42 Ways to Add Alerts and Workflow to HR

“If only we had known…” Have you ever uttered those words? All of us in HR have plenty of times when they would be appropriate: An employee’s work anniversary date slipped by without notice, a new hire arrived on her first day without the documents HR needed for paperwork, COBRA benefits information wasn’t mailed out to a former employee, or someone’s certification expired necessitating his removal from an important project. Keeping track of the multitude of events and deadlines involving employees is a daunting time-consuming task. Alerts and Workflow can help.

Sage HRMS Alerts and Workflow by Vineyardsoft offers an unlimited number of alerts that be set up for your organization. Here are 42 examples that might apply to the HR department:

New Hires

Every new hire process involves more steps than you may realize. If any are missed, the result can be lost time, productivity, morale, and money. Simple things like welcoming the new employee, reminding them what to bring, and having his or her desk and phone set up can help ensure success right out of the gate. Make new hires feel welcome and supported as they begin working with your company with these automatic alerts:

• Set up network and phone access
• Set up security access to building or office area
• Notify or remind them of what documents they need on day one
• Email an electronic copy of the employee handbook to review
• Email marketing so employee can be added to your newsletter
• Notify current staff so they can stop by and introduce themselves
• Email employee with data entered into HRMS for their review

Employee Follow-up Needed

Some employees have certificates, memberships, or licenses that need renewed on a regular basis. Missing the deadlines can be costly for your company and the employee. Alerts and Workflow can help.

• Notify HR, manager, and employee ahead of deadline for renewal

Employee Terminations

As with the new hire processes, termination processes require a high degree of attention to detail. Ensuring the employee is accurately and completely terminated in all applicable software solutions and that their building or network access is disabled is critical to employee and business alike. Here are a few that Sage Alerts and Workflow can generate automatically: 

• Notify department heads so projects can be reassigned as needed
• Email or coordinate mailing of COBRA benefits information
• Notify IT so they can disable network and phone access

Leave of Absence

When an employee is offered a leave of absence for a qualifying circumstance, whether FMLA or something else, some steps must be taken to ensure compliance with company policy and also to minimize risk to employees and sensitive company information. Here are a few of them:

• Notify department heads so projects can be reassigned as needed
• Email or coordinate mailing of LTD & STD benefits information 

Performance Reviews

Doing performance reviews in a timely manner helps employees feel engaged and valued. If reviews are skipped or delayed, employees may feel that their contribution is not recognized. That can lead to lowered morale and productivity. These alerts can help HR keep on top of scheduling and content:

• Notify both employee and manager when a review is due
• Direct the employee to the online performance solution
• If using a paper form, email a copy and provide instruction for completion
• If needed, schedule a notification to be sent when re-assessment is required
• If salary increases or job title changes, notify the correct people

Anniversaries/Birthdays

Providing opportunities for employees to be recognized by their managers and peers for a job well done, for important milestones, or even just for Happy Birthday wishes can help increase an employee’s satisfaction and morale.

•  Send a Happy Anniversary or Birthday email to the employee
• If rewards are given, send information about how to access them
• Notify the manager ahead of time so they can personally recognize the employee or coordinate a departmental activity like bringing in or ordering lunch or a cake

I-9 Compliance

Being aware of required renewals before they happen can help keep your company in compliance with I-9 regulations and also mitigate risk of fines (up to $1100 per incident!).

• Notify the employee that they need to bring in updated documents

• Notify the person responsible for re-verification

• If re-verification is not completed, notify the employee’s manager so the employee can be taken off the schedule until the proper paperwork is filed

Visa Compliance

Being aware of required renewals before they happen can help keep your company in compliance with INS.

• Notify employee and supervisor when a Visa is about to expire

Organizational Changes

Enhance company communication by keeping employees aware of organizational changes.

• Notify supervisor when employee is reassigned to them

Deduction Goal Met

Some of the most meaningful alerts occur not when a threshold is reached, but when an employee is approaching an important goal.

•  Notify payroll or benefits administrator when deduction goal has been met
• Notify the employee when they have paid back a deduction such as a 401k loan or other misc. deductions like uniforms, benefits, etc.

Overtime Labor Monitoring

If some employees work excessive overtime, you may need to speak to them or have their access to the building suspended. By law, if the employee works they have to be paid for that time. In larger companies like department stores or warehouses, supervisors and managers may not notice when employees are working when they shouldn’t be and are trying to “work” the system.

• Notify the appropriate people when employees work excessive overtime

On Demand Checks

Reduce fraud risk by instituting a ‘checks and balances’ process for on-demand checks.

• Notify the appropriate people when a check is generated outside normal check runs so an investigation can be started immediately if necessary

Part-Time Employee Becomes Full-Time

Part-time and full-time employees are often eligible for different benefit plans and coverage. Being aware of a change in employment status is important to both employee and the company.

• Notify HR of changes in employment status to ensure employee is offered proper benefits

Benefit Eligibility/End of Waiting Period

HR or benefits administrators need to know immediately when an employee is eligible for benefits so they can offer the employee benefits during the proper enrollment time. If the employee has already completed the enrollment docs, they need to update the systems with that information. If they don’t do that in time, they can lose coverage until the next enrollment period comes around.

• Notify HR or benefits administrators when an employee is eligible for benefits during an enrollment period

• Remind HR or benefits administrators when an employee who is eligible for benefits needs to enter completed information documents into the appropriate systems

Annual Benefits Statement

Sage HRMS or Crystal reports can generate an annual benefit statement, but you can save time with the automated system offered by Alerts and Workflow.

• Automatically generate and email an annual benefit statement to HR or an employee

Employee Benefits Enrollment Packet

Printing and either mailing or handing out benefit packages is time consuming. Think how much you could save in time and money by having Alerts and Workflow do the job, printing only what you need!

• Automatically generate a benefits enrollment packet and email to employees

Continuation of COBRA Benefits

Sage HRMS comes with the ability to manage COBRA communications and billing information, but why not automate the process?

• Automatically send initial COBRA notice when employees are eligible for benefits

Certifications and Training

In some industries such as healthcare, construction, and warehouse, having an expired certification can be a compliance and safety risk. It could lead to fines, loss of license, or potential malpractice claims. Alerts help you keep track of who needs what and when certifications and trainings are complete. This information is useful to managers with succession planning and performance appraisals. Completed trainings may qualify employees to work on new projects or for a promotion or pay raise.

• Email supervisor prior to an employee’s certification or license expiring

• Send notifications to employees and managers informing them of requirements and enrollment options

• Notify manager when employee has completed required training

• Notify the employees when a required course is available

• Notify the correct employees that they are required to take a course

• Notify managers that employees will require “X” amount of time to attend courses, allowing them to schedule projects or shifts accordingly