Self-service removes the timesinks that masquerade as HR.
Why do people choose to work in Human Resources? Reasons include that it’s a respectable career that attracts good salaries, scope for promotion, and playing a key role in an organisation. But for many HR professionals, it’s also about working with people in meaningful ways.
In countless surveys, HR professionals highlight the meaningful work in helping employees and having a hand in growing the company through smart hiring. Their roles are often strategic, providing insights to senior leaders. HR people are not paper-pushers; they help shape and support people.
This purpose can create a quiet animosity and distrust of self-service technologies, says Mignon Wolmarans, Deel Local Payroll’s HR Product Manager.
“HR professionals are smart and tech-savvy. But they can look at self-service features in HR software and think, ‘This wants to do my job.’ When employees can use a piece of software to get something done, why do they need HR? That conclusion isn’t accurate, but it’s easy to see why some people lean into such ideas.”
Does self-service blunt HR?
The reality of HR self-service is actually the complete opposite, “Self-service brings people closer to HR,” Wolmarans adds.
Working with people is a big part of an HR career. But so is paperwork. Issuing payslips, completing onboarding forms, or designing evaluations: various bureaucratic tasks consume a lot of HR’s time. According to Deloitte surveys, administration takes up at least half (57%) of HR staff’s days.
Administration is part of HR, but it doesn’t have to be so overwhelming. This is why employee self-service (ESS) systems matter: they reduce manual paperwork, improve accuracy, and create more space for HR staff to focus on engagement with people.
Nonetheless, HR people have concerns. Self-service could make them redundant and replaced by automation. It could increase errors (manual paperwork can make HR feel in control). It might erode the ability to forge relationships with them. And trivial matters like leave applications can reveal patterns like potential burnout that observant HR staff will spot.
Bringing HR closer to people
Yet, self-service improves HR as a function by automating routine tasks that take time away from higher-value activities. Automated data capture reduces errors, and employees still engage with HR for important questions and support. Those engagements sharpen HR’s insights, supported by reports and dashboards generated in part through self-service patterns.
“If someone needs a payslip, what would be more convenient? Downloading it right there through a self-service portal when they need it, or returning to work and interrupting an HR task? Staff still come to HR for urgent and delicate issues. Problems appear when HR doesn’t have the capacity to help them. The tasks that self-service handles are the ones that would otherwise reduce HR’s capacity,” says Wolmarans.
HR self-service features target the very tasks that take time away from engagement. It lets employees:
● download payslips and tax certificates at any time
● apply for leave, check leave balances, view a team leave calendar, and track leave transactions
● submit travel, overtime, and other claims through a workflow approval process
● submit requests with supporting document attachments in an approval workflow, maintaining a full history and audit trail
● view past performance reviews, load goals and objectives, complete scorecards, add comments and documents, and share results with managers
● self-enrol on training courses via a training calendar
● access personal details, dependents, leave schemes, signed contracts, job descriptions, and company policies
● complete onboarding details through online forms
Making HR better and more valuable
Self-service improves experiences for employees and managers and gives valuable time back to HR professionals. It doesn’t replace them; it makes HR even more valuable, says Wolmarans.
“I see it often. HR teams at first resist self-service. Then they use it and they see real improvements in their time, the value they generate, and employee attitudes. One of our clients, an HR manager at a mid-sized company, even told me as much, saying, ‘I thought it would take my job, but it’s made me better and more valuable!'”
About Deel Local Payroll
Deel Local Payroll, powered by PaySpace, revolutionises payroll management. It offers online, multi-country payroll and HR management for businesses from start-ups through to enterprise in over 40 African countries, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Brazil.
Cloud-native, Deel Local Payroll, is scalable, configurable, highly secure, and easy-to-use—delivering anytime, anywhere access. It features payroll automation, self-service features, automatic legislation and feature updates, customised reporting, and more.
Since 2024, Deel Local Payroll has been part of Deel, operating as an independent subsidiary, serving its customers through the PaySpace platform.
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