What is ESS or Employee Self-Service?
It’s a known fact that human resources managers have a lot on their plates in an organization. The HR managers have to pay individual attention to all the employees in an organization. Now, imagine, how burdensome it would be for them to handle every employee-related activity by themselves? Can’t imagine, right? This is where employee self-service comes into play
The employee self-service portal allows employees to perform tasks without the involvement of the human resources department. It can easily be integrated into the HRMS software and is designed to meet the specific requirements of both the employees and employers. The employee self-service portal permits an employee to execute tasks that would otherwise require the presence of a couple of other in-charges.
When the burden of such activities is distributed among the team members, the HR manager can work with a calm and composed mind.
How does it work?
ESS can easily be incorporated into the HRMS software. It is one of the features that you should look for while employing HRMS software in your organization. To access this feature, the employees will need a mobile or digital device, a good internet connection, and employee self-service login credentials. With the employee self-service login portal, employees can access payroll, schedules, and benefits information, and keep their information updated. The tasks that ESS software allows you to perform include the following:
- What required a lot of paperwork once can now be done with just a few clicks.
- With the ESS panel, personal information of the employees like phone number, email address, etc., can be easily updated.
- With the ESS payroll portal, tax information, withholdings, salary, vacation deductions, etc., can be viewed by the employees. Changes can also be requested on this portal.
- Employees can log their working time with the help of HRMS ESS and can accordingly cross-check their payroll using ESS payslip. Leave applications can also be submitted to this system.
- Policies can be managed via this tool. Simply updating the company policies on the portal with open access can guide the employees in doubt.
- Employees can enroll themselves in the benefits programs like insurance by visiting their dashboard.
- Announcements related to the goals designed by the managers can be accessed using ESS which can further add to the vision of employee training and development.
Benefits to Incorporate Employee Self-Service Solutions
It’s fascinating how a small, simple tool can drastically change the way an organization functions. It’s undoubtedly a great asset. Some of the major benefits provided by this feature are as listed:
- Accuracy– No more worrying about lost paperwork or old information. With employee self-service, updating own information becomes super handy and the data is stored online so no risk there as well.
- No Miscommunication– The instructions imparted by the managers can be double-checked by the employees by simply signing into their accounts. Goals can be reviewed, tasks can be tracked and prioritized, thus leaving no room for miscommunication.
- Efficiency– The long process of drafting a leave application is now ousted. ESS helps you draft applications in a matter of minutes and employees can also track if the applications have been approved or declined.
- Privacy– Since the employees can edit their information on their own, they do not have to answer to other employees about why and what has changed in their life. ESS helps maintain privacy.
- Convenience– Old records and documents can be accessed by the employees without the stress of scrounging cupboards full of paperwork. With a few simple clicks, you can have access to both the new and old employee records.
- Reminders– ESS reminds you about the stuff you consider important like employee birthdays, deadlines, availability of other employees, etc.
- Cross-Referencing– One of the most important benefits of employee self-service is cross-referencing. Tracking the availability of employees has brought down the risk of short-staffing in the office. You can check the employees’ leave applications and move things around to compensate for the loss that would result from their absence.
ESS is a multipurpose tool that shuns silly blunders in an organization. Relying on a couple of employees for maintaining all the records is a futile and cumbersome task. Appointing these employees to other crucial tasks saves you both time and money that can be utilized for the betterment of the organization. So if you are planning to opt for a human resource management system, then make sure you look for the employee self-service tool in the software.
