Educators have had a rough time of it over the last three years. The pandemic caused an overnight shift to remote learning, requiring new teaching approaches and rapid digital adoption to minimise the disruption to learning of their students.
Education is a sector where everyone has a vested interest in its success. Parents want a great education for their children. Local businesses want to see a stream of talented graduates and apprentices to add to their workforces. And as a society, we can see the data that links a well-educated population to positive life prospects, reduced crime rates, financial wellbeing and beneficial health outcomes.
So what does any of this have to do with HR software?
Well, great teaching is carried out by happy and motivated educators, and HR teams within the education sector know that improving and maintaining employee engagement is key to that happening. Funding, resources, pay and conditions are of course paramount to teacher contentment, and HR software can support in creating a better work environment overall and allowing teachers to focus on educating and supporting their pupils.
Here’s a look at how and why HR software is essential for education.
Educational institutions want their staff to spend as much time as possible focusing on teaching, but some of the administration relating to a job can take time to carry out.
Requesting holidays and tracking days worked can eat into that teaching time, but HR software can simplify these processes be providing a simple, centralised online system where all staff can book holidays, see what time off they have remaining, check any days in which their institution is closed (such as over Christmas), log any expenses and easily register hours worked too – especially important considering the different hours worked and employment statuses of the various employees in a school or university.
It’s a simple benefit, but removing the need for email exchanges or cumbersome holiday request procedures saves time and alleviates frustration.
An effective internal communications strategy has always been beneficial, but has likely never been more important than since the pandemic began.
HR software allows institutions to easily post organisational updates and notices into one place where all stakeholders can view them, including exciting new announcements, important closure dates or policy updates, or introducing new team members.
And even though most teaching has now returned to the classroom, introducing forums or chat zones for staff to communicate with other peers is hugely beneficial too, especially across campuses, cities or even within international organisations.
HR software also makes it easier to ask your employees what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling, with in-built or integrated 360-degree feedback systems and pulse surveys to help measure the happiness and concerns of staff.
Employees who feel that they’re developing in a role and increasing their knowledge are far more engaged in their work, and less likely to be looking around for new opportunities.
HR software can support continuous professional development through adopting a learning management system, or LMS. These systems help to streamline employee learning by centralising staff handbooks, updated teaching guides, sharing links to online courses or even an organisation’s own online tests.
Another great feature or integration that HR software can offer are performance management systems, including the evaluation and performance review functionality you’ll need to effectively measure and track the contribution and goals of your people.
Starting a new job is stressful, especially when you not only have new colleagues to meet, but hundreds of students too!
A great onboarding experience has been shown to improve retention right from the off, and removing any unnecessarily administrative tasks from the get-go will leave more time to focus on teaching plans and getting settled.
HR software can also make it easier to track and attract great talent in the first place, with application tracking systems designed to automate recruitment processes, schedule interviews and create standardised candidate communications and documentation.
Ok, we’re not ending on the most exciting point here, but it’s an important one.
Working with children and young adults requires a heightened level of safeguarding and compliance. HR software can enable an institution to centralise all the key documentation that relates to these two critical areas, ensuring that all educators and support staff have instant access to guidelines and process documents covering everything from young adult safeguarding and mental health worries to personal data.
This also removes the need for large filing cabinets filled with paper and printers that are always on the go, saving time, money and also improving data security.
Knowing the benefits of great HR software in the education sector is one thing. Finding a platform that can do everything you need it to, in a user-friendly and cost-effective way, is another.
That’s where Phase 3 comes in. Our HRIS consultants have helped literally hundreds of organisations to identify, select, implement and run their HR systems, managing the entire process from start to finish.
We ensure that no stone is left unturned in uncovering all the different and unique requirements your organisation has, and creating a migration and training process that ensures your new HR software is up and running as seamlessly as possible.
Learn more about our HR services.
Laura’s role as Head of Marketing sees her continually looking for new opportunities to tell the world how great Phase 3 is.
