automation is to get rid of repetitive tasks, and HR has a lot of them, so it’s a great candidate for expanding your service desk capabilities.

Of course, there’s specific HR software to explore, but you can also take a different approach and take advantage of InvGate Service Desk. Thanks to its flexibility and intuitive UX, it makes it really easy to expand its use to other areas of the company, increasing your company’s return on investment and making it easier to work along with other areas from the same place.

Start creating customizable workflows for the HR department today with our ! And if you want to ask around before requesting it, so they can show you how it works!