Article
Kiosks aid not-so-human resources
Employee self-service via kiosks is a great way for companies to ensure that all employees have access to important human-resources information.
April 28, 2004
Editor's note: This is the first in a series on implementing self-service technology in human resources. The next story will look at using kiosks to recruit and hire workers.
The Boeing Company has an impressive company-facing Web site full of detailed personnel information for its employees. The problem? Sixty percent of its employees are on production lines building airplanes, and have no access to PCs, or the Internet, on a desktop. Some don't have access to the Web from home.
A large casino in Niagara Falls, N.Y., has a personnel department open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, but the gambling business is open all night, all week. How does the company relay important human resource news to its employees who work outside traditional business hours? An intranet wouldn't work, because less than 9 percent of the casino's employees have desks with dedicated PCs. Most workers are on the floor, serving customers.
What is the answer for these companies? Employee self-service via kiosks loaded with HR software and deployed in common areas on the job.
In the case of the casino, 20 HR kiosks were placed in high-profile locations like break rooms and cafeterias. St. Clair Interactive Communications produced the software, which allows employees to check work schedules, request time off and review benefits.
"There is legal liability for companies failing to communicate all information to all employees," said St. Clair President Doug Peter.
Indeed, companies have a mandate to ensure that every worker has access to thorough information about his or her job and workplace. And kiosks fill the bill for several reasons: not all employees have desks with PCs, not all workers have Internet access at home, and the range of HR information available to employees is growing exponentially so even paper manuals can't be updated quickly enough.
Jeff Roster, senior analyst for global industries, retail, at Gartner Group, said his firm has not tracked the size of the electronic HR market. ROI is difficult to measure in this category. But he said employee self-service is a logical area for growth within human resources.
"If a retailer can automate a process that gives time back to managers, that's huge," said Roster, who will release results of a Gartner survey at Retail Systems 2003in Chicago June 9-12. "We will release information from a very complex survey that includes HR, CRM and other critical business areas." He said case studies in the report point to successful HR kiosk deployments.
Benefits of Employee Self-Service 1. Gives employees new control over their personal information; increases satisfaction 2. Frees up managers' time for business-critical issues 3. Offers all employees equal access to important HR data 4. Opens up new use for intranet investments 5. Reduces paper in HR department; frees up HR staff 6. Cuts cost of reaching employees with corporate news |
Who benefits?
Pete Reilly, vice president and general manager of retail forRadiant Systems, said employee self-service helps both management and employees. Radiant produces software and kiosk enclosures.
"There are so many non-value interactions taking place in the workplace, like employees asking for days off. If managers were freed of those requests, they could re-allocate their time to driving customer service or training employees," he said.
Reilly told of a small, regional grocer that had an inbox for employee requests. "This manager got requests for days off scribbled on everything from scraps of paper to ripped cardboard," he said. "Some employees forgot to sign their names, or asked for a Tuesday off without specifying the date."
Roster said coordinating such employee benefits is a serious situation in retail. "Verifying holidays and sick time; all that is a huge burden on the manager's time. And I think it burns out a lot of good managers," said Roster. "I think some employees play games, trying to get their managers off the floor by making them seek out some information back in the office. Why not make them go to a kiosk and find out the information themselves?"
Another plus on the corporate side is that companies can better use their intranet investments. They have already built the site and formatted the content, now it can be offered to everyone.
On the employee side, Reilly said, "Self-service could improve morale. It would give workers more control and responsibility over their jobs."
He said workers could ask for time off, check their schedules and check the status of their requests, even punch in for work and get a time-stamped receipt online.
Derek Fretheim, president ofCeroview, said employees appreciate the ability to check personal data at their leisure.
"They can maintain their own records without having to go through HR protocol," said Fretheim. Of course, he said this brings up security concerns about conducting personal business in a semi-public environment.<?xml:namespace prefix = o />
Fretheim said a Ceroview customer in the manufacturing industry requires employees to scan their employee identification badges across a bar-code scanner on the kiosk, then type in a unique password before being allowed access to HR functions.
Better Communications
Bob Ventresca, director of marketing forNetkey Inc., said his company has seen a "considerable amount of interest" in employee-facing applications. "With all the business scandals we've seen, there is a need for better communications with employees," he said.
"And using kiosks is one way to reduce the cost of delivering that information to employees, in terms of paper and HR staff time," he added.
What it comes down to, according to Ventresca, is 100 percent employee coverage. "Sure everyone in an office has a PC in front of them. But what about the thousands of people in the factory that don't," he asked.
Netkey customers include manufacturers and large entertainment and hospitality companies. Netkey's software allows employees to update their personal profiles, check benefits information, look up the status of accounts like 401ks, and read corporate news.
"We have several projects in which our software is the front end to large HR systems like SAP and PeopleSoft," said Ventresca. He said Netkey has partnered with enclosure vendors likeKISand Ceroview on HR projects. He declined to comment on specific customers, citing privacy concerns.
Education critical
Industry experts agree that there is a certain amount of education that must accompany automated self-service.
"The success of self-service means more than just putting an enclosure on the floor," said Ventresca. "It involves signs, brochures, probably a whole marketing campaign to educate users," he said. The vendors agree that having a person at the kiosk to walk users through their first transaction is helpful.
"My opinion with kiosk usage in general is that success lies in the way you promote and market the technology," said Fretheim.
"Getting people to use a kiosk is a philosophic challenge, not a technical one," said Peter. He said it's a smart policy to offer incentives on the kiosks, such as discounts from local merchants that can be printed out, or space available for employees to put in classified ads.
Is the business there?
None of the vendors would disclose specifically how much business this segment has brought them. Peter said St. Clair has 11 or 12 HR customers.
But in all fairness, he said HR can be a difficult category to break into. "We really don't know how to market ourselves horizontally. We market in vertical markets like healthcare and financial services, but this is different," he said.
Most HR work comes from technology partnerships and from word of mouth, Peter said. "If you can only get companies to see that the overriding business case is so incredible."
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