HR being the resourceful department first used employee self-service portals as a cost cutting method. With the surge in technology, these SSPs are emerging as the new generation tools and proving to be contributors to productivity and greater employee satisfaction.
The SSPs within the human resource framework allows the automation of the ever growing administrative tasks like payroll, benefits administration, corporate information, employee data base and training material. It points the Human Resource team in the direction of becoming a strategic and focal point within an organization. These SSPs provide direct access to the employees to important information and eliminate the unnecessary HR processes that increase time and add to delays in these transactions. This in turn frees up the HR team to work on value-added tasks like talent management, succession planning, staff development, performance and retention strategies and compensation & benefits policies.
A well-structured HRIS would allow employees to access the information through a completely web-based model using a web browser. The other kind of data that HR would be able to upload would be performance appraisal documents, all employee emails, employee handbooks containing update HR policies and guides. Without these self-help portals, HRIS would only be useful for the HR team who would still need to labour to get these across to all employees. With an EIP the onus to keep up to date with the happenings in the company, lies with the employees.
The automation of these regular administrative processes reduces the turnaround time for each transaction, saves on valuable man-hours being spent on a rote task, increases awareness and satisfaction both for employees and management and saves on the cost of possibly outsourcing these tasks. HR leaders would be able to invest time in putting together metrics to accurately assess the cost savings and effectiveness of this self-help portal to justify its existence within the HR realm.
The automation of these processes eliminates mundane paperwork, streamlines routing and approval processes, enhances tracking and compilation of data for HRIS and replaces the old time consuming data management processes. With such accurate data in place the possibility of error is largely reduced and hence the stream of calls to the HR team to rectify such errors also becomes a forgotten story.
In addition to the lowering of administrative dependency on HR, it’s is putting the employees in the driver’s seat. They feel a sense of empowerment as their vital information and details along with accurate business information is at their fingertips and is available to them to peruse whenever they are free to do so. These portals also increase the sense of responsibility on the part of the employees with whom the onus lies to keep their personal information updated and also to keep abreast with the latest happenings in the company. Since first hand and precise information is readily available, divergent information and rumors are kept at bay, leading to an increase in employee satisfaction and retention.
Self-service portals within the HR realm are highly recommended and would be desirable for many organizations. HR is a crucial function and all the transactions, like other critical business transactions, require supporting data, are time bound and are part of a larger framework that support organizational goals. The software on these portals must be easy to understand and use, keeping employees motivated and spurred on to keep it constantly on their radar. Companies can think of allowing access of this self-service portal via mobile devices too. This will empower the users even further and will reduce the time taken for information to be available to all concerned. These Self Service Portals make for effective collaboration between the company’s processes and its most valuable resource – the human resource.
