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Benefits of a Centralized Knowledgebase
Information siloes in multiple locations and sometimes maintained by third parties have historically been the root cause of operational challenges not only to total rewards programs and human resources but many business functions and units as well. With the increased use of online administration, much of today’s information that is necessary for both employees and managers has been collected and centralized into a single database ‘warehouse’. This allows easy access to historic information about both active and non-active employees. It also gives HR personnel a “one-stop-shop” for payroll processing, employee administration, registration, analysis, employee life-cycle management, and other crucial employee-related transactions. Securing information that has been centralized is also easier because it’s all in one place. High data accuracy and reliability results in greater efficiency, lower costs, ease of use, and the ability to share information with executives, managers, and others both inside and outside the organization. However, care should be taken to ensure that confidential information is kept separate from other data with strong security measures in place to protect it.
An organization’s online total rewards system should provide a single location to access desired programs. Generally, these include links to various benefit provider websites and contact information. One of the easiest things a company can provide to employees via an online administration system is answers to questions they have regarding their benefits. For example, when an employee needs to know what the prescription copay is prior to going to the pharmacy, they can log on to the benefit website to find out. Other information they can access is:
- 401K and employee stock purchase programs
- Health & wellness programs
- PTO balances and leave of abscence policies
- Other benefits like tuition reimbursement, adoption assistance, training, and gym memberships
One of the biggest benefits of a knowledgebase is health care consumerism. By allowing employees to educate themselves about the different health care plans an organization offers, they can make better decisions about what is truly affordable to them based on their utilization of health services. A knowledgebase contains wellness information and benefits decision support tools. These valuable tools have been proven to help both employers and employees contain health care costs by driving employees to more cost-effective plans and being informed consumers of health care.