Employee Self-Service: Empower Staff, Free Up HR
Employee self-service gives staff direct access to check holiday balances, submit leave requests, clock remotely, and upload expenses—via mobile app, web portal, or terminal. Requests route to managers automatically.
The reality today
HR spends half their time answering questions employees could answer themselves—if they had access to the data. How much holiday have I got? Did my expense get approved? What shift am I on next week? Paper forms create admin, manual processes create errors, and remote workers feel disconnected from systems that only exist on-site.
Staff Help Themselves
Balances, requests, expenses, schedules—employees access everything directly without asking HR.
HR Gets Time Back
Fewer interruptions, fewer forms to process. HR focuses on strategic work, not admin.
Accurate Data
When employees input data directly, errors drop. No more transcription mistakes or lost paperwork.
Hybrid Ready
App and web portal cover on-site, remote, and hybrid workers. Consistent tracking everywhere.
Key Features
Everything you need, built in.
How Time & Attendance Works
From clocking in to payroll-ready data in a few simple steps.
Access Portal
Employee opens app, web portal, or approaches Synergy Home terminal.
View Information
Check holiday balance, view roster, see pending expenses—all in real-time.
Submit Request
Submit leave request, expense claim, or document upload directly.
Manager Approves
Manager receives notification and approves or rejects with a tap.
Systems Update
Roster, payroll, and HR records update automatically. No manual re-keying.
Built for Your Sector
About Employee Self-Service
Every "how much holiday do I have left?" question takes HR time. Every paper expense form creates admin. Synel's Employee Self-Service puts the answers in employees' hands—via mobile app, web portal, or terminal. Staff help themselves, managers approve with a tap, and HR focuses on work that matters.
Three Ways to Access
The Synergy App provides mobile self-service for iOS and Android—perfect for field staff and remote workers. Virtual Clocking turns any browser into a self-service portal for office and home workers. The Synergy Home terminal brings touchscreen self-service to factory floors and reception areas. Same features, three interfaces, complete coverage.
Holiday Requests and Balances
Employees view their real-time holiday balances—Days Taken, Days Requested, Days Remaining—and submit leave requests directly. No forms, no emails, no waiting for HR to check a spreadsheet. Requests route automatically to line managers for approval, with instant notification on both sides.
Remote Clocking with Geofencing
Through the app, employees clock in and out from anywhere—recording start times, breaks, and finish times remotely. Geofencing ensures they can only clock when physically within a designated area, such as a client site or home office zone. GPS coordinates captured for verification.
Expense Management
Photograph receipts with the smartphone camera and upload instantly. Submit mileage and subsistence claims categorised by cost centre. No paper forms, no lost receipts, no month-end expense scrambles. Claims flow into the approval workflow alongside leave requests.
Document Access
The Synergy Documents module lets employees access, scan, and upload personal files via the app: training certificates, work permits, site induction documents, driving licences. Compliance documentation stays current without HR chasing paperwork.
Shift and Schedule Visibility
Employees view their upcoming rotas and shift patterns. In some configurations, they can request available open shifts directly through the system. Everyone knows where they're supposed to be and when—reducing no-shows and last-minute confusion.
Hybrid Working Ready
The combination of mobile app and web portal explicitly supports hybrid working. Track employees consistently whether they're on-site, at home, or visiting clients. Same self-service features everywhere, same data flowing into one central system.
Better for Everyone
Employees get transparency about their pay data, shifts, and entitlements—improving the overall experience. HR gets fewer interruptions and cleaner data. Managers get approval workflows that don't require chasing. When staff input data directly, accuracy improves across the board.
Related Time & Attendance Solutions
Explore more solutions that work together.
Holiday Management
Holiday management software automates leave requests, approvals, and entitlement tracking. Employees...
Absence Management
Real-time absence tracking that reveals patterns and keeps records aligned with payroll.
Clocking Systems
Flexible clocking systems that match your environment and keep attendance data reliable.
Time & Attendance FAQs
Common questions about time & attendance answered.
Can remote workers clock in using mobile phones?
Yes. The Synergy App for iOS and Android allows remote and field workers to clock in and out from their mobile devices.
GPS geofencing verifies that employees are at the correct location when they clock. You can define specific site boundaries and the system will only accept clock events from within those areas.
The app also supports expense claims, holiday requests and viewing rotas, providing full self-service for mobile workers.
How does holiday accrual work for hourly workers?
Unlike salaried staff with fixed holiday allowances, hourly workers accrue entitlement based on hours actually worked.
Synel's rules engine calculates this automatically. It tracks actual hours, applies accrual logic and updates balances in real-time.
When holiday is taken, pay is calculated correctly using the 52-week reference period required by legislation. This complexity is why payroll companies partner with Synel rather than building accrual logic themselves.
What is the Bradford Factor?
The Bradford Factor is a standard HR metric that measures the impact of employee absence. It weights short frequent absences more heavily than longer planned leave.
A single two-week illness is less disruptive than ten individual sick days scattered throughout the year.
Synel's absence management module calculates Bradford Factor scores automatically for each employee, helping HR identify problematic absence patterns that total days alone would miss.
Is Synel available as cloud or on-premise?
Both. You can choose SaaS (cloud-hosted) for easy scalability, automatic updates and reduced hardware costs. This is particularly useful for multi-site organisations.
Alternatively, choose on-premise installation if your organisation requires local server control and data sovereignty.
Both options provide the same functionality. The choice depends on your IT infrastructure preferences and policies.
See employee self-service in action
Book a demo to see how Synel can streamline your operations and deliver measurable ROI.
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