A staff portal is a private website used to provide members of a staff with access to important information. Staff portals may only be available on internal networks or they may be designed for access from any Internet-enabled computer for convenience. To get into the staff portal, people usually need a username and password assigned by the company's information technology department. A wide variety of information can be kept in a staff portal, ranging from employee manuals to up to date information on contributions to benefits plans.
Several companies design generic staff portals that companies can install, and companies can also design their own. The goal of a staff portal is to provide people with ready access to information they may need in the course of their work. Having this information digitized can save paper and reduce waste, in addition to allowing people to access it anywhere and at any time. In addition, employees may find staff portals helpful for tracking things like hours worked, payroll history, and so forth.
Some examples of things employers can put in a staff portal include: schedules, employee manuals, memos, payroll information, benefits information, company policies, and news items. Information technology staff are typically in charge of administering the staff portal. They keep it updated, identify security problems, address bugs as they arise, and assist employees who have difficulty accessing it in addition to assigning usernames and passwords to new employees and removing old employees from access lists.
Portals can include course modules, allowing employees to take classes through the portal. These modules may be part of required employee training or offered as a supplemental option for employees who want to improve their job performance. Quizzes and dialog boxes are used to confirm employee comprehension. Prompts can also be used with things like memos so employers know when employees read memos. This can be useful for verifying complete distribution of information to staff members.
Staff portals can contain confidential or sensitive information. Employees may be directed to always log out when they are finished, to avoid showing the portal to non-employees, and to keep their usernames and passwords secure. Staff portals may have access-restricted areas open to certain employees only where highly sensitive information is kept. Creating layers of security allows employers to protect especially sensitive data, as well as providing employees with access-locked areas to discuss and address issues of interest without allowing the whole staff to see those areas.