TalinoHR

Employee Self-Service (ESS) Portal

5 min read

The ESS portal allows employees to access their own HR information, file requests, and view payroll data without needing to contact HR directly. All ESS pages are accessible under the /ess/ route prefix.

Accessing the ESS Portal

Employees with the EMPLOYEE role are automatically directed to the ESS portal upon login. The ESS portal is separate from the admin interface and only shows information relevant to the logged-in employee.

ESS Pages

Dashboard (/ess/dashboard)

The ESS landing page provides a summary overview including:

  • Quick-access cards for common actions (file leave, view payslip, check attendance)
  • Upcoming events or pending items
  • Recent activity summary

Profile (/ess/profile)

Employees can view their personal and employment information:

  • Personal details (name, contact info, address)
  • Login / Work Email (synced from system user account — this is the email used for login and notifications)
  • Personal Email (shown separately if available)
  • Employment details (position, department, hire date, employment status)
  • Government ID numbers (SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, TIN)
  • Emergency contacts
  • Bank account details

Note: Employees can update their phone number, address, and emergency contact details. Other fields including email addresses are managed by HR.

Payslips (/ess/payslips)

Employees can view and download their payslips for all processed payroll runs.

PIN Gate: Payslips are protected by a PIN for additional security. Employees must enter their payslip PIN before accessing payslip data. The PIN is stored as a bcrypt hash in the Employee.payslipPin field.

Payslip contents include:

  • Earnings breakdown (basic pay, overtime, holiday pay, NSD, allowances)
  • Deductions breakdown (SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG, tax, loans, other deductions)
  • Net pay
  • Year-to-date (YTD) totals
  • Company and employee details
  • Bank information

Leaves (/ess/leaves)

Employees can manage their leave requests:

  • View leave balances: See remaining credits for each leave type.
  • File a leave request: Select leave type, date range, and reason. The system validates against available balance.
  • Cancel a leave: Cancel a pending or approved leave request. Cancellation restores the leave balance and removes associated attendance records.
  • Track leave status: View all leave applications with their current status (PENDING, APPROVED, REJECTED, CANCELLED).

Leave requests go through the approval workflow — typically approved by the employee's manager or HR.

Attendance (/ess/attendance)

Employees can view their attendance records:

  • Daily attendance log (time in, time out, hours worked)
  • Late minutes, undertime, and absent days
  • Rest day and holiday indicators
  • Leave day markers

Overtime (/ess/overtime)

Employees can file and track overtime requests:

  • File overtime request: Specify the date, number of hours, and reason for overtime.
  • View overtime summary: Cards showing total approved, pending, and rejected OT hours.
  • Track request status: See all OT requests with their status (PENDING, APPROVED, REJECTED).
  • Duplicate detection: The system prevents filing duplicate OT requests for the same date.

Filed overtime requests require manager or HR approval. Only APPROVED overtime is included in payroll computation.

Loans (/ess/loans)

Employees can view their loan records:

  • Active and completed loans (SSS, Pag-IBIG, Company)
  • Loan details: principal, monthly amortization, total paid, remaining balance
  • Payment history per loan
  • Loan status (ACTIVE, PAID, CANCELLED)

Employees can view but not create or modify loan records through ESS.

Performance (/ess/performance)

Employees can participate in the performance review process:

  • Self-assessment: Complete self-assessment forms during the SELF_ASSESSMENT phase of a review cycle.
  • View reviews: See completed performance reviews and ratings.
  • Goals: View assigned goals and track progress.
  • 360 Feedback: Provide peer feedback when requested.

Documents (/ess/documents)

Employees can request and access employment documents:

  • Request COE: Click "Request COE" to generate a Certificate of Employment. The COE is generated as a printable HTML document with company letterhead.
  • View documents: Access previously generated documents.

COE API endpoints:

  • Admin: GET /api/employees/[id]/coe
  • ESS: GET /api/ess/coe

Support (/ess/support)

Employees can submit support requests and communicate with HR:

  • Submit a ticket: Click "New Request" to open a form with subject, category, and details fields. Tickets are assigned a tracking number (TKT-YYYYMM-NNNN).
  • View tickets: See all submitted tickets with their current status (Open, In Progress, Resolved, Closed).
  • Reply to tickets: Click a ticket to view the conversation thread and post replies.
  • Categories: Payroll, Leave, Benefits, Attendance, Performance, IT Support, Policy, Suggestion, Other.

HR admins receive email notifications when tickets are submitted, and employees receive email notifications when HR replies.

ESS Security

  • All ESS API routes are guarded to ensure employees can only access their own data.
  • The middleware sets x-employee-id in request headers, and ESS routes verify the requesting user's role is EMPLOYEE.
  • Payslip data requires PIN verification before display.
  • All ESS routes are protected by authentication (login required).

ESS Navigation

The ESS sidebar includes navigation items for all 10 pages:

  • Dashboard (Home icon)
  • Profile (User icon)
  • Payslips (Receipt icon)
  • Leaves (Calendar icon)
  • Attendance (Clock icon)
  • Overtime (Timer icon)
  • Loans (Wallet icon)
  • Performance (Target icon)
  • Documents (FileText icon)
  • Support (HelpCircle icon)

Tips for HR Admins

  • Ensure employees have their payslipPin set before payslip viewing is needed. This can be configured during onboarding.
  • The payslip password scheme is configurable via ComplianceSetting key payslip-password-scheme (default: LASTNAME_BIRTHDATE).
  • Employees filing leave requests need sufficient leave balance credits. Verify leave balances are correctly initialized for new employees.
  • Overtime requests filed through ESS must be approved before they affect payroll. The payroll engine reads OvertimeApplication records directly.