Extending_HR_Self-Service_To_Unconnected_Workers_Netkey_White_Paper[1]
- 1. pg. 1© 2003 Netkey, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Netkey is a registered trademark of Netkey, Inc. Extending Human Resources Self-Service Applications To the Unconnected Workforce
- 2. pg. 2 Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary .......................................................................................... pg. 2. Self-Service for Human Resources .................................................................pg. 3. The View From Above Why HR Executives Embrace Self-Service ....................................................pg. 4. Additional Benefits of Extended HR Self-Service ..........................................pg. 5. Summary ............................................................................................................pg.
- 3. pg. 3 Executive Summary Human Resources Self-Service applications are, in some ways, like a marriage of the old-fashioned cork bulletin board to modern networking technology. Rather than posting notices and requiring workers and job applicants to fill out forms in triplicate, self-service applications have allowed HR professionals to quickly and easily reach every single network-connected employee. HR Self-Service is a quantum leap over old- fashioned paper, mail and phone-based systems. Surprisingly, however, those old-fashioned systems continue to be used today. They survive because of the technological gulf that separates “white collar” and “blue collar” workers. While network-attached employees reap the benefits of HR Self-Service, those in other segments of the workforce (manufacturing, service, trades, retail) have yet to experience those advantages and are still served by the outmoded systems of yesteryear. These old, paper-intensive systems are still the standard in the areas of hiring and recruiting, and occupy large percentages of HR budget and time. According to Salomon Smith Barney, companies spend an average of $1,700 per employee per year on HR communications. Companies are well aware of the functional power and financial benefit of HR Self-Service, but have assumed that the digital barrier was one that could not be crossed. They have assumed that the advantages of HR Self-Service – for both the company and the connected employee – were limited to those workers sitting at or near a PC. That assumption has prevailed…until now. Netkey HR Solutions allow corporations to extend HR Self-Service applications to each and every worker and prospect, regardless of location or work environment. Extended HR Self-Service is already helping businesses: • Extend the benefits of HR Self-Service to all employees • Leverage existing Employee Self-Service applications • Enhance training and recruiting efforts • Increase worker satisfaction • Establish uniformity of corporate messaging • Eliminate feelings of inequity among segments of workers This paper will explain more about Netkey HR Solutions and the benefits available to companies that extend HR Self-Service applications to their unconnected employee populations. Self-Service For Human Resources Self-service enterprise applications for human resources management and internal company communications have become a widely accepted corporate paradigm. Self-service has proved an efficient and effective way for businesses to: • Disseminate an immense variety of corporate information to employees • Make personal employee data and programs (related to payroll, tax, timekeeping, retirement, stock ownership, and more) immediately and securely available to workers “According to Salomon Smith Barney, companies spend an average of $1,700 per employee per year on HR communications.”
- 4. pg. 4 “Automating r e c r u i t m e n t functions makes job application easy and convenient for prospects and candidates, and facilitates regulatory compliance for HR professionals.” • Increase corporate alignment through regular communication with workers • Improve and extend internal recruiting and hiring efforts Having access to and control over information empowers workers and attracts better candidates. Automating that availability relieves HR and Benefits Administration staff from spending their valuable time in the menial tasks of manually managing that information. Making important HR and benefit information available to an employee at or near their work area eliminates a majority of the considerable cost burdens associated with the printing and distribution of such materials. Automating recruitment functions makes job application easy and convenient for prospects and candidates, and facilitates regulatory compliance for HR professionals. Applicant data is easily collected, evaluated, analyzed, screened, shared and stored. For employee information and communication programs, the benefits of automated HR applications currently accrue almost exclusively to “connected” workers – those who access the corporate network via their own desktop PC or terminal. While this group constitutes a significant percentage of the US workforce, the number of workers whose immediate work environment does not include a desktop PC or terminal – retail, manufacturing, distribution, hospitality, healthcare workers and others – is even greater. For these “unconnected” workers the promise of Employee Self-Service has yet to be fully realized. Companies whose HR solutions do not reach unconnected employees are forced to maintain two systems – the automated, cost-effective, network- based system for connected employees, and the cumbersome, costly, slow, paper or phone-based system for everyone else. A “solution” like this one – one that fails to reach all employees – is no solution at all. In addition, hiring and recruitment programs for people in traditionally unconnected roles (retail, manufacturing, distribution, etc.) usually require that job seekers take time from their job or personal time to apply in person. Internet- based hiring programs are becoming more common for “connected” employees, but unconnected employees are far less likely to have access to such programs. While self-service HR programs have greatly reduced the cost of delivering information and services to connected workers, the cost of delivering these same assets and resources to unconnected workers and prospects continues to rise. Despite the fact that many employees are unconnected, HR executives must still serve and inform them. Traditionally, creating, printing and distributing vast quantities of paper documents to unconnected employees fulfill this requirement. In addition, HR staff will be required to convert some of that content into presentations, then travel (often extensively) from facility to facility in order to ensure consistent communication to these groups. HR staff must usually answer questions arising from these materials and meetings, either by phone, mail, or in person.
- 5. pg. 5 HR organizations have also invested significant time and budgetary resources in developing and deploying corporate Intranets only to find that the very medium they depend on to deliver these solutions to some of their employees becomes a barrier to reaching the rest of their workers. The remaining employees (a group that can range far above 50% of a company’s total workforce) must continue to rely on outdated methods for access to their personal data and communication from the corporation. Having a large workforce “unconnected” to Employee Self-Service places companies at risk of: • Lower employee morale and productivity resulting from inadequate access to important information on benefits, career paths, training, etc. • Higher administrative costs to process routine HR-related requests, transactions, and new hire applications • Missed opportunities for cost savings and productivity gains as unconnected employees continue to use more costly and time- consuming means (i.e., the phone) for HR inquiries, information, and transactions HR organizations also spend significant time and money managing the paper-intensive application acceptance and review process. Recruiting costs are significant as well, and their success in reaching targeted groups in manufacturing, retail and distribution is modest, at best. How, then, can these network-delivered functions and capabilities be delivered to employees and prospects whose jobs do not require a network connection? This is the challenge of HR Self- Service in an unconnected world. Fortunately, for HR executives facing this challenge, there is an answer. The answer is Netkey HR Solutions, the most powerful, feature rich Extended HR Self-Service platform available. Netkey’s HR platform is an ideal solution for businesses seeking both to extend existing Web-based Employee Self-Service applications beyond the desktop and beyond connected employee populations, and to radically increase the reach and effectiveness of recruiting and hiring programs. Delivered through kiosks or managed PCs, Netkey extends a company’s existing Employee Self- Service (ESS) applications to employees wherever they work – on the factory floor, in the distribution center, retail store, hotel lobby, restaurant or government facility – anywhere unconnected employees are located. Netkey HR Solutions are just as effective in reaching new applicants and prospects. They enable companies to deliver recruiting applications via public-facing kiosks or workstations, located “The new system...had to integrate an existing SAP HR module, complex corporate enterprise portal and provide full self-service capabilities for 100,000 unconnected employees”
- 6. pg. 6 wherever is most convenient for applicants. And with Netkey, these applications and systems are cost-effectively deployed in a fully secured network environment, and are easily managed from a remote administrative desktop. Extending HR Self-Service to these unconnected populations immediately delivers the same, powerful benefits companies have experienced when deploying HR applications to their connected workers. Companies moving to automated HR Self-Service systems from expensive call center systems have experienced cost reductions as high as 97%, including savings of staff time and the preparation, printing and mailing of materials. Savings are significant enough to allow for payback on these conversions to be reached in one year or less. Netkey HR Solutions are not new HR Self- Service applications. They are software solutions specifically designed to help the HR organization expand the reach of existing Web-based Employee Self-Service applications and Web-based recruiting tools into public access environments. In extending these applications, companies achieve even greater returns on the investments they’ve already made in self-service. The View From Above: Why HR Executives Embrace Self- Service There are a number of compelling reasons why HR executives have embraced the ability to extend HR Self-Service applications. The reasons echo the successes many of these leaders have experienced in deploying their Extended HR Self-Service capabilities to their connected workers. Leverage Existing HR Software Assets: Companies spend significant portions of their IT budget purchasing enterprise applications, and on the internal or external professional services needed to maintain them. Replacing enterprise applications is not only costly, it has a negative impact on corporate efficiency while the product is rolled out, users are trained and the myriad of associated problems worked out. Upgrading applications to take advantage of new features is often similarly painful. Extending existing applications with Netkey HR Solutions eliminates the expense and difficulty associated with replacing or upgrading them. The extending of the applications is completely transparent to existing (connected) users, and creates far less impact on IT. In addition, making the choice to maximize the usefulness of existing HR enterprise software is a prudent budgetary decision. Rather than replacing these applications, extending their function with Netkey HR Solutions saves significant resources for use in addressing other needs. Netkey HR solutions require only a fraction of the budget consumed by new HR Self-Service applications, and often less than the amount companies spend for professional services related to those applications. Virtually any existing “According to the Cedar Survey, only one-third of the organizations using Employee Self-Service solutions actually measure the business results obtained from their investment”
- 7. pg. 7 Web-based employee self-service application can be extended through EESS. Here are some examples: Employee Portals or Corporate Intranet Sites are common tools for providing links to various corporate information and employee resources. These platforms can easily be extended into a public access environment using Netkey HR Solutions software. An extended HR Self-Service solution can also combine many different HR systems into a single employee-facing solution for the unconnected workforce. This creates a unified interface through which employees can access a multitude of HR tools. One company with multiple applications (including an SAP HR system, a PeopleSoft payroll solution, a Web-based training application, a Web- based 401K provider web site and others) was able to securely extend all of these applications to its unconnected workforce through a single interface, using Netkey HR Solutions. Employee communication and training: Company directories, corporate policies, job postings, career development information, training and awards programs, surveys, company news, union or trade association information, employee handbooks, general information on benefits (retirement, health, FMLA, educational assistance programs, employee discounts), safety updates, wellness programs, access to an online company store, and any other company resources or tools that can be made available through the Internet, including: • Personal data management: personal data inquiries and data changes, family status/life event changes, access to personal history • Time management: vacation/leave requests, vacation and sick day balances; paid time off, and time card entry, work schedules • Pay-related management: pay stubs, direct-deposit services, withholding and deduction changes, union or trade association dues, and salary package inquiries • Retirement management: 401K, employee stock ownership program (ESOP), and retirement or pension services Reduce HR Costs. Employees customarily judge HR departments on their responsiveness to requests for information, yet these requests – and their subsequent answers – are often made in person, on the phone, or through the mail. For HR groups dealing with significant numbers of unconnected employee populations this is completely impractical, untenable and far too costly. Extending existing HR Self-Service applications multiplies the effectiveness of HR staff, allowing them to reach every employee with no more an investment in time and effort than it takes them to reach a single employee. “Netkey helps businesses achieve increased ROI by multiplying the effectiveness of existing HR Self-Service applications”
- 8. pg. 8 This increase in HR productivity is so dramatic that many companies achieve very quick payback on their investment in extending HR applications. By moving unconnected employees away from expensive paper and call center-based HR interactions to lower-cost Internet transactions through a kiosk or managed PC, payback often occurs in less than a year. Phone-based HR transactions and inquiries are far more expensive than the Internet-based inquiries that employees conduct themselves through a managed PC or kiosk (on average, $3 vs. 7 cents). Retailers with hundreds or thousands of store locations can save millions of dollars annually by extending Employee Self-Service into the store environment and enabling associates to conduct their own HR inquiries and transactions. Increase Employee Satisfaction and Retention. Companies that ensure their entire employee population has access to important HR information, where and when they need it, create a more satisfied workforce. Bridging the digital divide gives workers a greater sense of equity and empowerment. This increased job satisfaction is not confined to “shop floor” employees. HR employees are often pulled in many directions at once, increasing job stress and dissatisfaction. Netkey HR Solutions multiplies the effectiveness of HR staff. This increased productivity means less time spent on repetitive, low-level functions and reduced job frustration. Deploying Netkey-extended applications tells workers that their employer is committed to providing equal service to all employees, regardless of work environment. This is a powerful way to create goodwill and boost morale throughout the entire enterprise. Toronto-based Cedar plc (www.cedar.com) is a leading global enterprise consulting organization, whose corporate surveys are widely used to determine the real-world effectiveness of enterprise software solutions. In their 2002 Human Resources Self-Service/Portal Survey, Cedar reports up to a 50% improvement in employee satisfaction when employees are empowered through Employee Self-Service. Extended HR Self-Service means that this important benefit can be extended to the “unconnected” workforce, along with all of the other inherent benefits of standard HR Self- Service applications. Recently, a major entertainment conglomerate – with television stations, film studios, and amusement parks – sought to expand the way they communicated HR information and services to their diverse mix of unconnected employees. The new system had to be easy-to-use, cost effective and highly secure. The new system also had to integrate an existing SAP HR module, complex corporate enterprise portal and provide full self-service capabilities for 100,000 unconnected employees. The company had attempted to build its own complete solution, but the project stalled due to overwhelming complexities. Ultimately, they made a decision to seek out a partner with proven expertise in delivering extended, secure, “By integrating automated applicant screening tools into the recruiting process, companies hire employees who are less likely to leave. The resultant decline in turnover rates can save millions of dollars in recruiting, hiring and training costs”
- 9. pg. 9 integrated HR Self-Service systems in public access environments. They turned to Netkey. Netkey delivered a highly functional system in a matter of weeks with virtually no disruption to the day-to-day operation of the company. Netkey’s software and integration services made it possible to extend the company’s existing SAP HR system and corporate enterprise portal to all unconnected employees. System security is strong at all levels, insuring that only authorized personnel are able to access and view personal data. The system’s browser-based interface is simple to use, yet users cannot access any other web sites, applications or company systems. The content is quickly and easily updated remotely, and sound and video elements are easily added to enhance user experience and increase adoption. Over 275 touch screen kiosks have been installed in cafeterias, dressing rooms, and other areas where employees congregate, making it possible for park employees to log-on and securely view their benefit information and 401K accounts, change medical benefits and perform a variety of other HR-related transactions. They also check job postings and apply for those jobs, catch up on company news and visit the company store. Increase effectiveness of HR personnel: Administrative tasks can occupy up to 80% of HR staff time. Enabling Extended HR Self-Service with Netkey HR Solutions frees them to focus on more strategic initiatives, including those related to attracting, developing and retaining employees. Extending HR applications to the entire enterprise enables HR to leverage the full benefit of the investment in their self-service applications. In addition, most HR personnel work “9 to 5.” Employee Self-Service terminals can work 24/7, meeting employees’ HR information needs any time of day or night, when HR personnel would otherwise be unavailable. HR staff also customarily dedicates vast amounts of time to open enrollment each year, and more frequently when the company changes providers mid-cycle. One HR executive whose company recently selected a new healthcare provider related his frustration over the seemingly insurmountable task of re-enrolling 3000 employees based in manufacturing plants using a traditional paper-based enrollment process. This process would have involved producing and mailing enrollment kits, waiting for the printed forms to come back in, then manually processing the forms. While researching for options, this executive learned that he could significantly reduce the costs and headaches of this process by using existing PCs to extend an online open enrollment program to his factory-based employees. One leading supermarket chain deployed job application kiosks in its stores, leveraging its backend SAP HR system to provide applicant “...with Netkey, these applications and systems are cost- effectively deployed in a fully secured network environment, and are easily managed from a remote administrative desktop.”
- 10. pg. 10 visibility across the company’s operations. Using the kiosks, the chain was able to relieve HR staff of the tedious task of managing paper applications. In addition to reducing overall recruiting costs by 25% and increasing their pool of qualified job applications by 400%, the company increased HR staff job satisfaction and reduced HR turnover. Enhance Recruiting: HR executives in industries such as retail, hospitality, fast food, and other service segments face the additional challenge of servicing the needs of a large, widely dispersed, constantly changing workforce. High turnover makes recruiting, hiring, training, motivating and keeping good employees a constant and costly endeavor. With Extended HR Self-Service, companies can greatly expand their pool of qualified applicants, shorten the hiring interval, save staff time, and drive down costly turnover. It can cost as much as $4000 to recruit and hire a new employee. By making existing recruiting tools (such as online applications and screening software) available through a kiosk or managed PC, companies can reduce the cost of collecting, sorting, copying, evaluating, distributing and storing paper applications. These savings are a key benefit for high turnover industries that may replace their entire workforce every one to three years. Applications designed to attract, develop and retain top employees can also be extended through Netkey HR Solutions. If these applications already exist on a corporate Intranet or corporate recruiting site, or through an internally developed or purchased solution (i.e., a hiring management and tracking system), they can be quickly and cost effectively extended to unconnected groups using a kiosk or managed workstation. These applications might include job postings, online applications, applicant tracking/recruiting/screening tools, job requisitions, and training programs. A top-tier retailer recently replaced its proprietary screen-phone hiring system with a Web-based recruiting application extended by Netkey. The new in-store recruiting application, deployed on inexpensive desktop PCs, accepts applications electronically, and pre-screens applicants for prior records of theft or other criminal history. Since the conversion to this new system, the retailer has experienced a dramatic rise in the quality of job candidates, and a three-fold increase in the number of applications received. In addition, the new recruitment and applicant screening system is scalable, flexible, and secure. All 1,500 units in the field are now updated and managed from a single administrative desktop. Capturing applicant data through in store terminals allows companies to create a central repository of job applicants that can be shared with managers at other area locations, something never possible with paper-based systems. According to a study by the Graduate School of Management at the University of Dallas, half of all hourly employees quit in less than 100 days. By integrating automated applicant screening tools into the recruiting process, companies hire employees who are less likely to leave. The resultant decline in turnover rates can save millions of dollars in recruiting, hiring and training costs.
- 11. pg. 11 Additional Benefits of Extended HR Self-Service Key features and benefits available to companies deploying Netkey HR Solutions include: Content Optimization and Management: The corporate environment is constantly changing. HR has the difficult job of developing new programs to address these changing needs, and the even tougher task of disseminating this new information to employees in a timely and cost effective manner. As an organization’s HR communication needs change, an Extended HR Self-Service solution can readily adapt. This is made possible by content optimization tools that are part of the self-service software. These tools enable an HR professional to control and manage the content on the entire extended self-service network from a single administrative desktop. Whether to change a 401K provider, announce a new incentive or wellness program, or keep employees abreast on the latest safety procedures or training programs, the user quickly updates the content on the self- service network and pushes this new information out to the workforce. The importance of keeping information up-to-date cannot be underestimated. The Society for Human Resources Management has published documents stating that keeping information fresh and compelling for employees is key to getting employees to continue to come back and use the self-service channel. Companies may also want to use different kiosks on the self-service network for different purposes. Some might be used for employee training and others for Employee Self-Service functions such as benefits access. Netkey HR Solutions allows you to create different content for different groups of kiosks. This varied content can then be remotely deployed in real-time or on a pre-scheduled basis. Retailers, for instance, can push customer-related content to a kiosk during the day, and use that same kiosk for employee-related functions during evening hours. Remote Monitoring: An Extended Self-Service solution remotely monitors the self-service network, immediately notifying a technical support person of any problems. The monitoring system continually checks the kiosk’s vital functions and generates an e-mail or pager alert notification if and when problems occur. Design and Security: Unless properly secured, employees may use employee terminals to roam the Internet and even gain access to proprietary areas of the network. Netkey Extended HR Self-Service software enables you to overlay and extend existing Web-based applications while restricting access to specific URLs. The software also prohibits employees or applicants from using the keyboard to disable the system or gain access to other parts of the network. Proper interface design is also critical to the success of an Extended HRSS solution. The right interface attracts users, increasing the rate of adoption and participation among employees, and makes is easier for them to find the answers and information they’re looking for. In addition, an effective interface helps employees get their answers more quickly, limiting time spent away from their jobs. “It can cost as much as $4000 to recruit and hire a new employee”
- 12. pg. 12 Reporting & Analytics: According to the Cedar Survey, only one-third of the organizations using Employee Self-Service solutions actually measure the business results obtained from their investment. Netkey knows that measuring results is critical to program success, and Netkey software enables you to track and measure usage. For example, the system will report how many employees are using the Employee Self- Service terminal, when, for how long, and what applications or functions they access most often. Peripheral Integration: Depending on the functionality required, there may need to integrate various hardware peripherals (printers, security mats, card swipe machine) with self-service terminals or kiosks. Netkey software provides peripheral integration scripting tools, wizards and an API that cut development time and cost. Summary Netkey extends the delivery of Web-based content from HR Self-Service applications and corporate intranets via self-service kiosks or managed PCs in virtually any location. Netkey helps businesses achieve increased ROI by multiplying the effectiveness of existing HR Self-Service applications, providing a secure and reliable channel for reaching unconnected employees and recruiting targets. Contact Info Netkey, Inc. 32 Park Drive East Branford, CT 06405 Phone: 201.483.2888 Fax: 203.483.2893 Toll Free: 800.443.7924 www.netkey.com
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