We live in the age of debit cards, direct deposit, and banking apps. No one born after 1985 knows what “balancing a checkbook” means or how to fill out a deposit slip at the bank. It’s all done automatically, instantly, electronically. Meanwhile, your business collects real-time data on sales, inventory, transactions, and website hits. In this world of instant information served online, employees have come to expect this same level of convenience at work. Employee self-service tools make delivering that convenience easier for your HR department while raising job satisfaction and productivity for the rest of your team.
Take the Strain off of HR
Your HR department is likely already working at capacity. Depending on the size of your business, you might have only one HR employee, or none at all. No matter the size of your HR team, filling their plate with every routine request that comes their way won’t help morale or productivity. Employee self-service tools take the strain off of HR by letting employees handle some administrative tasks themselves, like accessing tax forms or changing their contact information.
Policy and Training Documents
Self-service tools allow employees to complete training programs and read policy documents whenever they want from their computer or other device. Hiring, onboarding, and training often require reams of documents. Serving these documents electronically through a self-service portal is more convenient for employees and makes it easier to track who has accessed which document.
Learning Management Systems
Software systems that administer and automate training and educational content are called Learning Management Systems (LMS). While there is an upfront investment in time to develop training content, an LMS saves time in the long run. You won’t have to schedule workshops, find speakers, and pull new employees away from tasks to train them. Set it up once and it’s there, online, for every new hire to complete at the time that is best for them.
An LMS is as easy to update and edit as it is to set up and maintain. The way you work and the way you train employees won’t remain the same forever, so you’ll need to update your LMS from time to time. Integrating information about new processes and tools is as easy as updating your website’s blog.
Environmental Impact
Self-service systems save time and money. They also reduce waste. Many small businesses see sustainability and responsibility as a differentiator. Depending on the sector, this might mean using renewable energy or recycled and ethically sourced materials. Extend this commitment to responsibility to your internal operations by going paperless. Employees can access paychecks, W2 forms, employee handbooks, and policy documents through self-service tools rather than printed out.
Increased Security
Phishing scams are on the rise, and scammers are targeting businesses more than ever before. One such scam involves the scammer finding publicly available information about an employee and their employer, possibly through a site like LinkedIn, and then contacting the company’s HR department posing as that employee. The scammer says that they need to change their bank account information for their direct deposit. This would allow the scammer to deposit that employee’s paycheck into their own account.
If you use a self-service portal, this kind of scam becomes impossible. It is no longer HR’s responsibility to update the personal information of every employee; instead, the employee logs into their payroll portal using 2-factor authentication and updates the information themselves. By simplifying these processes and empowering your employees, you eliminate one more avenue that scammers could have exploited.
Keeping the Focus on What’s Important
Self-service tools take the strain off of your HR department and empower your employees while giving them quick and easy access to the information they need to do their jobs. From onboarding and training to HR and administrative tasks, from requesting a day off to updating contact information, self-service tools keep your team focused on the work that makes your business successful.
