What Is an Employee Information System (EIS)? What It Stores and How It Works
Table of Contents
An employee information system (EIS) is software that keeps every employee's details in one secure place: personal and contact information, job and department, documents, pay and leave records, and the history of changes over time. HR uses it to keep records accurate. Employees use it to see and update their own details.
Looking for your employer's EIS login? Many schools, public bodies and companies call their staff portal an "employee information system". This page explains what these systems are. To sign in to yours, use the link your employer gave you or ask your HR team.
What an employee information system stores
Area | Typical contents |
|---|---|
Personal | Name, contact details, emergency contacts, date of birth |
Employment | Job title, department, manager, start date, employment status, work schedule |
Documents | Contract, ID and right-to-work documents, tax forms, certificates |
Pay | Salary, pay history, payslips |
Time off and attendance | Leave balance, leave requests, attendance and timesheets |
History | Changes to role, department, pay and status over time, with dates |
Assets | Equipment assigned to the employee |
Employee information system vs HRIS vs HRMS
The names overlap, and vendors use them loosely.
Term | Usually means | Focus |
|---|---|---|
Employee information system (EIS) | The employee record and self-service portal | Storing and accessing employee data |
HRIS (human resources information system) | The system of record for HR data, often with leave, attendance and reporting | HR data and core HR processes |
HRMS (human resource management system) | An HRIS plus wider processes such as hiring, payroll and performance | Running HR end to end |
In practice, most small-business HR software combines all three: an employee record at the centre, self-service for employees, and modules for leave, attendance, hiring or payroll around it.
Why it matters: accuracy, security and record-keeping
Employee data is personal data, and some of it you're legally required to keep.
- In the UK, data protection law requires personal data to be "accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date", "kept for no longer than is necessary" and "handled in a way that ensures appropriate security" (GOV.UK).
- In the US, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to keep payroll records for at least three years, and the records wage calculations are based on, such as time cards, for two (US DOL Fact Sheet #21).
An EIS helps on all three fronts. Employees correct their own contact details, permissions limit who sees what, and records stay in one place for as long as you need them, instead of scattered across inboxes and spreadsheets.
Features to look for
- Employee self-service: employees update their own personal details, view payslips and request leave, without emailing HR.
- Roles and permissions: managers, HR and payroll each see only what they need.
- Document storage attached to each employee's profile.
- Change history showing what changed, when.
- Custom fields and statuses that match how your organization works.
- Access removal when someone leaves, while keeping their record.
- Export, so you can hand records over or move systems later.
If you're comparing software, our guide to employee record management systems goes deeper on features, setup and tools.
How Payrun works as an employee information system
In Payrun, each employee has a profile with personal and employment details, custom employment status, department and stored files such as contracts and IDs. Employees can update their own personal and contact details, view and download payslips, check their leave balance, see equipment assigned to them, and review their own history of salary, department and status changes. Department, shift, status and reporting manager stay under HR's control. Roles and permissions decide who can see other employees' records, and deactivating a user disables their login.
Payrun is free for up to 5 users, and paid plans start at $4.95 per user per month billed annually. It doesn't file payroll taxes. See Payrun pricing.
Written by the Payrun Team. Legal references checked against official US and UK government sources on 4 November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.
