It takes time and costs money to source and hire the right talent while ensuring legal compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws. The right applicant tracking system (ATS) can save on all those fronts. Employer requirements from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) can be daunting. But an ATS helps immensely.

An effective ATS boosts recruiting productivity. While it can’t hire people, it does help recruiters and hiring managers to get closer to the hiring finish line. It tracks applications and resumes, performs applicant screening and job postings, and extends human resources functionality, streamlining the recruiting process. Some of the newer ATS platforms even include artificial intelligence.

Even more importantly, an ATS helps employers comply with legal requirements for taking affirmative action and not discriminating against applicants. An effective ATS easily produces reports on applicants, keeps records of hiring decisions, can be programmed for affirmative action programs, tracks search terms, and automates compliance programs for federal regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Important compliance reporting is easy with an ATS.  

Improves Compliance and Reduces Errors

Ensuring compliance with laws, regulations, and forms takes a lot of paperwork and organization. An ATS automates all of these processes making them much easier to manage and avoid human error. Employers can be on time and comply with laws like the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) with notices and payments. ATS software programs federal, state, and local laws into recruiting processes so businesses stay in compliance and avoid fees and fines.

Reporting out of ATS software is faster and easier than manual processes with forms and spreadsheets, making errors and patterns easier to spot and correct. Storing all legal hiring forms in an ATS makes them more accessible, organized, and easy to use, saving time when there are compliance deadlines. The newest ATS platforms and program updates include automatic updates on changing laws and regulations so important information isn’t missed by HR and recruiting teams.

Avoids Recruiter Bias  

Using an ATS helps to avoid bias that can lead to labor law violations and limit diversity in hiring and workforce development. It addresses such areas as religion and ethnicity, especially in screening applicants and resumes by providing a data-driven approach rather than relying on “gut feeling” or “hunches”. An ATS can be programmed to screen for relevant job requirements, experience, and skills rather than biased perceptions of candidates.

Focusing on recruiting data rather than recruiter opinions and perceptions helps employers comply with federal labor laws prohibiting discrimination. An ATS improves fairness in the hiring process by removing recruiter bias from the decision-making in various ways. ATS filters perform searches using data points; not recruiter assumptions. They use algorithms to match information using data, taking pressure off recruiters.  

Searching for relevant skills and experience is one way to use an ATS in hiring. But recruiters can also eliminate or hide data that is not desired in searches to avoid bias. Queries hiding surnames, gender, demographic location, and other areas of bias help focus on candidate strengths rather than potentially legally risky identifying characteristics.

Particularly Useful for Small Employers

ATS platforms are particularly useful for small employers with limited recruiting and human resources staff. They provide an efficient way to manage all aspects of the recruiting process to be able to analyze hiring success. They eliminate the information overload and scattering among all the players in recruiting: hiring managers, decision-makers, recruiters, interviewers, human resources, and applicants.

An ATS provides an efficient and automated way to manage recruiting communications so nothing is lost because it’s all tracked and documented and easily accessible. It eliminates the need for mounds of paper files, manual recording of compliance deadlines, and manual or verbal reporting on hiring processes. Rather than looking through paper files in a file cabinet for resumes, ATS users easily search the program to quickly find what they need. This enables small employers with limited resources to compete in the job market on a more equal footing with bigger companies.

An ATS saves small employers money on many fronts. It eliminates the need for additional human resources and recruiting staff and helps in understanding businesses' legal responsibility for maintaining records. Not only does it save money on commissions for staffing agency services, but also on job posting services. It saves time (and by extension money) by automating recruiting communications such as emails for automated acknowledgment of applications received, interview invitations, candidate rejections, job status updates, etc.

The easy and comprehensive reporting with an ATS is another time and money saver for small employers. It saves time with easy application tracking and access. Improved legal compliance with an ATS saves small employers from fines and fees for non-compliance violations. An ATS helps small employers keep up-to-date on employment law and compliance, eliminating the need for counsel and consulting services.

While there are costs associated with purchasing, installing, and maintaining an ATS, the efficiencies created more than make up for the expense. Costs to train and rehire employees, costs associated with bad hires, and other hidden costs of recruiting without an ATS are not only minimized or eliminated, but your hiring success and retention will improve, saving more and improving workforce development.

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