The simplest answer is that it is an ordinary interactive kiosk with additional features to aid HR services. These days in Dubai and all around the UAE businesses across all sectors with desk-less workforce or the employees who don’t have convenient HR access are adopting Employee Self Service Kiosks or ESS Kiosks. Another primary objective to provide Employee Self Service Kiosk also known as an HR Kiosk is to reduce the HR workload, improve the department’s productivity and increase employee happiness and satisfaction. Employee Self Service Kiosk improves employee experience by offering 24/7 services at their convenient locations and doesn’t require any HR personal either. The employees can go to the ESS Kiosk at any time and immediately get served. This also reduces the wait time and makes the service delivery easier and more comfortable for the employees. Employee happiness is equally important for employee retention and employee performance. If your employee is happy and satisfied they will tend to be more productive and efficient. As the employee self-service kiosk is helping businesses to improve their employees’ performance, it is also very helpful in boosting HR performance. The HR staff will have less daily footfall, and they can focus on more strategic tasks, and productive initiatives to improve the overall culture and profitability of the organization rather than consuming their efforts in manual paperwork, filing, printing and mailing, and managing daily requests.
Employee Self Service Kiosk Introduction
The employee self-service kiosk is a touch screen interactive kiosk with capabilities of offering self-service and much more. Self-service technology is widely spreading across all industries, not only in Dubai, UAE but all across the world, the businesses and industries are rapidly adopting self-service technologies. Especially in the late 2020 and throughout 2021 we have witnessed a huge growth in self-service technologies. The employee self-service kiosk or ESS kiosk is specifically designed to offer HR services on a self-service platform. The employee self-service kiosk doesn’t require any assistance from the staff or an attendee, in fact, the employees can avail various HR services on their own. This enables the businesses to provide HR services at any remote location such as the project site, employees’ accommodations, and site offices, or anywhere else where the HR personal are not available. And it is also very helpful in improving employee happiness and satisfaction which directly aids employee retention and improves the overall efficiency of the entire operations.
Employee Self Service Kiosk Technology
The employee self-service kiosks are built with very widely available and general-purpose technology. It is due to this reason the customized HR Kiosk or Employee Self Service Kiosk solutions are very cost-efficient. The ESS Kiosk mainly consists of an interactive touch screen, on-screen keyboard or a physical keyboard & trackpad, a regular size (A4) printer, a regular size scanner, Emirates ID Card or EID Scanner, RFID Scanner, Passport Scanner and in some cases biometrics scanner and camera or retina scanners as well. The development of the software is fairly simpler as all the hardware devices are very widely available so their programming and integration are not that difficult, this also reduces the cost of the system. The software is usually built as a core server-side application, which communicates with various other databases via secure web services or APIs and does all the logic and data processing. The software also provides an employee interface or self-service dashboard and administrative panel. The server is linked with interfaces via web-based apps/interfaces or native windows based applications. Of course, there are so many more hardware and software features that can be added depending upon the requirement. Covering all of them is not possible. But the above-mentioned components are the very basics of the employee self-service kiosk technology.
How Employee Self-Service Kiosk Works?
The working of an employee self-service kiosk is very simple. The ESS Kiosk is built on a software platform, which is linked to HRMS (Human Resource Management System) and Intranet or ERP. It could also be linked to various other enterprise solutions and systems to further improve the services and to provide more features and facilities to the employees. These all integrations and data synchronizations are being done at the software level, mainly at the core server-side applications. All the hardware accessories such as EID Reader, RFID, Scanners and Printers, and everything else is also linked and integrated with the core server-side application via the interfaces. Whenever an employee arrived at the ESS kiosk machine, the very first thing they will have to do is to identify themselves. This identification or signing-in is done either by Work ID, or EID, or Biometrics, or any other preferred identification method. Then the kiosk relays that information to the employee database to identify the employee. Another method is to allow sign-in or log-in by using the username and password credentials.
Whatever the case is, once an employee is being identified and signed in to the employee self-service kiosk dashboard, they are able to utilize various services. All these services and options are as per the access and authorization level of the employee, for example, a supervisor might be able to see the information of their subordinates as well, while the junior workers are only authorized to access their own information only. In Dubai and all around the UAE, the Employee Self-Service Kiosks or HR Kiosks are widely used to offer almost all sorts of HR services. All the HR services are listed in an interactive UI, once the employee navigates to their required services the service panel has been opened up, the employee can follow the instructions to avail the service. All the data is being processed in real-time and once the employee is done, all the relevant systems and corresponding databases are automatically and immediately updated. Then the system prompts a message to ask the user/employee if they want to utilize another service or if they want to end the session by logging out. For the employee the process is very simple, for the HR staff all the databases and HRMS or HR management system and any other relevant system get automatically updated, hence they also don’t have to do any manual paperwork or filing. This helps to reduce the workload of the HR staff as well.
Benefits of an Employee Self Service Kiosk
The employee self-service kiosk has several benefits. Mostly in Dubai and all around the UAE businesses prefer to have a customized solution rather than any off-the-shelf ESS Kiosk. The customization further increases the efficiency and benefits of the kiosk. However the basic remains the same. Here are some benefits and important features of an Employee Self Service Kiosk:
1 Offer HR Services Remotely
Remote HR services or virtual HR is a very great feature for employees and the HR department as well. The employees who work desk-less or work at remote locations, project sites, or simply away from the head-office or HR office can easily avail HR services through Employee Self-Service Kiosk. The ESS Kiosk is equipped with various hardware accessories and the capability to access all necessary employee information and HR services. Without the HR Kiosk or ESS Kiosk, the employees will have to plan a visit, and the businesses will have to give them off-hours, arrange alternate and arrange transportation to the HR which is not only a big hustle but it is also very counter-productive. It ruins employee experience and makes them unhappy and unsatisfied with HR.
2. Improve Employee Experience and Employee Happiness
If the employee will have to schedule their visits then there are so many factors involved which could make the entire experience very bad for them. The first thing is they will have to request for the day off or even the half-day off could also be difficult in some cases. They will have to request their supervisors or immediate senior person to let them go there, then the transport manager will also have to arrange the transport, and a substitute might also be required to fill in the gap. This entire exercise is time taking and it will make employees very reluctant and hesitant to plan to go to HR. However, if the services are provided through Employee Self Service Kiosk then the employees can access the kiosk anytime when they want, these kiosks can also be placed at the accommodation, as the services are digitalized and automated so there is no timing compulsion as well. There are not long queues, and there is no stressful wait time either. This improves the employee experience, makes them happy, and enables a very pleasant customer journey.
3. Increase Employee Satisfaction and Aid Employee Retention
A pleasant HR experience and a convenient HR journey make employees happy and satisfied. Employee happiness and satisfaction are key to employee retention. In Dubai and all across the UAE where work opportunities are always available, the market is very vibrant and people are continuously switching jobs the employee retention is a very big deal. The HR department is investing a lot of resources to improve employee retention. Employee retention is very important as skilled workers and experienced employees are a great asset for any business or production unit. No matter which industry or type of business you belonged to, employee retention and employee happiness are always very beneficial in increasing work efficiency, work quality, profit, and efficiency. The employee self-service kiosk is a great tool to boost up employee satisfaction and happiness.
4. Increase HR Department’s Efficiency and Profitability
Businesses and organizations are always pouring a lot of resources into their HR and still struggling to improve HR efficiency. The only reason why too many resources are required at the HR is the daily requests that the HR staff will have to serve and the tedious manual tasks. The business and organizations in Dubai, UAE, and in fact all around the world are still lagging in digitalization and modernization. There are too many manual tasks that are reducing the efficiency of HR. For example, each time an employee arrives at the HR department will have to take their requests, sometimes on paper, then they will have to do manual filling and then after the service delivery then there is more manual work, such as printing, keeping records, updating files, mailing and so on. In some cases, the HR department also requires to manually upload all the progress to the digital system.
This is very time-consuming work, the more the HR resources are consumed on such things, the HR cost gets higher and the returns are not satisfactory. However, with a digitalized version of the HR services and the HR Kiosks or Employee Self-service Kiosks almost 60 to 80 percent of such work can be avoided. The paperwork can be avoided which can significantly reduce the HR department’s cost. The employee’s journey and experience can be improved. The HR staff can be reduced. The HR staff can focus more on strategic initiatives and productive tasks to improve the employee performance and overall quality of the products and services, which could be very beneficial in long term for the business. This all results in long term sustainable growth, cost cut, and improved HR efficiency which directly increase profitability.
5. Effectively and Easily Implement Policies and Better Communication with the Employees
The Employee Self Service Kiosk not only helps to improve the employee experience and HR efficiency, but it also helps HR to easily implement company policies instantaneously. The ESS Kiosk can provide a direct and personalized communication channel as well. The HR department can make announcements and share company updates and news or such information through the employee self-service kiosk. HR can also communicate directly with the employees to provide them a better-personalized experience. The ESS Kiosk is also a very good source of collecting employee feedback. The manual feedbacks are difficult and sometimes the employee doesn’t feel better in talking to a person and expressing their true feelings, so an employee survey or a personalized questionnaire could provide direct insight into the employee’s perception of their company and much more. These all things are very helpful in improving employee’s skills, employee retention, and quality of work, efficiency, and overall profitability.
Employee Self Service Kiosk Cost and Maintenance
As I have mentioned that the employee self-service kiosk or ESS Kiosk are built with very widely available technology. It means the cost will be lower, the interactive kiosk industry is rapidly growing worldwide which attracted a lot of attention from global manufacturers and results in a great cost reduction. The hardware devices and components used to build employee self-service kiosks are widely available and also used in other industries so the competition is very high and the cost is very competitive. This reduces the cost of the kiosk as well as its maintenance and upgrade. Another great feature of the HR Kiosk or Employee Self Service Kiosk is that once it is being deployed, it can work fully automatic and doesn’t require any human attendee or regular maintenance. The interactive kiosk itself is built with a very rigid and long-lasting technology that doesn’t require maintenance for years. So, the employee self-service kiosk can remain operating autonomously for years. In case if the kiosks are placed outdoor or in places where the elements and dust is present then only timely cleaning can suffice. The components can last for years. This makes the entire system very cost-effective and easy to maintain.
Conclusion
An employee self-service kiosk which is also known as HR kiosk or ESS Kiosk is a simple interactive self-service kiosk machine. It enables its users to access a variety of HR services 24/7. The employee self-service kiosks are popular for offering a great employee experience and a great employee journey. All those employees who work desk-less or are posted on remote sites or are living away from the head office or are not been able to reach out to an HR person easily can be entertained through the virtual HR or Employee Self Service Kiosk. The ESS Kiosk is also very helpful in reducing HR costs and improving its work capabilities. Offering HR services to all employees 24/7 at their doorsteps, or at their accommodations, or at their worksite significantly reduces the daily footfall of the HR department and allows the HR staff to focus more on primary tasks and productive activities. It also provides HR staff with a direct communication channel with the ability of personalized communication as well.
The overall impact of the Employee Self Service Kiosk is great on improving employee happiness, reducing HR costs, and increasing HR efficiency. This helps businesses in increasing employee retention, which is very important to maintain good quality. The skilled workforce and experienced employees are more productive, efficient, and more capable of delivering high-quality work. Which is extremely important to sustain customers and improve brand image. Thus the Employee Self Service Kiosk and its impact on various aspects of the business can be very profitable in the longer run. RSI Concepts is a leading name in Employee Self Service Kiosk industry in Dubai, UAE and we are also offering HRMS and other HR solutions to help businesses to sustain steady growth and to increase their profitability. If you are seeking a solution to improve HR performance and employee happiness, feel free to reach us out through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you.
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