The start of the COVID-19 pandemic was a time of chaos – not only were people rightly worried for their safety and that of their loved ones, they were simultaneously trying to transition to working from home for their office jobs. While that shift was necessary for the survival of businesses the world over, it brought a new set of challenges to overcome.

Today, let’s discuss one niggle that HR has been attempting to resolve: how to effectively measure and track productivity. Let’s talk punctuality.

A Routine Helps Productivity

Workplaces have attendance and punctuality measurements not just to ensure employees are working the hours they are supposed to be, but to bring a measure of order to chaos. 

A stable routine is often cited to improve one’s productivity and the same rule can be extrapolated for teams and workplaces. Working from home has impacted productivity and efficiency already, people have to manage children, pets and families in the same space as their makeshift home offices and wild variances to clock in and clock out impacts the output of the team as a whole.

To alleviate that, implementing some form of attendance or a check-in time can do wonders to quickly ramp up productiveness.

The Benefits of Attendance Tracking

Dedicated office buildings and work spaces used to have some sort of manual or automated clock in system by the main door or reception – how does one recreate that when everyone is working from different parts of a city, country (or even world)? 

The answer lies in the use of an effective HR software with an integrated solution to manage employee work timings. Here’s how the use of solutions such as PeopleSonic can instantly benefit your business in these pandemic-ridden times:

• A central dashboard to easily let managers observe trends in employee attendance and timings and identify problem areas.
• Specialised utility that allows managers to set a sort of a ‘grace’ period for morning check in – so many employees with young children often find themselves in unplanned kid-emergencies which would otherwise negatively impact their record!
• Manage multiple shifts and different timings with a click of a button – COVID-19 has reduced work capabilities for many businesses, and many employees no longer work full-time and that would otherwise require a lot of manual logging that would fully occupy HR!
• Have attendance and work hours data down to minute-precision. Businesses fail and succeed with time efficiency, and knowing and understanding exact work patterns can help alleviate and improve workflows within teams and the organization as a whole.

As mentioned above, once the workforce is back in some semblance of punctuality, you will quickly see work output increase!

Prevent Your Company Culture From Stagnating

A curious thing that has suffered indelibly has been office culture. Each workplace has its unique culture, beloved to its employees and revered by competitors. 

Whether it was monthly lunch parties or (indoor) sports tournaments, each organization has lost those social events which added to the wow factor of working there. Why can’t that be recreated in the online workspace?

Setting up online lunches, quiz competitions or even social gaming obviously requires that the workflow of the team and company be as optimized as possible, which brings us back punctuality and productivity! Once your workforce is back on a regular schedule, HR can find it easy to plan and arrange for fun activities to bring back the cheer, the culture your organization was known for.

Attendance tracking and management isn’t just a business tool for HR to report employee timesheets and performance. It’s also a great way to boost morale and output, and more importantly, in our new reality, a way to recapture “normal” work life for most people.

 

 

As more and more businesses move HR from a pen and paper department to a web-based smart operation, those left behind have a choice to make: do they stay in the past or do they take that necessary step into the future?

To add to the decision-making worry, there are two major ways HR is managed digitally: Bespoke services that manage a singular aspect and nothing else, and HR platforms where all aspects are managed and integrated into each other to provide an end-to-end solution.

Let’s resolve any lingering doubts you may have about the efficacy of these integrated HR platforms by taking a look at just how they excel over ‘traditional’ HR management.

You Get Centralized Core Services

A major complaint that arises with the sheer breadth of scope of most HR teams is the fact that data gets scattered far and wide. Collating that data when it is requested can become a hassle when it is divided across several apps, systems and files, there’s also the additional possibility of errors when combining said data into a singular report.

An integrated HR platform basically renders every such problem moot. Most integrated HR systems provide an all-in-one dashboard for managing employee data, such as:

• Employee contact and personal information
• Job designation
• Department / Team within company
• Employee documents / contracts

Additionally, these dashboard enable HR to manage data permissions and privacy controls to every employee in the company, and store all this data to the platform’s secure cloud servers, from one convenient location!

You Get Additional Services Like Payroll and Leave Management

Most HR functions beyond employee data management and onboarding are lengthy, tedious and no less essential. Payroll and leave management are two of the biggest and most demanding of those functions – ‘traditional’ HR management structures have multiple people tasked specially to fulfill these functions, making them a major manpower sink. Being human-driven also leaves these critical services prone to errors and mistakes.

Modern integrated HR platforms such as PeopleSonic pride themselves on providing turn-key solutions to the looming problems of payroll and leave management. These integrated solutions provide dedicated applications within the platform which exclusively manage payroll and leaves, while fully exposing their data to the central dashboard to enable analytics, tracking and updates.   

You Get Instant, Detailed Analytics

As mentioned earlier, the biggest boost that integrated HR platforms provide businesses comes in the form of analytics. The modern business world is exceedingly data-driven, which refers to understanding data and using those analyses to inform decision making. Knowing how to make sense of the data collected becomes far more necessary than the act of collection itself, and that is where your business profits from these platforms.

Rather than having an employee gather data, run it through their performance metrics and guidelines and create a report from that, HR platforms use their integrated nature to call data from the relevant application, analyze it and generate the required reports, all from one button click! Harnessing the computing power of the platforms also provides thorough analyses that would otherwise take HR days to produce.

You Get to Save Time

It must be evident by now that if your business still executes its HR functions through personnel only (and using paper rather than digital), you are wasting a hefty chunk of your employee’s time on things that integrated HR platforms now do instantly, or automatically on a schedule. By removing the burden of menial tasks, HR teams get freed up to tackle higher value goals for the business. The same goes for time saved each month on processing payroll, and especially the time saved in following up on leave approvals, statuses and accruals.

While the difference in time efficiency gained when using an integrated solution to using several solutions for HR management is not as dramatic as that between analogue and digital, it is still significant. That is especially true given how highly competitive today’s industries are, and even a minor advantage becomes critical in the long run.

You Get Increased Productivity 

A consequence of HR systems that doesn’t get enough spotlight is the increase in employee productivity through time and attendance management. By observing and understanding employee behaviour, managers and HR can best formulate ways to motivate teams to arrive on time, which would in turn boost and elevate the work culture of that organization. 

Time is money may be a cliche, but it is one that is painfully important to businesses, whether they’re small or even multinational. That’s why managers and team leads are always looking for data on employee attendance and how to maximise it. By analyzing this data, a more productive work culture can be created, one based on trust with the employees.

 

While the idea of using exclusive, specialist software to look after various HR functions can sound enticing, getting those applications to play nicely with each other can prove to be challenging, sometimes even futile. That’s why an integrated HR platform that is essentially an end-to-end solution for managing HR will always appeal more to businesses, and with good reason. What’s more, modern HR platforms even allow a lot of customisation features that can tailor that platform to your business’s specific needs, one which can easily augment the benefits you gain by moving your business from ‘traditional’ HR management to an integrated, all-in-one platform.

As more and more of our work and personal lives become dependent on digital technologies, there is an ever-increasing focus and emphasis on ensuring that data, the currency of everyone’s digital lives, is secure and safe at all times. 

That is why businesses need to discuss and establish data privacy and protection procedures within their organizations. Today, let’s take a quick rundown and what that can entail:

Establish a Data Access Hierarchy

A common refrain among security specialists is that the more access points exist to your data, the higher the chance of vulnerabilities and exposure of said weaknesses. 

What does this mean for your business practices? Set limits to who can access which employee’s data and what data they can access. For instance, a manager may be able to access an employee’s performance data but finance has no need to be granted access to it. Similarly, critical information related to tax paperwork or other personal information should only be the purview of HR or finance.

Ensuring a well-thought out hierarchy is put in place for who can access particular data will help reduce the overall vulnerability of your system to malicious software and people. Combining this with an equally thorough log system will help security and IT keep track of who accesses data, helping identify unauthorized people from gaining hold of precious data.

Evaluate and Reevaluate Your Security Policies

Once a competent data access hierarchy has been set up, the next critical step is to evaluate established data security policies and more importantly, setting up a reevaluation schedule. Revisiting your security is incredibly important – given the rate at which technologies improve, new technologies arrive and current and older ones are exploited by hackers and scammers, it is imperative to review the state of your security at regular intervals.

Is your security still depending on SMS for authentication? Recent revelations stating that this security procedure has critical vulnerabilities means that you should definitely consider a stronger 2 Factor Authentication system for your employee’s critical data, such as tax data. Considering digitising paper-based employee data? Ensure your on-site or cloud storage offers state-of-the-art security. Such decisions can only be taken if regular discussions are had on the subject of data security.

Invest in secure technologies

On the subject of secure data storage services and software, another decision to be made on the subject of data privacy and security is the discussion on when to invest in newer, better technologies.

Is your HR web portal still not employing HTTPS (HTTP secure)? It’s absolutely the time to stop using that insecure piece of software and opt for a more modern, cloud based HR platform like PeopleSonic, that promises security front and centre. There can be nothing more important for a business than to ensure the safety and integrity of employee and business data in this technology-driven world. Personally critical information like tax data, social security and all linked data is a necessary transaction between employer and employee, and it falls on the employer to invest in the continual security of that information.

The same goes for technologies that limit physical access to any on-site data servers – Facial recognition and fingerprint scanning are essential to augment any personnel performing security. Both people and technologies are fallible, only together can they help reduce any chances of protected data being breached.

Train your workforce on data protection essentials

When organisations as large as Twitter can fall victim to social engineering, it speaks volumes to the importance of having a workforce trained to spot such attempts of exploitation. That is why it is paramount to have regular training for keeping your workforce updated on best practices when it comes to data security and the security of personal information online. Social engineering hacks and scams do tend to rear their head more about certain times of the year, such as end-of-year tax filings, and that can be a great time to refresh everyone on the essentials. Make sure they know not to enter their personal data on shady tax sites and use reputed financial services instead. Ensure HR personnel are well-versed in accessing private employee data from a secure site, which would include the computer or smartphone they access it from and the internet connection they use.

Unfortunately, another adage of the digital era is that the weakest aspect of modern technology are the humans involved in its creation – this means that sensitive information can get stolen or leaked through both accident and malicious intent. Therefore, minimising the chances of that happening are essential, and require a robust data privacy and protection policy. By investing in the right technology, reviewing associated security protocols and training your workforce in the essentials of digital security will help keep critical employee data safe and secure.

Finding the right HR management solution for your business can feel like an expensive game of trial and error if you don’t know whether the various market offerings can cater to your requirements or not. Do you go for multiple software? How do you gauge the competition and ascertain the right fit for your business needs? One thing is certain, taking the leap to an HR software solution requires an understanding of what the technology has to offer and how that aligns with your needs and goals.

Let’s break it down today, shall we? Starting off with the essential features any good HR software ought to bring to the table:

Integration and Streamlining

There is no reason to invest in an HR solution if it doesn’t do it all. Using multiple specialist software for managing payroll, personnel and leaves can cause conflicts, compatibility  and sync issues, which might end up doubling the work your HR does, rather than halve it. The same goes for automating some aspects of HR, such as payroll, but still keeping some functions manual, for instance, leave management.

The biggest benefit of any competent HR software is streamlining your workflows by integrating processes into one robust software solution. Here’s an added bonus of this: When all functions of your HR perform in the same ecosystem, that means you can view and manage them in a similar fashion! Having access to the wide range of employee information and statistics at one’s fingertips is one of the biggest boosts to efficiency for managers and HR alike when it comes to competent software solutions.

Tailored to Fit

When you’re ready to invest your business’s future into a software solution for HR, you don’t want any off the shelf platform that does not conform to your business’s brand values and aesthetics, or cannot be customized to your unique work needs. 

The best HR software in the market offer tailored solutions to your business needs, from the backend data management to frontend ease of use and appearance, to the flexibility to modify parameters and functions on a per-team basis. If your company prides itself on fostering a creative work culture internally and externally, you do not want that image to be tarnished with one of the most essential employee services not conforming to your company’s brand guidelines. Similarly, if the HR software solution can not adapt to your business growth, or the size of your organization, then it is not the right option for you. An HR software that tailors itself to your every requirement is a boon not just for your business needs but for your company culture as well.

Customised Support and Updates 

Here is how you can tell a good HR management solution from a great one; A good HR software is a ready to execute solution which will streamline your workflows and be personalized to your business’s requirements; a great HR software like PeopleSonic will do all that and provide you customised aftersale support and feature updates after the purchase has been made. They are the difference between building your HR practices around a robust, long term solution and building them around a software that goes obsolete in a year’s time, or two year’s time.

Efficiency

A good HR solution brings with it several avenues of efficiency to boost your business. Efficiency in terms of time, as your manual processes get automated and digitised. Efficiency in terms of cost as you transition away from paper usage and waste, which also helps reduce the burden put on the environment. As your teams get comfortable with using the software, they can even customize the workflow to make their own pipelines more efficient – provided you chose the right solution which gives you these customization features!

An important point to note here, however. ]While a great, or even good HR solution will bring a host of benefits to your HR practice and management, it doesn’t come without caveats. That caveat being the time cost. 

As with any process upheaval or change, there is a learning curve associated. With a unique, all-in-one solution of an HR management software, there will be an associated time cost for the period where your HR and associated personnel gain the knowledge and training necessary to operate your new software. There will also be a time cost for transitioning from your old system to your new one.

However, these caveats can easily be overcome with the right planning and strategy to update your HR to a modern, state of the art integrated software solution. This upgrade will definitely change the way you do business, quite literally!

Whether you are part of the HR team for a large business, or the sole face of HR for a small firm, the a-z of managing time-off taken by employees, i.e. leave management, is a complicated, lengthy affair. For smaller businesses especially, there is often the added hassle of having to use a manual, non-centralized system, even if it is augmented with tools such as spreadsheets and macros to automate those sheets.

What does this mean for the HR personnel managing leaves? Is there really enough of a verifiable improvement to automating leave management that can justify discarding established practices? Let’s find out. 

Understanding The Need For Automation Of Leave Management

Remember the manual or non-centralized leave management system referenced earlier? Here’s what that means for you, the HR: 

It means that you are stuck collating leave applications from phone calls, Zoom calls, emails, text messages and IM apps like WhatsApp or Messenger onto a central location; following up with team managers for approvals and then collating that while also informing employees on the outcome. This doesn’t even factor in keeping track of leaves accrued by each individual employee and the back and forth involved with team leads in getting the necessary approvals – it’s all too much! How can you keep everyone up-to date at all times if you are doing this manually?

Another essential reason in favour of automation applies to those businesses who have employees spread globally – you need to ensure your business is adhering to the labor laws of the employees’ home countries. All those country-specific variances need to be calculated and associated with the right employees, manual management leaves a chance for human error which would have tough consequences. 

The Benefits of a Dedicated Leave Management System

The case for automation is strong, but we understand that businesses need to see tangible benefits to adopting an entirely new process. Let’s speak in those terms.

The biggest benefit by far to any organization adopting a leave management system is the simplicity and ease-of-use. This applies to everyone from the employee to the team leads, admin and HR personnel accessing the system on the employer side. 

For HR, it cuts down the inconvenience of keeping track of leave requests (especially, as mentioned above, they come from a variety of sources) and associated follow-ups. Employees and employers alike can keep track of an application in process and not have to wait for a timely response to their communique. 

For managers and team leads, it cuts down the hassle of scrolling those massive spreadsheets looking for information on a specific employee’s leave entitlements. If they are using a modern, smarter HR platform like PeopleSonic , they will also have access to a centralized dashboard where they can easily see the status of every employee, summary reports and leave types accrued. This allows effective communication between employees and managers, and enables them to schedule workloads accordingly and prevents loss of productivity due to someone’s leave notification slipping through the cracks.

What does this all amount to? In a sentence: increased productivity. This happens in several ways. First, it frees up HR significantly by reducing the tedium associated with leave management. That time can be spent in pursuing holistic improvements to the company instead of being spent on admin tasks. Second, it gives managers a clear view on which team members are scheduled for leave and planning projects and work tasks accordingly, saving significant time costs. A major admin cost associated with manual leave management was the problem of planning around leaves that employees were entitled to in a way that did not impact productivity and waste resources. Leave management systems can make that a thing of the past.

Let’s say you’re convinced to make the jump, what leave management system do you choose? There are a few available in the market but every business’s needs may vary, so the platform needs to be customizable while also affordable – small businesses often can’t afford to splurge. Here are some of the things you should look out for to find the leave management system that is right for you.

What A Great Leave Management System Brings To The Table

Compliance

As companies become increasingly global, there is a greater proportion of remote employees based in countries around the world, each with their own set of labor laws and even public holidays! 

Any modern leave management system needs to be able to handle this variety, and in fact provide instant information to HR and management about a specific country’s specific leave types, rule-of-law requirements and any other legalities necessary to operate ethically. 

This may seem like a small thing, but adherence to labor laws is the cornerstone of a good working relationship between employees and employers and needs to be catered to by your leave management system.

Real-Time, Anywhere Access

In the era of an always-online workforce, your leave management system needs to be on par with those technologies. That means a UI that is web and mobile friendly, real-time status of leave entitlements and applications in-progress, simplified request forms and approval steps and flexibility to modify relevant parameters (leave types, application rules and reporting hierarchy) as needed by the business.

Frankly, if a platform is limiting you on how you or your employees access it, that is not the HR platform for you.

Peace Of Mind

The primary goal of shifting to any smart, automated system is peace of mind. Once it is set up, you never want to have to consider any of the problems that existed before it. For a leave management system, that means it provides peace of mind to HR in the following ways: no more time wasted checking the public holiday calendar of a specific country, or tracking down managers regarding signing off on leaves, or having to search through complicated datasheets to calculate leave balances. 

Peace of mind also means flexibility to adapt to any business’s evolving requirements and rules. The ability to have standard, pre-configured rules and regulations promises ease of implementation, the freedom to update or modify those rules per department or per team means that every employee and manager is happy to keep things operating to their own needs. 

And finally, a great leave management system, as part of an effective HR platform, provides peace of mind by removing human errors (in calculations, reporting or planning) and leveraging the data-driven leave system (among others) to give the business greater power in making informed, strategic decisions.

In a year where a global pandemic has impacted every aspect of businesses, HR has not escaped unscathed but in fact have had to adapt the fastest to the slew of new issues faced by employees and coming up with helpful, impactful solutions. A modern, flexible leave management system that can encompass a change as drastic as that one could mean the difference between failing business and one where employees remain engaged and satisfied as we work together through these trying times.