I am looking for information and guidance on the setting up of an HR Portal- what should be its purpose and what all should it contain?
From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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From United Arab Emirates, Dubai
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An HR Portal is (or at least should be) a comprehensive information source for employees, giving them on-demand access to HR-related information such as policies, processes (that can be shared vis-à-vis process documents/manuals), self-help templates and resources, links to important URLs (again mainly HR-related), and other general HR news in the organization.
Like any other normal portal, you would have main pages and content within them. The style a portal takes also depends on the capabilities of the developer. However, generically, there would be main pages such as Career Development, Benefits (which may be further split as health or financial), Compensation, Learning, payroll, recruitment, and maybe other resources, depending on the intensity and volume of information under each head.
A few pointers to head out good HR information systems:
- Consider using modules which subsection the main heads of information. For example, use a module to illustrate various kinds of health benefits available under a single head that says "HEALTH BENEFITS." This way, employees can better identify info where it belongs.
- Always use a quick resource bar somewhere on the page (where it's well visible) to quickly launch important resources directly or indirectly related to the main content on that page. (E.g., you could have a quick link to ER payouts on the employee referral page because it's what employees are most interested in.)
- Use a CMC (Content maintenance cycle) to regularly update and upgrade content. Ensure that it's always up to date and meets the current state, especially contact person, SPOC info, locations, fine adjustments in policies, forms, and templates which can be critical and may be regularly changed per the org requirements. If we try to randomly maintain content, it may result in haphazard operation, and important things may be missed in the process. Rather have a time-related system wherein a particular section gets upgraded once every say, fortnight. However, this is a subjective mechanism. When others come to you, make sure those updates happen quick, but regularly go back to the portal and check particular content.
- Always try and invent new heads of information. Ways to do this are consultation with HR Reps, employee feedback, an analysis and metrics of prior queries raised by employees. Such information will help us understand whether information is lacking/inadequate or incorrect, and appropriate action may be initiated.
- Use graphics/pics, if possible, to make pages more interesting and enhance readability. Introduce a top hits/quick links section on the main or home page to help in fast and easy access to information. Also, keep information optimally located under the right heads, sub-heads. Create new subheads if required. For example, under financial benefits, create separate sections for statutory (PF, gratuity), Stocks, ESOPS, Tax Savings policies/funds, etc.
- Try if possible to link your portal to the company intranet to import important news items/HR news/or any other general news you deem fit to be hosted. Ensure a moderator is in control at all times, though. You could use RSS feeds for this.
- Use a powerful search capability/engine. Many employees are lazy to navigate to information, even if it's optimally located. So, a good search function goes a long way.
Last but not least, implement a feedback mechanism on the portal itself for anyone and everyone to opine. You'd be amazed at the extent of opinions you get. Things you probably never had even thought of!!
The end result is to run a system wherein all employees can access anytime, anywhere (helpful when employees use VPN/WFH a lot).
There is an endless ocean of ideas you could implement. Consider a separate page for HR/Managers to give them access to manager self-service tools/or HR to process documents and manuals/forms, etc., or whatever! HR Portal implementation is FUN!
For any queries on HR Portal deployment, maintenance, feel free to get in touch.
Regards, Joshua.
From India, Delhi
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8Like any other normal portal, you would have main pages and content within them. The style a portal takes also depends on the capabilities of the developer. However, generically, there would be main pages such as Career Development, Benefits (which may be further split as health or financial), Compensation, Learning, payroll, recruitment, and maybe other resources, depending on the intensity and volume of information under each head.
A few pointers to head out good HR information systems:
- Consider using modules which subsection the main heads of information. For example, use a module to illustrate various kinds of health benefits available under a single head that says "HEALTH BENEFITS." This way, employees can better identify info where it belongs.
- Always use a quick resource bar somewhere on the page (where it's well visible) to quickly launch important resources directly or indirectly related to the main content on that page. (E.g., you could have a quick link to ER payouts on the employee referral page because it's what employees are most interested in.)
- Use a CMC (Content maintenance cycle) to regularly update and upgrade content. Ensure that it's always up to date and meets the current state, especially contact person, SPOC info, locations, fine adjustments in policies, forms, and templates which can be critical and may be regularly changed per the org requirements. If we try to randomly maintain content, it may result in haphazard operation, and important things may be missed in the process. Rather have a time-related system wherein a particular section gets upgraded once every say, fortnight. However, this is a subjective mechanism. When others come to you, make sure those updates happen quick, but regularly go back to the portal and check particular content.
- Always try and invent new heads of information. Ways to do this are consultation with HR Reps, employee feedback, an analysis and metrics of prior queries raised by employees. Such information will help us understand whether information is lacking/inadequate or incorrect, and appropriate action may be initiated.
- Use graphics/pics, if possible, to make pages more interesting and enhance readability. Introduce a top hits/quick links section on the main or home page to help in fast and easy access to information. Also, keep information optimally located under the right heads, sub-heads. Create new subheads if required. For example, under financial benefits, create separate sections for statutory (PF, gratuity), Stocks, ESOPS, Tax Savings policies/funds, etc.
- Try if possible to link your portal to the company intranet to import important news items/HR news/or any other general news you deem fit to be hosted. Ensure a moderator is in control at all times, though. You could use RSS feeds for this.
- Use a powerful search capability/engine. Many employees are lazy to navigate to information, even if it's optimally located. So, a good search function goes a long way.
Last but not least, implement a feedback mechanism on the portal itself for anyone and everyone to opine. You'd be amazed at the extent of opinions you get. Things you probably never had even thought of!!
The end result is to run a system wherein all employees can access anytime, anywhere (helpful when employees use VPN/WFH a lot).
There is an endless ocean of ideas you could implement. Consider a separate page for HR/Managers to give them access to manager self-service tools/or HR to process documents and manuals/forms, etc., or whatever! HR Portal implementation is FUN!
For any queries on HR Portal deployment, maintenance, feel free to get in touch.
Regards, Joshua.
From India, Delhi
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HR Manual (Employee Hand Book).doc