Employees are your best customers and an employee database is more than just the name and other employment information of the people working in an organization. Having a record of employees on a system helps curb any potential disagreements or misunderstandings between employers and employees. Learning how to build an employee database will provide the HR department with a chance to do multiple tasks.
Knowing how to build an employee database with technology further ensures accuracy and quick action on administrative problems and tasks. Once the information is organized and entered into employee database software, you dont have to worry about accuracy and updates anymore.
Here are 8 ways to build an employee database that could improve business management and employee-employer relationships.
What is an employee database?
An employee database is a set of records that contains important details of the workforce's employment. This database is used when making decisions that involve promotion, salary increase, leave credits, insurance payouts, coverage, and other employee benefits. Modern employee databases accomplished through technology or software are customizable to be properly synced into a full suite of human resource management tasks.
What information is included in an employee database?
An employee database contains sensitive information about an employee. It includes a wide range of information categories such as the following:
- Personal information like name, marital status, address, phone number, and date of birth
- Job title, department, and manager in-charge
- Date of hire, salary, payscale
- Benefits and salary raise history
- Qualifications and special skills or designations
- Employment status
- Dates of availing certain employee benefits
- Number of training completed
- Employee violations
- Attendance, absences, and paid or unpaid leaves
- Other information distinct from the company management policies
Why is an employee database important?
Having a system of information that is relevant, accurate, and updated can help the HR department accomplish its tasks efficiently. An employee database can further aid the entire business in:
- Tracking employee progress and performance
- Making more wise decisions when it comes to implementing salary increases and promotion or demotion
- Integrating new employees more easily
- Enabling quick solutions for management issues and administrative tasks
- Having a basis for employee evaluation
- Streamlining policies for career growth
How to build an employee database in 8 steps?
Learning how to build an employee database can help the entire business prevent hassles and problems when it comes to managing the workforce. Here are eight easy steps to start organizing employee information and building a system from it.
1. Identify your goals in building an employee database
Identifying your HR goals will help you find the right software or HR system to build your employee database. Some of the goals your business might want to achieve include:
- Tracking of HR metrics such as workplace diversity, hiring expenses, overtime pays, and revenues
- HR processes automation
- Reporting accuracy and efficiency
- Easier access to data for employees and their managers to gauge productivity and performance
Once youve identified your goal, it will be easier for your to identify which database system or HR solution should you consider.
2. List down your data needs
What data do you need to organize and store? Would you like to record all details of an employee's life cycle journey which transcends the following stages:
- Recruitment and onboarding
- Performance and development
- Retention and promotion
- Offboarding
The employee life cycle journey is basically integrated into every employee database of a company. From recruitment to retirement, every organization is expected to store accurate information.
3. Evaluate your options
There are a lot of employee management systems that you can consider based on your goals and employee information. It may help to check which among these HR management software can work smoothly with your existing system in accounting or payroll. A full suite HR management solution should:
- Allow storage of HR data including all information pertaining to the employee database
- Permit employee tracking from hiring to promotion to retention and retirement
- Have custom fields that your HR department can personalize based on your business needs
- Provide modules that will guide all teams when accessing and understanding information
- Include dashboards and navigable reporting that’s easily analyzed for decision-making
- Be cloud-based so anyone from the team can access it at any time
- Have dedicated customer support for concerns of use and other issues
4. Consolidate all existing employee information and HR policies
You might not want to see your old data filing system that’s chaotic. However, it is important for you to gather and consolidate all data or information to be entered into the new employee database management system. For instance, you need to review your pay rules or vacation rules and compare them with what the existing employees are getting. This way, you can make sure that the new employee database is accurately mapped out.
5. Introduce the new employee database to the team and train employees
Employee training is important when implementing the new employee database system. Aside from accessing their own information, they’d be able to confirm the information and understand how your business works.
6. Find ways to leverage employee information
The data stored in your employee database is crucial to making decisions for your business. Leverage this data by generating reports, analyzing them, and interpreting them. This way, you’d be able to evaluate which HR policy still works and which ones need to be changed or removed.
7. Continuously implement updates
Your new employee database software or system should have room for improvement. Continuously search and allow updates to improve the system and make sure these can be properly synced with other HR management tools.
8. Regularly check issues for system maintenance
Does the new employee database system reflect updates in real-time? Do employees encounter difficulty accessing and modifying their information? Regularly remind everyone to inform the HR or their managers when encountering problems when using the employee database. Resolving small issues early on can prevent larger concerns like your entire data being compromised unexpectedly.
Conclusion
Managing your employees is important in ensuring productivity and in implementing policies that work for the benefit of your business. Finding the right employee database software will help you sync rules and changes that ease out HR tasks. An efficient HR system will build employee confidence in the business and will inspire them to work more efficiently.
