Slack is built to power teams, and thereby HRs, with solutions that simplify their daily lives. With 3000+ apps in early 2020, Slack’s app directory has over 700 HR Slackbots that automate the small tasks in every modern HR’s plate and act as virtual assistants to the HR. From sending reminders to generating reports, these Slackbots are built to save time and make work more efficient.

If you haven’t set up HR Slackbots on your Slack workspace already, it’s about time! Here’s a list of the 10 best Slack apps that automate HR tasks and increase your productivity.

10 Best Slack Apps  (Slackbots)

1. Time tracking – AttendanceBot

Attendance management is not an efficient task. Companies who manually time track their employees end up making errors in their data. Meanwhile, any other method of time tracking is either expensive, not scalable, or full of errors. 

Set up a time tracker on Slack, using AttendanceBot. Employees just need to set a message to the bot on Slack when they come into the office and when they leave work. The bot automatically records this within its dashboard.

time tracking with attendancebot

What’s more, the HR bot also records leaves in a systematic manner. The employee needs to just send a message within the bot on Slack. The bot then requests the employee’s supervisor for leave. Once granted, the bot records the leave in the backend and sends a notification to the HR to keep them in the loop.

how to use slack - absence management

As HR, you have access to the dashboard to see when employees are coming in and out of the office. You can use this to find employees who are tardy or taking more leaves than allowed. The smart bot automatically generates reports about the attendance so that you can analyze it on a monthly basis. 

2. Internal Helpdesk and Issue management – OfficeAmp

We’ve all sent our co-worker questions about the office, from asking how to file reimbursements to wanting the WiFi password. We’ve also had times when we’ve run out of markers for the meeting room or A4 size papers and had to note them down on a sticky note.

As HR, you need to be able to manage common queries and issues in a more efficient manner. Using OfficeAmp, you can set up an FAQ for the team to refer to. This can include every question they need answers to.

The HR bot also allows you to set up an issue management system. Employees can raise issues within Slack. OfficeAmp records the issue in the backend and as HR, you can assign the “ticket” to someone and monitor it. The smart HR app makes it simpler to tackle issues. 

3. Schedule meetings – DoodleBot

Planning a meeting usually goes like this- having a conversation about the meeting on Slack, setting it up and inviting attendees on Google Calendar, following up on Slack and then sometimes, rescheduling the meeting on the Calendar. This back and forth is a poorly managed system to schedule meetings.

Set up meetings within Slack using DoodleBot. The HR bot makes it easier to plan your meetings. You can create a poll suggesting timings for the meetings. Attendees can vote on the poll and the ideal time for the meeting is suggested. You can then use the “Remind” feature on Slack to send reminders an hour prior to the meeting to everyone attending.

4. Plan team lunches – Lunch Train

Team outings help you bond with the rest of the team and take a break after a long week of hard work. Many teams set up Friday lunches as a tradition within the office and use it as a chance to catch up. 

Make it easier to plan team lunches with Lunch Train. This HR bot lets you send everyone in the team a message about the team lunch. Once they accept, they are sent a reminder about the lunch a few minutes before the team outing begins. Lunch Train makes team lunch planning a breeze!

5. Track tasks – Any.do

To-do lists are a common practice for every employee. One of the issues though is that employees can’t streamline their tasks across devices. Another task management issue for teams is managers can’t assign and monitor tasks without setting up a full-fledged project management system. This means that smaller, uncategorized tasks are sure to fall through the cracks.

You can track all your tasks and instantly capture new tasks with Any.do. The bot allows you to turn channel messages into tasks, assign owners, and create your personal task list. You can even ask the HR bot about your tasks for the day and it’ll show them to you right within Slack.

6. Expense management – ExpenseTron

As HR or a finance person, you’ll only know too well the pain of sorting through multiple bills and reimbursement sheets and manually adding them to a spreadsheet. It’s a cumbersome part of every HR’s job but a Slack app can help you manage expenses automatically.

ExpenseTron was developed to ensure reimbursements are instantly filed, without requiring the HR to do the dirty work. Employees can upload their bills to the HR bot and ExpenseTron will put them in a report so that it can be approved and the amount can be reimbursed instantly. 

7. Performance management – Lattice

You’ll be surprised how much a few words of praise can boost an employee’s motivation to work for the company. But constantly monitoring the performance of your growing team and acknowledge them is not a scalable solution.

Lattice allows you to set up real-time feedback systems to recognize the achievements of your employees among everyone in the team. The HR bot allows anyone in the team to send feedback privately as well as to public channels.

Employees can even request feedback on work done so they can recognize their strengths and weaknesses.

8. Onboarding experience – ChiefOnboarding

Onboarding is a crucial part of shaping how the employee ends up performing at the company. A great onboarding experience gives the employee the much-needed training and confidence in the work he is going to do. 

ChiefOnboarding allows you to set up onboarding messages and reminders to automatically guide the new hire through their training and tasks. It also sends you messages, reminding you to introduce the new hire to the team and monitor the new hire’s work. 

9. Manage recruitment activity – Teamtailor

Recruitment is a multi-step process, filling the HR’s plate with too many tasks to manage. Having to monitor new activities like newly applied candidates, shortlisting, and notes about potential candidates are just adding to the pile.

Teamtailor delivers messages about new recruitment activity straight to your Slack. The HR bot keeps you in the loop about every new email, review, application, and note. You can later go through the messages directly on Slack to catch up. 

10. Team bonding – Icebreakers

In some companies, co-workers aren’t even familiar with each other past a hello. However, a team that knows each other functions more productively. 

Icebreakers lets you get to know your teammates a little better by asking fun questions about themselves. The bot creates an engaging experience that takes little time to do but ends up starting conversations between employees.

Which of these 10 best Slack apps will you set up as HR bots to simplify your work?