If you are an owner of a small startup who’s looking to setup a HR and Payroll system without the customary hassle and cost that’s related to them, then the updated services by Kakitangan.com is probably the best way to go. The web-based platform’s HR System is available free for all businesses, while its Payroll system is only free for organisations with up to 3 employees. Companies with four or more employees will be charged a monthly subscription of RM 100 as the base price, together with RM 6 for every employee that gets added to the system. Payroll systems comes with a free 1-month trial for users to take it for a spin before committing to the monthly fees (where applicable).
Owned and developed by Coastal Hectare Sdn Bhd, Kakitangan.com offers three modules on its platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), but the best part is, they’ve not been shoehorned into a specific industry; meaning that the system was developed to be used by any companies working under any industries in Malaysia. The team behind the system is comprised of industry veterans with at least 10 years of experience, including a software engineer from Microsoft Office and Bing, another software engineer from TribeHired and Zalora, a designer who has worked with companies in the US, Europe and South East Asia, a HR expert from New Straits Times, and a benefits expert who specialises in medical insurance. The company’s first two modules, ‘Leave Application’ and ‘Benefits’, were launched in February of last year.
The HR System which houses the ‘Leave Application’ and ‘Benefits’ modules, also includes additional features such as employee database, birthday reminder, and even shared calendars. As mentioned earlier, this service is free to all users, and Kakitangan.com claims that it currently has over 2000 signups from Malaysian SMEs. One of the primary objective of the system is speed up leave applications, as well as to remove the bottlenecks inherent to the conventional way of applying: using paper forms.
Apart from creating unnecessary waste, leave applications submitted using paper forms can get lost, misplaced, or damaged before it even gets processed. Processing the forms is another hassle, as it requires the time and energy for the staff to get the correct approvals before submitting, and then more time for the HR or administrative personnel to go through the submission to keep track of the leaves that have been taken and/or of what’s remaining. The entire process can come to a halt if the person who is supposed to approve the application does not have access to it, or is away. The Kakitangan.com HR System simplifies the process for the applicant and the approver as the system is available on both mobile and desktop, and is available at any location that has an internet connection. Leave balance and entitlements are also calculated automatically, giving HR personnel the kind of data they would need to manage their workforce in an effective way.
Kakitangan.com’s online Payroll system on the other hand is something that was just launched in May 2016. Also targeted at SMEs, the system aims to improve accuracy and efficiency by automating many of the steps required in generating employee payrolls, and most importantly, to securely store the data on the internet. The system is integrated with the HR System, making it easier to manage the employee’s info, their work days, and their respective remunerations. Using a simple user interface and navigation, even first time users are expected to ease-in into the system but unfortunately, this module can only be accessed via a desktop browser.
Some of the features baked into the Payroll system include automatic calculations of EPF, SOCSO, income tax, and prorated deductions for unpaid leaves; and for the preparation of electronic payslips, which incidentally also enables the staff to access previous e-payslips within the system thus reducing the need for additional man hours for printing and distributing printed payslips.
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The idea of having the employee data secure in the cloud and to be able to access them anywhere is great. Also great is the idea of a lower entry-price that also takes care of the maintenance of the system. But then, the thought of someone else holding on to the data and managing it might be unnerving for some. Especially when the company’s terms mentions that access to the data is “restricted in our offices” and that “only employees who need information to perform a specific function — such as customer support — are granted access to personal information”. This is probably how most outsourcing companies handle the data that they hold, but having access to these might pose some security risks in the future.
Another term about privacy that caught our attention was the one about having personal information (this includes names, phone numbers, email address, company name, and date of joining) processed on Kakitangan.com’s behalf, where necessary, by related/affiliate companies and external service providers. These information are said to “enable Kakitangan.com to provide products or services (such as your benefits or insurance) to your company should your company required it” but there’s no mention about the user having a say if the data should be allowed to be collected in the first place. (These kinds of T&Cs, and the subsequent data collection, are quite common with ISPs in Malaysia and users are signing off their privacy without even reading the application forms)
There is no mention either about the Personal Data Protection Act in any of the pages but it was stated that Malaysian laws will govern the company’s legal and licensing terms with regards to the users.
Lastly, although Kakitangan.com does say that it does not sell the data, the terms do say that it may share and disclose personal information to its subsidiaries, associated or related companies or their respective employees, professional advisors, agents or representatives, as well as to third-party service providers, suppliers, and vendors.
Nevertheless, Kakitangan.com is an exciting platform for SMEs and the updates they’ve been adding to their service shows how committed they are to their product. It will be exciting to see it grow together with the companies that it supports.
As a parting thought, a system may come with the best security available, but the weakest link is always going to be the middlemen that has access to information that does not belong to them in the first place. And as we all know, if a service is given to you free then there’s a high possibility that you ARE the product that’s being sold. So do pay for the services that you love, and help them grow to offer you more of what you need.
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