HR Self-Service Center expands in content, users

Staff and faculty members have been giving the Human Resources' Self-Service Center web site a silent "thumbs up" by accessing it in steadily growing numbers.

The center on the web at http://hris.uiowa.edu/selfservice announced in late March that it is adding employees' demographic information to the site April 5.

Since the Self-Service Center opened in December 2000, 11,779 people—43 percent of the total University employee population of 26,648—have used it to check their earnings statements, flexible spending accounts, vacation and sick time, and other information, says Elaine Haddy, director of information management for Human Resources. After it was announced in February that employees could add emergency contacts to the site, more than 4,000 took advantage of the opportunity.

As a result, Human Resources staff members mail fewer paper documents, have fewer people walking in to get assistance, and answer fewer questions.

Data are available on the site not only for faculty members, professional and scientific staff, and merit supervisory exempt/confidential and merit staff, but also for biweekly student and nonstudent employees, graduate assistants, residents, and fellows.

On the site, they can change work or home addresses, view their W-4 form choices, recall which benefits they chose, or arrange for payroll deduction for contributions to United Way, Iowa Shares, or Community Health Charities of Iowa.

As of April 5, employees will be able to use the site to verify that their race, gender, disability, and veteran status information has been recorded properly in the University's central Human Resources database and to update or correct the information if necessary.

Jennifer Modestou, interim director of the Office of Affirmative Action, says the University collects demographic information on its employees in order to comply with federal regulations.

"The University of Iowa, as a federal contractor, requests data on the race, age, gender, disability, and veteran status of its faculty and staff. In addition to providing data for statistical reports to federal and state agencies, this information is used by the University to monitor current employment practices and to assist in the administration of the University's equal employment opportunity/affirmative action programs."

The addition of the demographic information is the first of many planned improvements to the site. In the near future, the Self-Service Center plans to add the following:

• faculty degree information
  
  
• employees' work history from July 1, 1999
  
  
• key dates in employees' careers at the University—hiring, date of seniority, career status dates, or next merit date
  
  
• projected salaries for AFSCME employees through June 30, 2003
  
  
• a direct update to change the federal and state W-4 form information, and
  
  
• a direct update to change campus and home addresses and phone numbers.

Each pay period, 1,150 employees view their earnings statements only through the center, while 1,684 check their flexible spending accounts and 1,590 get information on vacation and sick days on-line. Haddy expects these numbers to continue to grow.

"The numbers go up a little more every payday," she says. "We're getting new people, too. We are planning to sign up new employees right away when they're hired, and strongly encourage them to use the Self-Service Center to access this information. So we expect to continue to grow.

"Before the Self-Service Center was opened, we had to send paper copies of documents to all of these employees every month," Haddy says. "It has made a dramatic decrease in our mailings. But it's also a dramatic decrease in the numbers of people who walk in to our offices or to Staff Benefits to ask questions, because they can find the answers on-line. That has made a big difference to the staff."

Student employees can view their records easily by signing on to Iowa Student Information Service (ISIS). One click will take them to the Self-Service Center's information without a second sign-on.

What about employees who don't have access to a computer? They may ask their supervisor or their unit Human Resources representative for assistance, Modestou says. They also may contact the Office of Affirmative Action directly at (33)5-0705 (voice) or (33)5-0697 (text).

Those who work in a University of Iowa Health Care area can check their information at terminals in the dining rooms. The University Services Building also has one terminal available. Students have access to ISIS at Instructional Technology Centers all over campus.

And what about the people who always forget their password?

"The site has an option to reset your password," Haddy says. "If you click on it, you'll be asked for your social security number and birth date. When you submit that information, an instant e-mail is sent to your registered e-mail address to make sure it is the employee making the request. Within seconds, the information is verified and a new encrypted password can be registered."

by Anne Tanner