Atlas Copco South Africa once again showed its commitment to its employees with the launch on 11th May 2016 of the Atlas Copco Self Service Kiosk at the company’s Head Office in Jet Park, Johannesburg.

Atlas Copco Holdings Vice President, Frans van Niekerk, was on hand to cut the ribbon during the launch of the Self Service Kiosk which provides all employees with fast and convenient access to important information that is relevant to them.

“We consider our employees as our most valuable asset as they are the drivers of the company and I cannot stress enough their massive contribution to our organisation,” commented Van Niekerk. “It is therefore so important to empower all our employees and make sure that everyone has access to important personal and company information. Because every single job is considered vital to Atlas Copco’s overall success, the Kiosk provides the perfect platform for those employees who, because of the nature of their trade - fitters, turners, spray painters, etc., - do not have company issued computers.”

“Because we want to promote and encourage all our employees to use ASK on a regular basis, we have placed the first Self Service Kiosk in the canteen as this is a central area that is visited by most employees at least once a day,” added Van Niekerk who thanked Stanley Mtshweni, Senior IT Customer Service and Glynnis Surrall, HR Business Process and Systems Manager, who were instrumental in this project, for their hard work in getting this off the ground.

The user friendly system was created on a share point platform by Mtshweni who explained: “The system uses touch screen – so as easy to use as a smart phone, employees have freedom to navigate and access a wealth of information of both a personal as well as a general nature, information that employees who do not have access to a computer had to obtain from managers and supervisors. It was imperative that we could supply the information for them on an easy scale.”

This project took eight months to set up and Glynnis affirmed that a lot of testing was done to ensure the system works 100% and that it is Atlas Copco compliant to PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act).

At the click of a mouse, employees can stay up to date with important personal information, company announcements and notices e.g. Takkie Tax Day, HIV/Aids Day, etc., read up on company policies and procedures, access the Resources Guide (training and education, health and safety, employment equity, etc.), check leave balances, apply for leave and catch up on organisational information on a local as well as a global scale.

Glynnis who will be providing training to employees on how to use the system, says that employees can also use ASK to access payslips and IRP5s and leave balances but hastens to add that great care has been taken to ensure employee privacy and confidentiality when it comes to personal information. “In order to access this type of information, each employee is given a unique password to ensure optimum confidentiality and security.”

“We will develop the system further as employee needs grow. And based on the initial response, we will roll out a second ASK on the DC shop floor. We currently have two more Kiosks that are ready to be set up,” concludes Glynnis.

Christopher Ngubane who works on the shop floor in Atlas Copco’s Distribution Centre said at the launch: “The Kiosk is a very good idea. The system is useful for us in that it will help us to earn and receive all the things we need to know easily.”