With a trend towards farming administration work out of the HR function, Melissa Yen examines the latest developments in Employee Self Service (ESS) and looks at how HR professionals can build a successful business case for such systems
With a trend towards farming administration work out of the HR function, Melissa Yen examines the latest developments in Employee Self Service (ESS) and looks at how HR professionals can build a successful business case for such systems
Employee Self Service (ESS) systems are able to eliminate the mundane, routine administration tasks previously required of HR staff. ESS has already evolved beyond the electronic forms model of its infancy and vertical stream HR applications into all areas of business processes, according to Ari Kopoulos, national sales and marketing manager, Employee Connect. Further, ESS and all aspects of business operations are currently converging, with companies starting to think about the whole enterprise and the ability to deploy tools that can service all parts of the organisation –not just HR, says John French, managing director of Snowdrop Systems.
Recent developments
In recent time there has been an increase in demand for ‘intelligent’ workflows that make managers and employees accountable. These workflows are more than simple date driven reminders. These processes have business intelligence built behind them with escalation trigger points and timeouts, says French.
“Typically the new generation workflows ‘push’tasks to users and require the user to ‘act’. Management can track the task in the process. This tracking allows for bottlenecks and inefficiencies to be identified and rectified. Full history is available for audit purposes. Few HR vendors offer that sort of flexibility and functionality,” he says.
There are a number of other emerging trends in ESS that are shaping the way both employers and employees view and use ESS, according to David Page, managing director, Neller. Namely, he points to the ability of different departments’ ESS applications to come together in one portal. “We are seeing a growing demand for HR or Payroll ESS systems to now be integrated with eRecruitment or Rostering ESS tools,” he says.
Another trend Page mentions is the greater adoption of ESS by employees who traditionally have not been users of PCs in the workplace. “We see this particularly in the manufacturing and logistics (transport) industries. This is through companies providing PCs or kiosks in lunchrooms to give their employees access to the intranet and ESS systems. The growing trend for PC and internet access in Australian homes is also a contributing factor to higher adoption of ESS.”
According to Kopoulos, there is a trend within organisations to record core competencies as part of the employee record to help maintain a competitive advantage. Effectively, this has seen the use of the web to deliver additional services such as talent management.
“In this way, you not only identify your top performers and potentials but offer a corrective pathway for the not so high performers by drilling into the core competencies and behaviour. This real-time access to data is changing the way in which deployment decisions are made,” he says.
Implementation pitfalls
There are a number of key issues that HR managers need to seriously consider before implementing an ESS system. As French points out, the main pitfall is lack of planning. A pilot-run and stepped process of implementation is needed therefore. “It is important to start at the top and ensure that senior management understand how ESS will work and to get buy-in.”
In order for any ESS program to be effective and efficient, there must be a commitment to keeping the organisational structure, particularly reporting lines, up to date. An organisational structure’s validity ensures all workflows operate as they should, claims Page.
Firstly, Kopoulos suggests clearly defining requirements by engaging key stakeholders and users at the business analysis phase. “Don’t treat the implementation as a single project. Take a phased approach for each module and the project itself.” He recommends that businesses analyse and plan, think about scope, perform an acceptance test and review. Essentially this will aid in showing management something tangible at an early stage.
Secondly, Kopoulos suggests ensuring all data is accurate before rollout. An ESS system is only as good as the payroll system it works with, meaning a good payroll engine might not always have the best ESS solution.
Effective communication can also be cited as a common pitfall in the process. “Don’t just document project issues, communicate them. Issues normally include a precise statement of the problem (the documentation portion) and a proposal of reasonable solutions or alternative courses of action. An equally important part of communicating issues is identifying an accountable owner for each issue and resolution,” says Kopoulos.
Similarly, Page identifies the technophobia of some employees as a factor, further highlighting the need for effective communication. To overcome this resistance of the technology he suggests: “Communicate, educate and reassure them. Offer basic computer skills training to employees as an employee benefit, there are even some government grants available for this type of training.”
In addition to this, make your ESS site and process as non-threatening as possible by choosing the right theme colours to inspire confidence and interest, as well as make the system voluntary. “If you do not force this on everyone, more employees are likely to take it up,” says Page. “Security is another issue for consideration. You’d be surprised how often a HR manager is on leave without any consideration as to who has access to ESS information in their absence.”
Finally, allow for a continuous improvement strategy, says Kopoulos. How easy is it to get additional forms work-flowed? Chances are your requirements today might not reflect the changing workforce requirements of tomorrow.
Building the business case
Capitalising on the fact that self service technology equals time savings, which are in turn easy to measure, is a must, according to Page.
“Our experience shows that the average employee updates their biographical data twice per year. Say it takes 15 minutes to key in the data and verify it – that means half an hour per employee per year. For a mid-sized organisation of 300 employees, that is 150 hours or almost an entire month of someone manually entering data from the HR department. The advantages and time savings are obvious,” he says.
The best strategy is to seek advice and learn from the experience of others, says French. “Some vendors will help with ROI proposals. The focus should be on adding value not cost. ESS implemented properly should allow for significant growth in employee numbers without additional costs. It should also assist retention rates,” he says.
The future ESS will bring
Over the next five to ten years, providers predict a number of impacts that ESS will have on organisations. “Our clients are already using it as a tool to proactively reflect policy and procedure within their business and maximise efficiencies both within their organisation and external suppliers,” says Kopoulos. “It’s all about the integrated workflow, and the requests that go with payroll, finance, security, property, and of course, all of the traditional HR processes.”
Better, faster and cheaper is the trend forecast by French. He believes Windows systems will slowly disappear as all the serious players in the market will have web-based solutions. “That will make the ESS easier to manage from an administrator’s point of view. The key will be integration in a web-based environment,” he says.
ESS: Justifying ROI
1. Not all business cases are equal. Who is the target of this business case? Write it in their language - a business case to a CFO will differ from one to a CIO or MD.
2. Quantify the current situation. Analyse transactions, volumes and cycles. Take a realistic look at how many spreadsheets are used to manage simple processes.
3. Define the vision. Where do you want to go, what are expectations, what are the reporting requirements? Include the opportunity costs of reassigning resources.
4. Are there any statutory or legislative requirements to be considered?
5. What are the IT/integration requirements?
6. Determine the administrative costs of an ESS.
7. Evaluate the vendors based on scripted demonstration, using real data.
8. Include all assumptions.
9. Present a solid cost benefit analysis.
10. Include a project timetable.
11. Include change management processes.
Source: Ari Kopoulos, national sales and marketing manager, Employee Connect
