A lot changed last year -business critical services were delivered remotely on a consistent long-term basis for the first time due to COVID-19 and this resulted in a very significant change to work culture and environment. When significant change happens like this, previous expectation levels tend to be discarded and replaced with a new level of expectation that is more aligned to the new circumstances that have arisen due to the change.
One new area of expectation among global employees at multinational companies across the world, is around access to their own personal and pay related data. In the past, they may have been satisfied to wait for human resources or global payroll professionals to respond to their data access queries via email over a period of days.
This is no longer the case and there is now increasing demand for self-service access to employee data using innovative digital tools. In this article, we will examine what has caused the increase in demand for this service and why it makes sense for businesses everywhere to provide it.
The old days
In a lot of business-critical departments, the old way of doing things were consigned to the past as multinational companies around the world struggled to get to grips with the stark implications of the global pandemic.
Remote access to data, procedures and processes became an essential business commodity and those companies who lacked the digital innovation to supply this remote access struggled to deliver their essential business services.
A new level of expectation developed during the pandemic where both employees and service providers asked some very relevant questions:
- Why do I need to send an email to somebody to access my personal data?
- Many company documents are stored security in the cloud, why can't my employee data also be stored for easy access?
- Is dealing with employee data queries the best use of time for people working in global payroll and human resources departments?
- Can we really call ourselves an innovative and digital company if I have to wait five days for an email response to a simple data query?
- Lots of other companies offer self-service access to employee data, why doesn't mine?
- I sometimes need my data for personal reasons like mortgage applications-why can’t this be easy and self-serve?
Questions like these can often result in slightly uncomfortable conversations as the answer tends to involve the phrase “this is the way we have always done it “- not a phrase associated with digitally capable, progressive and forward-thinking companies!
Now is the right time to be responsive and proactive by examining your technology stack and exploring opportunities to integrate with a platform that enables the implementing of an employee self-service portal along with a range of helpful digital tools.
New employee self-service demands
Employee well-being and morale are important considerations, it has been an extremely turbulent 12 months for multinational employees who have had to adapt to considerable change. Companies who make an effort to empower employees with remote access and digital tools find that their international employees respond positively.
Things have changed and new demands have arisen - it is important to clarify that new demands have arisen in their personal lives as well as their professional lives. Therefore, easy access to employee personal and pay related data can make their lives easier. For example, payslips and year -end tax confirmations are often needed for personal applications for loans or mortgages. In such cases, what employees really desire is to be able to access a cloud platform, log in securely and quickly download what they want. This makes them feel empowered and in control of their own personal data while also making them feel that they work for an innovative, digitally progressive company.
Personal and professional change creates new expectations and these expectations often tend to turn into demands sooner or later. Many companies will not want to be left behind when it comes to the digital innovation that can enable self-service access to personal and pay related employee information. Failing to act would represent a missed opportunity to provide a genuine boost to employee trust an engagement levels.
Anytime Anywhere
Things became messy during the pandemic, and the standard 9 to 5 hours of normal office life seemed to no longer apply. As we are all still adjusting to the change, employees everywhere now require more flexibility and freedom when it comes to performing tasks.
Data access is therefore required 24/7, in any location and on their preferred device. Cloud platforms can make this a reality and employee self-service portals put employees in control of their own data, enabling them to access the data in a secure environment from non-work-related devices such as smartphones.
Weekends or overseas journeys are no longer blockers to access- cloud security features mean that it doesn't matter where a person is or in what time zone, they can simply access what they need securely.
This is a level of digital innovation and quality user experience commonly available across specific departments at multinational companies, so it is not surprising to learn that many global employees are now demanding that similar levels of technology be put in place to ensure that they can access the data they need anytime they need it.
Save time with self-service
Introducing employee self-service software not only delivers the kind of empowering control that employees want, it can also deliver considerable time saving benefits as well as cost savings. It should no longer really be acceptable to have experienced global payroll or human resource professionals using their considerable skills to focus on time consuming employee information and data requests.
Self-service technology exists, it usually requires a relatively straightforward platform integration - so why not use it and ensure that your payroll professionals are focusing their skill set on what truly matters -delivering on time and accurate payroll. What limited free time they have should be used to deliver insights, optimise and improve operational excellence and contribute more to business growth.
Trust and motivation
There is a strong correlation between empowerment and the levels of trust and motivation employees feel towards the organization they work for. Innovative and progressive digital tools allow them to work in a way that suits their personal style. This can result in increased levels of trust and motivation and while these may be somewhat intangible and difficult to measure, it is usually very noticeable when they are not present.
Empowered employees are usually more content because they feel in control of their work environment - and this comes with noticeable motivation and productivity benefits. A dedicated ESS portal Is a straightforward way to add value to the day-to-day employee experience at an organization.
Payslip and Employee Self-Service
The Payslip platform has an Employee Self-Service portal to ensure easy employee access to personal and payroll data, on a self-service basis. The portal can be accessed 24/7 via desktop, smartphone mobile devices & tablet and is designed to provide employees in all international locations with the same level of access and an identical user experience.
Employees can access, view and download their personal data and information whenever they need it in a secure cloud-based environment. Current and past electronic past payslips together with compensation and benefits information can be accessed with a few clicks.
Global employers benefit from empowering their employees with a self-serve digital tool while ensuring a unified user platform experience across all international payroll locations.