Harnessing the Power of Flare™

In November of last year, Astronology explored the basics of a Human Resource Information System, or HRIS. As we mentioned in that article, such technology can be beneficial in assisting with HR administration. It is also an effective tool for boosting efficiency & productivity, and removing physical paperwork off one’s desk.  In response to readers’ requests, in this Astronology article, we give you a closer look at Astron Solutions’ Flare™ and many of its different modules.

What is Flare™?

In short, Flare™ is a cloud-based framework that allows you to track your employees from their first days of work to their last days with your organization. You can customize your Flare™ suite to fit your organization’s needs. All data stored in the system is password protected and housed on secure servers with 99.9% uptime. You have the ability to upload employee information & reporting relations, and store an unlimited number of users and employees.  Some of Flare™’s most attractive features are the customizable modules and the individual, reasonable pricing per module. 

But what’s included in Flare™?  Let’s dig deeper into some of the more popular modules.

Performance Appraisal Module

According to a 2011 SHRM poll, 98% of organizations reported that they have a formal employee performance evaluation process. Although you may have one in place, are your performance reviews completed on paper?  Why not cut time and resources with an online performance review system? With Flare™’s performance appraisal module you can eliminate the hard copy and streamline everyone’s work by having employees’ appraisals pre-populated with their job description and other desired demographics.  In addition, this module is designed with features to ensure all sections are completed prior to submission, to perform mathematical calculations for accurate scoring, and to check for potential legal issues.  Other user favorites include these features:

• Self-Reviews,
• HR approvals,
• Summary reports, and
• Electronic or traditional paper signatures.

Pay for Performance / Merit Increase Module

               

“While there are pros and cons to using a merit increase approach, in today’s world a majority of organizations attempt to link pay increases to employee performance,” explains National Director Jennifer Loftus.  “With limited merit increase budgets typically around three percent of pay, it’s essential that organizations make clear distinctions in pay increases between the high performers and low performers.”

If the thought of working with multiple spreadsheets and checking formulas makes you dizzy, however, consider Flare™’s pay for performance module.  In three easy steps you will be able to assign all employees with proper merit increases, meeting your merit increase budget and having the necessary reports for senior management. This module is able to calculate increases as a percent of base pay, lump sum, or a combination of both. Factors such as position in range and performance appraisal score can also be taken into consideration.

Job Description Module

               

According to Jennifer, “the Department of Labor is stepping up their investigations of wage and hour complaints.  One of your best defenses in an FLSA audit is up to date and accurate job descriptions.”

Need an accessible place to keep record of your job descriptions?  Need reminders to update your organization’s descriptions more frequently than every five to ten years?  Flare™’s job description module is for you.  This module allows you to design a job description template so all job descriptions are consistent in content type. Authorized staff can prepare draft updates to job description content to be approved by HR.  The Flare™ job description module also contains tests for FLSA compliance and a point factor job evaluation system to streamline your work and reporting systems.

Staff Advancement Monitor™

About 52% of respondents from the 2013 Global Assessment Trends report listed developing leaders as a top priority for their organization. Is leadership development a priority for yours?  If so, Flare™’s Staff Advancement Monitor™ module assists you in developing custom primary and secondary competencies and developmental activities for future leaders.  The results tracked in this module can be used for employee promotion recommendations.  Additional features include a listing of all participating employees, their mentors, and targeted goal positions.

Finders Keepers™

The 2013 Global Assessment Trends report also mentioned that 55% of respondents cite engagement of the workforce as a priority this year. Do you want to know if your valued employees are engaged with their work… or with your organization? Would you like to get opinions on where managers can make improvements? With the Finders Keepers™ module, you can! This module allows authorized users to create much needed customized surveys to gather employee opinions, new hire perspectives, and even exit interview data.  On-line, real-time reporting makes data analysis a breeze!

Total Rewards Statements

77% of organizations feel as though they communicate employee benefits effectively. If you want to ensure that your employees are aware of your organization’s reward program, consider Flare™’s Total Rewards Statement module!  With this module, you will be able to securely inform your employees of the value of their total compensation packages in real-time.  Information captured and reported by Flare™ in both narrative and graphic formats include and are not limited to salary, variable compensation, and benefit cost and value information.

Flare™ has many more modules for you to explore, including Applicant Tracking and On-Boarding, Time and Attendance, Pre-Employment Testing, Human Capital Audit, HRIS, and Learning Management System.  Are you curious to see where Flare™ could fit in your organization, and with your existing HR technology?  Reach out to Astron Solutions today and inquire about a demo!