Slack has been transformative in the workplace. From a productivity standpoint, the company states that businesses using Slack achieve full employee productivity “24% faster,” and from a communication/collaboration perspective, a whopping “89% of users agree that Slack has helped them stay more connected as a team.”

Slack has been influential in evolving the workplace, but other technologies are emerging that will have an even greater impact, mainly AI and AI automation.

Combining these–Slack + Automation–has the potential to revolutionize how your company does business. In this article we’ll discuss 5 ways to improve your HR and payroll systems with Slack integrations.

How Slack Integrations Work

Firstly, let’s take a moment to discuss how Slack integrations work.

A Slack integration refers to the ability of Slack to connect with another, third-party application or service, enhancing the platform’s functionality beyond its basic messaging, productivity, and collaboration capabilities.

These integrations function by enabling data exchange between Slack and third-party applications. For example, Risotto, an employee support funnel tool powered by ChatOps, works directly in Slack. Risotto’s AI chatbot lives within your company’s Slack workspace, automating HR and IT support ticket management and requests. An employee can receive assistance in a variety of ways. That could be as simple as asking an HR question about your company’s health benefits or a more-complex issue like software access or provisioning. 

In essence, Slack integrations are almost like apps on your smartphone; they enhance your experience. For your company, Slack integrations can improve HR and payroll systems to increase productivity, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

5 Ways to Improve Your HR and Payroll Systems With Slack Integrations

1. Streamline Payroll Management

Slack integrations of payroll management software like Gusto, Oyster, and BambooHR are changing this landscape dramatically. By bringing payroll information directly into the Slack interface, companies can create a more seamless and user-friendly experience for employees.

The old way of managing payroll often involved multiple logins, complex navigation, and time-consuming processes. Not anymore.

For example, let’s take a realistic (but fictional) workplace scenario…

Sophie needs to review her most recent pay stub. Last night, when checking her bank balance, she noticed that her employer paid her slightly less than usual.

Instead of logging onto Gusto, Oyster, or some other platform, and having to navigate through multiple screens or getting confused in complex menus, Sophie simply goes to her Slack workspace. In Slack, she clicks on Gusto within her “Apps” menu or pings the app through a DM, and asks for her most-recent pay stub. 

The Gusto Slack app quickly retrieves Sophie’s pay stub and she reviews it, noticing that a few hours are missing from her work hours last week.

This level of transparency and immediate access can significantly reduce HR and payroll-related inquiries, freeing up valuable time for your HR team to focus on strategic initiatives and more-important issues.

2. Enhance HR Processes

Slack integrations like Risotto represent a quantum leap in managing human resources workflows.

Let’s continue the story of Sophie, this time she uses Risotto’s automated HR help desk…

Now that Sophie has realized there was a mistake with how many of her hours were tracked last week and how much she was paid, she needs to contact the HR department. 

Instead of having to send an email or log into some other software platform with a password she probably doesn’t even remember, Sophie can ping Risotto right in Slack.

Risotto’s chatbot is so intelligent that it knows Sophie’s request isn’t a simple, tier-1 support ticket that it can resolve on its own. Instead, Risotto responds to Sophie, informing her that it has escalated her support request to the HR department for resolution.

From there, a member of the HR department, Richard, receives Sophie’s support request. Because Richard isn’t wasting his time on repetitive tasks like providing the URL to the company’s employee handbook (which is a task Risotto’s got covered for him), he can focus on resolving Sophie’s payroll issue right away. 

Richard replies to Sophie right in Slack, telling her that, yes, there was a mistake with her hours from last week and that he is in contact with the finance department to get her full pay.

The finance department fixes the mistake within an hour and direct-deposits Sophie’s bank account the balance of what she is owed.

Slack integrations like Risotto are seamless and a win-win for your HR team and all employees.

Other ways Slack integrations can enhance HR processes include the easy handling of time-off requests and the ability to serve as a centralized HR knowledge base. Employees can access HR policies, benefits information, and company documents with the help of Risotto, all without leaving the Slack ecosystem.

3. Improve Communication and Collaboration

Even without the use of Slack integrations, HR managers can effectively use Slack's basic features to quickly share critical information across an organization. Using channels dedicated to company-wide updates, HR teams can instantly share important announcements about payroll changes, benefits modifications, and new HR initiatives. By leveraging Slack's messaging and pinning capabilities, managers can ensure that important information remains easily accessible and visible to all employees. However, apps that integrate with Slack only enhance these HR communications.

Risotto’s core mission is to create a more approachable and accessible HR experience by encouraging employees to interact more frequently with HR resources through the Risotto Slack chatbot. Employees have easy access to the information, resources, and support they need, while HR teams experience a reduction to their administrative burdens.

Another valuable Slack integration for HR managers is the app Around. Around facilitates seamless video communication within the Slack platform. This app can enable HR professionals to quickly set up video calls with employees right in Slack to address more complex issues that cannot be resolved through text-based communication. Around can also provide the opportunity for HR managers to gather real-time feedback, collaborate with employees, and continuously improve HR systems and processes. Around demonstrates that not all Slack apps need to be purpose-built for HR, but can still be useful in improving HR and payroll systems.

4. Boost Employee Engagement and Recognition

Recognition is a powerful motivator for employees. Aren’t we all just in better spirits when we get a compliment or recognition for the work we do or the help we provide another team member?

Slack integrations with apps like Kudos and Bonusly transform how colleagues acknowledge and appreciate each other's contributions. These tools make it easier to express public recognition, creating a positive feedback loop that enhances company culture and boosts morale. Even the public nature of these acknowledgments can inspire other workers to excel and contribute meaningfully to your company.

5. Leverage Data-Driven HR Insights

Perhaps the most transformative aspect of Slack HR and payroll integrations is the ability to collect and analyze data. Figuring out how effective your HR systems are no longer has to be a guessing game. With Risotto, your HR team can track common inquiries and address recurring issues.

For example, let’s take another scenario for your HR department…

Say your HR team has just recently implemented Risotto to streamline its processes. After just a few weeks, the team has noticed that the #1 HR inquiry that Risotto has been responding to is employees asking how to request time off.

Risotto has been providing a link to the right platform to request time off, however employees kept returning with the issue unresolved or have gone on to open a second support ticket about the same issue. 

The insights from Risotto for your HR team are:

1. The #1 HR support request from staff is to ask for time off.

2. Risotto had the accurate information, linking employees to the correct HR platform for PTO/leave requests.

3. However, employees were returning to Risotto saying their issue was not resolved.

4. Or employees were opening a second support ticket, again about how to take time off.

5. Conclusion: Your current platform for managing PTO, vacation, etc. is too complicated and your HR knowledge base is lacking helpful-enough instructions on using it properly.

With these invaluable insights, your HR team decides that it’s time to implement new software for time-off requests, perhaps an integration right in Slack like OrgaNice. And to complement that new software, they will improve the HR’s knowledge base with more-detailed and helpful information on requesting time off with the new platform.

Now with these changes in effect, Risotto’s insights show a dramatic decrease in support requests about taking time off, demonstrating that the new process is much easier to use.

Takeaways…

By embracing Slack integrations, companies can create more agile, transparent, and employee-centric HR and payroll systems. And it not only benefits employees in all departments, but reduces the workload and stress for HR teams so that they can focus on work that matters most.

Book a demo of Risotto today to improve your HR workflow right from within Slack.