Deployment of our ESR Portal

A Case Study by Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust serves a community of 250,000 people across Tameside and Glossop. As a busy Integrated Care Foundation Trust we provide a range of high quality elective, emergency and specialist services for adults and children. The Trust employs in the region of 3,900 staff and approximately 600 of those are based in the community.

When the new ESR Portal was launched last year we could see the potential benefits for our Trust and our employees. Eleanor Devlin, Senior HR Business Partner, explained:

“I was really excited by the look of the ESR Portal and could see immediately how staff would benefit from having access to it. My.ESR plays a key part in our staff retention strategy, allowing our staff to access their own information is an essential part of the modern day workplace. The launch of the Portal also presented us with an opportunity to streamline some of our internal processes such as limiting the use of personal information change forms as these changes could now be undertaken by the individual directly in ESR”.

Amanda Bromley, Director of Human Resources, is a strong advocate of the Portal and commenting on its launch said:

“I just love My ESR and the ability to be able to access important information such as my ESR record, payslip, P60 etc. on a range of devices anytime, anywhere. In addition, the fact that My ESR is another mechanism for us to engage with our staff and for them to have the ability to receive information via the Portal, see at a glance their mandatory training status and view their payslip/P60 and have access to their benefits is just brilliant.”

Once the decision to implement and roll out the Portal had been taken we wanted to promote our launch in an effective way. Eleanor explains:

“As an Organisation we wanted to do something catchy to promote our launch of the Portal. Working with our Communications & Engagement Team we decided that posters and banners would be an effective way promoting the launch and the benefits that the Portal would bring to our staff.  We designed and published a number of posters and banners and also used our Trust Facebook page to promote the launch of My.ESR with regular posts about the benefits of the Portal.”

 

Above is an example of the Facebook post used to promote My.ESR

The roll-out was positively received by our Managers and employees across the Trust. Led by Hayley Walker, Workforce Information Manager we ran a number of sessions across the Trust including our Executive Team Brief and drop in sessions for staff who were also encouraged to download the My ESR App, because we felt it would be easier to log into My.ESR via the internet. Eleanor added:

“The ESR App has really helped with the implementation of My.ESR as it means that our staff have an easy access point. The added bonus of using the App is that it tells you when the system is being withdrawn for maintenance etc. which is extremely important for our staff that are potentially accessing ESR twenty four hours a day, seven days a week”.

 

Above is the reverse cover of a leaflet and poster used to promote the launch of My.ESR

Our Managers have quickly begun to see the benefits that the Portal has given them in their role. Anita Fleming, Deputy Chief Nurse, said:

“I really like My ESR. It’s all there for you, and staff can access their training and their payslips so easily. I know a few people who have accessed their TRS statements now, which they hadn’t done before, as the previous system was so complicated”.

 

Above is an example of Screen Saver deployed across the Organisation

Our Communications & Engagement Team have welcomed the ability to publish announcements via the Portal. Paul Thorpe, Communications Manager said:

“My ESR has presented us with another, more effective way to communicate with our staff. What makes MyESR quite unique is the smartphone app. This means that colleagues can access a lot of information about their employment and just general news via their smartphone or tablet. Traditionally they would have had to log on to their Trust mailbox account to get this information. This is especially effective with groups of staff who we regard as hard to reach; such as Domestics and Catering staff”.

Our Communications & Engagement Team have already made use of the Announcement functionality to promote the Staff Survey and “Catch up with Karen” which is the regular Blog of our Chief Executive. We have made full use of the Twitter portlet and also have a number of links on the Portal to our Exit Questionnaire, e-rostering system and Trust Facebook site.

Our Training and Development Team have also enthusiastically embraced My.ESR. Compliance across our Organisation is currently running at 91.1%. The Training and Development Manager commented:

 “Since the introduction of MyESR, we have found that all members of staff (not just those that receive this report) are checking their compliance and completing training. This is fantastic, and is absolutely what MyESR is there for”.

Lessons Learnt

Reflecting on the roll-out of the Portlet Eleanor said:

“The implementation of the Portal has been a really positive experience for both our Managers and our Employees. The main issue that we faced related to staff not being able to access the Portal via the internet. It is important that you remind staff that they do need to request internet access from an N3 connection. We have also started to utilise e-learning more and this highlighted where we had issues with incorrect training and competency data, but it has enabled us to fix the problem and give people confidence in the system.”

Next Steps

• We will continue to promote and use more functionality within the Portal and ESR.
• We are looking to use Portal Announcements to help us encourage our staff to take part in the Staff Survey.
• Remove the personal information changes form and have all these changes completed by employees in the Portal.
• Encourage more staff to switch off paper pay slips which will help with environmental considerations and data protection.
• We are exploring the potential of using Manager and Supervisor Self Service via the Internet which includes access to BI.
• We intend to access more e-Learning via the Portal

For further information

For more information about our Portal launch and internal Communications and Engagement approach please contact Eleanor Devlin at Eleanor.Devlin@tgh.nhs.uk

Removal of Paper Payslips

A Case Study by Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Background

Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides a diverse range of services to a population of around 360,000 people across South Staffordshire, South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire. To help facilitate this, the Trust employs over 3,200 substantive staff.

Removal of Paper Payslips

The suggestion of turning off paper payslips is one that has been mooted within the organisation for some time. However, with growing time pressures, the summer of 2017 seemed like the ideal time to start implementing the change.

In August 2017, we produced a paper outlining the case for turning off paper payslips and summarising the benefits/efficiency gains and the risks associated with implementing the change. The paper was taken to the Trust Executive Committee where the project was approved.

Project Group

Prior to the paper being approved, a group was established (that included the team that were responsible for the management of payslips in the Trust) to drive the project forward and to address any issues that might arise.  We developed an overall plan and timeline with tasks assigned to those involved.

We undertook a pilot with the Human Resources and Finance departments initially, as these teams had easy access to a computer and ESR. The pilot helped us identify and address any potential issues before the project was widely implemented across the Trust, and in September 2017 our pilot departments received their on-line payslip.

The switching off the paper payslip for the pilot departments involved a manual process which was quick and easily managed because of the small number of employees affected. 

We produced helpful information guides and a frequently asked questions documentation to support those downloading their online payslips from ESR for the first time.  This helped keep the number of telephone queries coming into the Human Resources department to a minimum.

Following a successful pilot we began to plan a ‘big bang approach’ to switching paper payslips off for all employees in the Trust.  This would reduce the administrative burden and involved simply changing the top-level ESR settings, rather than turning them off employee by employee. 

To support this approach we worked with our Communications Team to produce a range of internal communications including content for our intranet, screen savers and FAQs; these helped our employees understand the change.  The last paper payslip to be distributed to all our employees was in October 2017.

Benefits

• We have reduced the time taken in relation to the distribution of the payslips, both within the HR department and across the organisation. Switching to on line pay slips has released two members of staff for 1-2 days per month from having to sort and distribute paper payslips to the relevant departments across the organisation.
• Online Payslips are easily accessible via ESR and can be downloaded by our employees if they want to keep their own copies.
• We have removed the IG risk associated with paper payslips being misplaced or lost; the online payslips are secure within ESR.
• Staff can access their payslips from work or at home.
• There is no longer a delay in staff waiting for payslips to be delivered; they are available to view in ESR before the pay day.
• We have reduced the waste associated with uncollected payslips being returned back to the Human Resources department taking up storage space.
• We have seen an encouraging increase in the number of our employees accessing the ESR Portal. As a Trust we have amended our desktop icon so staff are taken directly to the Portal log in page and our latest statistics (at the end of January 2018) showed that 86% of our staff are logging into ESR Employee Self Service, via the Portal.  This puts us in 1^st place in the West Midlands and fifth across England and Wales for Portal usage.

The overall reaction across the organisation has been a positive one.  Our employees found the communications and FAQs helpful, and during the implementation - and in fact since, we have not received any queries.  The team whose role previously involved separating the payslips out and sending them across the organisation prior to payday are now free to carry out other duties.

Things to Consider

• To ensure your employees don’t encounter any issues when wanting to view their online payslip at home you need to ensure they understand that they need set up remote ESR access.
• Think about the staff who are off on long term absence or maternity/adoption leave and how you will communicate to them.
• Prepare your internal communications and give your employees sufficient time to understand the change.
• If your employees want to keep copies of their payslips, ensure your communications covers how to do this securely.
• Explain that when employees are leaving the organisation, if they wish to keep any of their historical payslips, they need to download local copies prior to leaving. They will no longer have access to them in ESR once they have left – even if they move to another NHS organisation.
• If paper payslips are turned off at employee level rather than at Trust level, if an employee has more than one assignment within ESR, all of their paper payslips will be turned off.

Further Information

If you would like more information about our project to switch to online payslips please email Grazyna Leonowicz, Learning & Workforce Manager/ESR Lead - grazyna.leonowicz@burtonft.nhs.uk

How one of the biggest NHS organisations in Europe implemented paperless payslips 

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is one of the largest NHS organisations in Europe. The organisation employs approximately 14,500 staff, and spends around £1.4 billion every year on providing health and well-being services to a population of just over 472,000 people living in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. 

One of the corner stones to achieving a digital workforce vision within Cardiff and Valle UHB was the implementation of on-line payslips. Driving employees to ESR to access their payslip would drive usage of ESR for other transactions such as updating personal information, accessing e-Learning, booking annual leave etc.

Following Board level approval for this approach in October 2016, paper payslips were switched off for over 400 corporate staff employees (WOD, finance, IT, Corporate Nursing) by December 2016. This was followed by payslips being turned off for approximately 500 employees within the Dental Clinical Board.

Whilst these pilots were successful, the real catalyst to progress on-line payslips across the whole of the organisation came in October 2017 when the ESR Self Service Portal was rolled out within the Health Board. This was a game changer for us, resulting in an agile deployment to on-line payslips for the organisation within a 4 month timescale. ESR had been deployed within the Health Board for many years, but the arrival of the Self Service Portal and internet access made a significant impact to the user experience and usability of ESR.

A series of engagement sessions were scheduled to illustrate how on-line payslips could be accessed through the new ESR Self Service Portal at work, but more importantly, through personal mobile devices including smart phones, tablets and laptop devices outside of work. Whilst concerns about lack of access for some staff groups such as Facilities (Catering, Porters, Housekeeping, Estates) who don’t routinely access PCs was raised,  assurances were provided from the ESR team that training and accessibility for specific staff groups would be addressed through the use of ESR champions and e-zones. This was supported by drop in sessions and roadshows, and further supported with clear communication material and step by step guides.

By 31 January 2018 12,899 employees (87% of total staff) were viewing their on-line payslip. 40% of employees had activated the payslip portlet via their ESR Portal, giving them easy access to their payslip via the internet from a mobile device.

The remaining staff groups who typically do not have easy access to a pc within the workplace will be given access to ESR via the internet through our new robotic project. This will give these staff groups access to ESR from the workplace to activate external ESR access making on-line payslips readily available.

Andrew Crook (Head of Workforce Governance) told us:

"This has been a massive team effort.  With such a large workforce, this was a challenge, but we have proved that it can be done.  I’d like to thank everyone involved; I.T. for helping us roll out Internet Explorer 11 across the Health Board, which enabled us to introduce the ESR Portal, our local managers who have helped communicate the messages about how to use the Portal and how to access on-line payslips and to the staff in the ESR and the Learning, Education & Development Teams for all of their support and hard work".

Examples of the communication briefings used by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board can be obtained directly from Mike.Mullan@wales.nhs.uk