HR organizations safeguard some of a company's most crucial information – from insurance and benefits details to company policies, onboarding and more. An HR knowledge management solution is vital to streamlining those functions. 

Without the right HR knowledge management solution, dispersing knowledge and answering questions can take up too much of an HR team's time. That pushes more critical tasks down the to-do list.  

Implementing an HR knowledge management solution is a great way for HR teams to recapture some of that time. Employees can easily find the information and answers they need on their own. When the right HR knowledge management solution is fully implemented and used wisely, HR teams will wonder how they ever operated without one. 

What is HR knowledge management?  

HR knowledge management is the practice of centralizing all HR documents, policies, information and knowledge so vital information is easy for anyone in the company to access and update from anywhere.  

The key to this central repository is that it allows employees, regardless of department, location or tenure, to quickly access the HR information they need via a 24/7 self-service portal. This reduces frustration for employees, the chance of getting outdated or erroneous information and the workload for HR staff, who no longer have to answer the same questions over and over (and over!) again.  

Why is HR knowledge management important?  

Human resource management often involves finding the right answer to important questions quickly. When information is spread across an entire organization, it can have a major impact. HR knowledge management solutions are a simple, effective, streamlined way to reduce bottlenecks. 

Related: Explore Ivanti Neurons for HR  

Implementing HR knowledge management 

Easy-to-access, up-to-date information that employees can find by themselves might be enough of an incentive for some organizations to adopt HR knowledge management. But smart organizations realize both hard and soft additional benefits from a well-implemented solution.  

1. Ensure knowledge is relevant  

A major benefit of HR knowledge management is allowing employees to find and access the information they need without HR’s help. But if you make all information accessible to every employee, they can become overwhelmed, and the information irrelevant.  

It's important that employees can view only information relevant for their location and role. This makes the HR knowledge management portal easier for employees to use by quickly surfacing exactly the information they need.  

2. Improve onboarding  

Employee onboarding can make or break a new employee’s experience. Onboarding packets are helpful, but they’re easily misplaced and cumbersome for HR to update.  

Moving employee onboarding to an HR knowledge management platform makes it easy for HR to add new information and update existing data and documents as needed. It also gives the employee a simple way to access the information they need at any time — even months after their start date, by which time a traditional onboarding packet may have been lost.   

Moreover, by having new employees access onboarding information via the same portal they’ll use to retrieve organizational and HR knowledge, you’re getting them familiarized with this self-serve tool. In fact, 32% of organizations have implemented automated employee onboarding, according to our 2024 Ivanti Everywhere Work Report. 

By simplifying the HR portion of new employee onboarding, organizations can improve the employee experience, reduce onboarding time and minimize inefficiency costs.  

3. Spend less time re-creating existing knowledge

Time is valuable. Why spend it answering the same questions over and over or digging up a document you’ve already created? Without a centralized repository that employees can access, that’s exactly what happens to most HR teams.   

Worse, an HR employee may re-create a document that already exists because they don’t know about it or can’t find it. While that happening once might not be a big deal, unnecessarily creating documents and policies repeatedly wastes  valuable HR resources.  

A well-organized HR knowledge management solution makes it easy for teams, even dispersed ones, to know exactly what exists and what really needs to be created. Even if a new document or policy does need to be created, teams may be able to minimize effort and time by working off an existing document rather than creating something entirely from scratch. Often, the knowledge and framework are already there; certain aspects may simply need to be tweaked or updated.  

4. Get the information you need faster and easier 

There’s little in the corporate world more frustrating than asking a question and having to wait for an answer. Often, it’s a matter of you asking, waiting, sending a reminder, waiting some more and so on. With one HR team servicing an entire organization, simple questions easily get lost in the daily grind, leaving the employee waiting.   

An HR knowledge management system removes this annoyance almost entirely. With a good platform, all employees can get the information they’re seeking faster and easier without having to wait on HR. For HR employees, this means a lot less time answering questions and seeking the right documents.  

Dispersed HR teams will also find it easier to get the information they need when a knowledge management solution is in place. Need to create an office-specific policy? You can quickly see what other locations have done or reference a corporate policy to ensure you’re in line with the broader organization – without having to send a dozen emails to collect all the information you need.  

5. Make informed decisions faster

HR knowledge management solutions aren’t just libraries. When used to their fullest potential, they can offer valuable insights into organizational health and potential risks. Having visibility into when assets were last updated will help HR teams track which documents or policies may need to be reviewed for updating.   

Looking at other metrics, such as which department accessed the knowledge management system most (or least) and which files are most viewed, can tell HR teams where additional training or clarification may be needed. Having a knowledge management system that lets employees ask questions or seek clarification within the same portal further streamlines the HR information process and can give teams insight into missing or confusing information.  

Having easy access to data-based information allows HR teams to more accurately plan documentation and updates. It can also help teams proactively address potential trouble areas rather than reactively wrangling an issue that’s already raised its head.  

5. Standardize processes

HR knowledge management platforms act as a single, reliable source of information. When everyone has easy access to the same information, it reduces the chances of errors, miscommunication and delays in getting answers. It also creates a standard way of gathering information so employees can move forward quickly and in line with company expectations. 

Without a standard process for getting HR answers from a central location, different employees might get different answers to the same question. This can lead to confusion, especially over a sensitive topic. 

When companies make it a rule that employees should check the HR knowledge management system before asking HR for help, it becomes part of the company culture and makes HR's job easier. 

6. Provide better service  

In the hybrid work world, providing employees with a centralized and easy-to-use method of interacting with HR is imperative. Digital HR enables an organization to provide an exceptional employee experience and deliver relevant information to employees across any device. 

Constant changes in guidelines and policies, combined with a variety of employee requests and expectations, are making the blend of hybrid, remote and in-office work complicated – with limitless possibilities for logistical headaches and security challenges.  

Luckily, automated and intuitive tools can help smooth and optimize processes. Self-service solutions allow for improved employee experience, while innovative technologies deliver more context and insights about team performance and bandwidth.   

HR knowledge management can power the employee self-service portal, supporting smart HR operations with an always-current source of information with the ability to filter employees’ requests for personalized retrieval — by employee status, geography, location and role — so they receive only the information relevant to them.  

Finding the right HR knowledge management solution  

Effective HR knowledge management platforms are highly advanced solutions that provide most, if not all, the capabilities an HR team will need right out of the box. Some offer plugins, customizations and APIs to meet HR’s exact needs.   

Instead of spending precious time and resources building a basic portal in-house, team up with a proven service provider who understands how an effective HR knowledge management platform should work.