As we stand on the cusp of 2025, organizations across Canada are facing an ever-growing challenge: how to reduce administrative burdens while simultaneously enhancing their focus on their most valuable asset–their people. The quest for operational efficiency is not just about cutting costs. It's about freeing up valuable time and resources to invest in strategic initiatives that drive growth, foster innovation, and improve employee engagement.
As businesses navigate the complexities of a post-pandemic world characterized by hybrid work models and evolving employee expectations, the need for agile, integrated HR and payroll solutions has never been more critical. This is where Rise’s latest features come in.
Want to set yourself up for success in 2025? Let’s dive deep into the key takeaways from our on-demand webinar.
1. Reduce Paperwork for Hassle-Free Documentation
One of the most significant pain points for HR departments is the sheer volume of paperwork they handle. Rise addresses this challenge head-on with powerful digital tools that transform traditional paper-based processes into streamlined, online workflows. The platform provides three key features:
Document Storage
Rise can store organization-wide documents like handbooks and policies, both of which are especially important during the end of the year. Instead of refreshing your paperwork and piling onto your administrative burdens, do it all at once in Rise. This also ensures you have all your documents in one place! This streamlines document management processes for organizations and ensures all employees can access the most up-to-date information.
Electronic Signature (e-Signature)
The e-signature feature allows employers to upload various document types and send them to employees for signing. Signed documents are securely stored in the employee's profile for future reference. This feature not only saves time but also provides a clear audit trail of what and when was signed.
The days of printing, signing, and scanning documents are over. Companies can create, send, and track signature requests for various documents, including:
- Company policies,
- Flexible work agreements,
- Onboarding paperwork,
- Tax forms (e.g., TD1)
Additionally, there is a tracking feature that allows employers to monitor the progress of document signing. Employers can easily send reminders to employees who haven't signed documents yet. This functionality is particularly useful for managing important documents like TD1 forms, which can be efficiently distributed, signed, and stored within the Rise platform.
Document Request
A recent addition to Rise's capabilities is the ability for employees to upload documents directly to their profiles. This feature is helpful for storing items like driver's licenses or work permits. Employers can also assign document upload tasks to employees, ensuring that all necessary documentation is collected and stored in the system.
Rise simplifies the request journey and helps employers track the journey by allowing administrators to:
- Request specific documents from employees.
- Set up tasks for document submission.
- Track the status of document requests.
This transforms Rise into a comprehensive repository for employee documents and files.
2. Optimize Scheduling and Time Tracking with Advanced Features
For organizations with hourly employees or those who need to track billable hours, efficient scheduling and time tracking are essential. Rise's scheduling and time tracking add-on offers a comprehensive solution to these challenges. The scheduling and time-tracking features offered by Rise have significantly improved, making them invaluable for organizations with hourly staff or those needing to track contracted hours.
Flexible Scheduling
Scheduling on Rise's platform allows employees to view their schedules, clock in and out, and request shift coverage or swap shifts with coworkers. This system is highly customizable, enabling managers to tailor the features according to their operational needs. Additionally, the platform facilitates the creation of recurring shifts. This saves the scheduler time by automating repetitive scheduling tasks.
The scheduling feature allows managers to:
- Create and manage employee schedules.
- Set up recurring shifts.
- Enable shift swapping and cover requests.
- Customize scheduling rules and permissions.
This flexibility ensures that staff are in the right place at the right time, reducing scheduling conflicts and improving overall workforce management. This also reduces administrative burdens.
Advanced Time Tracking
On the time tracking side, employees can log their hours through various methods, including Rise’s mobile app, hardware clocks, or timesheets. Rise has released a new time approval feature that improves the process for managers by providing a biweekly view of employee hours worked. This includes regular hours, overtime, and other pay types.
This feature allows for easy searching and filtering by department or location, making it straightforward for managers to review and approve time entries. Rise's time-tracking capabilities go beyond basic clock-in and clock-out functionality:
- Multiple time entry methods (mobile app, hardware clocks, timesheets)
- Geofencing to ensure accurate punch-ins
- Automatic calculation of regular hours, overtime, and other pay types
- Integration with payroll for seamless processing
- Compliance with Canadian pay regulations and rules
This enhances the accuracy of time tracking and reduces administrative burdens significantly.
3. Build a High-Performance Organization with Improved Performance Management
As organizations streamline their administrative processes, they are increasingly turning their attention to performance management and building high-performance teams. Organizations tend to conduct performance reviews in Q1 of 2025 and set objectives for the year ahead. The goal is to ensure that all staff members understand their responsibilities, impact, and potential for recognition within the organization.
Rise's performance management module can help create a culture of continuous feedback and engagement in your organization. Our system is designed to be comprehensive, modern, and fully integrated with other Rise features to help you achieve that. It focuses on three key areas:
Setting Measurable Goals
The goal-setting feature allows organizations to create SMART objectives at various levels - organizational, departmental, team, and individual. Employees can track their progress, leave updates, and mark goals as completed.
The check-in system establishes a direct line of communication between managers and their team members, running on an automated schedule that can be customized to suit the organization's needs. This transparency ensures that everyone understands their responsibilities and how their work contributes to the bigger picture. This feature is particularly valuable in remote or hybrid work environments.
Continuous Check-Ins
The check-in system in Rise's performance management module is a powerful tool for facilitating ongoing communication between managers and their direct reports. This feature automates regular check-ins, which can be scheduled weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, depending on the organization's preferences.
During these check-ins, employees can share their accomplishments, challenges, and progress on assigned goals. For instance, the system allows employees to report on what went well during the week and what could have been improved, and it provides updates on specific goals.
This continuous feedback loop keeps managers informed about their team members' performance and potential issues in real-time, rather than waiting for formal review periods. The system is particularly valuable in remote or hybrid work environments where face-to-face interactions may be less frequent.
By providing a structured platform for ongoing communication, these check-ins help managers stay connected with their team members, offer timely support, and address any concerns promptly. All of which ultimately contribute to a more engaged and productive workforce while reducing administrative burdens.
360 Performance Reviews
The review system offers a robust 360-degree feedback approach. This includes manager reviews, self-reviews, and peer feedback. It's highly customizable, allowing organizations to create templates with various question types and sections. The system automates the review cycle, sending notifications and reminders and providing progress updates. Employees won’t be left in the dark, even when it’s not review season yet!
There are also options for self-reviews, manager reviews, and peer feedback. You can customize review cycles to suit different organizational needs, too. This flexible feature works around you and your employees to identify areas of improvement and growth.
This comprehensive approach to performance management creates a virtuous cycle: goals are set, regular check-ins occur, reviews are conducted, and the insights gained inform the next set of goals, ensuring continuous improvement and alignment across the organization.
By combining these three elements – goals, check-ins, and reviews – organizations can create a culture of continuous feedback and improvement. Set yourself up for success in 2025.
4. Leveraging Data for Better People Strategy
At Rise, we recognize that great workplaces are led with both heart and data. Our platform aims to provide insights across the entire employee lifecycle, making this valuable information easily accessible to users. Over the past year, Rise has been working on improving its reporting system to make it more user-friendly and efficient.
Diverse Reporting Options
Recently, Rise announced the availability of over thirty reports across the platform, with about half of them being new payroll reports. The payroll reporting system has been completely revamped from the ground up, addressing previous issues with speed and modernization. These reports are now available! Rise's reporting capabilities allow HR professionals and leaders to:
- Generate custom reports on various HR metrics
- Analyze trends in employee performance, engagement, and retention
- Identify areas for improvement in HR processes and policies
The new reporting system in Rise is designed to be comprehensive and integrated. It includes features such as the employee master list, which provides core employee demographic information in one place. Users can easily customize reports by managing columns, adding filters, and saving reports for future use or sharing with colleagues. This reduces administrative burdens of reporting!
Improved Speed and Efficiency in Reporting
One of the key improvements in the new reporting system is its speed and efficiency. For example, the payroll reports are now up to fifty times faster than in the old system. This enhancement allows users to quickly access and analyze important data, facilitating more informed and timely decision-making.
Overall, Rise's focus on improving its reporting and data analysis capabilities aims to empower organizations to make better decisions across all stages of the employee lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding to development and retention. By providing easy access to comprehensive data and insights, Rise is supporting its customers in creating more effective and data-driven workplace strategies.
Embracing the Future of HR in 2025 with Rise
As we look toward 2025 and beyond, it's clear that the future of HR lies in automation, digitization, and data-driven decision-making. By leveraging Rise’s platform, organizations can:
- Reduce administrative burdens through digital document management and e-signatures
- Optimize workforce management with advanced scheduling and time tracking
- Foster a high-performance culture through goal-setting, continuous feedback, and comprehensive reviews
- Make data-driven decisions to improve HR processes and overall organizational performance
The shift towards admin-free, people-focused workplaces is not just about efficiency – it's about creating environments where employees can thrive and organizations can achieve their full potential. Rise can help you realize that potential. Let's set you up with a limited-time offer! Join Rise before December 31st and unlock a 25% discount on Rise's platform for all of 2025 for new sign-ups. We hope to see you on our platform.
As we continue to evolve and adapt to new ways of working, the organizations that prioritize streamlined HR processes and focus on building high-performance cultures will be the ones that attract and retain top talent, drive innovation, and achieve sustainable growth. It's time for HR to lead the way.