We pay our bills, file taxes, check out at grocery stores, and order food using our phones—all online. As Americans become more digitally adept and self-sufficient, these trends naturally extend to the workplace. A new Paychex study shows nearly three-quarters of employees believe employers should offer robust self-service options, enabling them to independently manage various HR tasks.
Tom Hammond, Paychex vice president of corporate strategy and product management, explained further, “Today’s society has moved from being tech-enabled to tech-dependent, and with that shift has come an expectation for self-sufficiency in the workplace.”
“While at work, employees want to interact with tools – and one another – much like they do in their personal lives. That means being given the ability and permission to accomplish simple, common actions such as changing an address, checking a time-off balance, requesting time-off, viewing a paystub or adjusting a 401k balance independently,” he added.
A separate Paychex survey found just 47 percent of corporations with 500 employees or less currently empower workers to complete certain tasks on their own. In a breakdown based on size, data indicate that the larger the business, the more common it is to allow employees to fend for themselves in some capacity:
- 46 percent of businesses with two to 19 employees offer self-service
- 65 percent with 20 to 99 employees offer self-service
- 70 percent with 100 to 500 employees offer self-service
Eight in 10 employees prefer to use online tools or portals to self-serve. The tasks workers are most interested in accomplishing on their own include:
- Updating personal information
- Managing paid time off
- Downloading/viewing payroll information
- Reporting time worked
- Viewing the schedule
“This is good news for HR leaders,” Hammond reasoned. “As employees become increasingly independent, HR will have more time to focus on strategic priorities like employee engagement, winning the war on talent and ensuring the company is complying with employment laws and other regulatory-related requirements.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
