How does increasing digitalisation in HR, specifically employee self-services, help solve the timeliness problem of HR data for IAM?
Employee self-services need an IAM login from the first working day, so HR itself now depends on new hires being entered before they start; HR gains an intrinsic motivation to prioritise that data entry.
Employee self-services (ESS) are HR portals where employees handle their own matters: leave requests, time recording, payslips and similar. To use them, the employee logs in, and that login comes from the IAM, which in turn needs the employee's HR record.
That closes a loop that used to be open:
- Before: HR's only deadline was payroll at month-end. Late entry hurt the IAM and the new hire, not HR.
- With ESS: the new hire must record working time and request leave from day one. If HR enters the record late, HR's own service fails.
- Result: HR now prioritises the maintenance process for new employees of its own accord.
The general lesson for data-source integration: data quality agreements work best when the source itself benefits from good data. An obligation in a contract helps; an intrinsic motivation helps much more.
Go deeper:
Human resource management system: Employee self-service (Wikipedia) — what ESS portals let employees do: personal records, leave applications, timesheets.