In this contributed feature Dee Caporali, Director, Select Software UK Ltd looks at how best to establish the use of an employee or manager self-service HR system within organisations.

At last, the traditional role of Personnel as an administrative function seems to be making way for the strategically focused HR Department. For so long has HR been burdened with paper based jobs and co-ordination of managerial tasks, it is refreshing to see that new technology is enabling this change.

For many years now, organisations have been making use of HR software to replace their paper based records. This has provided HR with a central source of information and made the production of management reports easier. However, any system is only as good as the information within it. Information that is not kept up-to-date produces meaningless statistics. As a result, HR Departments have been employing staff to administer their HR databases in order to produce correspondence and reports from them. Changes over the last couple of years however, have seen larger organisations making use of corporate intranets to extend HR information to their workforce creating an employee-centric environment where information can be viewed and updated by staff, their managers or remote administrators.

Today, most employees have a PC on their desk, with access to e-mail, word processing packages and business solution software. Why not then give them access to their information on-line, eliminating the need for manual forms to be sent to HR and eradicating the duplication of information. Tasks such as recording a change of address, booking a holiday, applying for an internal vacancy or requesting to attend a course, can all be carried out by the employee, with electronic authorisation by their manager if necessary, and automatically sent direct to the central HR system. Such authorisation is normally dealt with through workflow systems using e-mail software, such as Microsoft Outlook.

2003 is seeing many medium sized organisations making the most of this technology, now referred to as B2E (Business to Employees). HR Professionals now relieved of routine jobs are free to contribute to the effectiveness and competitiveness of the organisation. In smaller companies, where extensive IT budgets have not been available, intranet solutions have provided the ideal answer. There is no need to buy hundreds of user licences, as with traditional HR software, or the need for vast expenditure on hardware. Standard software can be purchased from a range of specialist suppliers and integrated with corporate intranets to provide a look and feel people are comfortable with.

How will HR maintain control of information?

Implementing an HR intranet system can provide big changes, quickly. In the early stages, especially, it is important for HR to be able to ensure that systems are not abused and that the information required is still being collected. This can be enabled with workflow processes that generate e-mails to HR, or the individual’s manager, alerting that information has been changed or that further action is due.

Increased home-working and new advances in remote communications such as hand held computers and sophisticated mobile phones will continue to drive the need and the ability to work in this way. Many companies now also choose to integrate their HR software with other business systems such as Payroll and Time and Attendance; this means a further reduction in duplication of effort as relevant information is electronically transferred.

We all know the cost of recruitment and are keen to retain our quality staff and the competitiveness of our organisations. Knowledge Management has been a hot topic and often a key area for improvement in many organisations. The difficulty can be finding a way to centralise knowledge sources and provide a medium for people to quickly and easily gain access to useful and relevant information. Corporate intranets have helped with this problem, but it seems that implementing an intranet and publishing information onto it does not guarantee success. Staff are not interested in using a system that does not excite them or seem to offer any benefits.

So how can we encourage staff to use our intranet?

Interactivity is the key to generating peoples’ interest and imagination. People will be more likely to appreciate the benefits if they see results and are able to influence the information presented to them. Some organisations use their intranet to organise social events, others take it further with e-learning and even on-line shopping. On the HR side staff are able to see things happening more quickly as processes such as changing an address, applying for a vacancy or requesting to attend a training course can be done on line without the need to source manual forms. Development opportunities also become more accessible and staff can research information and apply from their own PCs.

A major step forward is obtained with HR intranet access for managers. Managers are now able to gain access to accurate information quickly without the need to go through HR. Logging into the intranet with their own user name and password, managers would normally have access to the staff who work in their team. Details such as emergency contacts, holiday entitlement, sickness levels, appraisals due and training opportunities available can all be accessible to them. Perhaps the most important aspect, however, is access to statistical information for monitoring and analysis. The ability to look at patterns of absence, assess resourcing levels and track performance against competencies and objectives means that managers can take immediate action and manage their staff more effectively.

So is this the end of paper?

Well it’s certainly a step in the right direction. HR intranets are starting to become more wide ranging with developments including payslips via the intranet, on-line flexible benefits systems and HR advice. Additional advancements in technology will further enable the possibilities for remote connection through palm tops, mobile phones and even TVs!

There is certainly no doubt, that many organisations could benefit from implementing an intranet system to re-enforce their corporate identity, connect people across many offices and bring the workforce together. Using this medium to relay HR information will not only mean less time spent inputting data, but will give employees the opportunity to get more involved and provide managers with up-to-the-minute information.

Select Software UK Ltd can be contacted by e-mail at sales@selecthr.co.uk.