Best PracticesDealership Operations & Processes

4 Reasons to Stop Using Your DMS as a HR System

 

Hiring new employees to your growing dealership can be EXCITING and STRESSFUL. 

Without a comprehensive human resources (HR) system, keeping track of your current employees’ payroll and adding new employees in the system can be difficult. It’s fair to say your stress levels probably increase with the thought of the next pay period or the implementation of new compliance regulations.

Your dealership’s reliance on an outdated dealer management system (DMS) could be the reason for your continual struggle during the HR process.

Get Your Dealership’s Payroll Rolling…

Take a step in the right direction by incorporating a more conducive way to complete recruiting, hiring, onboarding and payroll. A DMS has strong suits in areas including inventory, sales and service operations, but it also possesses glaring flaws.

It is time for your dealership to consider an integrated HR system. Rather than putting up with tedious programs to complete payroll and administer benefits, your dealership can reduce inefficiency by incorporating an integrated HR system. For those dealer principals that are still on the fence, consider these limiting factors associated with your current DMS:

1. Limited Payroll Abilities

A DMS has the main function of yielding quantifiable information for dealerships. As time and technology progresses, a DMS provides increasingly limited services for your business. You are required to manually enter workflows to ensure your employees are getting paid. Completing extra steps to manage your dealership’s payroll and benefits are extraneous and unnecessary.

The manual system makes errors more prevalent for those who are responsible for the data entry. This creates a stressful environment for everyone involved because a DMS takes more time and effort to properly manage.

2. Difficult Onboarding

Typically, the first day of a new job is filled with paperwork and back office logistics. A DMS requires an extended amount of dedication to file and enter paperwork. An integrated system alleviates the paperwork process by providing a single location to enter all the information. You can focus on the other important training steps once the paperwork is entered quickly and correctly.

If your DMS is limiting the onboarding process then your new hire might not efficiently learn their role and your dealership’s expectations.

3. No Ability to Track Vacation, Training or Paid Leave

Providing your employees with a compliant PTO policy improves the morale within your dealership. You must be able to track your employee’s vacation and PTO days to provide a dependable policy. The dealership and your employees may experience distress if you run into snags along the way.

With a DMS you have no way to track your employees’ vacation days. With no tracking system, you have three options:

  • A manual system
  • An entirely different system in addition to your DMS
  • A combination that requires confusing cross reference

Manually tracking these hours is costly and time consuming regardless of the route you choose. Using an advanced and well-rounded HR system can ensure your dealership doesn’t fall into the red because you can’t properly keep track of your employees’ off days.

4. Difficulty With Dealership Compliance

With no human resource information system (HRIS), onboarding system, tax calculation, filing system or benefit admin capabilities, a dealership is forced to work harder than necessary to keep its business up to par. Your dealership is wasting time and money by manually inserting all your employee information.

When your dealership is missing the necessary tools, you will always be steps behind the rest as you adjust to the state and federal regulations. Upgrading from a DMS to an integrated system is the best way to use your time and energy productively. Your HR team will no longer have to track down every compliance regulation, allowing them to focus on components concerning your employees’ well-being.

Benefits of Using an Integrated System

For those that are sick of difficult onboarding, limited payroll features, and staying up to date on regulations, an integrated HR system can help. You can significantly improve your employees’ work life by changing to an integrated system and eliminating the need for manual entry and cross referencing.

The difference in performances between an outdated DMS and an integrated HR system are worlds apart. Sophisticated and user friendly solutions for HR processes are provided by integrated systems.

Your dealership can benefit from one simple switch. Integrated systems are much easier to navigate compared to the DMS systems of the past. A cohesive integrated system is the only way to go if you want to create a cohesive dealership.

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Adam Robinson is the co-founder and CEO of Hireology – the leading integrated hiring and retention platform in retail automotive – working with ov...