How HR Professionals Use Microsoft 365 and Office 365

Due to increasing competition, companies require cost-effective solutions to maximize growth and maintain or enhance their market position. Office 365 is one of the most cost-efficient systems that can deliver various HR services simultaneously, such as recruitment and onboarding, performance management, employee engagement, leave management, employee management, etc.

Microsoft 365 (also known as Office 365) is becoming increasingly popular as a cloud-based platform that contains a wide range of key office applications, including Outlook, Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and more.

How Does Microsoft 365 Help HR Professionals?

Microsoft 365 is a large and effective platform that offers and builds a strong brand for any business. It can be used for a variety of purposes, including IT, HR, and communications. Because of the tremendous efficiency it delivers throughout HR processes and its incredible scalability, Microsoft 365 has become one of the most popular tools for HR professionals. It contributes to HR-related goals, such as providing a positive employee experience, fostering clear communication, and supporting remote workers. 

The following are some of the ways that Microsoft 365 can assist HR professionals:

1. Enhances the Employee Experience

The HR function has recently grown in importance, with a great priority placed on developing a positive employee experience. This starts from the moment a potential employee reads a job listing, continues through the interview and onboarding process, and concludes with supportive offboarding. The employee experience is influenced by many factors, including how they must interact with technology daily. 

The goal of the employee experience is to engage the employee and provide a value proposition for the new employee's tenure with the organization, including a satisfactory day-to-day experience - and convenient technology adds to a better daily experience. 

Microsoft 365 can contribute to a better everyday office experience by:

• Enhancing critical processes like onboarding and learning & development
• Contributing to the promotion of a positive organization, which may influence the employee experience
• Delivering a digital experience that improves procurement and development every day while enhancing the pleasant environment and culture

2. Develops Forms

To test the quality of onboarding training programs, the HR manager needs feedback from recruits. Office 365 forms enable you to add questions and create online documents. The HR department can easily send form links to new employees, publish them to Yammer, or generate a QR code to record real-time comments at the end of the presentation. 

Attendees can fill out these forms on their smartphones using any browser, and the manager will have real-time access to this information and metrics. The HR manager can also construct questionnaires to assess candidates' skills or see how much knowledge they garnered from the training.

3. Encourages Flexible Working Arrangements

Tools like Microsoft 365 allow employees to work from wherever and become more mobile by facilitating flexible work. The present pandemic has expedited and strengthened the need to operate flexibly and remotely, and this will be crucial in the future, even once the pandemic is passed. Microsoft 365 allows employers to work from home or anywhere they like, making them more productive and relaxed, which is always appealing to employees.

4. Offers Sway Feature

Office 365’s Sway is yet another excellent product that makes Office 365 a fantastic onboarding option. It enables you to develop professional web pages on which to display the onboarding timetable without the assistance of an IT specialist. All you have to do is add data (photos, text, and links), and Sway will take care of the layout for you. 

Sway can develop a webpage, but it can also publish the page and allow you to edit it by utilizing the “Remix!” button if you're not content with the structure. To share your webpage with others, you can generate a shared link or a QR Code.

5. Has Numerous Services and Great Efficiency

Microsoft 365 emphasized effectiveness and support for employers, as it plays an important role in modernizing the fundamental HR process to make it more simple and convenient. This can happen in a variety of ways like:

• Using automation to speed up processes that provide employees with information through chat boxes
• Using workflow to digitize manual or email-based procedures, thus driving self-service for HR transactions (like arranging annual leave and relieving busy HR support employees)

• Power BI (Business Intelligence) provides reporting dashboards and workforce analytics for individuals
• By providing everyone with accessibility of data and documents, thereby standardizing HR procedures across global enterprises

6. Enables Partnership and Communication 

Microsoft includes various technologies, such as Microsoft Teams, Yammer, Skype, etc., that enable the HR staff to interact and collaborate on various activities and view documents from anywhere in the world. 

These technologies assist the HR team in functioning and collaborating as a team in a multi-cultural organization across multiple locations worldwide. They also assist HR partners in using HR functions, collaborating in operations with their colleagues, and, if necessary, driving department-wide projects.

Lanteria: Using Office 365 to Empower HR Professionals

Office 365 is certainly one of the best and most powerful supporting platforms, as it has unparalleled value, adoption, and ROI. By choosing a solution like Lanteria, which is designed for Office 365 users, you’ll get access to a collaborative and customizable HR platform with a vast array of functions.

1. Manage Time and Attendance

Lanteria makes it possible to easily set up company absence policies, track the time spent on various projects, and approve employee leave records. Generate time and attendance reports, plan absences, set company holidays, and much more. 

2. Content Segmentation 

With a solution like Lanteria, you can centralize all data and communication and ensure appropriate material for various roles, sites, and divisions. Content targeting, which is based on Active Directory groups, ensures that people only access pertinent data - making the system more streamlined and secure. Just click the role icon on the top menu & select a role that's available to you: the system view will change accordingly. 

3. Easy Access to Important Papers and Policies

With Lanteria, you’ll get quick access to important information and files, which can aid in the standardization of HR procedures and self-service. Access a convenient document dashboard, which is divided into files that are about to expire or are missing. 

4. Centralized Location for All HR Notifications and Updates 

Emails, requests, and other forms of communication bombard employers daily. These can easily be overlooked in an inbox, causing delays in the approval process. Employees and supervisors can see them all in one location using Lanteria’s announcement center and then complete any responsibilities much more effectively and swiftly. The workplace has addressed the problem by centralizing all messages and requests and allowing employees to complete duties from a single location.

5. Onboard New Employees

Employee onboarding is a critical step for recruiters, as it welcomes new entrants, boosts efficiency, and improves retention rates. With Office 365’s capabilities, Lanteria can consolidate all of the information, checklists, and paperwork that new hires require into one convenient location, and they can even gain access before their first day on the job.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg! From learning management and self-service portals to a reporting center and performance tracking, Lanteria is the best tool in your HR toolkit. 

Making the HR Profession More Effective - Our Solution

Office 365 is a convenient tool that can help you boost your business operations effectiveness, thereby achieving success across the organization. And, when combined with Lanteria’s HR functions, your department will reach new heights: improve your recruitment strategy, onboarding processes, document management, and much more. Check us out today to schedule a free demo!