The emPath Self-Service functions are used to dispense information about open job positions, to enable employees to access personal data such as pay stubs, and to change personal data. It is an online communication tool that allows users to do the following tasks:
Employees can view information about open positions within the company, and apply for positions online
Employees can get answers for frequently asked questions about leave balances, pay information, and company benefits and policies.
Employees can quickly update information such as their address information and language preference.
Employees can enroll in training classes.
Employees can record their time - using the Exception Pay or the Clock In/Clock Out feature.
Employees can also print displays of personal leave balances, pay information, company benefits, policies and pay stubs, and year-end tax forms.
The Employee Self-Service pages differ from the staff user page in that those page that allow the employee to update their own records open in Modify mode. Once they have made a change the pages revert to View mode.
When companies have established privacy policies to which they wish their employees to give consent, the employees will be required to consent or decline to consent before they enter the Self-Service system. If the employee declines to give their consent, they must provide a reason. Once employees have access to the Self-Service system, they may modify their record - withdrawing consent, giving consent, etc.. They may also view the statement of the company's policy.
In addition - through the use of Workflow - employees can initiate changes that require approvals and may approve changes to information about other employees. For example, an employee who is in HR may be set up on the system to approve all salary increases.
When an employee (in Employee Self-Service) initiates a change that must be approved by some other employee, the system will not return the warning message associated with a workflow initiation by a manager or an administrator.
Employees can access information in this function that is not ordinarily available to them through emPath because of security parameters. Employees can view the Employee Self-Service pages by using the security of their Social Security Number/Social Insurance Number (with or without dashes), their employee ID, or other field, and their password or personal identification number (PIN). Employees can change their passwords using the Self-Service User Preference page.
The decision as to whether employees will sign on using their employee ID, their SSN/SIN numbers, some other unique field, is made by the administrator and is the same for all employees in the system.
Only those employees whose status is Active (AC) or On Leave (LV) have access to the Self-Service features. When an employee's status is changed to any other status, emPath updates their User record, changing the Allow Access field to "no".
Pages which allow the employee to make additions or changes will initially appear in Update mode. If the employee makes a change, the system will return the changed page in View mode and the employee may click Modify to make additional changes. If Workflow has been defined for the page, the employee will not see their change until after the Workflow has been approved.
Note - Some functions may not be available at your site.
The delivered Employee functions are listed under the heading "my empath" with subheading grouped as follows:
ESS Handbooks - employees can view the employee handbook or other “how to” information online. Employees can get answers to frequently asked questions about company policies, benefits, administrative information, and so on in a multimedia format. You can film human resources personnel speaking about company policies and benefits, or use any combination of text, graphics, video, and sound formats.
Job Openings - employees can use this option to view job openings within the company. You can sort the list by location or job group. When an employee selects an item on the list, the details about the job are displayed. The employee can click the Apply button to apply for this position.
Employees automatically create Applicant records by entering their Employee Id and their password.
Compensation - this is a user-defined page that can be tailored to show different aspects of the employee's compensation. This options allows you to display selected pays, deductions, and taxes, aggregated in any way you chose.
Direct Deposits - this option allows employees to sign up for direct deposit of their net check.
Pay Stubs - this option allows employees access to the information on their pay checks. They can select a check in the list to see detail information. The page is also available on the staff user's menu - so that the staff user can have the same view of checks as the employee, when the employee calls with pay check questions.
View W2, T4, Releve - employees may view a facsimile of their W2, T4, or Releve.
W4/TD1 Change - employees may use this option to change the W4 - Federal Income tax information. The Table of Contents will display "W4" for employees with US tax groups, and "TD1" for employees with Canadian Tax Groups. US employees may change their Marital Status (the Marital field on the Employee Tax page), Total number of Allowances (Exemptions), and the Additional Amount to be withheld (Additional). Canadian employees may change their Basic personal amount, Age amount, and other fields on the TD1 form. This may be linked to Workflow if you wish have someone approve the employee request for a change to their withholding.
What-if Calculations - this option can be used to calculate the changes that can occur in an employee's pay check if they change marital status, the number of tax withholding exemptions, gross pay and other factors.
Clock-In/Clock Out - employee's can clock in and clock out as with a timeclock system. Upon manager and administrator approval, timecards will be created for payroll processing. Entries can also be made using Exception Time.
Exception time - this option allows the employee to submit requests ranging from a single day to weeks of vacation or personal time off as single time-entry transaction. Employees will enter the beginning date of their time-off request and then enter the total number of hours requested and the pay-code amount associated with the request, if any. Additionally, employees have the ability to edit requests to correct entries made prior to manager approval.
Time Transactions - this page allows employees to see their own time, entered via the Clock In Out option or directly on the Exception time page. They may see whether their time was approved.
Absences - employees can see a list of the absences that have been tracked.
Benefits Inquiry - employees can see a list of the benefits in which they are enrolled, and the associated cost.
Class Transcripts - this option allows employees to the results of a class, after the class has completed.
Contacts - employees can update their own address information, using the same pages that are used by the staff to update this information.
Designees - employees can view their dependents and/or beneficiaries information.
Enroll in a class - this option allows employees to review the classes in which they are enrolled, to enroll in additional training courses, and to cancel out of classes.
Enrolled Dependents - employees can see which dependents are defined to the system. Only those dependents who are currently enrolled in a benefit or are beneficiaries of a benefit are displayed.
Leave Balances - employees can inquire about personal accrued leave balances. Leave is defined in your company for such things as vacation or personal leave in the validation tables. The information in this page comes from the Employee Accruals tab in the Employee Pays pages.
Name change - employees may change their name - all parts except the check name.
Request time off - employees may request time off using a predefined list of Absence types. Transactions entered on this page update the Employee Absence page. This feature may be linked to Workflow. See Request Time Off.
User Preferences - employees can use this option to change their passwords and their personal preferences as to how the data is displayed, including the language.
The Workflow features are listed under My Tasks, as follows:
My approvals - if the employee is part of a workflow process and approves workflow requests, from time to time there will be items under "pending" that need the employee's attention. Once the employee has accepted or rejected the approval request, the item will appear under "completed".
My requests - workflow requests initiated by the employee will appear here, either under "pending" or "completed". This will allow the employee to track requests.
The time clock can be used to clock in and out, to create timecards for later use in a payroll run.