Resource

How companies can benefit from Employee Self-Service when employees work remotely

Employee Self-Service, or ESS, is a module available in many modern human resource management systems. 

Some of the common tasks that employees can complete in ESS include updating personal information, applying vacation days, managing claims and benefits, and accessing employee handbook. As these tasks are digitalized and conducted entirely in ESS, many companies have benefited from improved employee-employer communication and streamlined HR processes.

These ESS benefits remain primarily relevant, if not more important, where many of the employees work from home now due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Please read on below to find out how a company and its employees can benefit from ESS when working remotely.  

Stay informed who is on leave
Without going into the office, staff may not be aware of each other's schedule and day-off. A shared timetable accessible by all employees regardless of their locations serves a vital function to inform them about the work schedule and leave of every colleague in the company.

Such a timetable is possible with ESS. Not only it shows today's schedule, the timetable also shows works and day-off of months' ahead. Thus, it helps employees plan work and meetings when other team members are available for collaboration. 

Reduced paperwork, supporting documents are in one place
For companies that are still practising traditional manual leave and claim application forms submission and filing, things get trickier when employees work remotely. Though employees can scan or take pictures of these forms and submit them online, HR still needs to gather and sort through the documents from many sources and then store them in the company's central database. This process is tedious and inefficient when HR needs to locate a particular record in a sea of files.

On the other hand, ESS is digital and capable of storing all information chronologically in one place. Since leave and claim approval history is accurately recorded, this can further prevent any disputes in calculating this information in the payroll.  

ePayslip
Monthly paper payslips that were distributed to employees personally become impossible when most employees work remotely. Alternatives such as sending the payslips by post or converting the payslips to softcopy before sending them through email require more HR effort.

Being part of an HR system, ESS is usually connected to payroll module. As HR finishes payroll processing, HR can proceed to generate and send payslips to employees via ESS. These steps are done within the same system, and employees can even access their own past months' records without bothering HR.

Improved communication and work performance
Many employees wonder how their performance will be evaluated with so many changes and uncertainties surrounding the pandemic. Is the old performance appraisal still valid to measure their adaptability to resolve business problems more creatively amid new challenges that crop up as a result of remote work? Therefore, frequent and timely check-in by employers is crucial to stay informed of employees' work progress and maintain constant communication. One way the employer can achieve this is by adopting eAppraisal module. eAppraisal module allows HR to design their performance appraisal forms according to different departments or teams. Then these forms will be distributed online to both the employees and reviewers. After a review, the appraisal results will be stored inside the eAppraisal module or synced to ESS to help both employees and reviewers to review their results again. This ultimately can help the employees and reviewers formulate plans to improve work performance.

WhyzeHR HR & Payroll software includes ESS optional module. Contact us (6838 0161) or send your enquiry to enquiry@whyze.com.sg to find out how your company can further benefit by adopting ESS in your business operation.