Employee self service
Employee self service
Human resource departments support business performance in the two areas of transactions and strategy. HR strategy is about determining how best to use human capital to fulfil the needs of the business and how to provide an ‘employer of choice’ environment for staff.
HR transactions include updating address details, pay adjustments, filling roles, conducting performance reviews and managing training and development. These tasks are usually well documented and are quite straightforward to perform. You don’t need to be an HR expert to do them. So it doesn’t make sense that HR performs these functions, when they can be delegated to staff and line management.
Instead, HR should be spending its time supporting the business in the key areas of workforce planning, performance management systems, benchmarking, culture management and activity based costing and management. These are the activities that allow to HR make a significant and strategic contribution to organisational performance.
The only way to free up HR’s time is to devolve transaction activities to staff and line management, transferring ownership and improving responsiveness. An effective workflow and approval system is critical to ensure control and consistency over the HR activities being devolved.
The increased empowerment of devolved responsibility for these activities to staff and managers cannot be underestimated. However, if the solution is complicated and difficult to use, then people will simply not use it. HR will end up spending all of its time fixing mistakes and managing compliance.
How do I know I need Employee self service?
Employee self service has its biggest impact for organisations with more than 50 — 100 people. You need employee self service if you experience any of the following:
- Your HR department is bogged down handling queries like change of address, and leave requests.
- There’s no time for HR to engage in strategic activities and support line management in delivering HR best practice
- Managers are waiting for months for HR to respond to requests
- Your line mangers are not complying with HR policy and procedures
- You don’t have a single view of staff to understand your position at any point in time (e.g. who and how many are on leave, where all the vacant positions are)
- Staff experience varies in how they’re being treated in terms of employment conditions
The benefits of Employee self service
Devolved self service for staff and managers means you have a significant opportunity to capture specific data about workforce activity and can understand at any point in time what’s happening in your organisation.
The benefits of employee self service include:
- A true single view of staff
- Line managers deliver best practice in HR management to their staff
- Line managers find it quick and easy to manage their HR needs
- Staff self serve in administrative transactions, freeing up HR’s time
- HR can focus on delivering strategic and policy related benefits to the organisation
- Legislative compliance requirements are met, mitigating industrial relations risk
For more information on how PTG Global can design and deliver high performance, easy to use employee self service that manages HR compliance and mitigates industrial relations risk, email us at info@ptg-global.com or call 1300 660 973.
