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Benefits of an Employee Self-Service System

Written by Jazmin Lopez | Nov 19, 2019 11:00:00 PM
Employee directory is nothing new. However, it is a highly desirable HR function, for both employers and employees. According to survey findings, 73% of employees in the US want self-service HR tools.
 
In many industries, consumers prefer to perform certain tasks themselves for their convenience. Examples are online banking or self-checkout at supermarkets. Why should this be any different in the workplace?

With employee self-service, staff can request time off and track work time and attendance in a web based system. They can also complete or update personal information, and access personal records such as their personnel file and relevant company resources. 

If you want to know why all of this can be of exponential benefit to your HR department, read on.

What is employee self-service?

Employee self-service (ESS), helps companies to work efficiently and save valuable working time. In the same time, it increases data accuracy by enabling workers to take some administrative matters in their own hands.

The need for a digital workplace is increasingly gaining popularity among HR departments in many companies. Nevertheless, many companies still rely on Excel spreadsheets, Word documents or even paper files to perform HR tasks.

Digital solutions such as ESS help companies to save valuable working time in the right areas. It also creates transparency, ensure data is up-to-date, and increase employee satisfaction.

How does employee self-service work?

Thanks to modern HR software, it has become usual for companies to give employees access to different functions inside the tool. The goal here is to optimise administrative processes by allowing employees to perform tasks they can accomplish on their own.

Some of the activities that are extremely simplified by ESS are:

How employee self-service is used in companies?

Leave requests are sent to superiors with just one click and can be validated just as quickly. A detour towards human resources and printing all leave requests is no longer necessary thanks to the ESS.

Working hours can be tracked and recorded within seconds. Overtime is automatically calculated based on the number of hours the employee is expected to work. Thus, ESS ensures that no enquiries about overtime are made to the HR staff.

The main use of ESS, however, is the ability to handle and edit one's own employee information. Manual editing and updating employee information will no longer need to be handled by the HR manager.

With a self-service system, the employee can perform this task on their own and increases data accuracy in the company.

Benefits of an employee self-service system

HR departments still spend a lot of their time and resources on transactional and operational HR. An ESS portal can help reduce the amount of time spent on HR admin and also brings many benefits.

1. Ensure employee records are up to date

An employee self-service system helps managers to get paperwork under control by allowing employees to edit their personal information.

A people system like kiwiHR provide reports with an overview of employees' data completion. Therefore, it sets the ground for you to remind employees to complete their personal information.

2. Manage time off with ease

Are your employees still filling out forms or sending emails to book time off? Thanks to ESS, you won't need to chase down requested dates on emails, and instead will enjoy an absence management software.

All the parties concerned will be informed through email alerts during the process. It stars in the the moment an employee submits the leave request and follows until a decision is made. And if that isn't enough, time off records are automatically updated and are accessible to the corresponding people.

 
 

3. Make your HR department more efficient

Administrative activities make up an staggering average of 60% of the working time in HR departments. This means employee self-service offers the possibility to reduce this workload by 40%.

If the HR workload can be reduced by delegating administrative tasks, the HR managers could spend more time on key issues. Thus, they could ensure the long-term success of the company. ESS is a good example of why 3 out of 4 HR professionals consider the use of HR technology critical for future business success.

4. Make your employees happier

Nearly 80% of the respondents want easier ways to handle routine tasks. Employee self-service can fulfill this need. By implementing ESS, employees can check matters such as annual leave planning, time tracking, or updating employee information.

Employees no longer have to go through a myriad of paperwork or people to enquire about their personal information. They can easily find the answers to their questions with just some clicks thanks to the employee self-service. That way, they make better use of their working time.

5. Get rid of redundant questions

Parting from the last point, questions like “what’s my leave balance?”, “has my holiday been approved?” will all be out of the way since the team can access all their information directly on the ESS portal.

6. Accurate time tracking and payroll

Do you remember the good old days, of agonising over incomplete timesheets or employees who forget to clock out?

A self-service time and attendance software allows workers to complete their timesheets as soon as they are reminded. Then they can update their balances accordingly. Complete and accurate timesheets also prevent payroll mistakes.

7. Avoid wasting time fixing mistakes

With paper-based processes and cluttered mailboxes, fixing mistakes is time consuming. In contrast, a single central platform where you can easily make changes quickly and efficiently will save you time.

There is no need to go back and forth reprinting documents or recalling emails. With an ESS the information you need is centralised in a single system.

8. Access data anytime, from anywhere

Your employees could be working in the office or remotely, they will still be able to access what they need. At any time, any place or any device.

9. Decreased costs and office supplies savings

Administrative costs for processing leave or printing out employee records forms, leave requests, or timesheets should not be underestimated.

Reduce paper usage and costs by allowing your team to access their records and other documents online. By replacing paper documents, you are also reducing your impact on the environment.

 
 

All the benefits of Employee Self-Service at a glance

With ESS, companies are making a big step towards digital employee files and relieving both managers and employees. The benefits are several:

  • Optimized and time-saving processes
  • 24/7 access to information
  • Relieved human resources managers
  • Satisfied employees
  • Higher data accuracy
  • Digital workplace

Employee self-service helps companies to focus on their business success and growth. Thus, not too much time is spended on administrative activities.