Self-service kiosk for factory workers: payslips, leave and letters without a smartphone
A self-service kiosk for factory workers: what to put on it, where it goes, face or PIN sign-in, privacy at a shared screen, and the HR desk queue it removes.
Last checked 6 min read
On the 7th of every month, the queue outside the HR room at most plants is the same. Workers wait for a payslip printout, a leave balance, or a salary certificate for a bank loan. Many have a basic phone, share a smartphone with family, or simply do not want one more app. A self-service kiosk for factory workers puts those requests on a touch screen near the time office, so workers can help themselves in a minute and HR can get on with other work.
Why a self-service kiosk for factory workers still matters
The phone app is the right answer for staff and many workers. But on most shop floors a large share of people cannot or will not use it:
- workers without smartphones, or with one shared at home;
- older workers uncomfortable with apps and passwords;
- contract and seasonal workers who change phones often;
- plants where phones are not allowed on the production floor.
For them, shop floor employee self service means a shared screen at a place they already pass every day.
What to put on the kiosk
Start with what people actually come to the HR desk for. Count the requests for a month before you decide. At most plants the list looks like this:
| Tile | What the worker can do |
|---|---|
| My payslip | View the last few payslips |
| Leave | See the balance, apply for leave |
| Attendance | This month's days present, absent, late |
| Letters | Ask for a salary certificate, address proof or employment certificate |
| Raise a ticket | Report a pay query, a uniform request, a grievance |
| Canteen | Balance and this month's meal deductions |
Resist adding more. A kiosk with fifteen tiles is slower than the queue it replaced.
Sign-in: face or code and PIN
Two methods work at a shared kiosk:
- Face match. Fast, and easiest for people who struggle with typing. Face data is sensitive personal data under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, so give a clear notice of what is stored and why, store a template rather than photos where possible, and offer an alternative.
- Employee code plus PIN. Works for everyone, needs no camera, and is familiar from ATMs. Let workers set their PIN on their first visit with HR's help.
Avoid sign-in by employee code alone. Anyone who knows a colleague's code would see that colleague's pay.
Kiosk privacy at a shared screen
A shared screen showing salaries needs a few safeguards:
- Placement. Not in a crowded corridor where three people can read over a shoulder. A corner of the time office or a booth near the canteen works.
- Automatic close. End the session after 30 to 60 seconds of no touch. People walk away mid-session more often than you would think.
- Limited history. Show the last three payslips, not every payslip since joining.
- Printing. Keep it off unless the printer is right beside the kiosk and the worker collects the page at once.
- No sensitive edits. Bank account and address changes should go through HR with proof, not be made at a public screen.
Payslips on screen and the law
Minimum wages rules have long required wage slips for workers, and the Code on Wages carries the duty forward: employers issue wage slips in the form and manner the rules prescribe. Many companies now issue payslips electronically, through an app, email or a kiosk. Check with your adviser how your state's rules expect wage slips to be given, and whether you should keep a printed option for workers who ask.
A payslip kiosk does not replace the duty to explain. When a worker sees an unexpected deduction, the kiosk should let them raise a query in two taps, and HR should answer within a few days.
A worked example from a Rudrapur plant
A plant in Rudrapur has 1,400 workers on three shifts, about 60% of whom do not use the phone app.
Before the kiosks:
- about 350 payslip printouts a month, mostly in the first ten days;
- 80 to 100 leave balance enquiries a month;
- 40 requests for salary certificates, each typed by an HR executive;
- one HR executive spending most of the first week of each month at the counter.
After two kiosks, one at the time office and one near the canteen:
- payslip requests at the desk fell to about 40, mostly from new joiners setting their PIN;
- leave applications from workers came in through the kiosk, and the supervisor approved them on the phone;
- salary certificates were requested at the kiosk, approved by HR and collected printed with a QR check code;
- pay queries, raised as tickets, had a record and a reply date instead of a conversation in the corridor.
The HR executive moved to joining and exit work. The kiosks cost less than a quarter of that person's annual salary.
Leave, attendance and the supervisor
Workers applying for leave at a kiosk still need a fast approval, or they will go back to the HR desk. Make sure supervisors approve on their phones, and that the worker sees the decision on the next visit or by SMS. Clear leave rules help as well; questions about short leave, half days and the sandwich rule come up constantly on a shop floor and are easier to answer once the policy is written down.
Rolling it out
- Count desk requests for a month and pick the tiles.
- Choose the place for each kiosk, with privacy in mind.
- Decide on face, PIN or both, and write the notice.
- Help workers set PINs during the first week, shift by shift.
- Put a poster beside the kiosk with three steps in the languages your workers read.
- After a month, look at which tiles are used and which queries still reach the desk.
For the wider list of what a plant needs from its HR system, see our checklist on HRMS for the manufacturing industry, and for the data side, the DPDP Act for HR.
The Vatsin Self Service Portal includes kiosk self-service: workers sign in by face match or code and PIN, and see payslip, leave balance and application, this month's attendance, letter requests, tickets and canteen balance. By default the session closes after 45 seconds of no use, the last three payslips are shown and printing is off.