HR Employee Self-service Portals: Definition, Costs, & Providers

This essay will discuss the definition of HR employee self-service portals, the costs for implementing them and a list of providers.

“What is an employee self-service portal?” It is a tool that allows employees to complete their own work and tasks. There are many different types of portals, but the most common ones are for HR purposes. The cost of these portals vary depending on the size and complexity of your company’s needs. Read more in detail here: what is employee self-service portal.

An HR employee self-service portal is a website where employers and workers may access HR papers and information. An HR employee self-service portal allows your workers to access information about themselves online, saving HR personnel and managers time from answering regular enquiries. The cost of these portals is approximately $1-15 per month per employee.

What is an Employee Self-Service Portal and How Does It Work?

An HR self-service portal is a component of HR software that enables managers and employees to access information through a website or dashboard. It serves as a dashboard for employers to keep track of employee data for new hiring, benefits enrollment, and payroll processing. It’s a basic feature of HR software that allows you to see everything in one place. Employees should have access to their own data using the finest HR portal.

Instead of having your workers contact you to find out how much paid time off (PTO) they have left or to get copies of their pay stubs, an HR portal with employee self-service may provide this information directly to the employee. It makes advantage of security settings to only show employees the information you want them to view.

Employees should be able to see and edit forms, enroll in benefits, and download year-end W-2 or 1099 tax paperwork, for example. Managers may be given access to a list of their direct reports, hours worked, and leave requests, but not to employee benefits enrollment documents or beneficiary information. Employees and their supervisors may benefit from an HR employee self-service site.

Who Should Use Employee Self-Service?

An HR portal is ideal for any company that wishes to save time by offering managers and workers access to personnel data while keeping personal information private. Putting employee HR and payroll data online, where workers and management can access it, may help any expanding organization.

Here are some instances of why an HR portal is valuable in the workplace:

• Manager self-service helps managers ease shift scheduling by displaying personnel availability and contact information online in restaurants, retail, and service organizations.
• Business with remote teams: A self-service portal removes the need for off-site personnel to ship paperwork back and forth; everything can be completed online by e-signature.
• Employee self-service portals with mobile capabilities are common in companies employing field workers, enabling employees to check whether their paychecks have been deposited or to alert management when they are unwell.
• Small firms without a dedicated HR department: Self-service can answer many of the frequent queries workers have regarding their jobs or perks.

Offering an HR portal is quickly becoming industry standard. Giving your managers and team members immediate access to their own data saves you time and lowers dissatisfaction among your employees. Employees no longer have to contact you directly to find out whether they may take time off, reprint a benefits card, or request that you add a new baby to their health insurance plan once an HR portal is in place.

Costs of an HR Self-Service Portal

HR portals vary in price from $1 per month per employee for basic employee information and leave monitoring to over $15 per month per employee for comprehensive services such as benefits enrollment, training, and performance management. Employee self-service portals that handle payroll typically cost $5 to $6 per month per employee, and often include self-service onboarding and HR data.

There are various more expenditures to consider in addition to the basic monthly rates.

Software for Employee Self-Service

HR software with an HR portal capability may be as little as $1 per month, with providers such as Zoho People providing minimal capabilities. You’ll pay more for a provider like Gusto, which costs $39 per month plus a $6 per month employee charge, if you want HR, benefits, and payroll. Employee self-service options are also available from larger payroll companies like Paychex and ADP, although they may cost twice as much.

Employees may get a comprehensive picture of their data with ADP HR self-service.

Costs of Setting Up an HR Portal

Although most software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers do not charge a startup fee, certain companies, such as ADP, Namely, and Paycor, do. Depending on the provider, setup costs might range from $500 to $1,000.

If you sign a long-term contract, certain companies may be ready to reduce or eliminate the setup price.

Fees for an HR Portal Consultation

Consulting is a choice that is mostly dependent on your degree of HR knowledge. If you don’t have an HR manager on staff, you may wish to hire an HR expert to assist you set up your HR software portal, including security roles. Depending on the size of your organization, this might cost anywhere from $125 to $200 per hour for four or more hours.

Self-service Tool Training for Your Employees

Another expenditure that’s easy to miss is training. You’ll need to provide your staff a login ID and instructions at the very least. However, it’s ideal to conduct an initial training session to educate workers how to login in and access their data so that you get the most out of your HR portal. The only real costs are your time and the time away from work of your staff.

A 30- to 60-minute training session should adequate for most portals, and it will pay off by boosting the possibility that your staff will consult the portal before calling you with questions.

Using an HR portal is a logical decision for a small firm when compared to the expense of hiring a full-time HR staff person, which may cost upwards of $50,000 per year. Your time is important, and every time you’re stopped to answer an employee’s HR issue, you’re taking time away from expanding your company. Because time is money, an HR portal is an investment that pays off in the long run.

Options for Employee Self-Service Portals

The good news is that you don’t have to start from zero when creating an HR portal. When you buy SaaS HR software, it usually includes a self-service option for employees, which they may refer to as a portal or dashboard. In any case, you may add your staff and configure security to control who has access to what information.

You may locate an HR portal as part of an existing software package in a number of locations.

1. Human Resources Software

HR software is ideal for businesses with a staff of more than ten people. That’s because keeping track of employee paperwork and data becomes more difficult at that point. When you have an HR portal built into your HR software, you may email workers forms to e-sign and keep them online. Many self-service portals include the ability to connect to your current payroll software.

To manage the employee experience, Zoho People offers an employee portal.

An HR portal may be used to complete and see documents such as the employee’s offer letter, benefits enrollment forms, and a signed employee handbook. This allows you to spend less time answering queries like “What holidays do we get paid for?” or “How much is my medical co-pay?” Here’s an article with our top HR software picks to assist you discover one with a portal that matches your workers’ requirements.

Look no farther than Zoho People if you need HR software to handle forms and paperwork, as well as monitor employee leave and time worked. For firms with five or less workers, Zoho People is free, and beyond that, it costs $1 per month per employee.

Check out Zoho People.

2. Software for Payroll

Small firms who want an all-in-one platform to handle their payroll and provide workers with a self-service dashboard should use payroll software. Employees may examine their own pay stubs and tax forms using payroll software that includes HR features and an HR portal. Many conventional payroll businesses, such as ADP, also provide HR services like as employee benefits and workers’ compensation insurance, so determine whether your current payroll provider has an HR portal.

Gusto creates an HR portal dashboard for each employee that is tailored to his or her work description.

Otherwise, modern cloud-based payroll solutions like as Zenefits and Gusto give HR portals for your workers as well as an HR dashboard for you and your management to access key employee data in one location. Most provide role-based security, ensuring that the portal only displays the data you want an employee or management to see. Here are our top picks for payroll services.

Gusto is our top option for payroll software that can help you optimize your back office HR operation. Gusto provides an HR portal, payroll processing, and benefits choices for half the price of big-name payroll providers. The cost begins at $39 a month + $6 per employee, ensuring that your employees have access to the information they need.

Gusto is a great place to visit.

3. Software for Keeping Time

When I Work, for example, has an HR portal in the form of a dashboard that enables you and your management to schedule personnel, anticipate labor and compensation, and deal with attendance difficulties. This is ideal for companies that employ part-time and shift personnel. Employees then check in, seek leave, and locate their next scheduled shift via a smartphone app. If you’re just interested in time tracking and staff scheduling, time and attendance software may offer all of the HR portal functions you need.

In addition to work chat, When I Work offers a management dashboard.

We suggest When I Work as time and attendance software because it includes a dashboard that allows managers to keep track of staff schedules and time off all in one spot. If your company has less than 75 workers, employee scheduling is free, and it includes a variety of communication tools to help you remain in contact with your team.

When I’m At Work

4. Software for Workforce Management

Employees at businesses such as restaurants and retail shops may require access to a self-service dashboard or HR portal to indicate when they are available to work and seek time off. Many of those labor management apps have an HR site, which includes features such as manager and peer communication.

An HR portal dashboard is provided by Homebase to both managers and workers.

Homebase is the greatest option for brick-and-mortar businesses since its software is free for an infinite number of workers working in a single physical location. Furthermore, it interfaces with low-cost HR and payroll software like Gusto, resulting in a low-cost two-for-one solution that can instantly transmit data on hours worked into your payroll software.

Free Trial of Homebase

Features of the Employee Self-Service Portal

Managers and workers should be able to readily access fundamental data such as employee contact information as well as HR-related information such as benefits enrollment, payroll, training, and performance evaluations via an HR portal.

Consider the following factors when choosing an employee portal for your small business:

• The cost of your HR portal should be reasonable. Instead of spending thousands of dollars to build anything from scratch, you may choose SaaS HR software that costs between $1 and $15 per month per user.
• Workers should be able to use your HR portal easily; single sign-on or integration with G Suite makes it more likely that employees will utilize the online HR portal.
• Self-service: What good is an HR portal if it simply offers you or your HR representative with a dashboard? Employees should be able to discover their own answers online using HR portals that are self-service.
• Role-based security guarantees that managers and workers only access information that they are authorized to see; an HR portal allows you to create users based on those roles.
• Mobile access: Your HR portal and the data it contains should be accessible to workers who are working remotely, which means it should have a mobile app or a mobile-friendly website.
• Secure: HR portal data is often sensitive; as a result, any HR portal you put up must safeguard both employee information and company information, such as your org chart.
• Document storage: In addition to HR data, an HR portal should contain custom forms and documents so that workers may locate, browse, download, and submit documents as required.
• Employees and supervisors may e-sign documents such as offer letters, time off requests, and performance reports using the top HR portals, which saves time.
• Workflow: Workflow is set up in certain HR portals to enable an employee to make a change, such as getting married, which is then followed up by HR by sending out a benefits or beneficiary change form; workflow ensures that essential HR process stages aren’t overlooked.

Pros & Cons of an HR Self-service Portal

An HR portal, on the other hand, is a product that you can invest in to help your staff and save time. On the negative, it may be costly to set up and maintain, and it needs someone to oversee it. Here’s a rundown of the benefits and drawbacks to help you decide whether or not an HR portal is ideal for your company.

Benefits of Using an HR Portal

Here are just a few of the numerous advantages of using an HR portal:

• Employee experience is improved: Employees want to be able to access information whenever they want it, even from home; a portal allows them to do so.
• Employees who use an HR portal are less likely to approach you with routine HR inquiries like where to locate a form or employee handbook, which saves you time.
• Instead than trawling through folders for documentation and employee information, you may save all important employee data in one location on an HR portal.
• Fewer paper files: You may finally get rid of those unsightly industrial file cabinets by eliminating paper files entirely.
• Data in an HR portal may be marked by date, so you’ll never look for the incorrect employee’s address or submit outdated benefits paperwork again.

The Drawbacks of Using an HR Portal

When setting up an HR portal, there are a few pitfalls to be aware of:

• Cost: An HR portal is normally priced according to the number of users who have access; rates vary from $1 to $15 per month, per employee, and some include setup fees.
• Maintaining accuracy: Once you’ve decided to host data for employee self-service, you’ll need to keep it up to date, which necessitates data input and maintenance.
• Everything on your HR portal is discoverable in the event of a lawsuit, just as paper employee personnel files; be sure nothing in your portal breaches labor law.
• Security: It’s up to you to keep employee health data, contact information, and bank accounts safe; if you store this information on an HR portal, security is crucial.

Here are several online Alternatives to a Human Resources Portal. Some choices are less priced, but they also have fewer security features and are more difficult to use.

Alternatives to a Human Resources Portal

One of the Alternatives to a Human Resources Portal has been around for centuries: paper files. You can secure them with a lock and key. However, you then have to have a person unlock the files each time you, your manager or an employee requests information. Fortunately, newer alternatives may make it possible for you to provide some employee information online for less cost than an HR portal.

Electronic or paper-based files

Paper documentation may be used, such as placing all of your rules in an employee handbook for staff to review. You may also save the data to a safe network drive or G Suite, and then password-protect certain folders or documents.

This option may work well until you reach the 50-employee level, at which point you’ll need to handle health-benefit offers and comply with labor rules such as the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. (FMLA). Furthermore, the file system is likely to confuse workers, who will then approach you or HR for the information, rules, or forms they need.

Software for Project Management

Software for Project Management like Insightly, Monday, or Trello can often be repurposed to set up information for employees to access similar to an HR portal. Of course, you’ll need to do more work to set up the security functions and restrict who can view documents. They typically can store forms, documents, and even provide workflow and tasks so that HR actions, such as your new hire process and forms can be managed in one place.

Collaboration Software for the Web

Collaboration Software for the Web like Slack is a newer tool that can give your employees access to both shared information, and information that can only be viewed by a subset of individuals such as you and their manager. However, reconfiguring online collaboration tools to work as an HR portal may take some planning and implementation time. In addition, it’s not likely to have the security features you need, so you’d still need to password protect folders or documents stored elsewhere.

Employer Organization for Professionals

Some small businesses are looking for a way to streamline HR and employee information, without ever realizing that Employer Organization for Professionalss (PEOs) exist to do just that. When you work with a PEO, you’ll likely be giving your employees access to an HR portal as part of the PEO service.

A PEO is a good option for small businesses that want to give their employees the look and feel of working for a larger corporation, complete with benefits, employee discounts, and a self-service HR portal. It costs a little more, up to $79 per month per employee, but it’s a great alternative for small businesses that want to give their employees the look and feel of working for a larger corporation, complete with benefits, employee discounts, and a self-service HR portal. If you’re looking to work with a PEO, check out our buyer’s guide to the finest PEOs for small businesses.

Employee benefits may be provided by a PEO like Justworks directly via their HR site.

Consider employing a PEO like Justworks to offer your workers with a comprehensive variety of benefits as well as a portal for them to access their HR and payroll data if you want to give them the feeling of working for a Fortune 100 business.

Go to JustWorks.com to learn more.

Employee Self-Service Portal Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Before putting up an HR portal, small company owners should examine the following questions.

Isn’t an HR portal the same as an intranet for employees?

An intranet is a website designed only for internal usage. In that sense, it may include whatever data and documents you want, and you can set up security to restrict what people view depending on their job function or other variables. It is feasible to turn your intranet into an HR site.

An HR portal, on the other hand, differs from an intranet in that it often contains HR-specific information that workers need, such as corporate regulations in an employee handbook or forms such as expense reports. Employees may also access their own information and make changes online, such as increasing their 401(k) contribution or adding a new baby to their health plan, using most HR portals supplied by HR or payroll cloud-based software.

What if someone leaves the company but retains access to the HR portal?

You’ll also need to set up protocols for what to do when an employee is recruited, quits, is fired, or changes work responsibilities or supervisors if you open an HR portal. As a result, you can be confident the employee has access to the right features and menus in the portal.

A dismissed employee, for example, may want access to their 401(k) amount and year-end W-2s. The security elements of most HR software account for these job transitions. Of course, if you don’t want dismissed workers to have access to your portal, you’ll need to put up security processes that allow you to remove their access as part of the offboarding process.

Is it possible for a contract worker to have access to an employee portal?

The good news is that you may set up employee portal access in a manner that matches your company objectives, including restricting access to contract employees. Users should be able to examine data in the system if you give them with a login ID. Contract workers, on the other hand, may need different access than direct-hire staff or management.

Contract employees, for example, should have access to their payment history, job agreements, and work schedule. You may not want them to see employee perks they aren’t eligible for or to seek leave in the same manner that direct-hire workers do. These security choices are often put up utilizing an HR portal’s role-based security capabilities.

Final Thoughts

Even the tiniest firms may benefit from an HR portal since it helps them standardize their company operations and save time. Employees may utilize a self-service platform to enter their work hours, request time off, check their benefits, examine their pay stubs, and more, which frees up your limited bandwidth as a company owner.

The “hr portal examples” is a term that refers to the self-service portals that are used by HR departments. These portals allow employees to perform their own tasks and have them completed in an efficient manner. Costs of these portals vary depending on the provider, but they can range anywhere from $0 to $1,000 per month.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an employee self-service portal?

A: It is a system for employees to manage their own transactions and interactions with the company.

What is self-service in human resources?

A: Self-service is a marketing term that means to sell your product or service and do it yourself. This is also called self-help, self-care, or self care. It can be used in the same way as customer service but with the added dimension of being able to offer products for sale on ones own website. However, many people think of self when they hear these words as meaning not just selling ones own project or services but instead tending to oneself without supervision by others in order to avoid dependence on professional caregivers such as doctors who provide medical care through doctor/patient interaction

What should be included in HR portal?

A: The following information should be included in the HR portal.

Related Tags

• employee self-service portal example
• hr self service login
• hr self service portal
• employee self service payroll
• employee portal examples