Employee self service has become increasingly popular with organizations looking to manage workforces as efficiently as possible.
Employee self service (ESS) is still a relatively new technology product in the HR world. But in the past few years some useful lessons have been learned from organizations that embraced the practice early.
How it works
Based on the simple concept that employees should have immediate access to their personal information — rather than having to get it from someone in HR — users can quickly administer and manage simple functions such as changing address, family and departmental information. Employee control allows for increased accuracy and greater data integrity.
A common example of an HR process improved through self service is vacation time requests. Without ESS, an employee first makes a call to HR to find out how many days he has available. After he books vacation days, HR would send a request to his supervisor for approval, place the data on a master vacation form — potentially informing payroll — and await confirmation, all before reporting back to the employee.
This process would often take days to complete. What happens if the employee changes his mind and selects alternative dates, or if his work commitments force a change? The vacation request and approval process can heavily tax an understaffed HR department.
With ESS, whenever approvals are necessary, as in the case of leave requests, automated workflow can be attached to the employee self service transaction to capture the data entered and pass it through a pre-defined and automated approval process.
This process might electronically route the leave request to the employee’s supervisor for approval, perhaps to her e-mail inbox. The supervisor can simply approve the request by clicking an approval flag.
A message can then be forwarded back to the employee as well as to HR. Predefined organization structure and business rules in the HR information system would route the request to the appropriate supervisor for approval. The cycle time for a leave approval process can be greatly reduced with a combination of self-service and workflow automation.
Employee self service streamlines processes and shortens the cycle of time required to complete simple transactions. The time it takes to submit and approve a leave request can be shortened from one week to one business day.
The benefits to be had
Companies that have implemented this enabling technology have reported marked differences in the time HR departments spend on administrative tasks, in addition to significant cost savings overall.
TransAlta, an Alberta-based utility company, reports that since implementing SAP’s employee self service, it has decreased each employee data transaction time by 30 minutes, and reduced the amount of manual tasks that were previously processed by the HR department.
The result of implementing ESS translated into an annual savings of $1.65 million for the company. Other companies using ESS have cited similar results, emphasizing the cost savings aspect of the technology.
Challenges to face
While most organizations note the positive aspects of ESS programs once implemented, the services come with some challenges.
Many organizations have a number of employees who are mobile workers, located in multiple facilities or who do not have access to a computer. While this issue poses a challenge for some companies, an often-used solution is the placement of computer kiosks, whereby employees have secure and private access to the HR information system on site.
Generally, employees using kiosks are those who do not normally require access to computer information systems. It is therefore important that proper attention is paid to the location of the kiosk, privacy barriers, the availability of reference materials and telephone for technical assistance. Information programs and lunch-and-learn sessions can be effective in talking to employees about the technology and how to use it to their benefit.
With the use of alternate access methods such as the kiosk, these workers can access their personal data just as easily as their co-workers with computers at their workstations.
Other methods include extending access to company information systems, including the HR information system, from outside the organization, allowing access from the employee’s home. With the appropriate firewalls established on one end to protect the company’s environment and a Web browser on the employee’s end, access is again easily established.
Generally, it is in the best interest of the company to have a thorough understanding of the readiness of the workforce to embrace this technology. And if you don’t already know, you better first test your organization for readiness. Some organizations use employee surveys and others will rely on input from supervisors and managers.
In some cases organizations have had to provide basic computer skills training as the first step in ESS implementation. This might include anything from accessing the Internet and using a Web page to how to use a computer mouse. Depending on how basic the required training is, it may be provided as computer-based training, Web, video or classroom training.
The important thing to consider is that one method won’t likely satisfy the needs of your entire workforce and multiple methods will likely be needed. Perhaps face-to-face instructional training for those who need very basic computer skills and online methods for those who already use a computer in their work or home environment.
Most organizations that have implemented ESS also provide employees with person-to-person access to HR advisors for issues that require discussion. Generally, these personal interactions might include interpretation and clarification of policies and benefits, or any question of a general nature regarding a process delivered through self service or one that is not.
It is common to provide online viewing of pay statements through employee self service, and provide telephone access to HR or payroll advisors who can answer a specific question regarding the contents of the pay statement.
What comes next
Successful adopters of ESS are also good candidates for the next evolution of employee self-services: services that allow employees to view and update their skills and qualifications and give them access to their development plans. From there, the next step might be providing an e-learning environment, for on-demand training.
At this level, the employee now has online access to all of the training and skills development activities provided by his organization (internal and external training) and can register for courses (online and classroom) and take online training courses and tests.
Self-service in this context is now extended beyond basic employee personal information to learning and development processes that enhance the employee’s skills and competencies and their potential to contribute to the success of the organization. It’s a win-win combination for both the employee and the company — but let’s take one step at a time and start with basic employee self services.
Overcoming staff objections
In some cases, employees may feel that self service is just moving tasks from the HR department to the employee. In those cases, employees should be reminded that:
•they now have access to their own information, when they need it;
•they are the original source of their personal information and are more likely to spell their address and family names correctly than a second or third party entering data from a form;
•they are able to make faster decisions that affect both themselves and their families;
•the company now has accurate and up-to-date information regarding employees, the employee’s family and benefits participation. This will enable the organization to better accommodate the employee’s needs when emergency contact and family information is needed and benefits are provided; and
•they have online access to information regularly requested from HR and payroll, providing the opportunity for HR to reduce costs and focus on strategic activities.
Pam Gregory is the marketing development manager, human capital management for SAP Canada. She can be reached at (416) 218-6557 or [email protected].
Employee self service (ESS) is still a relatively new technology product in the HR world. But in the past few years some useful lessons have been learned from organizations that embraced the practice early.
How it works
Based on the simple concept that employees should have immediate access to their personal information — rather than having to get it from someone in HR — users can quickly administer and manage simple functions such as changing address, family and departmental information. Employee control allows for increased accuracy and greater data integrity.
A common example of an HR process improved through self service is vacation time requests. Without ESS, an employee first makes a call to HR to find out how many days he has available. After he books vacation days, HR would send a request to his supervisor for approval, place the data on a master vacation form — potentially informing payroll — and await confirmation, all before reporting back to the employee.
This process would often take days to complete. What happens if the employee changes his mind and selects alternative dates, or if his work commitments force a change? The vacation request and approval process can heavily tax an understaffed HR department.
With ESS, whenever approvals are necessary, as in the case of leave requests, automated workflow can be attached to the employee self service transaction to capture the data entered and pass it through a pre-defined and automated approval process.
This process might electronically route the leave request to the employee’s supervisor for approval, perhaps to her e-mail inbox. The supervisor can simply approve the request by clicking an approval flag.
A message can then be forwarded back to the employee as well as to HR. Predefined organization structure and business rules in the HR information system would route the request to the appropriate supervisor for approval. The cycle time for a leave approval process can be greatly reduced with a combination of self-service and workflow automation.
Employee self service streamlines processes and shortens the cycle of time required to complete simple transactions. The time it takes to submit and approve a leave request can be shortened from one week to one business day.
The benefits to be had
Companies that have implemented this enabling technology have reported marked differences in the time HR departments spend on administrative tasks, in addition to significant cost savings overall.
TransAlta, an Alberta-based utility company, reports that since implementing SAP’s employee self service, it has decreased each employee data transaction time by 30 minutes, and reduced the amount of manual tasks that were previously processed by the HR department.
The result of implementing ESS translated into an annual savings of $1.65 million for the company. Other companies using ESS have cited similar results, emphasizing the cost savings aspect of the technology.
Challenges to face
While most organizations note the positive aspects of ESS programs once implemented, the services come with some challenges.
Many organizations have a number of employees who are mobile workers, located in multiple facilities or who do not have access to a computer. While this issue poses a challenge for some companies, an often-used solution is the placement of computer kiosks, whereby employees have secure and private access to the HR information system on site.
Generally, employees using kiosks are those who do not normally require access to computer information systems. It is therefore important that proper attention is paid to the location of the kiosk, privacy barriers, the availability of reference materials and telephone for technical assistance. Information programs and lunch-and-learn sessions can be effective in talking to employees about the technology and how to use it to their benefit.
With the use of alternate access methods such as the kiosk, these workers can access their personal data just as easily as their co-workers with computers at their workstations.
Other methods include extending access to company information systems, including the HR information system, from outside the organization, allowing access from the employee’s home. With the appropriate firewalls established on one end to protect the company’s environment and a Web browser on the employee’s end, access is again easily established.
Generally, it is in the best interest of the company to have a thorough understanding of the readiness of the workforce to embrace this technology. And if you don’t already know, you better first test your organization for readiness. Some organizations use employee surveys and others will rely on input from supervisors and managers.
In some cases organizations have had to provide basic computer skills training as the first step in ESS implementation. This might include anything from accessing the Internet and using a Web page to how to use a computer mouse. Depending on how basic the required training is, it may be provided as computer-based training, Web, video or classroom training.
The important thing to consider is that one method won’t likely satisfy the needs of your entire workforce and multiple methods will likely be needed. Perhaps face-to-face instructional training for those who need very basic computer skills and online methods for those who already use a computer in their work or home environment.
Most organizations that have implemented ESS also provide employees with person-to-person access to HR advisors for issues that require discussion. Generally, these personal interactions might include interpretation and clarification of policies and benefits, or any question of a general nature regarding a process delivered through self service or one that is not.
It is common to provide online viewing of pay statements through employee self service, and provide telephone access to HR or payroll advisors who can answer a specific question regarding the contents of the pay statement.
What comes next
Successful adopters of ESS are also good candidates for the next evolution of employee self-services: services that allow employees to view and update their skills and qualifications and give them access to their development plans. From there, the next step might be providing an e-learning environment, for on-demand training.
At this level, the employee now has online access to all of the training and skills development activities provided by his organization (internal and external training) and can register for courses (online and classroom) and take online training courses and tests.
Self-service in this context is now extended beyond basic employee personal information to learning and development processes that enhance the employee’s skills and competencies and their potential to contribute to the success of the organization. It’s a win-win combination for both the employee and the company — but let’s take one step at a time and start with basic employee self services.
Overcoming staff objections
In some cases, employees may feel that self service is just moving tasks from the HR department to the employee. In those cases, employees should be reminded that:
•they now have access to their own information, when they need it;
•they are the original source of their personal information and are more likely to spell their address and family names correctly than a second or third party entering data from a form;
•they are able to make faster decisions that affect both themselves and their families;
•the company now has accurate and up-to-date information regarding employees, the employee’s family and benefits participation. This will enable the organization to better accommodate the employee’s needs when emergency contact and family information is needed and benefits are provided; and
•they have online access to information regularly requested from HR and payroll, providing the opportunity for HR to reduce costs and focus on strategic activities.
Pam Gregory is the marketing development manager, human capital management for SAP Canada. She can be reached at (416) 218-6557 or [email protected].
