4 HRMS Self-Service Selection Factors

Despite the fact that HRMS self-service has pretty much achieved ‘majority adoption’, the ever-expanding list of functions means it still receives a great deal of investment and features on many organizations’ priority investment list.

You may be sold on the potential benefits of incorporating more self-service functions into your new HRMS but before you can start enjoying the pay-off you have a to add a new set of requirements to your HRMS selection process. Of course, the usual software selection questions still apply – anticipated benefits, cost savings, technical requirements, etc. – but these are usually answered when talking about the system as a whole. Self-service carries a number of specific issues in its own right.

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HRMS Self-Service Selection Factor #1: What Do You Need It to Do?

This is the basic-but-essential ‘requirements question’. There are any number of possible self-service functions for employees: Personal data maintenance, Employee communications, Benefits, Open enrollment, Family status changes, 401k/pension issues, training records, leave entitlement, online paychecks, plus access to information sources such as the employee directory, HR policies, and organizational/hierarchical charts. The first step is to decide what you need now; what you might need in one or two years’ time; and what you might like to have whether it’s possible today or not.

HRMS Self-Service Selection Factor #2: How Secure Is the System?

Any HRMS holds highly sensitive employee information (names, addresses, social security numbers…) but as soon as you introduce the self-service factor, employees become much more aware (and therefore, potentially concerned) about how safe that information is. Reassure yourself that you have control over access levels, that backup protocols are rigorous, and that all data transmitted (especially if you’re buying a cloud-based product) is encrypted to appropriate SSL standards.

HRMS Self-Service Selection Factor #3: What Are the Likely Savings in Terms of HR Overhead?

That self-service reduces the HR administrative overhead is an accepted benefit. However, although you might expect to see a 20-25% reduction in time spent on routine HR queries and record-keeping, this will not necessarily translate to staff savings. Many organizations find that the demand for HR resource actually increases because the longer-term impact of self-service is a greater involvement in strategic matters and better quality support for labor-intensive functions such as recruitment and performance management. Explore the potential savings in detail and ensure that key stakeholders understand the impact of what they are getting.

HRMS Self-Service Selection Factor #4: The User Experience (UX)

The benefits of self-service only accrue when the system is utilized to its fullest extent and for that to happen you need people to not only understand it but also to believe in the value on offer. Some of this is a training issue as part of system implementation. Some of it is attitudinal and can be influenced by your communications strategy as you introduce the new system. And some of this is about choosing a system in which the UX is sufficiently familiar that its use is largely intuitive. After all, most employees these days are used to standard interfaces and leveraging this fact will aid navigation and boost system use.