Employee self service made easy!

HRSimplified: Employee self service made easy

Why does a small business need Employee self-service in Human Resources? Is it necessary? What are the benefits? How much does it cost?

Most Small businesses have a low staff count, between 3 and 21, and the business owner is often ultimately responsible for everything that is HR. If an employee wants leave, he speaks to the business owner, or in some cases an HR manager or assistant, to ask for a few days off. The leave is then captured somewhere, hopefully, in a central safe location, and everyone hopes they remember that this person is taking leave. It can be all very haphazard.

The employee has little control in this process, other than taking the days and asking for it, and as far as the employee is aware that is all that is needed. However, control of many HR processes can be placed in the hands of the employee, he can manage his own leave, his own expense claims and overtime claims. Empowering and giving the employee a place where he can manage his working life, keep records, and always know what his leave balances are, makes for a healthier relationship between the employee and the employer. Transparency is important, the employee needs to see what days he has available, and days used. It is important to remove any obstacles that could create an environment where uncertanty creates disagreements and disputes. For example. if an employee does not know what his leave balance is and asks for a day off, only to find out later that he has no leave available, will create an unhealthy environment that fuels emotion and causes arguments.

Empowering Employees

Employee self-service allows an employee to maintain control of leave balances and more, making it transparent, and enables them to audit their own leave history.

Employee Self Service reduces pressure on the HR person or the business owner, enabling them to focus on more important work that improves business performance and profits.

With employee self-service, it is essential to make sure the Self Service is easily accessable. Employees need to be able to do this themselves, from anywhere. Not just behind the desk in the office – access to technology can be a point of concern in some work environments.

Employees must feel valued, and the processes that are created around HR need to support them, making it easier and not more difficult.

Employee Self-Service and HRSimplified

With Employee self-service, the following is important for us here at HRSimplifed and it should be the same for a small business owners:

1. Employees need to be able to access HRSimplified on their mobile devices or any internet-connected device, having real-time access to their HR information, Leave balances, Expense claims and Overtime.
2. Employees need to be able to submit Expense and Overtime claims and supporting documents easily at any time and from anywhere.
3. Employees must be able to update their personal details themselves, for instance, address changes, contact numbers and email addresses.
4. Self-service needs to be simple, easy to use and remotely accessible at any time.
5. Self-service needs to be paperless and support workflows that ensure quick and easy approvals.

The Rewards of Employee Self-Service

There are many savings that come from implementing a HR Solution with employee self service in a small business. A solution such as HRSimplified is cost-effective to implement and for a small business this is an immediate benefit. On top of this, there are some other benefits that any small business will automatically gain.

Increased Productivity

It will be surprising how much time is lost in a small business dealing with the basic HR matters of only a handful of staff. Manual HR systems take people away from their job, create extra work for HR Managers or business owners, and can cause confusion that can lead to being short-staffed at peak times. With self-service HR Solutions that has built-in workflows, the time spent on HR matters are reduced, logical decisions are made and because of the intuitive nature of the system overall productivity is improved. Furthermore, because the employees are in control, they are often generally happier and happier staff are always more productive.

Legislative Compliance

There are many small businesses that are blissfully unaware of much of the legislation around HR Compliance and believe that because they are small, or even insignificant, that Labor and HR rules and regulations do not apply. Every company in South Africa has to adhere to rules and regulations, and Employee Self-Service combined the use of technology, is the best way to comply. Employee Self-Service removes the guesswork from many HR tasks and because solutions such as HRSimplified have been developed in line with legislation and regulation compliance is a natural result. Non-compliance is a costly and time-consuming event and by investing a small amount in HRSimplified all the concerns and worries are solved.

Summary

Employee Self-Service is the right way forward for any small business that has its eyes on success. By empowering employees and automating HR processes saves time and save money while increasing overall productivity. Moving to an effective, easy to use and affordable HR solution does not require tremendous expertise in HR and will be the best investment any small businesses could make. See what others say about HRSimplified or try HRSimplified for yourself for free.