Small business owners are often confronted with difficult choices in relation to human resources software. They often weigh between investing in HR software and continuing with manual operations of the most important resource to any business. A few people might give a different opinion, but from my experience, it is a worthwhile investment and I will demonstrate why.

A few years ago I was convinced that the small size of my business was manageable without having to evaluate HR software. I then watched this online HR software video presentation that made me think twice. Today, a few years after I acquired the system, I can attest to the fact that my thinking then was erratic. I have HR software that literally does everything related to employees for me, ranging from recruitment, tasks distribution and payroll to training.

Save time and money

It goes without saying that computers are far much faster than the hands of employees. Efficiency is one of the gateways to success, and using the least amount of time to achieve the goal is something I warmly welcomed once I made that important decision. My staffs now take very little time in making records up to date, and I use the extra hours created in activities that increase my returns.


I no longer buy calculators – it is no longer necessary. The information that I get with the click of a button would take me ages to internalize if I had to peruse through pages. Payroll processing time has been significantly reduced, thereby ensuring that my employees are paid early and in good time. I guess they are happier. My records are now accurate and flawless.

Avoid fraud

Fraud is a serious offence, punishable by law. Small businesses sometimes find themselves in trouble over this, but HR software has controls that are hard to bypass. Authorization is necessary for anyone to make changes to the system and such changes are easily traced. Manual files can be easily stolen. I once had an incident in which important records disappeared at a time when I really needed them. I was just about to carry out performance appraisals and before I knew it there was nothing to help me in doing this. I have not had such problems once I got the system.

Make recruitment easy

Whenever I put up a job I tend to get thousands of applications despite my business being small. I used to have employees whose work was to sort these applications manually and to disregard those which did not meet my needs. Now I have one person who does this with the help of the software. It takes a relatively shorter period. At the end of the day I always get a list of shortlisted candidates, and the person who does it for me is always smiling, compared to the sulking and disgruntled ones who were always having headaches due to the endless hours they put into the sorting process. Once I get the shortlisted candidates I normally run a search through the system to ascertain that the candidates are indeed qualified.

HR software had a huge impact on my human resource management. I have no regret whatsoever for making that investment and I would strongly recommend it to other HR professionals.

Ed Smith is an experienced HR professional which is always happy to sharing his experiences with the rest of the HR community. Ed strongly recommends Breathe HR to other HR professionals.