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Year-End Crunch Time

Finish the Year Strong: How ClearPath HCM Can Transform Your Year-End Tasks into Next Year’s Success


The end of the year is an intense season for HR and business leaders. Closing out current projects, tackling compliance deadlines, wrapping up open enrollment, and preparing for 2025—all while managing holiday schedules and fielding employee questions—can leave even the most organized teams feeling stretched thin.


At ClearPath HCM, we know that the final months of the year aren’t just about ticking boxes; they’re an opportunity to set the stage for a stronger, more strategic 2025. Let’s break down some of the biggest year-end challenges and explore how ClearPath can help you thrive, not just survive.


 

Common Year-End Challenges—and How ClearPath HCM Can Help


1. Data and Compliance Checks



Compliance isn’t just a “to-do”—it’s essential for staying ahead of costly errors and ensuring accurate reporting. From ACA monthly reporting analysis to confirming tax rates, ClearPath can manage the details that help you close the year confidently. We ensure all necessary data is prepared, verified, and up to date, so you avoid last-minute compliance issues and penalties.


2. System Set-Up and Optimization

Some organizations have the capacity to handle year-end tasks but struggle with systems that aren’t set up to support their goals. If building custom workflows, configuring reports, or optimizing compliance tools sounds like a task too far, ClearPath can be the solution. Our experts dive into your HCM system, setting up everything from custom reviews and workflows to compliance tools. With a system designed to work seamlessly for you, your team can focus on high-value work—engaging, developing, and growing your talent.


3. Performance Reviews and Employee Data Updates

Year-end performance reviews, updating personnel files, and capturing critical HR data are essential for keeping your team aligned and engaged. Our support ensures these activities are organized, on schedule, and aligned with your business objectives, so you’re not rushing through reviews or letting details fall through the cracks.


4. Planning for 2025

The end of the year is the perfect time to set the tone for what’s ahead. We help you align workforce plans with strategic goals, review benefits and policies, and establish new priorities, allowing you to start the new year with clarity and confidence. From succession planning to updating job descriptions, ClearPath provides the insights and support to help you turn planning into actionable, achievable goals.


5. Payroll and Benefits Reconciliation

For many organizations, year-end payroll and benefits tasks come with a long list of items: calculating bonuses, updating time-off balances, and setting the payroll schedule for next year. ClearPath can lend an extra set of eyes to catch potential errors, ensure accuracy, and streamline the process. Our goal is to make sure you start 2025 on the right foot, with everything in place.


Finish Strong and Set Yourself Up for 2025 Success

The end of the year may be hectic, but it’s also an opportunity to position your organization for a smooth and successful start to the new year. With ClearPath HCM, you can offload the complex, time-consuming tasks, knowing that our team is here to ensure accuracy, compliance, and a custom setup that serves your goals.



 

1. Automated Compliance Alerts for ACA and Beyond

Many HCM systems can be configured to send automated compliance alerts, especially for ACA tracking. For instance, you can set up monthly reports that automatically flag employees who are close to eligibility thresholds for health benefits under ACA guidelines. This helps HR stay proactive with tracking and compliance rather than scrambling at year-end to verify eligibility.


Pro Tip: Set these alerts to run monthly or quarterly to ease the workload and ensure compliance throughout the year, reducing the end-of-year crunch.


2. Year-End Workforce Analysis & Forecasting Tools

Advanced HCM systems often have built-in workforce analytics tools that can provide deep insights into turnover rates, employee engagement, and even predictive metrics for staffing needs. Using these tools in November or December gives a snapshot of trends and helps leadership forecast what’s needed to hit next year’s goals.


Pro Tip: Leverage forecasting to identify potential staffing gaps early, enabling you to kick off the hiring process now rather than waiting until January. This proactive approach supports smoother operations and minimizes disruption at the start of the new year.


3. Customizable Year-End Task Workflows

Most HCM systems offer workflow automation for tasks like year-end performance reviews, W-2 distributions, or even succession planning. These workflows can route tasks to the right people, send automatic reminders, and track completion. Yet, many organizations aren’t using them to their full potential, relying instead on manual checklists.


Pro Tip: ClearPath can help set up these workflows to streamline time-consuming processes, ensuring year-end tasks are handled efficiently without falling through the cracks. Automation frees up HR’s bandwidth to focus on strategy rather than administration.


4. Self-Service Year-End Checklists for Employees

With self-service options, employees can easily update personal details, view their tax forms, or confirm benefits. But this feature can go further! Some systems allow for customized checklists where employees complete specific year-end tasks—such as verifying W-2 information or updating emergency contacts—keeping HR from manually tracking these updates.


Pro Tip: Consider a “Year-End Task Checklist” in the employee portal where employees can see tasks like updating their information, reviewing benefits, and ensuring accuracy in payroll records. This encourages engagement while keeping data clean and up-to-date.


5. Hidden Gems in Reporting: Strategic Analytics for Goal Setting

Many systems offer more than just basic reporting—they provide strategic analytics. By running reports on turnover rates, time-to-hire, and engagement metrics, HR leaders can set data-driven goals that align with business objectives. These insights help justify budgets, create targeted retention plans, and ensure HR is strategically aligned with the broader company.


Pro Tip: If this sounds like an underutilized feature in your organization, ClearPath can help set up advanced reporting templates, so these metrics are available in a dashboard at year-end. This sets a strong foundation for data-driven planning.


6. Configurable Alerts for Payroll and Benefits Errors

Configurable alerts can notify your team of inconsistencies, like discrepancies in time-off balances or unusual payroll deductions, before they become costly errors. Many HCM systems have this functionality, but it often needs to be configured to align with your organization’s specific policies and thresholds.


Pro Tip: Set up these alerts to run automatically a few weeks before year-end to catch any anomalies, saving time on manual audits and ensuring payroll accuracy when it counts most.


7. Succession Planning and Career Pathing

Year-end is a natural time for workforce planning, and your HCM system might already have built-in tools for creating succession plans or mapping out career paths. With a bit of setup, these tools can help identify high-potential employees, outline growth opportunities, and build plans that align with long-term business goals.


Pro Tip: ClearPath can help unlock these features so that leadership has a clearer view of team strengths and areas for development, adding an extra layer of insight when planning for 2025.


End-of-Year Bonus Insight:

These powerful, often-overlooked tools can help turn an HCM system from a basic tracking tool into a strategic asset. For organizations looking to optimize, ClearPath HCM can set up, configure, and even automate these tasks, freeing your team to focus on what truly drives growth.


Ready to Elevate Your Year-End Strategy?


Let ClearPath HCM be your trusted partner in transforming end-of-year challenges into growth opportunities. Whether it’s compliance, system optimization, or setting up the right tools, we’re here to make your HCM work for you.


Contact us today to see how we can help you close out the year strong and start 2025 ready to thrive.





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