From chaos to clarity by simplifying HR reporting

Picture this: It’s a Monday morning, and an HR leader—let’s call her Anna—gets an urgent request from senior management. “Can you pull the latest staff turnover report? We need it for today’s leadership meeting.” Anna nods confidently and opens her laptop, ready to get to work. And that’s when the nightmare begins... 

First, she logs into the payroll system to check employee departure dates. Then, she moves on to the recruitment software to cross-check recent hires. Next stop: the performance management tool, where she hopes to correlate turnover with engagement scores. But wait—some employees are missing! Time to dive into the learning management system to see who completed onboarding. Oh, and don’t forget the time-tracking platform for attendance trends. Finally, she pastes everything into Excel and starts correcting discrepancies between systems that refuse to talk to each other. 

By the time Anna has stitched together a (sometimes) halfway accurate report, the meeting is already over. The leadership team has moved on. And she wonders: Why does this always take so long? 

The HR data circus 

Anna’s struggle is not unique. HR professionals everywhere are caught in a constant juggling act, moving between disconnected systems, frustrated with outdated reports, and manually entering the same data in multiple places. What should be a quick, data-driven insight turns into a multi-hour ordeal. 

And the worst part? It’s not just about lost time—it’s about lost motivation. HR professionals didn’t enter the field to spend their days wrangling spreadsheets and correcting errors. They chose HR because they want to work with people. But instead of focusing on talent development, engagement, and company culture, they find themselves stuck in a relentless cycle of data management. The frustration builds, burnout creeps in, and the very people responsible for supporting employee well-being are themselves overwhelmed and disengaged. 

A report from Applaud found that 37% of companies require employees to access between 6 to 10 different HR systems (Applaud, 2022). Moreover, 56% of HR leaders say that their organisations' HR technology doesn't meet their needs, highlighting the gap between current systems and organizational requirements. 

The hidden costs of HR tech sprawl 

This inefficiency isn’t just an HR headache. It’s a business problem. The time wasted on manually compiling reports could be spent on strategic initiatives—improving employee experience, driving engagement, and shaping company culture. And it’s not just about lost time. Manual data work increases the risk of errors, compliance issues, and delays in decision-making. 

According to a report by the Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ), the cost of poor software quality in the U.S. was estimated to be $2.41 trillion in 2022 (CISQ, 2022). When HR data is scattered across multiple platforms, businesses lose the ability to make quick, informed decisions about workforce planning, retention, and productivity. 

And here’s the kicker—most HR tech stacks didn’t start out this way. Instead, they evolved into a Frankenstein system, with different departments layering on new tools over time without considering how they connect. Payroll gets one tool, recruitment another, performance management a third. HR professionals suddenly find themselves acting as IT troubleshooters, spending more time stitching together disconnected systems than working on people-centric initiatives. 

How to Fix the Data Chaos 

HR doesn’t need more tools—it needs connected tools. When systems communicate seamlessly, reports generate instantly, insights are accurate, and HR professionals like Anna can focus on what really matters: people. 

1. Prioritise integration over more software – Invest in integration solutions (such as an iPaaS) that allow existing systems to sync data automatically. 
2. Automate your data flow – With AI-driven automation, reports can be generated in real-time, eliminating the need for manual reconciliation. Trustworthy, GDPR-safe options are not far away here. 
3. Achieve a single source of truth – A well-integrated HR tech stack provides leadership with instant access to workforce data, enabling faster and smarter decisions.