Updated ESS Mobile Application
Empeon's Employee Self Service Application is now available for Apple devices on the App Store and will be available soon for Android. This app release includes a new communication feature, Live Chat.
New Feature: Live Chat
We are excited to introduce our new Live Chat feature, designed to enhance communication within your organization. With this feature, users can effortlessly communicate with employees in real-time, all from within the Empeon application.
Please note! Live Chat is available exclusively in companies enrolled in the Empeon HR Premium package.
Employees receive push notifications on their mobile devices, ensuring immediate attention to messages that are sent to them. Employees can use the mobile ESS to reply instantly, enabling quick and efficient back-and-forth communication.
Enabling Chat and Chat Settings:
To enable Live Chat, navigate to Company > Chat.
Here, you can also control who employees can initiate conversations with. For example, you can set permissions for employees to chat with their manager, users with specific security roles, or specific individuals. Employees will always be able to reply to conversations, but to initiate a conversation, you need to set who they can contact.
On the admin side, users can message all employees which they have access to.
This is just the beginning—our Live Chat feature is currently at version 1 (v1), and we have more exciting updates and enhancements planned for future releases. Stay tuned for more improvements to come!
New Feature: Schedule Call-Out in ESS
We are excited to introduce a new feature to our scheduling module that allows employees to electronically call out through their ESS account. With this feature, employees can easily submit a call-out request from their ESS Hub, instantly notifying managers, schedulers, or admins to review and approve it.
This enhancement streamlines the call-out process, eliminating the need for emails, calls, and delays, ensuring efficient communication between employees and management, and enhancing the scheduling feature as a whole.
Please Note! This feature is part of the Empeon Scheduling module.
To activate the feature:
Go to Company > Rules & Alerts > Request & Approvals > Call Out
Employee submitting a call-out from ESS:
Once the call-out Request & Approval is activated for a company, employees will be able to call out directly from their schedule in ESS.
Scheduler Reviewing Call-Outs:
Call-out requests are managed under Actions > Scheduling > Shift Request Approvals.
The page has been split into two sections: Open Shifts and Call-Outs.
The scheduler can approve the call-out with Paid Time Off (PTO) or to approve it as Unpaid.
We have also included a column showing the Year to Date (YTD) Call-Outs so the scheduler can make an informed decision.
Position-Department Association
We have introduced a new feature that allows clients to tie positions to departments at the company level. This enhancement ensures that when an employee is assigned a position, the system will automatically assign the appropriate department.
For example: Positions such as CNA, LPN, and RN can be tied to the Nursing department. When an employee is assigned one of these positions, the system will automatically assign them to the Nursing department.
Tying positions to departments is done under Company > HR > Job Info > Positions.
Enhanced ESS Clock-In Settings for Time and Attendance
For clients utilizing the Empeon ESS Clock-in feature, we have updated the "Allow Web Clock" settings within the employee profile to provide greater control over clock-in methods. Previously, this setting allowed employees to clock in and out from the ESS Hub using both a computer and a mobile device.
With this update, you can now specify the type of device that can be used for clocking in and out:
"Allow Web Clock" setting will now govern the ability to use the ESS Hub to clock in and out from a computer.
"Allow Mobile Clock," setting governs whether employees can clock in and out from their ESS Hub using a mobile device
This enhancement allows you to manage and restrict clocking methods, ensuring that employees clock in and out only from approved devices, thereby enhancing accountability and operational control.
Enhanced Visibility in Employee Self-Onboarding
In our employee self-onboarding module, hiring admins have always been able to see tasks, documents, and uploads completed by the employee immediately. However, other information, such as address, direct deposit details, and contact information, was only accessible once the employee submitted their entire onboarding packet.
With this release, hiring admins can now view all entered information, including address, direct deposit details, contact information, and more, as soon as the employee enters it. This enhancement helps admins track the employee's progress more effectively and ensure a smoother onboarding process.
Updated:
Before the update:
Missing Clock-in Error in Payroll
For clients calculating Overtime, Blended Overtime, and Spread of Hours in Empeon, the system will now return a payroll calculation error for records missing a Clock-in. This change ensures accurate calculations, as all records must have a Clock-in date for these calculations to be accurate.
Pivot Report Builder Enhancements
Building on the Pivot report builder introduced last release, we've made it even more user-friendly with several enhancements.
- Date fields now have the actual date instead of the year/quarter/month
- You can right click on column headers to get additional column options
- You can drill down on data by double clicking
- You can export the details in the drilldown
- You can filter the data in the report
New Permission for Unmasking Direct Deposit Accounts
In our ongoing commitment to safeguarding direct deposit bank account information, we've introduced a new role permission called "Direct Deposit - View Full Account Number." This permission allows Administrators to control whether users can click to view the entire bank account number or have it remain masked, showing only the last four digits.
This enhancement provides greater control over sensitive information, ensuring both security and flexibility in managing user permissions.
Deductions Blocked Warning
We have added a warning for users when closing a payroll batch if deductions are blocked on a global level. This warning ensures that the block was not applied by mistake, helping to prevent errors in payroll processing.
Document Builder - Input Field for Long Text
We've added a new "Long Text" input field to the Document Builder. This field can be adjusted both horizontally and vertically, allowing for more flexible and detailed text entries. This enhancement makes it easier to capture extensive input in your documents.
Bug Fixes
Fixed: In some scenarios involving documents with over 100 pages, the order of field completion would get disrupted. This issue has now been fixed.
Fixed: In the scheduling module, when posting open shifts, selecting multiple shifts at once previously caused the page to get cut off. This issue has now been fixed.