Millennials have grown up with computers, whether on the desk or in their hand. Computers are a constant presence in their lives – and this has expanded beyond the millennial generation. Most people are now accustomed to accessing information wherever they want using their laptops, cell phone, or home computers.
One of the best aspects of Human Capital Management (or HCM) is the ability to access the system from outside the office. With HCM, your employees don’t have to wait until they get to work to verify that their paychecks were calculated properly.
Empowering your Employees
Everyone understands that payroll is vital to employees, but there are other administrative functions that are also important to them, although you may not be aware of it at first glance. Think of requesting and tracking time off. There is nothing more frustrating than having to track down a manager or supervisor to request time off. And once the request is made, employees have to worry that their available hours are accurate.
Tracking time off for employees sounds so simple on paper, but it’s quite difficult to do well. Tracking time off is both a sensitive subject and a moving target. Every week, PTO (paid time off) changes. Either the time is used, or the time is accrued, or both. Your employees depend on having this time up-to-date, accurate, and conveniently accessible in order to make plans for everything from going on vacation to just taking some time off to see the doctor or visit their children’s school. If they don’t know exactly how much available time they have, they will be unnecessarily worried and irritated. Not having this time up-to-date and accurate can mean that personal appointments are canceled or pay is missed. Neither of these things are good, either from HR’s point of view or from the employee’s perspective.
Empowering employees to view their own time and attendance tracking just makes sense. In addition to time and attendance tracking, many other HR functions can be addressed by the employees for themselves. For example, with HCM, associates can enter their employee self-review online and receive a copy of their manager’s review, enabling the employee to keep track of their goals and to state their accomplishments. They no longer have to wait to get a copy of previous reviews from the HR department.
What can HCM do for your Company?
Another great area for employee self-service is expense reports. Expense reports are always a source of concern. Questions like “Did I submit all the required documentation?” or “Has the expense been approved?” or “When will I get reimbursed?” nag at every employee who has filed an expense report, whether they make $15 an hour or $100,000 a year. But with self-service, employees can check the status of their own expenses for themselves rather than wait for an HR expert to return their call or to have their expenses reviewed by one of the company’s payroll professionals.
With HCM, employee self-service doesn’t even have to be limited to employees, strictly speaking. With the right set up, former associates can access their pay stubs and their W-2s so that they don’t have to call payroll. HCM can also make it possible for your former employees to select and pay COBRA online.
Hiring new employees is much easier with HCM. You can easily automate the onboarding process so that new hires can complete their paperwork online using electronic signatures to enroll in direct deposit and set up their payroll tax deductions personally. This cuts down on errors. When HCM is used to handle onboarding, all that a newly hired employee has to bring to work on their first day is their documentation to complete the I-9.
Intuition and our own experience tell us that associates want to have some control over and access to as many aspects of their employment as they can. Not only is it better for employee morale, but it can take some of the burden off your managers and your HR and payroll departments. Think about how much time your HR people spend helping your employees do things like access their W-2s, their benefit information, or their 401k. Relieving your HR staff from answering these kinds of questions frees them to work on things that more directly improve company culture and employee engagement.
When your employees can access and update information on their schedule, your company can better meet their needs. This also puts your employees in a better position to meet your company’s needs. Happy employees are good employees, after all.
For more information on how Commonwealth Payroll & HR can work with you on your strategic human resources planning, call us today at 877-245-1159.
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