WHITEPAPER: The benefits of EMPLOYEE SELF-SERVICE

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1 The benefits of EMPLOYEE SELF-SERVICE

2 Across Australia and New Zealand, there is a real pressure on businesses and organisations to reduce costs. Spending has been reigned in on non-essential functions. For many workers, pay has been frozen. Others have lost their jobs. While these may be necessary measures to ensure the business survives the downturn, there s another area where considerable savings can be made and efficiencies improved. That is HR. Reform of HR is often overlooked because it plays such a central role in most businesses. As long as there is a workforce, tax and entitlements always need to be calculated, salaries have to be paid and policies need to be reviewed and updated. But there s also a lot of work placed on HR departments that could quite easily be absorbed by other employees in the course of their normal day-to-day duties freeing up HR staff to focus on more strategic issues that have an impact on an organisation s bottom line. And in times of economic uncertainty, that s a genuine commercial advantage. So maybe it s time more businesses started looking at employee self-service. The do-it-yourself phenomenon As a concept, self-service is nothing new. From paying at the petrol-pump or supermarket selfcheckouts to online health fund rebates, consumers don t want to have to wait for something if they know they can get it themselves. It s no different in the workplace. At its most basic, an employee self-service system gives employees access to certain key details about their employment. Because it s normally hosted on a company intranet and accessed over the web, staff don t have to be at their desks to use it. They can log in from home or anywhere else with an internet connection. When they first emerged, these systems didn t allow people to do much more than change a line of address or amend bank details. These days, thanks to more robust data encryption, employees can apply for leave, look at policies, share information, book training or download pay slips. And all without once involving HR. Features of employee self-service So what features should you be looking for in an employee self-service system? For employees, the ability to: 1. access and update their own personal information such as telephone numbers, addresses and bank details 2. manage time away from the office by viewing their leave balance and applying for leave online 3. submit timesheets electronically instead of filling out paper forms and submitting them to HR 2

3 4. identify and contact other staff through quick-reference contact lists 5. navigate easily round the system with intuitive menus and an easy-to-use interface. For employers, the ability to: 1. upload pay slips so that you never have to print another paper pay slip again 2. keep track of staff absenteeism and approve or reject leave online 3. see how much time is being spent on projects by allowing managers to approve timesheets online 4. track employees locations via a locator board 5. determine access rights so the right people see the right information. Benefits for employees For your staff, there are a number of clear benefits that come from having an employee self-service system. The bottom line, however, is that they can get answers to the questions they have about their pay or benefits in an instant. And by eliminating that wait (and frustration), employees feel more empowered, more in control and more content at work. Making it easier to escape the office Nobody wants to work 24/7, 365 days a year. Time off is important, and anything you can do to make it easier for your staff to find out how many days they ve accrued, or speed up their holiday applications, is likely to leave them feeling more positive about the environment in which they work. That, of course, has a beneficial effect on overall morale, which leads to a more efficient workforce. Happiness is a large pay packet? A recent study found that happiness at work is a good computer, a nice desk and quality coffee. It s heartening to see that money isn t top of the list, but in reality it s probably pretty high up there. And why not? Staff like to know they re being rewarded for the effort they put in. By making it easy for your employees to check their entitlements, look back at old pay slips or find out about their superannuation and bonuses, you are not only helping them to equate their effort with financial reward you re providing a historical record of how they are progressing in their career. Keeping staff up-to-date with HR policies and procedures Staff may appreciate being able to check on the details most personal to them, such as salary or leave, but when part of a larger organization, being kept up-to-date with any changes to policies and procedures is also important as this type of information may not be as easily assessable. The cost differentiation however, on including this level of sophistication for businesses already experiencing the pains of a growth may be a barrier for most. 3

4 Benefits for employers On the surface, an employee self-service system seems designed simply to relieve a bit of pressure on your HR department. But the benefits to the business go much deeper than that. The right system will help you Improve efficiency The net result of installing an employee self-service system is a more streamlined HR function across your organisation. A function that s less encumbered by administrative tasks and minutiae and more focused on longer-term, strategic goals. Employees too spend less time waiting on requests for information, have a clearer view of their own position within the organisation and are free to concentrate on the job in hand. Cut costs The administrative cost of processing leave or printing out pay slips shouldn t be underestimated. (For many organisations, this is something that takes days not hours.) Neither should the cost of materials. By replacing paper documents with online information, you re not only saving financially you re reducing your impact on the environment. Focus on maintaining a healthy, happy workforce Instead of spending all their time on admin, an employee self-service system frees up HR staff to focus on the more organic HR roles, such as counselling and developing skills. Unencumbered by the smaller tasks, HR staff are also in a much better position to take the temperature of the organisation, and take appropriate steps to ensure morale remains high. The ability to do this is critical, especially in a tough economic climate where pay increases may have been frozen or employees have been laid off. Reduce bottlenecks and keep HR staff numbers manageable One of the big problems faced by HR departments is that end of month and end of year processes can create a huge admin bottleneck. And this requires additional HR staff. By balancing out the administrative tasks across your organisation, you can maintain a more manageable head count across your HR department. Empower managers and encourage autonomy In any organisation, it s the managers (the people on the ground) who really know what s going on with their staff. So it makes sense for them to make certain decisions relating to the day-to-day welfare or personal development of employees not HR. An employee self-service system fosters this idea, by giving managers the ability to approve requests for leave or training without having to involve HR directly. This means approvals are not only more relevant to the person in question. They re also made a lot quicker. Reduce sick days Many organisations have noted a reduction in sick days since installing employee self-service systems. This may be as a result of improvements in morale. But it s more likely the fact that on a screen in the system, sick days are much more visible both to employees and their managers. And that acts an incentive not to take any more doona days than strictly necessary. Keep staff up to date For larger organisations that need to deploy policy change information across a wide network of staff, a self-service system can allow you to notify your employees of any policy changes, available training courses or company announcements. Staff don t need access to their account to view changes, they can simply login, wherever they are, to stay abreast of any legislative or company-wide changes that may affect them. 4

5 Reduce errors Because a self-service system is hosted centrally, HR only needs to make a change to a document or announcement once for it to be updated right across the organisation which helps remove the risk of there being more than one version in circulation. There s a far smaller chance of errors being made over personal details too, such as names and address as employees can enter and amend their own information. Measure the effect of your HR campaigns If is your primary communication tool with staff, you can just about guarantee they ll receive the message. But you ve no way of gauging the impact of that message, or knowing whether it has actually been read. Using your employee self-service system to communicate with staff, you can interact directly with employees by generating polls or other tools that are easy to respond to. This means you can measure how successful your campaigns are and amend them if necessary. How to choose the right system There are a number of employee self-service systems available. If you ve found one with the right features, you are half way there. The real trick is choosing a system that fits your organisation. Don t build a rod for your back A common mistake businesses make when choosing this type of software is to focus only on their immediate needs. This tends to result in a short honeymoon period where the improvements are clear for all to see, followed by a dawning realisation that the software isn t going to be capable of catering for the needs of the company as it moves forward. The important thing then, is to choose a system that s flexible. One that s capable of growing with your business. Look for a product that has additional bolt-on modules that further reduce the burden of time capture and payroll processing on the HR department, or one that sits comfortably alongside other third party systems. This will enable you to make the most of your data. Look for a reputable provider Hand in hand with flexibility goes longevity. Look at the software provider. Are they a reputable brand? Are they reliable? Do they invest enough capital in developing their products? And critically, are they going to be in business for at least as long as you are? Another influencing factor in your decision may also be the availability of other business management products within the provider s stable. Right now, you may only be interested in implementing an employee self-service system. But further down the line, being able to integrate a compatible system for, say, payroll, financials or even stock keeping, could be advantageous. Is the system well supported? Implementing any new software system involves introducing certain changes to a business. Handled correctly, these should be minimal allowing you to carry on with business as usual. But a key component in ensuring the process is as hassle-free as possible is the support company you choose to work with. Their approach, and their ongoing commitment to your business, is the all-important factor in ensuring a trouble-free relationship between your business and the software you use. 5

6 Is your data safe? This is a core concern for any business using web-based software. But it needn t be an issue, as long as all the right measures are in place. With the system you choose, data should be protected using the HTTPS protocol. This means that your information is encrypted before it s sent and only decrypted once it reaches the server. A secondary layer of encryption that is often added is SSL, which uses a high-grade encrypted channel to transmit information over the internet. Look for this too. You ll also want to check for evidence that the provider s servers are hosted within a high-quality state-ofthe-art data centre. Check that they perform back-ups regularly to provide protection against data loss. Ask about their disaster recovery plan, as well as their service level agreements for restoring data. Your provider should be constantly monitoring their servers and have appropriate processes in place to keep downtime to an absolute minimum. So what s next for your business? If your HR department still relies on paper for most of its admin, employee self-service is a genuinely cost-effective way of reducing backlogs, improving accuracy and streamlining one of your most important functions. The functionality is generally simple and the interfaces are typically ease to use, which means there s little downtime involved in training staff. And because the vast majority of systems are web based, there s no software to install. That means you can be up and running in days not months. MYOB Enterprise Solutions: a platform for development MYOB Enterprise solutions offer flexible, integrated solutions for all kinds of industries, giving you control over payroll, resource planning and business administration. With additional modules available, MYOB Enterprise Solutions extended range of specialised capabilities allows you to tailor a solution that s perfectly suited to your business. MYOB Australia Pty Ltd AUSTRALIA Call exo@myob.com.au Web NEW ZEALAND Call exo@myob.co.nz Web NED