Unlock HR Info with Self-Service Portals: Streamline Access for Staff & Applicants

Introduction

Self-service portals in HR are online internal doorways for the organization's staff to access information relating to human resources and other relevant information in the workplace. The self-service portal also provides a gateway for potential applicants (Smartsheet, 2020). The portals are developed to centralize and streamline information to make it easy for the staff to access the information they might need. A good example is when an organization puts the enrollment details and handbooks on the portal. Such an organization benefits from a cost-saving by cutting down the amount spent in printing and distributing valuable information. This paper provides a detailed discussion of the self-service portals in human resource management by identifying the key elements in the portals, pros, and cons, and the factors to consider in developing the portals.

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Key Elements Found In Self-Service Portals

One of the main elements present in the self-service portals is policies and corporate values, which consistently remind the employees the way things are done within the organization. The procedures and values help guide the employees on how to conduct themselves while working towards the attainment of the organizational objectives. Other elements include sustainability and benefits features. The portals are the right places for organizations to publicize community projects they may be involved in and invite employees to participate (Lucas, 2020). The HR can also use the portals to publicize information pertaining to fringe benefits such as discount programs, leave procedures, retirement plans, wellness incentives, and insurance.

The portals also provide recruitment processes and job descriptions. Such an element is essential, especially for potential employees, as they are able to go through the specifications before applying for the vacant positions. Some organizations also include "recommend a friend" program in their portals where the staff is rewarded for referring an applicant who is consequently recruited. The section also includes information about performance reviews, salary, payroll information, and organizational charts.

News and announcements links are also key elements in the portals. The HR department uses this section to publicize new information and developments concerning the company (Lucas, 2020). Such information helps update employees about the happenings in organizations such as scheduled meetings, program changes, or new appointments. Employees are encouraged to visit the newsfeed and announcements section to know about the organization's major happenings.

Onboarding and handbook packets is also another essential element, which helps both new employees to obtain and absorb information on their responsibilities in the organization. It also helps the existing employees to go back and refresh the basics. Another vital element in the self-service portals is FAQs that help the staff generate answers for frequently asked questions. The portal provides a live feature where employees can engage HR directly and have answers to their questions.

Differences among Manager Self-Service, Employee-Self-Service, and Human Resource Portals

Manager self-service portals are online platforms that allow managers to have direct access to information about the employees and also helps in the initiation of employment-related activities (Rouse, 2018). The manager self-service portals give supervisors access to employees' data, especially that concerning attendance, performance, and benefits. Managers can use the portals to update records and run ad-hoc reports. Therefore, managers achieve self-reliance and ability to run management tasks and resource transactions without requiring physical intervention.

On the other hand, employee self-service allows the workforces to handle job and tasks that would initially require the intervention of human resource management or personnel (Rietsema, 2020). Through the self-service portals, staffs can interact with HR professionals, access the benefits information, work programs, payrolls, and even update own data. Moreover, the self-service allows the staffs to communicate electronically with the HR department, thus saving time and stress for HR professionals and the staff.

Human resource portals are interfaces in human resource management that link the employees to their employers. The self-service portals are interactive and dynamic, serving as repositories for organizational information (Lucas, 2020). The portals allow the employees and employers to run and complete corporate transactions on their own, thus reducing physical interactions unless necessary.

Advantages of Self-service Technology

HR portals play a crucial role in connecting human resource personnel to the workforces (and vice versa) and reducing emails and calls between the two. Employees can navigate the portals and find information such as scheduling issues on their own without involving the HR staff (Rietsema, 2020). Employees can access crucial information while at their homes, thus saving time, which in turn boosts empowerment feelings. The portals are often secure such that only the existing employees have login authorizations to access the organization's information

The self-service technology allows employees to fill in their data, an element that helps in reducing mistakes and other errors such as a double entry in data entry. The system makes it easier for supervisors to identify errors in applicant or employee information and make necessary adjustments (Handrick, 2020). All information about employees is stored at a centralized location in the portal, minimizing the need to go through files to obtain data and documents. Such a factor goes a long way in reducing paperwork and getting rid of the file cabinets.

The human resource portals also ensure that information is up-to-date. Information in the portal is organized according to dates, minimizing the mistakes that occur, especially in pulling up employees' addresses. Also, by using the portals, employees do not need to have middlemen to address their need to the HR department (Handrick, 2020). The self-service ensures that employees’ voices are heard directly by the HR department, an element that plays a huge role in ensuring that organizations meet workforce expectations.

The system brings about improved functionality in the HR departments by allowing the managers to have a complete focus on matters that require human intervention. Therefore, managers are no longer preoccupied with matters pertaining to simple employee inquiries and data entry (Rietsema, 2020). Improvement in functionality automatically translates to the reduced workload for the managers. By using the portals, employees can handle most of the simple tasks and access important news and announcements leaving the managers to concentrate on bigger and important tasks.

Shortcomings of the Self-Service Portals

The key challenge of using the self-service is that it is time costing in ensuring that the workforce understands how it works. Therefore, the rollout practice ends up costing an organization a huge amounts of money and time, as it should be used more regularly for the organization to note the benefits of adopting. Failure by employees to understand the system's functionality may lead to communication gaps with the HR department. Therefore in taking the new system, organizations have to invest in time and financial resources to ensure that all the staff are on the same page and not going back to the manual system.

Another challenge in using a self-service portal relates to the maintenance accuracy. Organizations and the HR department need to ensure that the system is always up-to-date through maintenance and precise data entry (Handrick, 2020). The portals are also prone to security breach whereby malicious individuals may hack to the system and steal crucial information like bank details, contact information, and health data.

Important Considerations in Implementing Self-Service Technology

User-friendliness is one of the main factors to consider in implementing the system. The system should be easy for both the managers and the workforce to access and use. It should allow employees to make changes to personal information such as marriage status (Smartsheet, 2020). The system should also ensure mobile accessibility. Employees can open the portal and access the stored data at any place, meaning that it can be integrated into a mobile website or optimized website.

Self-service is feature is an important feature to consider in the HR portals to help both the employers and the employees navigate and obtain the answers they might need without having to consult the HR department (Handrick, 2020). HR also considers document storage in the portal, whereby it should have the capacity to store custom documents and forms to let the workforce view, download, and submit information. On the higher end, the system should also consider security to ensure information confidentiality for both the workers and the organizations.

Conclusion

The self-service portals usually contain the information the staff needs to handle their day-to-day responsibilities within the organization. Therefore, the development of the portals prioritizes, making it easy for employees to access critical information by eliminating the need to contact the human resource department. The HR portals also help in stimulating engagement between the managers and the workforce, a factor that brings about empowerment leading to improved productivity.

References

Handrick, L. (2020, June 27). HR employee self-service portals: Definition, costs, & providers. Fit Small Business. https://fitsmallbusiness.com/hr-employee-self-service-portals/

Lucas, E. (2020, March 25). Ten things to put on your HR Portal. Cezanne HR. https://cezannehr.com/hr-blog/2019/03/10-things-to-put-on-your-hr-portal/

Rietsema, D. (2020, March 16). What is employee self-service? HR Payroll Systems. https://www.hrpayrollsystems.net/employee-self-service/

Rouse, M. (2018, March 31). What is the manager's self-service? - Definition from WhatIs.com. SearchHRSoftware. https://searchhrsoftware.techtarget.com/definition/manager-self-service

Smartsheet. (2020). The ultimate guide to HR portals. https://www.smartsheet.com/human-resources-portal