Empowered employees are happy employees. One way to encourage engagement is by providing employees access to HR self-service resources.
According to SHRM’s 2015 report on Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement, “respectful treatment of all employees at all levels” and “trust between employees and senior management” were the top two contributors to satisfaction.
If you’d like to encourage both at your company, give employees more control – when you entrust them with tasks perceived as “management” duties, they will naturally feel an added level of empowerment and responsibility.
Self-Service Access Provides Multiple Benefits
Teaching employees that the management of their personal HR needs is an expectation, and an advantage, will create immediate efficiencies and buy-in. When employees hear, “We trust you with the responsibility of managing this important process,” there is an added level of accountability and control.
Self-service management is an instant morale booster, too, because it reduces stress for employees and supervisors. From the employee POV, they don’t have to run every request or update through their managers. Face-to-face meetings are sometimes stressful for certain employees, and having the ability to provide requests through an online system will be considered a relief – no more time will be wasted stressing over, “How should I request this?” As for managers, they will be grateful they don’t have to process numerous updates/requests for all direct reports. Removing this time-consuming admin responsibility from supervisors puts more time in their days to focus on achieving department goals.
By sharing reporting responsibilities among all employees – instead of a select few – HR managers benefit, too, because the avalanche of data-input is shared across the company. Best of all: There’s less chance of information being entered incorrectly when it’s coming directly from the employee. Self-service reporting is a win-win-win for employees, supervisors and HR staff.
TrackSmart is an Ideal Employee Self-Service Resource
TrackSmart software is a robust resource for supervisors and HR staff, but it’s also valuable when in the hands of employees. With TrackSmart, you have the ability to assign self-service capabilities on an individual employee basis, so you control who has access (and the levels of employee access) from the get-go.
Show employees how easy it is to use the software, then step back and gain some valuable time in your day. Information will be entered accurately, and employees will be more self-reliant with their schedules and time-off requests.
Imagine the improvement in productivity and the employee satisfaction from top to bottom when requests for time off, balances, time sheets, schedule adjustments, and questions related to health plan coverage are all self-managed by employees. You may even hear rejoicing in the halls!
TrackSmart’s suite of services lets you customize a variety of self-service options. Here are examples of ways employees can assume more responsibility and streamline efficiency in the process:
- Access the company calendar to review all important dates, anniversaries and scheduled events
- Review time-off banks whenever they want, 24/7
- Input time-off requests
- Submit written-record time sheets
- Update personal and emergency contact information
- Run reports to see a summary of their personal absences and timesheets
- Review their personal health plan details
- View upcoming shifts
- See who is working the same shift
- Locate open shifts if they want to work more hours
- Request shift swaps
- Offer shifts to other employees who request shift swaps
- Submit recurring times of unavailability
- Retrieve shared files uploaded by the employer (i.e., employee handbooks)
- Clock in and out from a mobile device (ideal when working remotely)
- Clock in and out from a designated computer or tablet at brick-and-mortar locations
- Review past clock-ins and time records
If one of your corporate goals it to improve morale or increase productivity, self-service reporting should be a serious consideration. Whether you use one or all three TrackSmart products, you can drive a higher level of satisfaction and productivity by providing employees with more control.
