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What is employee service management? Complete guide

Employee service management is a strategic initiative aimed at elevating employee support by streamlining HR and IT services, automating routine tasks, and empowering employees with self-service capabilities.

Last updated September 13, 2024

Employees are shown at a computer, talking on the phone, and messaging on a mobile device, showing different forms of employee service management.

What is employee service management?

Employee service management (ESM) is a strategic approach focused on delivering efficient and effective support services to employees throughout their tenure. By aligning HR, IT, and other internal support functions, ESM ensures that employee services are seamless and prioritised. With the growing adoption of AI and automation, ESM accelerates processes, enhances communication, and expands self-service options, ultimately boosting productivity and driving higher employee satisfaction and engagement.

To keep your employees productive, satisfied, and engaged, providing them with easy access to the resources and support they need is essential. Employee service management (ESM) delivers a seamless system for employees to quickly find information and get help with onboarding, IT issues, benefits enquiries, and more. This approach ensures consistent, high-quality employee service while freeing HR and IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives instead of repetitive requests.

In this guide, we’ll dive into ESM, how it differs from other employee service functions, its key benefits, and much more.

More in this guide:

What are the pillars of employee service management?

Three icons represent three pillars of employee service management: people, processes, and technology.

Employee service management rests on a foundation of three key pillars:

  1. People-centric approach: ESM prioritises employees and their experiences. It focuses on providing clear communication channels and personalised support to achieve high satisfaction levels.
  2. Streamlined processes: ESM optimises workflows and processes to boost service efficiency. By breaking down silos, automating repetitive tasks, and enabling employee self-service, ESM streamlines operations across the entire employee lifecycle, ensuring smoother and more efficient workflows.
  3. The right tools and technology: Effective ESM requires opting for intuitive tools that are purpose-built for what your employees and internal service teams actually need. With the right tech stack, you can ensure both service speed and quality while gathering insights to continuously optimise your operations.

Together, these pillars help create a well-rounded approach to employee experience that puts your people and their needs first.

ESM vs. HRM vs. ITSM: What are the differences?

While similar in focus on internal customer service—or employee service—there are key differences between ESM, human resource management (HRM), and IT service management (ITSM):

  • ESM focuses on delivering effective employee support, encompassing HR support, IT services, and any other internal services.
  • HRM manages the employee lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and employee relations.
  • ITSM is primarily concerned with delivering and managing IT services within an organisation.

Alone, HRM and ITSM don’t address the full spectrum of employee service. Each serves a distinct purpose, but they both contribute to positive employee service when aligned under the umbrella of ESM.

Best practices for an ESM strategy

Now that you know the pillars of ESM and how it differs from other employee service functions, review these best practices for implementing an impactful ESM strategy.

Deliver 24/7 support with AI agents

IT and HR leaders agree that AI tools enable employees to handle complex tasks, improve work quality, and take on new roles, according to Zendesk.

Round-the-clock support is essential for employee satisfaction, and AI is the best way to achieve a 24/7 employee service model. AI agents are intelligent bots that can provide immediate assistance to source information or address employee enquiries.

These bots can handle high volumes of enquiries, freeing up human agents to accomplish other tasks. By offering 24/7 support, businesses can demonstrate a commitment to employee well-being and ensure timely assistance, regardless of an employee’s time zone.

Enhance efficiency with intelligent workflows

AI and automation are key to streamlining employee experience management processes. According to the Zendesk Employee Experience Trends Report 2024, 81 percent of IT and HR leaders agree that AI enables more efficient task handling. With intelligent workflows, organisations can automate repetitive tasks, reduce manual errors, and improve overall efficiency.

For instance, AI can route employee service requests to the appropriate team or specialist based on the nature and urgency of the issue, ensuring prompt and accurate resolution. Additionally, AI can suggest pre-written responses (macros) to IT and HR support teams, saving time and maintaining consistency in service delivery. These automated workflow tools significantly enhance the efficiency of processes like onboarding new employees, making them faster and more streamlined.

Ensure every reply hits the mark with AI-driven suggestions

Effective issue resolution is a cornerstone of employee service management, and AI plays a pivotal role in enhancing both the speed and quality of resolutions. AI-driven tools assist agents by providing precise and relevant suggestions, enabling them to deliver accurate and helpful responses to employee enquiries.

For example, AI-powered productivity tools can help HR or IT specialists refine their tone or make their responses more comprehensive, ensuring clear communication. Additionally, AI can quickly summarise complex requests, helping teams grasp the situation faster. This leads to higher first-contact resolution rates, ultimately boosting employee satisfaction.

Meet employees where they are

Your people use a variety of channels to communicate in their day-to-day roles. To provide optimal support, it's essential to offer omnichannel support so employees can access assistance wherever they are. This includes email, phone, self-service portals, and live chat. Additionally, consider integrating ESM capabilities into popular collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack. Organisations can ensure timely and convenient support by meeting employees where they prefer to communicate.

Protect sensitive employee data

Data privacy and security are paramount in ESM—the more robust the measures to protect sensitive employee information, the better. This includes encrypting data with keys to keep data locked up, conducting regular security audits, and training employees on data handling procedures.

With an ESM tool that includes enterprise-grade security features like Zendesk, you can also control how employee data is stored and shared and set different permissions for multiple departments or roles. Data protection measures help organisations build trust with employees and prevent data breaches.

Establish a robust knowledge base

A well-organised, searchable, and clear knowledge base empowers employees to find answers to their questions independently about various topics. Self-service options help organisations reduce ticket volume and improve efficiency. Additionally, AI-powered tools can enhance the knowledge base's effectiveness by flagging outdated articles and spotting gaps in existing content for future articles.

Use reporting and analytics to measure your success

Reporting can better optimise how you operate by helping you benchmark your success. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and employee service data are critical to evaluating the effectiveness of an ESM strategy.

Metrics like ticket resolution time, employee satisfaction (ESAT) score, and first contact resolution rates can lead to valuable insights into service performance and help you quickly spot gaps and inefficiencies. This helps optimise the ESM strategy by empowering leaders to make better decisions thanks to out-of-the-box, data-focused analytics and insights.

Foster a culture of continuous improvement

Fostering a culture of continuous improvement is vital for the long-term success of employee service management. Encourage employees to share feedback on their experiences and suggest areas for enhancement. AI-powered quality assurance (QA) tools can also play a crucial role by analysing interactions, identifying trends, and pinpointing areas where internal service teams or processes can be improved. This data-driven approach allows for targeted improvements, ultimately boosting employee satisfaction and operational efficiency.

What are the benefits of employee service management?

A strong employee service management strategy offers a range of benefits, helping to create a more productive operation. Here are the top benefits of ESM.

Improves employee satisfaction and engagement

By providing efficient and effective support to employees when they need it the most, ESM reduces frustration and improves the overall employee experience. Happier employees lead to higher employee engagement, increased satisfaction, and a more positive work environment. In fact, LATAM Airlines, the leading airline in Latin America, used Zendesk to propel employee satisfaction numbers to 90 percent, thanks to efficient and accurate support.

Increases productivity and efficiency

ESM automates repetitive tasks, eliminates bottlenecks, and provides employees with the resources to complete their work efficiently. This reduces wasted time spent searching for information or waiting for assistance. Additionally, by empowering employees to solve problems independently through self-service options, ESM frees up valuable time for HR and IT teams, allowing them to focus on strategic initiatives.

Reduces costs with AI and self-service

AI-powered digital agents and self-service portals can significantly ease the burden on HR and IT teams by handling routine enquiries and automating issue resolution. By offloading these tasks from internal service teams, these tools help organisations substantially lower the operational costs associated with employee support.

For example, the U.K.-based grocery chain Tesco efficiently supports its 46,000 employees across nine countries by using self-service tools. Employees access approximately 30,000 articles per week across Tesco’s internal help centres, achieving an impressive self-service rate of 73 percent. This approach not only streamlines support but also enhances employee productivity and satisfaction.

Streamlines onboarding and offboarding workflows

ESM can streamline the employee onboarding process for new hires, providing them with the information and resources they need to be successful from day one. For example, AI agents can provide round-the-clock support to help with common onboarding questions about benefits, equipment, and more. Similarly, ESM can facilitate a smooth offboarding process by ensuring the timely completion of necessary tasks and properly collecting company assets.

Additionally, data-driven insights from your ESM tool enable continuous operational improvement by identifying inefficiencies and guiding necessary adjustments. These insights also enhance process visibility for hiring managers, allowing them to monitor and refine workflows more effectively.

Enables data-driven decision-making based on employee service data

ESM generates valuable data about employee service interactions, such as ticket resolution times, service usage patterns, and employee feedback. By analysing this data, organisations can gain valuable insights into employee needs and identify areas for improvement.

On-the-fly, intelligent macro suggestions help administrators make faster service and support decisions. Intent suggestions tell administrators exactly what they should automate for process efficiency based on data collected in prior employee interactions. This data-driven approach allows organisations to make informed decisions about their ESM strategy, optimise service delivery, and reinforce a culture of continuous improvement.

How to implement employee service management

Implementing an effective employee service management strategy requires careful planning and execution. The following steps can guide your organisation through the implementation process:

  1. Define your ESM goals and SLAs: Clearly articulate your ESM goals and objectives. What do you hope to achieve with your ESM initiative? Establish service level agreements (SLAs) to define performance expectations and ensure accountability. These goals and SLAs will provide a roadmap for your implementation efforts.
  2. Identify employee service pain points and challenges: Conduct a thorough assessment of your current employee service landscape. Identify common pain points, bottlenecks, and areas where employees experience frustration. This information will help you prioritise improvement areas and tailor your ESM solution accordingly
  3. Establish a comprehensive service log: Implement a centralised log to track and manage all employee service requests, incidents, and resolutions. This service log will serve as a repository of valuable data that you can use for analysis and improvement.
  4. Choose the right service tool: Select an ESM solution that aligns with your organisation's specific needs and budget. Consider factors such as scalability, integration capabilities, and user-friendliness. The right tool will streamline your service delivery processes and enhance the overall employee experience.
  5. Identify opportunities to streamline with AI: Explore how you can leverage AI to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and enhance the employee experience. Identify areas where you can integrate AI, such as AI agents, agent enhancement tools, and workflow automation.
  6. Implement a self-service portal: Create a user-friendly portal for web self-service that empowers employees to find answers to common questions, resolve issues independently, and access necessary resources. This can reduce request volume and improve employee satisfaction.
  7. Encourage knowledge sharing among employees: Foster a culture of knowledge sharing by creating opportunities for employees to collaborate and share best practices. Knowledge bases are a convenient way to jump-start knowledge sharing and encourage employee engagement.
  8. Seek out feedback and suggestions for improvement: Continuously gather feedback from employees to identify areas for improvement. Analyse your service data, conduct surveys, or plan feedback sessions. This input will help you refine your ESM strategy and ensure it meets your employees’ evolving needs.
  9. Track KPIs to assess performance: Establish key performance indicators to measure the success of your ESM initiative. Regularly monitor and analyse these metrics to identify trends and spot ways to improve employee service.

Frequently asked questions

Enhance efficiency with AI-powered employee service management

It’s an organisation’s people who drive how much that organisation succeeds. Effective employee service management ensures employees receive the support they need through fast, high-quality issue resolution. On a larger scale, it streamlines processes for internal service teams to boost efficiency.

However, realising these benefits requires the right ESM tools. Zendesk offers an AI-powered employee service solution that simplifies access to assistance and enables HR to maintain efficiency at scale. Discover how Zendesk can transform your employee service experience and fuel business success.