New worker protections: Three tech-enabled ways to shrink the administrative burden

Chief Operating Officer at HR solutions provider HRLocker, Crystel Robbins Rynne, details the ways businesses can leverage technology to help manage the added workload stemming from new worker protections

Half of Irish SMEs believe legislative reforms will negatively impact their growth and recruitment plans. That’s according to our latest survey of 500 small and medium-sized businesses, which uncovered shared fears around staffing and operational costs.

While the new worker protections provide much-needed support for employees, employers are left questioning whether they can sustain the changes– and foot the bill.

A quick recap of the worker protections

A raft of legislative changes is coming into place in 2024 and beyond. The intention is to give workers in Ireland more support. New measures include:

—  The 12 per cent national Minimum wage rise to €12.70 effective from 1 January 2024,

—  A planned living wage that will replace the National Minimum wage from 2026,

—  Sick pay entitlements increasing from three to five days from the start of this year,

—  Parents leave increasing from seven to nine weeks from August 2024,

—  The rollout of the right to request remote working,

—  The rate of PRSI increasing by 0.1% from October 2024

—  The introduction of an auto-enrolment pension scheme from September 2024.

These developments will all affect the way you manage HR. For instance, remote working requires new policies, guidance, and contractual changes. Extended parents’ leave means you’ll need to source temporary talent to fill gaps for longer. Pension scheme auto-enrolment will require you to review and reflect amendments in your payroll systems, employee contracts, and communications.

Tackling the changes

Store documents centrally– The sheer number of changes requiring implementation demands clear and simple communications for employees. If you’re updating policies and handbooks, make sure they are stored in a secure place that teams have access to.

Shared access to and set permissions for centralised information means employees can directly access their records, reducing the workload and touch points of your HR team. It also means your documents are easy to find should auditors or regulators wish to see them.

Having a single home for your documents also makes it easier for you to facilitate remote working. Everyone can access handbooks and policies no matter if they’re sitting at the next desk, in a home office, at a coffee shop table, or in a hotel on another continent.

Automate admin– Our survey also revealed that over 60% of employers believe that the new measures will hurt operations as more resources are diverted to regulatory compliance. But the additional work doesn’t need to be handled by HR teams – you can use automation to reduce the burden on employees.

Starting with leave management, if your current annual leave process looks like a bunch of emails exchanged between managers and their teams, it might be time to simplify things. Plenty of tools automate leave management, so employees simply add their dates and the type of leave, and leaders can click to authorise or reject requests.

Tech also makes capturing employee hours easier. For example, you can set up automated clock-in and clock-out systems that reflect your different pay types—basic, time-and-a-half, and customised categories. Tracking time accurately will ensure you pay the proper rates for the right hours.

These small tweaks can make all the difference for your business. Given that GDPR rules require accurate and up-to-date record keeping, automating leave and time management takes one more task off your compliance to-do list. Plus, automated record keeping provides an added layer of reliability because it’s less susceptible to human error and produces precise reports on demand.

Share the load— Employees can also help businesses manage the new worker protections. Giving them access to an employee portal, where they can access their personal information, request leave, and see company handbooks and policies, will save HR a lot of administrative heavy lifting.

Employees with direct access to information, such as leave entitlement, are less likely to bog down HR teams with mundane questions. Many leave management tools let you assign managers as approvers and route requests directly to them.

Since regulations demand accurate and up-to-date records, empowering employees to update their personal information helps with compliance–and takes the workload off your plate.

Turn to tech!

The three examples above showcase just some of the ways technology can help relieve HR teams’ burdens, whether associated with normal operations or increasing worker protections.

Tech-enabled solutions – like storing information centrally, automating admin, and sharing the load – not only alleviate some of the compliance caseloads but also free up time for you and your teams to spend on more fulfilling work.

With a few smart software tweaks, you can shrink your administrative workload and still maintain accuracy across payroll, time, and leave management. So, you’re buffering the impact of new worker protections, simplifying clunky processes, and giving your teams their time back.

For more information, see our online Employment Law Changes guide.

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