HR Case Management

What is HR case management?

HR case management platform can standardize and automate manual HR processes to provide support for cases concerning disciplinary action, grievances, or long-term sick leave, to name a few. It is also sometimes referred to as HR and employee relations investigation software, depending on the product. HR case management solutions assist HR personnel, managers, and employees in submitting, reviewing, and responding to requests. These HR solutions include features that help organizations create custom HR workflows, convert paper forms into digital content, provide reports and dashboards, and more. 

HR case management products often include application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate with a variety of business solutions such as CRM software and core HR software. It can work alongside whistleblowing software, HR compliance software, and absence management software as well. 

HR case management is most often used by HR personnel, managers, and employees so that inquiries and questions can be submitted and managed within the HR case management system. Employees can submit their inquiries about long-term leave, misconduct reporting, complaints, and more through the case management portal. The software makes it simple and efficient for employees to submit cases without having to file actual paperwork. 

HR personnel can manage employee submissions through the case management portal and send them out to the correct department and management teams. After being assessed by the HR team, the inquiries are sent to the managers to deal with quickly depending on the priority of the case.

Benefits of using HR case management

Businesses have realized the benefits of using HR case management software, thus cementing its prominence in the workplace for communication and HR processes. 

• Immediate access: A centralized system gives immediate access to HR personnel and employees to submit inquiries, questions, or concerns about the workplace.
• Prioritization: Through an HR case management system, cases can be prioritized and addressed in a timely and efficient manner. For instance, a harassment or discipline complaint would be prioritized instead of work benefit concerns. Although, both case submissions would be dealt with accordingly, based on the priority.
• Status updates: After an employee submits a case, the case management system would allow the employee and the HR personnel to access the status of the case. The employee would also receive updates as their case gets escalated or completed.
• Workflow automation: Employees are enabled to easily access and define workflows of different case types, so that it frees up the time of the HR personnel to focus on issues that require more complicated analysis. 
• Efficient escalation and collaboration: HR case management software allows for the cases to go to the HR personnel with the requisite experience to resolve the case. It also allows different team members to collaborate and resolve complex cases as they’ll have access to the same information on the same portal. 

HR case management best practices

HR case management software is meant to be user friendly and easy to learn through a brief training session, with more add-on training depending on the software product. Specifically, some best practices when using HR case management are:

• Choosing reliable software: Depending on particular business needs, certain elements of the software should be considered during purchase. There are some features, however, that are universal and should be purchased to get the best out of the software solution. Reliable case management software has easy-to-use UI and is scalable, allowing for integrations and different levels of access.
• Training and onboarding employees properly: When changing or newly implementing an HR case management system, the HR managers need to adequately train the new and existing workforce to use the system. Without proper training, employees will be confused, slowing them down in the process of working on cases. By properly training the workforce, employees can use the system for self-service, submitting questions, and empowering HR to provide quality service.
• Granting different levels of access: The software users should only be able to access what they need for their job. HR professionals should have the most access, with managers having a second level of access and employees having minimal access just for the submission of cases and tracking the status of the cases. 
• Identifying frequent occurring issues ahead of time: HR case management system brings all cases in one place enabling HR teams to review the types of cases and employee interactions and the frequency at which they happen. This way, HR managers can spot potential problems or trends ahead of time and make better data-driven decisions. 

HR case management vs. HR compliance

HR case management software is similar to HR compliance software because they deal with HR regulations and compliance that automate processes related to managing documents, workflows, and reporting. 

They are dissimilar in that HR compliance software is more focused on compliance legislation and rules. It mainly helps with finances, benefits, risks, recruitment, and employee relations compliance for companies. 

Both of these software solutions can be utilized by an HR department but for different purposes within HR processes.

HR case management vs. whistleblowing

HR case management software is similar to whistleblowing software in that they are both used to submit cases or reports that provide employees the ability to report issues in the organization. In some cases, whistleblowing software is referred to as case management systems. 

They are dissimilar in that whistleblowing software is more concerned with cases related to fraud, harassment, theft, embezzlement, corruption, and other unethical behaviors that do not align with an organization’s values or policies. HR case management software, instead, can be for less serious cases that have more to do with day-to-day HR functionalities. These two software solutions can work in tandem rather than one over the other.