HR Reps Are Exploring Employee Self Service
Human resources departments in every industry are frustrated and seeking ways to improve efficiency. Companies are streamlining cumbersome HR tasks with employee self service solutions. As HR professionals research options, there are a number of questions about employee self service that need answers.
Some problems human resource departments face on a regular basis are:
- Growing costs associated with printing and mailing
- Too many employees, not enough HR staff
- Computers in the break room get tampered with
- Employees do not turn in paperwork or it’s done incorrectly
- Decreased recruiting and applicants
- Lack of time to review employee complaints and concerns
- Several different software systems that don’t communicate well
These common issues are why the idea of Employee Self-Service (ESS) came to fruition. Software developers and engineers have created solutions that allow the employee to perform simple tasks themselves. Allowing for self service lifts some of the weight off of HR and boosts employee satisfaction. Combine a list of functionality into one comprehensive system and deliver an all-in-one tool for ESS.
Organizations are finding new ways to use these self service kiosks all the time. The most common uses for HR purposes include the following:
- Employee profile changes (address, phone number, contact information)
- Payroll information and electronic pay stubs
- Employee benefits enrollment or changes
- 401K account statements and preferences
- Vacation and time off requests
- Surveys, suggestions and complaints
- Time clock access
And the list keeps growing!
Have more questions about employee self service? You are not alone. Here are some frequently asked questions we get from HR departments:
Question 1: Is the kiosk tamper proof?
If you have tried the laptop, tablet or shared desktop computer in the lunchroom angle, you have probably run into this problem. With an Advanced Kiosks self service kiosk, employees are unable to tamper with the kiosk or access any web site or information that you don’t want them to! Our kiosks include security software to enable a browser lock down function. No more surfing the web instead of filling out overdue paperwork. Kiosk management software keeps the kiosk secure, yet accessible. Zamok kiosk software ensures the user has the ability to access intended content while preventing back end access. Another security advantage of self service kiosks is screen privacy filters, to ensure that only the user at the kiosk is able to see the information displayed.
Question 2: What’s the return on investment?
Implementing a kiosk system for employee self service requires an investment, which is why ROI often comes up in conversation. If you plan to use a chunk of your budget on new technology, you want to be sure the return will make up for the cost. Fortunately, you will find that computer kiosks for self service have an impressive ROI and of course, the more tasks you use it for, the greater the return.
One big contributing factor is the elimination of excessive printing and mailing. This alone can save as much as $10 per employee in printing and mailing costs per year. This means that a facility that employs 6,000 workers could see $60,000 in savings annually. Another huge issue is that people who work shifts that are outside of the HR’s normal office hours and don’t have access to a computer end up having to fill out paper change forms to HR. Changes manually entered by HR staff cost an average of $30-35 per change in overhead. A kiosk implemented and used for this purpose reduces the cost to about $2-3 per change.
Question 3: Will the employees even use the kiosk?
We can’t promise that every single employee you have will fall in love with the kiosk. However, we can say that statistically on average we see over 50% engagement for kiosk usage as an ESS solution. As an example, one business that implemented kiosks for HR saw that 968 out of 1712 employees used the kiosk in the first year. Staff time spent helping employees do basic tasks and fill out paperwork was cut in half. This allows HR specialists to spend more of their valuable time on more complex tasks.
Question 4: Is a kiosk an eco-friendly solution?
Using computer kiosks is environmentally friendly because they cut back on paper and printing related consumables. Our kiosks also come with software that allows the kiosk to have scheduled sleep modes set by the administrator of the kiosk. Our computer kiosks actually help your organization move towards goals of becoming more “green” and eco-friendly.
Question 5: Will a kiosk improve efficiency in my HR department?
The answer is a resounding “Yes it can!”. A study done by HR payroll systems found that when ESS is successfully implemented, companies see an immediate increases in productivity and efficiency.
Recorded from an article regarding ESS, “The Hunter Group 2000 HR Survey found companies with successful self service implementations reported a staff-to-employee ratio of 1:151 while companies without self service had a ratio of 1:99”.
Towers Watson report, New Horizons, No Boundaries, found that, “77% of respondents report that the HR generalist and specialist transactional workload has declined — without affecting employee workloads … as a result of ESS tools.”
Question 6: Will this be easy for the workforce to navigate?
The kiosk interface is designed with the user in mind. Many HR departments utilize the kiosk to display an existing web based HR or payroll portal that is provided by a third party. Services displayed on a large touchscreen kiosk rather than a smartphone make it easier to use and navigate.
Additionally, Advanced Kiosks provides a software suite called Zamok which allows the administrator to configure buttons that are easy for the employee to navigate. You can edit the buttons, images, colors and links to access only what the administrator wants them to access. The software is super easy to configure! Present users with access to employee information, payroll and direct deposit, PTO requests, directions, and more.
We hope that this information has been helpful and answers some of your questions about employee self service. The advantages of moving to an employee self service solution for your HR needs will vary for each organization. If you’d like to learn more please click to contact us or call 603-865-1000.
We look forward to hearing from you!