10 Features every Employee Self Service Portal should have!

Every employee self service module should have at least the following features:

Payslips Online: The Employee Self Service allows employees to access or print payslips any time. The ESS portal displays payslips for all time, so the employees can access payslips in the past. This saves time compared to printing and handing over hard copies of payslips to employees.

Leave Application and Approval: Employee Self Service allows employees to apply for leaves from Mobile Phones, Desktops or Kiosks. Also lets the managers to approve or reject requests from Mobile Phones. Employees and Managers can access the ESS from any where, even when they are at home. This saves time and resources compared to submitting a leave application in a paper based approval system.

Online Punching: Online Punching enables employees to mark attendance even when they are travelling. Employees can Clock In & Clock Out with GPS location. This allows managers to track employee travel path.

Employee Attendance: Employees can view their own attendance on the ESS Portal. This helps employees to approve that the attendance is ready for payroll processing. If there is any discrepancy, employees can raise a request to correct the attendance.

Attendance Regularization: Attendance Regularization enables employees to correct their own attendance. Employees can view their own attendance and if any changes are required, they can raise a request on ESS to correct the attendance. Once managers approve the request, the attendance updates by itself.

Shift Details on Phone: Employees can view their shift details from their Mobile Phones. This allows managers to easily notify employees about frequent shift changes. Shift calendar allows employees to have an overview of their shifts for the month.

HR Documents online: The Employee Self Service portal allows the company to publish Policy documents which can be accessed by the employees. This makes it easy to publish company policy updates for employees.

Employee Documents: Employees can upload their documents on the ESS Portal which can be accessed by HR users. This makes it easy for HR Users to organize documents against each employee.

Notifications and Alerts: Employee Self Service generates notifications and alerts for the HR, Managers and the employees such as Passport expiry, Driving License expiry, Shift Change, Birthday, Anniversary, Upcoming Holiday, and so on.

Income Tax Declarations: In some countries, income tax is calculated based on income from salary and also from other income and investments as declared by the employee. The ESS Portal makes it easy for employees to make declarations online, which helps the HR users to calculate income tax without manual intervention.

The Employee Self Service Portal also generates the following benefits:

Reduces Costs: Employee Self Service has direct impact on the administrative costs. No more printing payslips and reports.

Improves efficiency: Employees can view attendance before it gets processed for payroll, they can also raise requests to make corrections on attendance; this eliminates the need for correction in payslips.

Enhances Communication: Employees can make requests for documents like Experience Certificates, Attendance Corrections, Leave, Holiday, Vacation, and so on. This results in easier communication among employee, manager and HR team. The organization can communicate policies by sharing them on the Employee Self Service Portal.

Provides Transparency: Employees can view their daily attendance on a graphical interface; this helps them to ensure that the company has captured the right data to process payroll.

Eliminates Paper: Employee Self Service enables employees, managers and HR to communicate over electronic media rather than on paper. Save paper, go green!

Saves time: Employee Self Service enables employees to make requests from mobile phones and also allows managers to approve requests from mobile phones; this saves a lot of time compared to paper based approval system.

7. Enables Instant Decision Making: Employee Self Service provides detailed data to managers and HR to make instant decisions. For eg: when a manager is about to approve a leave request, the ESS provides details about the employee’s leave balance, snapshot of attendance for the requested period, list of subordinates on leave in the same period, and so on.

What Is 9 Months Pregnant In Weeks? Full Pregnancy Calendar

This is the start of an exciting and blessed journey. It commences at the start of your last period and lasts about four weeks.

Baby’s life starts this month, i-e, about two weeks from the commencement of your last period, conception takes place inside your uterus.
There will be more than 36 weeks (8 months, 12 days) until the birth when the month ends.
The fetus (your baby) will be 2 weeks old at the end of this month.
He/she will be the size of a pinhead.
Pro Tip: Refrain from taking any medicine without consulting a health professional during your pregnancy. Tell them about your condition so they can prescribe a medicine that is safe for both you and your baby.

The Second Month (5th-8th Week)
This starts after the beginning of your last period and it will last four weeks.

32 more weeks to birth (7 months, 14 days) at the end of this month.
The fetus will be six weeks old at the end of this month.
At the end of the second month, the baby will be 1.5 cm in length.
The fetus will start to develop limbs.
In this month, the umbilical cord, the nervous system, spine, heart, nose, eyelids, and ears begin to develop.
Pro Tip: Tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking can seriously hamper the development of your baby. They can also have adverse effects on your lungs.

The Third Month (9th-12th Week)
The third pregnancy month starts 8 weeks (2 months) after the beginning of your last period.

Until birth, there will be 28 weeks (6 months, 16 days) at the end of the third month.
The baby will be 6 weeks old at the start of this month and will be 10 weeks old at its end.
The fetus will weigh around 20 grams and will be 9 cm long at the end of the third month.
For the first time, the baby’s heart will beat. (Already excited?)
The fetus will get the nourishment through the umbilical cord and will float in a sack of amniotic fluids.
Pro Tip: Mother’s health and wellbeing are very important to the child. Plenty of exercises and a healthy diet will be beneficial for both mother and child.

The Fourth Month (13th-16th Week)
This month will begin 12 weeks (3 months) after the start of your last period.

24 weeks (5 months, 18 days) will be left until birth at the end of this month.
The fetus will be 2.5 months old at the beginning of this month and will be 3.5 months old at its end.
The fetus will weigh around 100 grams at the end of the fourth month and will be 16 cm long.
The uterus will be stretched to about the size of a fist.
The face will begin to acquire its own features and the head will be big, about half of the total length. Ears and genitals will be developing around this time.
The fetus will practice breathing and swallowing movements. It will turn its head, will move its thumb and toes, and kicks. However, the mother will not yet feel any such tiny movements.
Pro Tip: You must visit a clinic or a doctor before the beginning of the seventeenth week in order to qualify for maternity benefits.

The Fifth Month (17th-20th Week)
The fifth month starts 16 weeks after the start of your last period.

There will be 20 weeks (4 months, 20 days) until the birth at the end of this month.
The fetus will be 14 weeks old at the start of the fifth month and 18 weeks at the end of this month.
The baby will be 25-27 cm in length at the end of the month and weighs around 250-300 grams.
By that time, the fetus will have grown its own circulatory system, and its heartbeat will be twice as fast as adults.
The fetus will now have eyebrows. Its skin will be covered in fine downy hair that will vanish by birth time.
By this time, the placenta will be as big as the fetus and it will protect it from some but not all harmful substances.
If the mother had a baby before, the mother can now feel the baby’s movements.
Pro Tip: In this month, the time is ripe to talk to the health nurse about antenatal classes.

The Sixth Month (21st-24th Week)
This month begins 20 weeks (5 months) after the commencement of your last period.

At the end of this month, there will be 16 weeks (3 months, 2 days) until birth.
The fetus will be 4.5 months old at the start of this month and will be 5.5 months old at the end of the sixth month.
The baby’s heartbeat can be heard or felt at this time. Even a primipara (a woman expecting her first kid) can feel its movements. The fetus will weigh around 400-600 grams and will be 30 cm long at the end of the sixth month.
The faster growth of the uterus indicates the possibility of twins.
The uterus (the fundus) will be up to the navel at the end of this month.
The protective film begins to grow into the skin.
The baby will practice sucking and its thumb will often find its way into the baby’s mouth.
During this period, the baby will sleep most of the time but can be woken by external vibration or noises.
Pro Tip: You should keep your paperwork in order by this time because, in the 22nd week, you will be eligible for maternity, paternity, or parent’s pay (and absence leave) or for maternity benefits.

What Are the Advantages of Currency Trading?

Forex trading is having many career opportunities as it is easily accessible by traders from all around the world. Currency trading is also used to denote forex trading. It is about being your own boss and making money with proper knowledge about worldwide currencies.

What Is the Forex Market?
Trading in currency pairs using the rates determined by the foreign exchange market is known as currency trading or forex trading. Traders buy and sell currencies at the determined currency exchange rate. When a trader sees any profitable opportunities, forex transactions are executed. Sometimes currency exchange is also mandatory.

What Is a Pair in Forex?
Forex trading requires currency pairs for trading. A pair indicates how many units of quote currency can be bought and sold against one unit of the base currency. A base currency is a currency that is listed first in a pair and a quote currency is listed second in a pair.

Traders cannot trade using only one currency, two currencies are important for trading in the foreign exchange market. The currency pairs are also classified into three different categories that are:

Minor Pairs
Minor pairs are also known as cross currency pairs and these pairs involve currencies of strong economies. They are less liquid pairs of the foreign exchange market.

Major Pairs
The currency pairs in this category include the US dollar against other currencies of strong economies across the world. These are highly liquid pairs of the foreign exchange market.

Exotic Pairs
These currency pairs are made of currencies of emerging economies. Their liquidity is very low in the foreign exchange market.

What Are the Advantages of Currency Trading?
The foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world. Many opportunities are available for forex trades from which they can earn potential profits. Forex traders are having multiple advantages of currency trading that are as follows:

24 Hours Availability
The forex market means the involvement of currencies from all over the world. It also means that the reach of the foreign exchange market is worldwide. The foreign exchange market is available 24 hours a day and 5 days a week. It is the only market that can be traded 24 hours a day.

Higher Liquidity
When we talk about the comparison of the forex market with other financial markets. The number of participants is highest in the foreign exchange market. This ensures that the currency trading is highly liquid in nature. Large orders of buying and selling can be executed in the foreign exchange market easily.

The best part of the market is that the prices or exchange rates do not deviate due to large orders. It ensures that the market cannot be manipulated. The exchange rates change due to other factors of the market.

Low-Cost Trading
Currency trading has a low commission or brokerage charges on orders of the foreign exchange market. Most of the forex brokers do not charge commission they only charge spreads between two currencies.

It is very low as compared to trading in shares which involves high commission or brokerage charges. Traders should take advantage of this and should make potential profits with forex trading.

Volatile in Nature
The foreign exchange market is highly volatile in nature, which means traders are having enormous opportunities for earning potential profits with their trading strategies. Analyse the market and predict when a price swing may occur. If you can do so you can make good profits with currency trading.

Less Capital Requirement
The forex market does not require huge amounts of capital for investment or trading. You can initially start with low capital also. Traders cannot take this advantage with trading in other financial markets. It is easy to make profits with a limited amount of capital in the foreign exchange market.

Trading Leverage
Leverage means you can use a higher amount of capital for trading as compared to what you have. It is given on a proportionate basis by many brokers across the world. It is also a good advantage of forex trading in which you can earn profits from the leveraged money of the broker.

Easy to Enter
Traders can easily enter the foreign exchange market. If you are looking for short-term profit-making opportunities then also it is a good option for you. There are plenty of trading choices available for a forex trader. They can make short or long term profits according to their requirements.

Is Forex Trading Easier than Stock Trading?
If we make a comparison between forex trading and stock trading, forex trading is a little bit easier than stock trading. As nowadays both of them can be easily traded with a reliable broker and understanding of the markets. Some of the elements of comparison are:

Currency trading can be commenced from a low investment but you have to pay the listed price of a share if you are opting for stock trading.
The liquidity of the forex market is higher as compared to the stock market that is having low liquidity because of a low number of traders.
Market hours of the foreign exchange market are more than the market hours of the stock market.
The factors of fundamental analysis are more with the stock market trading as compared to the factors of the forex market.
Leverage is available with forex trading, which is not available while you are trading in the stock market.
Stock trading requires an understanding of the balance sheet and profit statements of a company, which is not required in forex trading.
Investment instruments are higher in stock trading than instruments available in the foreign exchange market. It makes trades easy to select between them.
These are the factors that make forex trading easier than stock trading. Even though, there are traders who are making profits from both stock and forex trading. But if you are about to begin your trading career then you can start with forex trading which is comparatively less hard than stock trading.

How to Choose the Right Broker?
While choosing a broker for yourself you have to compare a wide range of features. There are many brokers to choose from but make sure you compare these points:

Commission charges by the broker
Amount of leverage offered
Number of trading assets available
Trading platform accessible
The requirement of minimum deposit
The broker is providing customer services or not
The availability of a demo account
Capixal
Capixal is one of the leading brokers operating globally. It is offering a single-click trading feature to traders with a minimum deposit of $20 only. Traders can also opt for a demo account of trading. The best feature of this broker is that 24/7 dedicated customer support is available.

It also has a wide range of investors’ education material that can be easily accessed by investors. The trading platform is MetaTrader4, WebTrader, and mobile app that makes trading convenient for traders.

Brokereo
Brokereo does not charge any commission on trading and you can open a trading account with a minimum of $250. A demo account is also available for all traders. They are offering customer support 24/5 via email, live chat, and telephonic conversation.

It is offering trading on MetaTrader 4, mobile app, and WebTrader as per your convenience. Traders can also access the educational material offered by the broker.

The Bottom Line
Currency trading is the largest financial market that is having many opportunities from which you can earn potential profits. There are many advantages of forex trading, all you have to do is that analyse the emerging opportunities of the foreign exchange market.

Conduct some research at the time of selecting a broker for trading. Traders can make endless profits trading in foreign currencies as it does not require a high capital investment. Study the market thoroughly and make smart decisions.