What should an RFP for an employee self-service portal include?

For a hospital workforce, cover seven areas: reach (does it work on a personal phone for deskless staff?), authentication (does it use your existing single sign-on?), the core documents and functions (pay statements, W-2, T4, balances, news), former-employee access, compliance and security, deployment and where the data lives, and operations (publish-once, fits your payroll/HRIS). The checklist on this page lays out the specific questions under each.

Do I have to give my email to use the checklist?

No — the full checklist is on this page, free to read and use. The form just sends you the printable PDF version, which is handy for sharing with a buying committee or dropping into an actual RFP.

Is this checklist specific to hospitals?

Yes. It's built around the realities of a hospital workforce: a deskless majority, 24/7 schedules, steady turnover, and (for many systems) employees in both the US and Canada who need W-2s and T4s. Generic ESS checklists miss those.

What's the most overlooked evaluation criterion?

Two: where the data lives (a vendor cloud vs your own environment) and whether former employees can still retrieve their documents. Both are easy to skip in a feature comparison and expensive to get wrong.

Workforce pay & tax self-service

Employee portal RFP / evaluation checklist (free, printable)

Updated June 2026 · Reviewed by David Higginson, CHIME Innovator of the Year

Evaluating an employee self-service portal for a hospital? Use this checklist to compare vendors on what actually matters for a deskless, dual-country, high-turnover workforce — not just feature lists.

The checklist

Reach & access

Works fully from a personal phone (browser, no app install required)
Reaches deskless and frontline staff who have no corporate computer or email
Available off the corporate network (home, break room, cellular)

Authentication & identity

Authenticates against our existing directory / single sign-on (no new passwords)
Access ends automatically when employment ends

Documents & functions

Pay statements: current and historical, view and print on any device
W-2 (US) self-service, posted by January 31 — see electronic W-2 access
T4 (Canada) self-service via a secure portal — see electronic T4 access
Time-off and benefit balances on the dashboard, updated from payroll
News and links that reach non-desk staff

Former / offboarded employees

Secure, role-scoped access for former employees
Honors IRS rules (W-2 available through October 15) and CRA rules (former-employee paper default) — see former-employee access

Compliance & security

Every login and document access is logged
Role-scoped: employees see only their own data
Electronic W-2 consent and disclosure handled per IRS requirements
Printable pay-stub access that travels across state rules

Deployment & data

Where does our data live — our environment, or a vendor cloud? See cloud vs on-premises
Any third-party host anywhere in the data path?
Runs under our own controls and certifications

Operations

Publish-once: corrections re-publish, no manual reprints
Sits alongside the payroll / HRIS we already run — see standalone vs HRIS

Start here

New to the category? Begin with employee self-service portals for hospitals, or see how the Bluefish Employee Portal answers each box.

Frequently asked questions

What should an RFP for an employee self-service portal include?: For a hospital workforce, cover seven areas: reach (does it work on a personal phone for deskless staff?), authentication (does it use your existing single sign-on?), the core documents and functions (pay statements, W-2, T4, balances, news), former-employee access, compliance and security, deployment and where the data lives, and operations (publish-once, fits your payroll/HRIS). The checklist on this page lays out the specific questions under each.
Do I have to give my email to use the checklist?: No — the full checklist is on this page, free to read and use. The form just sends you the printable PDF version, which is handy for sharing with a buying committee or dropping into an actual RFP.
Is this checklist specific to hospitals?: Yes. It's built around the realities of a hospital workforce: a deskless majority, 24/7 schedules, steady turnover, and (for many systems) employees in both the US and Canada who need W-2s and T4s. Generic ESS checklists miss those.
What's the most overlooked evaluation criterion?: Two: where the data lives (a vendor cloud vs your own environment) and whether former employees can still retrieve their documents. Both are easy to skip in a feature comparison and expensive to get wrong.