Employee Self Service (ESS)

What Is ESS?

ESS stands for Employee Self Service, a feature included in most human resources information systems (HRIS). It enables employees to make changes to their records, request time off, and more, taking tedious tasks out of the hands of HR and empowering employees to manage their own information.

Which HR Tasks Can Be Done Through ESS?

Depending on the level of access, employees can handle a variety of HR tasks through employee self service. The HR team can decide both who can make changes to the employee records, as well as what changes they can make. The following are common HR tasks left to employees via ESS:

• Personal information changes (e.g., address, contact info)
• PTO requests
• Time tracking
• Direct deposit updates
• Benefits enrollment
• Self assessments
• Employee directory access

Why Is ESS Valuable for HR Pros?

In a nutshell, it’s one of the fastest ways to increase efficiency. Here are a few ways ESS makes life easier for HR pros:

Leave Paper Forms and Requests Behind

With employee self service, gone are the days of paper time-off requests and name-change forms. When your employees can submit that information digitally, there’s no need to include you in the process, saving you valuable time and energy.

Streamline Information Management

When companies embrace ESS tools, the burden of the information change itself falls on the employee, simplifying the process for both parties. While managers still have oversight—including approving or denying changes—employees have the opportunity to manage personal information such as contact information, time cards, dependents, and more.

Create Manager Visibility

When everything is housed in one system and approvals can be customized, you’re creating a world in which managers get visibility into everything. Not only does it cut out the need for managers to ask HR for key information (or for HR to proactively deliver it to managers), but it empowers managers to be more involved in their team’s day-to-day and long-term engagement.

Reduce Errors

Typically, employees would have to send their HR admin a request and the HR admin would have to document that request or carry it out themselves. With employee self service, one step is cut completely out of that process, reducing the opportunity for error. Less data entry leads to better accuracy.

How Does ESS Boost Employee Empowerment?

Employee self service is one of the ultimate employee empowerment tools. Can you imagine the frustration of having to track down a paper form, fill it out, figure out who to submit it to, and wait for approval? Employee self service automates processes, making many actions as easy as the click of a button. Plus, when tackling these tasks from an HRIS, employees can make updates or submit requests anytime, anywhere—not just between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM.