Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software

Can You Imagine A Job That Offered Unlimited Vacation Days?

When word got out that Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group had decided to grant unlimited vacation time to some of his employees, the blogosphere went nuts. In fact, many questioned Mr. Branson’s logic and perhaps sanity. Running a multi billion dollar corporation is no small feat and it is safe to say, Mr. Branson, probably applied some sober thought to this decision before embarking on it.

His reason behind this decision can be found on his website. We extrapolated some excerpts from his website, which provides a deeper understanding as to how he arrived as such a decision. “Flexible working has revolutionized how, where and when we all do our jobs. So, if working nine to five no longer applies, then why should strict annual leave (vacation) policies?

In the past few years, Netflix has become the runaway market leader in the streaming video sector. One clue as to how they intend to remain there this time comes from a very well-advised and downright courageous initiative they adopted that rewrote the book – or to be more precise, threw it away – on something very near and dear to the hearts of most workers around the world: their annual vacation day entitlement.”

I first learned of what Netflix was up to when my daughter Holly read a Daily Telegraph article and immediately forwarded the piece to me with a clearly excited email saying, ‘Dad, check this out. It’s something I have been talking about for a while and I believe it would be a very Virgin thing to do to not track people’s holidays.’ She then went on to say, ‘I have a friend whose company has done the same thing and they’ve apparently experienced a marked upward spike in everything – morale, creativity and productivity have all gone through the roof.’ Needless to say I was instantly intrigued and wanted to learn more.”

While it is not possible for many companies to provide unlimited vacation time to their employees there are numerous companies that employ flexible vacation practices. As the saying goes, a well rested employee is a productive employee.

NetFlix, Richard Branson, Vacation

Simplify Your Company Data Capture Process

September 25th, 2014 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Biometric Time Clock | Business Intelligence | Collective Bargaining | Employee Time and Attendance - (Comments Off)

ATS TimeWork Time and Attendance is a complete solution that helps your company grow efficiently. The ATS time clocks records and sends accurate data, in real-time to payroll, thus, eliminating duplicate entry. ATS TimeWork is quick to implement, easy-to-use Workforce Management Solutions (WFM) software that helps thousands of companies across Canada and the US manage their payroll, HR, operations, finance and supply chain and grow their business.

ATS Time and Attendance solutions are in use across a broad section of industries, including; manufacturing, healthcare, retail, industrial machinery and oil & gas. Our customers include small, mid-size and enterprises across every vertical. ATS Time and Attendance solutions allow quick implementations, and provide cost-effective support for changing business demands.

Here are 5 industry segments that benefits through the use of an ATS Time and Attendance Solution:

Manufacturing-ATS Time and Attendance helps manufacturers reduce costs, expand profit margins, and increase reduce high payroll costs. ATS TimeWork addresses complexities like globalization, payroll compliance and collective bargaining agreements. ATS Time and attendance gives businesses the competitive edge by; improve efficiency, profitability, and sustainability, and access to a library of on-the-go reporting capability.

Healthcare- ATS Time and Attendance for healthcare enables organizations to achieve greater efficiency within their operations; collaborate to improve outcomes; and integrate employee scheduling for a more sustainable, personalized and patient-centric system focused on value.

Oil & Gas- ATS industrial solution automates your shop floor and increase business efficiency regardless of your company’s size. The system allows business processes to be efficient, responding quickly and effectively to events and requests by making timely information available at anytime. The ability to plan, manage and optimize the productivity and performance of your workforce, while being responsive to the external regulatory environment, becomes increasingly vital to the success of the industrial machinery industry.

Retail- Our time tracking solution propels retail operations with a flexible and integrated approach to workforce management that drive the benefits that go right to the bottom line. The ATS solution applies intelligent data analytics so senior management can discover fresh insights, captured in real-time to improve operations, finance, administration, HR, budgeting, IT and business management functions.

Public Sector- ATS Time and Attendance solutions can help you support environmental initiatives; improve city performance, and data collection process – with best-in-class workforce planning. Our flexible software solutions can help government effectively manage employee time through the use of biometric time clocks – and significantly reduce fraud, waste, and abuse. Designed for all levels of government, ATS TimeWork suite of tailored time management solutions supports defense, civilian agencies, education, healthcare institutions; and municipal, regional, provincial and federal governments.

Whether you represent the public or private sector ATS Time and Attendance is designed for improving business performance. To outpace the competition, you need new ways to streamline costs, while increasing productivity, all while staying globally compliant. ATS industry-leading time and attendance solution makes it easier for you to simplify processes, and drive business productivity.

To learn more, go to our website.

Biometrics, Finance, Government, Time and Attendance, Workforce Management Software

It’s Time To Ditch That Clunky Software Application

Business process automation has had no choice other than to evolve with the invention of cloud computing technology. Gone are the days when the only choice for companies was a time tracking software application that made its users wind through a labyrinth of clunky menus to obtain an attendance report. Today, companies can harness the power of a web-based time and attendance to gain a superior advantage over their competitors. Yet, with so much to gain by adopting this new technology, some companies are either not aware of the advantages or have a corporate and psychological resistance to change. By the time these companies realize that their competitors are using best-in-class products to help propel growth, it’s too late to play catch up and in the end, wind up being at a competitive disadvantage.

If your company happens to be one of the few who are still on the fence about replacing your current system, consider the following:

Innovation
Time and attendance has made leaps and bounds from its days of paper-based time cards ineffective data integration to a growing trend in of Software-as-a-Service time capture with real-time reporting tools that can be retrieved anytime, anywhere. Advanced improvements in technology drove the change with companies moving from DOS to Windows, (including .net and SQL technologies) maturation of web technology—and workforce planning and attendance tracking through mobile devices. Many of these technologies have shaped how software applications are deployed and provide companies with the flexibility of accessing employee data from anywhere, on any device and through the use of any browser.

Broad Based Deployment The adoption of web-based time and attendance has changed what use to be a 12 month deployment to a mere couple of months. ATS cloud based solution is delivered on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), platform and enables companies to take advantage of the most up-to-date technology and efficiencies while saving time and money by removing the burden of maintenance and hosting—and ensuring seamless upgrades.

Real-time business visibility and intuitive automation
ATS web-based solution provides real-time visibility into business performance across plants operations, payroll, finance and HR through role-based dashboards and metrics specifically designed for the needs of today’s emerging companies. ATS implementation team provides deep industry expertise in job costing, benefit accruals, HR functionality, payroll, talent management, workforce planning and business intelligence— and leverage emerging technologies to help companies improve business performance and stay competitive.

Interested in learning more? Register for our next webinar “Maximize Business Value with a Workforce Management Software” and see how customers are enjoying the benefits of a modern time and attendance solution.

Business Intelligence, HR, Job Costing, SQL, Talent Management

Using The Right Analytics Can Increase Your Company’s Profits

September 18th, 2014 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Business Intelligence | SaaS Time and Attendance | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software - (Comments Off)

In the last several years many organizations have been adopting analytics to propel growth and manage regulatory compliance. In fact, most of North America’s major sports leagues, from the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL are all using versions of predictive analytics and business intelligence to gather, track and extrapolate the right amount of data to make smarter decisions and improve business outcomes. Now you can call it “jumping on the band wagon” if you will, but in addition, to major league sports many mid and large enterprise-wide businesses are quickly adopting the practice. After all, if analytics gives you instant visibility into your business performance and drive better business outcomes–using a set of capabilities for reporting and forecasting, why not use it?

With ATS Workforce Analytics, you can:

Maximize productivity and profitability across every department. From plant operations to product accounting, payroll, human resources and more, ATS workforce analytics enable businesses to make significant improvements in real time.

Capture employee data in real-time to make better decisions about their attendance and improve operational performance. From attracting top talent, to accurate budgeting and forecasting with a powerful scheduling tool which will lead to improving employee satisfaction. ATS workforce analytics empower organizations to align business metrics with strategic business goals.

Enable your entire business with ATS best-of-breed business intelligence and, workforce management software that’s designed and packaged for mid and enterprise-wide organizations, making it easier to track employee time, manage and maintain payroll and propel business growth.

ATS Workforce Analytics built on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform gives you the tools so your business can analyze the right data and make better decisions. ATS Workforce Analytics is predicated on historical and up-to-the-minute information alongside current data, with intuitive screens to quickly move from insight to decision—all in one robust dashboard.

To learn more, join a free webinar or go to our website.

Human Resources, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Software-as-a-Service, Workforce Analytics

Do You Know How To Optimize Your Workforce?

It is not unusual to find that some companies have automated accounting, inventory and other areas of their supply chain, but leave a gaping hole in the automation of employee attendance, scheduling and forecasting. Why is that? They sometimes view these areas as less important. If payroll is the highest costs associated with an organization, it stands to reason that most companies would not want to ignore it-by extension getting a handle on labor cost.

ATS Workforce Management Software provides companies with a way to accurately forecast and schedule employees across all departments, locations, and other office resources. Having the right tools at your disposal will help you capture, share, and act on informed decisions faster and in real-time across your enterprise.

With on-the-spot reports, ATS Workforce Management Software ensures that you are truly achieving maximum performance with a rapid return on investment. ATS Workforce Management software can be deployed for mid and large enterprises as an on-premise, or cloud-based time and attendance solution and enables you to:

Enjoy full data integration to; Human Resources Information Systems, Payroll, Enterprise Resource Planning, Accounting and Inventory and Talent Management applications.
Schedule according to business needs by utilizing the forecasting and budgeting modules.
Receive real-time alerts for employee vacation and shift assignment requests through any smart-phone or tablet PC.
Automate employee scheduling to simplify workforce patterns across multiple locations or departments.
Capture accurate overtime, holiday pay and other work rules in compliance with federal, state and provincial rules.
Track historical data with pre-configured workforce analytics.
Reduced production time—with up-to-the-minutes schedules for managers so, they can spend more time on the plant floor and/or with customers.

Conclusion: there are numerous benefits to optimizing your workforce. And with ATS Workforce Management Solution is a robust and comprehensive product offering that helps organizations accurately forecast and schedule workers to meet cost objectives.

To learn how you can transform your organization from a paper-based enterprise to one that has tools with real-time, actionable insights go to our website.

Overtime, Payroll, Workforce Analytics

Now That You Have The Right Time And Attendance System, You Can Do Your Happy Dance

If your company is using a combination of a time and attendance system, paper and spreadsheets to calculate employee hours then you do not have a true time and attendance system. AT best, what you have is a punch in/out system. ATS TimeWork gives you an opportunity to bring your plant operations, finance, payroll and HR together by not only sharing information, but by using data in one system to drive the next action in your business process.

Data Integration To Keep You Smiling
ATS real-time two-way data integration between your accounting, payroll, ERP, HR, Talent Management and/or CRM system has never been easier. ATS TimeWork data integration can be installed and be operational in a matter of minutes. This is the kind of integration that gets business executives excited knowing that their employees will no longer have to take 2 days to, calculate, process, and then key data into a software.

21^st Intuitive Time Clocks
These are not your 1980’s time clocks that merely track the in and out of employee hours. ATS data collectors helps companies turbo charge time capture like never before. From large screen display time clocks, to biometric FaceScan that allows for “Look and Go” data capture, ATS time clocks gathers and send data in real-time while providing on-the-spot data for analysis. When combined with ATS TimeWork Enterprise, the entire solution is a best-in-class method for collecting time and attendance from anywhere, anytime.

It Gets Better, So Keep Your Dancing Shoes On
Today’s business climate is fiercely competitive and if your company is using a time and attendance solution that lacks the support, you company need it’s time to look elsewhere. Get an edge on the competition with ATS time and attendance to make sure that your most valuable resource – your people – are aligned with a-best-of-breed solution for maximum productivity. ATS TimeWork is powerful and flexible enough to grow with your business, allowing you to realize a rapid return on investment, while providing the cutting edge capabilities you will need to grow your company today and in the foreseeable future.

To learn more, go to our website. You can also contact us by phone at; 1.866.294.2467.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Resources, Talent Management, Time and Attendance, Time Clocks

Throwing A Hail Mary Pass Doesn’t Always Work

In football parlance, throwing the football in the end zone in a last ditch effort to win a game is commonly referred to as a “Hail Mary” pass. At times, some NFL teams have had success with it, while many others, have simply fallen short. In the world of time and attendance, scrambling to replace an ailing software solution and using a tight deadline can lead to undesirable results and is tantamount to throwing a “Hail Mary”. If you have decided that your paper time sheet or antiquated solution needs replacing, and then take a methodical approach to its deployment. ATS time and attendance solution product offering and implementation methodology encompasses:

Superior Cloud-Based Time and Attendance
ATS TimeWork On-Demand software offers superior workforce analytics for your organization. With ATS TimeWork On-Demand, your company will reap the benefits of a market-leading, time tracking and optimized solution, essential for driving business results.

A Lower Payroll Cost and Quick Return on Investment
Our cloud-based time and attendance is offered through a dedicated, secure data center with resilience built in. Our solution is configured to an organization pay policies and other business requirements and gives you the freedom to scale as your business evolves. The predictable monthly billing allows you to access a plethora of workforce management software features including; business intelligence, time capture analytics, job costing, workforce planning, overtime equalization, vacation planning calendar, and HR capabilities from anywhere, at any time.

Scoping, Planning and Implementation
Say good-bye to the “Hail Mary” type of installation. With an ATS time and attendance solution we administer the preparation, setup, training and testing, which are the hallmarks of a successful time and attendance implementation. By scoping the project, our Implementation Specialist gets a better understanding of your business requirements. By planning and testing means this ensures the solution matches all of your work rule policies. Implementation means we have covered all the bases and now ready to deliver a world-class solution to your organization.

ATS Time and Attendance was designed to provide your company with best-of-class standard time tracking, combined with workflow management features, and in-depth process customization capabilities. The result is a wide ranging set of pre-configured software features covering the standard requirements of every industry, while, at the same time, being easily adaptable to your company’s specific deployment goals.

To learn more follow join our LinkedIn group, or go to our website to see a live product demonstration.

HR, Implementation, Overtime Equalization, Time and Attendance, Vacation

Workforce Statistics And Job Recovery, What Recovery?

September 9th, 2014 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Labour Forecasting | Payroll | Time and Attendance Blog - (Comments Off)

The latest job numbers from both the US and Canada paint a gloomy picture. Some experts contend that the reported numbers show how much catching up the economy has to do after the great recession. So, is there any end in sight to these gloomy numbers? Regarding payroll, in its most recent report the US department of labor states:

“Payroll employment increases in August (+142,000); unemployment rate changes little (6.1%) Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 142,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.1 percent. Job gains occurred in professional and business services and in health care.”

And on productivity, it states in part, “Productivity increased 2.3 percent in the nonfarm business sector in the second quarter of 2014; unit labor costs decreased 0.1 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rates). In manufacturing, productivity increased 3.3 percent and unit labor costs decreased 1.6 percent.”

Are these the type of numbers we can expect to see in the upcoming months or is this just an anomaly? Some experts suggest that the job reports are inaccurate, and that statisticians, are not using the right forecasting tools hence, the numbers do not equate to the true unemployment figures.

One thing’s for sure with employment at an all time high for recent graduates and many older workers, let’s all hope we do not slip back into a recession anytime soon.

Canada, Economy, Forecasting, Labor, Payroll

Want To Head To The Cloud, But Not Sure If Your Company Is Ready For It?

During its infancy stage a few years ago, questions permeated the blogosphere and other mediums about the cloud’s viability. While, it’s true that a cloud-based time and attendance may not be the right fit for every organization, it’s also true that many companies are deploying this type of solution as they have come to realize its tremendous benefits. After all, who wants to purchase an expensive server for the sole purpose of housing a database, which has to be maintained by an IT resource, when you can access your company’s application from any device that has Internet access? So, if you are wondering if the cloud has made strides and whether it will work within your corporate culture consider the following:

1999: Salesforce launched as a company offering CRM as a cloud-based application
2002: Amazon began offering a variety of storage options and computation all through web-based services
2006: Google releases Google Docs. The suite of applications all designed for sharing through the cloud

In addition, to the above mentioned companies, there are many others who offer cloud-based applications, which are used by millions of people from the around the world. Some of these include: Apple’s iCloud to Microsoft Azure to Dropbox’s online file storage solution. Today, there are so many cloud-based solutions on the market, it would be impossible to cover them in one blog. Chances are you are probably using some kind of cloud-based solution to access files, music or some kind of work-related project.

ATS cloud-based time and attendance is designed to meet the most rigorous demands of an organization’s workforce requirements. ATS Attendance On-Demand drives scalability, innovation, and payroll savings, while providing for the security, availability and performance you need. Moving your time and attendance to the cloud should not be all that challenging. ATS stands out from the competition because of our experience and superior customer service. After all, if you are going to wade into the cloud you need a company that has a team of dedicated experts who can apply deep cross-industry insights to maximize your company’s return on investment.

To learn more, go to our website. To see a demonstration, contact us at 1.866.294.2467.

Attendance OnDemand, Dropbox, iCloud, Microsoft Azure, Salesforce.com

As Summer Comes To A Close, It’s Time To Bring That Project Back To Life

September 3rd, 2014 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Labour Analytics | Payroll | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software - (Comments Off)

The start of September means back to school for many kids and for some parents, it’s also back to the daily work and dusting off that time and attendance project that everyone was gung-ho about prior to the summer break. And why would September be a good time to take another look? Simply put, your colleagues are likely back at work and with a collective and renewed focus on controlling payroll costs once and for all—your company, can now look to starting the fall by implementing a best-in-class time and attendance system.

Here are three tips that will make a difference and help your business grow:

Your business will not be limited to just the office
Remaining competitive in this ever increasing global economy is challenge for every business, regardless of the industry. To increase profit margins and propel growth, today’s companies need the power of a best-of-breed time and attendance solution. With ATS TimeWork On-Demand, you can be more responsive inter-departmentally, extrapolate data more quickly, and reduce operating costs by getting more done in less time.

Analytics at your fingertips
Companies with up-to-the-minute data, has the competitive edge over their counterparts. With ATS TimeWork On-Demand, you can accomplish more, faster—capture employee hours, track attendance, approve vacations on-the-fly, and access business intelligence data, to make informed decisions.

Eliminate inefficiencies while increasing profits
ATS TimeWork On-Demand is easy-to-use comprehensive time and attendance application that gives companies the right tools and insight to reduce costs, grow revenue.

Aren’t; you tired of tracking employee vacations with spreadsheets? Or how about manually keying hours into your payroll software? If so, let the ATS team show you how you can accelerate your business growth in a more efficient manner while reducing costs.

To learn more, you can view a live demo or join one of our upcoming webinars.

Business Intelligence, Spreadsheets, Time and Attendance

Can You Imagine A Job That Offered Unlimited Vacation Days?

Simplify Your Company Data Capture Process

It’s Time To Ditch That Clunky Software Application

Using The Right Analytics Can Increase Your Company’s Profits

Do You Know How To Optimize Your Workforce?

Now That You Have The Right Time And Attendance System, You Can Do Your Happy Dance

Throwing A Hail Mary Pass Doesn’t Always Work

Workforce Statistics And Job Recovery, What Recovery?

Want To Head To The Cloud, But Not Sure If Your Company Is Ready For It?

As Summer Comes To A Close, It’s Time To Bring That Project Back To Life

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