Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Employee Self Service Quick Guide
LOGGING IN .................................................................................................................................................................... 2
NAVIGATION................................................................................................................................................................... 3
SIDEBAR MENU ......................................................................................................................................... 3
LOGOUT ................................................................................................................................................... 3
COMPANY INFORMATION .............................................................................................................................................. 4
COMPANY EVENTS...................................................................................................................................... 4
BENEFITS......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
CONTACTS ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Updating Contact & Dependent Records .......................................................................................... 5
Adding a Contact or Dependent ....................................................................................................... 6
BENEFIT PLAN INFORMATION ....................................................................................................................... 7
BENEFITS STATEMENT ................................................................................................................................. 8
PLAN DEPENDENT INFORMATION .................................................................................................................. 9
COMPENSATION ............................................................................................................................................................. 9
PAY CHECK HISTORY ................................................................................................................................... 9
ON-LINE W-2.......................................................................................................................................... 13
PERSONAL..................................................................................................................................................................... 15
CHANGE PIN ........................................................................................................................................... 15
CHANGE W-4 TAXES ................................................................................................................................ 15
Federal Changes ............................................................................................................................. 15
State Changes ................................................................................................................................. 16
UPDATE ADDRESS & PHONE....................................................................................................................... 17
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Logging in
To access Empower, do the following:
1. Type https://personal.ecipay.com/Prod/Login/ in your browser and press
Enter. The Login screen displays.
Empower Login
2. Enter your six digit Employee # and Password in the corresponding fields.
Your password the first time you enter is the last six digits of your Social
Security Number.
3. Click the Show Client Code link (this will only be necessary the first time
logging in from a particular computer or if your cookies have been deleted).
4. Enter the client code LONGABER in the Client Code field that displays, as
shown.
5. Check the Log in as ESS user box to log in with the ESS role you have access
to. Normally, this is the EMPLOYEE role.
6. Click Login to access the Home Page.
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Navigation
Sidebar Menu
The rectangle on the left side of your screen is called the Sidebar Menu.
Navigation within Empower is driven by using the sidebar menu. Menu
items are bolded and contain sub-menus which group common
functionalities for ease of maneuverability
To navigate using the sidebar menu, click on the title of the menu item to
display its sub menu. The menu item will expand to display the sub menu
options.
Click on a sub menu item to navigate to that screen.
Sidebar Menu (expanded)
Logout
Logout when leaving your PC unattended
In order to protect the confidentiality of the data you are working with, be
sure to Logout whenever you leave your computer. Empower includes a
system safeguard where, after a pre-set number of minutes of user
inactivity, the system will deny access and announce that: “Your access
could not be authenticated!” This security feature requires that you logout
and re-enter your password to access the system. Non authorized users
cannot access Empower.
Logout Prompt
Click the Logout icon
at the top of your screen to log out of the
system before you leave your computer unattended or if the security system
denies you further access.
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Company Information
As your organization announces new events, you can go to the Company
menu item and click on options to view the latest company information.
Company Events
From the Company menu item, ESS users can click on the Events option
to display the Calendar of Company Events.
Calendar of Company Events
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Benefits
Contacts
Through ESS, you can review what emergency contact information the company has
on file for you.
Select the Benefits menu item’s Contacts option to view your emergency
contact and dependent information. The Emergency Contacts &
Dependents screen will display all contacts. The bottom portion of this
screen, Pending Change Requests, will show changes that have been
requested, but not yet approved to take effect.
Emergency Contacts & Dependents
You may request that a contact or dependent be included, or edit a contact’s
or dependent’s information within the Empower ESS function.
Updating Contact & Dependent Records
To view the contact or dependent’s information, click on the View icon
next to the name of the contact or dependent. A quick one-page
access screen allows you to view your contact or dependent information. If
the information is correct, just click on the Cancel icon to return to the main
Contacts screen.
To remove the contact or dependent’s information, click on the Delete icon
next to the name of the contact or dependent.
To update or edit a contact or dependent’s information, click on the Edit icon
next to the name of the contact or dependent. A quick one-page access
screen allows you to update your contact or dependent information. After
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
editing, click on the Save icon to save your changes. If the information
correct, just click on the Cancel icon to return to the main Contacts screen.
Updating Contact and Dependent Records
Adding a Contact or Dependent
When you add a new contact or dependent, the process is wizard-driven.
Enter the Contact’s information and click the Save icon.
Click the Add New Contact button
to add contacts and dependents.
Confirmation to Contact/Dependent
As with Personal Information, Contact changes are routed for approval
before they take effect. This contact information may also be used to identify
benefit dependents and beneficiaries, so these changes must be reviewed
before being finalized in the system.
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Benefit Plan Information
Employees can see the true value of their benefits on the Benefit Plan Information
screen. This screen displays the Plan Description, Coverage (e.g., Employee or
Family), Effective Date, Your Cost, Benefit Amount, and Deductible.
Benefit Plan Information
When the plan description is underlined and in blue text, the description is set
up as a hyperlink to a description of the plan.
Benefits Statement
You can review your overall benefits by selecting Benefit Statement from the
Benefits menu. The ESS Benefits Statements screen will display and provide
information about each benefit, including both Your Cost and the cost paid by your
employer for this benefit (Employer Cost). Upon selecting the Benefit Statement
option, choose to view current year benefits or a particular date range and then click
the Preview icon.
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Benefit Statement Selection
The resulting Compensation Summary provides benefit and tax information
including costs paid by your employer.
Benefits Statement
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Plan Dependent Information
You can review who is on each of your benefit plans as either a dependent or a
beneficiary. Click the Plan Dependents option on the Benefits menu to display the
Plan Dependent Information screen. Each plan is listed, and for each plan, the
Beneficiary or Dependent, with information about what the relationship is for that
plan. A dependent relationship is one who receives benefits such as Medical and
Dental. A beneficiary is one who receives the benefit in the event the benefit is paid
out, as in the case of a life insurance plan.
Plan Dependent Information
Compensation
When a company has payroll history within Empower, the information is available to
the employee through ESS. Employees may view their personal compensation
information and pay check stubs within ESS.
Pay Check Summary
Employees can view a summary of past paychecks and direct deposits on
the Employee Pay History screen. To review Employee Pay History, click
the Pay Checks option in the Compensation menu. The most recent
paycheck or direct deposit summary will display.
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Employee Self Service (ESS)
Hovering over the icons by Gross Pay, Taxes and Deductions will show details.
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Clicking the PDF button will start download for currently displayed paycheck.
Once the pay check is created by the system, a box appears at the bottom
asking to ‘Open’ or ‘Save’ the pay check.
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Employee Self Service (ESS)
The detail produces itemized deductions, pay, and when applicable, total
benefit hours paid.
Check Detail
The right-hand side shows list of past paychecks. Clicking on the
download button next to Net Pay amount will start download of pay stub for that
check. Clicking on the check date will display the summary information on the left
hand side. The dropdown lets the user select a month to filter by.
Pay History
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
On-line W-2 – This option will be available starting with 2015 W-2
You may view and reprint your W-2 form from prior years by selecting the On-line
W-2 option from the Compensation menu. The View My W-2s screen will be
displayed.
Click to
download
Adobe Reader
View W-2
In order to view your W-2 on-line, you will need to have a copy of Adobe Reader
installed on the computer you are using. This is a free software, and there is a link
on the View My W-2s screen to link to the download site.
Once you have Adobe Reader installed, you may select the appropriate year from
the list box labeled Select the tax year. Only those W-2s that were processed
within Empower will be available to you.
Click the View W-2 button, and the W-2 will display as shown in the next image.
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
W-2 Viewer
Click the printer icon on this screen to print the form.
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Employee Self Service (ESS)
Personal
Change PIN
PIN (Personal Identification Number, or Password) changes are
recommended to protect the security of your login information. Select the
Change PIN menu option to change your password.
Change W-4 Taxes
Click Change Taxes to display the Federal Income Tax and State Income
Tax W-4 elections. You may change your Federal tax withholdings and
submit to your payroll department or change your State tax withholdings and
print the form to manually submit to your payroll department.
Federal Changes
To change your Federal Income Tax withholdings, update the Filing Status,
Exemptions, and/or Additional $ fields on the screen in the Federal section.
For Federal W-4 instructions and a worksheet, click View Federal W-4
Instructions and Worksheet.
Click View and Approve Updated Federal W-4 Form to display a W-4 form
with edited values from the Update Tax Information screen as well as the
existing values for other fields on the W-4 form. Name, Address, and SSN
information is extracted from the employee records in Empower.
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Employee Self Service (ESS)
Federal Withholding Form Screen
Click the Print icon to print the updated form.
Click the Save icon to save the updated form.
Click Cancel to return to the Update Tax Information screen.
Click Sign Updated Form to add your electronic signature which submits the
form to your payroll department for approval.
State Changes
To change your State Income Tax withholdings, click Complete New State
Withholding Form. Select the applicable state form on the left side of the pane.
Complete the form and then click the Print
into your payroll department.
icon. Sign the form and turn it
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
State Withholding Form Screen
Update Address & Phone
With ESS, you can review your personal employment information through the
options in the Personal menu and maintain some of your own personal data. For
instance, if you move, you can submit an update to your Address-Phone
information through ESS. ESS provides you with access to your employee
information.
Verify Address & Phone
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Quick Guide
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Click the Update Address & Phone Records button to edit the information.
Change Personal Contact Information
Click the Save button after you have completed your changes. The changes
will be routed for approval. In some cases, you may need to follow up with
your Payroll department to make other changes (e.g., move to a new tax
location).
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