Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software

3 Ways Companies Can Ease Employees Transition Back To The Office

Governments across many jurisdictions have released pandemic health restrictions, including the wearing of masks. And, many companies, are also making plans for a return to the office. However, leaders should not expect an immediate return to the same old workstations, ping-pong tables and water coolers. Case in point, when a CEO of an organization said recently, that there would a “a strong incentive” to demote employees who chose not return to the office, the backlash was swift.

Employees across every industry has cited concerns about safety, including a reduction in their productivity with having to commute again, among others. The best way to the handle the return to the office is through engagement between companies and their employees. And, while, there will be employees clamouring to return to the office others, will be seeking a slow return and/or hybrid approach. Business leaders, therefore, would be wise to consult with their employees and not use the hammer to force them back to the office. There is a reason why the ‘great resignation’ took several companies by surprise, and — why so many employees feel differently about the future of work, compared to some business leaders.

In her blog for the online publication Talent Culture, Business Needs vs. Employee Needs: Finding the Happy Medium Dawn Mitchell, lays out some advice that employers can use to achieve their goals of a return to the office for employees. It reads, in part:

Listening to Employees
“Work-from-home employees are not shy about their preferences and pain points around remote work. Coworkers commonly talk amongst themselves about how much they like not having to dress in full business attire or commute. They also expressed frustrations around digital communications and how, since they’re online, the workday can stretch beyond regular hours.

Before putting forth a return-to-office plan, businesses must listen to what employees truly want. To avoid turnover, some employers plan to skip a return-to-office life altogether, especially since a lack of remote work options is a deal-breaker for many employees and may send them searching for a job elsewhere. Many employees have already made that step, citing lack of remote work options as the main reason for seeking other opportunities. Notably, according to a survey by ResumeBuilder, 15% of workers are planning to leave their jobs before December.

Balancing Employee Needs With Business Needs
While keeping employee needs top of mind is essential, HR professionals must also evaluate how best to serve the company. If remote work begins to negatively impact employee and company performance, that can’t be ignored. Conversely, if an organization consistently meets KPIs, is growing, and employees are engaged, there’s no need to return to the office five days a week.

Instead of assuming performances and company operations will improve in an office setting, HR teams should strive to find balance. There’s no need for extremes. Companies don’t need to decide to keep operations fully remote or shift them entirely back to the office.

Looking to the Future
Before implementing a return-to-office plan, HR teams must equally weigh the needs of the business against those of their employees. Therefore, it may be tempting to develop this kind of plan quickly. However, HR teams must take time to listen to employees and measure their needs alongside business goals. This will create a happier and more effective workplace for everyone”.

Bottomline: Creating a plan to return to the office is not that hard. Where it can go awry is when leaders decide to not engage their employees in the plan. And, a return to the office plan should not imply that remote or hybrid workers don’t do real work. If you infuse, your plan with thoughtfulness and a commitment to minimizing inequities., you are likely to get buy-in from most, if not all of your employees.

About ATS
ATS offers a broad portfolio of time and attendance solutions that streamlines the collection, calculation, and reporting of employee hours for workforce management and eliminates the manual tasks of payroll preparation, increasing efficiency and reducing errors in corporate payroll departments.

Thousands of organizations across North, Central and South America and Europe- including more than half of the Fortune 500 – use ATS TimeWork OnDemand, Workforce Planning, Employee Scheduling HR and payroll solutions to manage their workforce. ATS cloud services offer rapid deployment, support services, software updates, and enhancements; and consulting and training services.

Future Of Work, HR, Work from Home

Why are Some Employees Feeling Anxious About Returning to the Office?

Before COVID-19 the way we work have been defined by predictable patterns involving who is doing the work, where it occurs and when it happens. And, while technological advancements, have impacted some of these norms, the pandemic upended it altogether and, accelerated the arrival of new ways of working. Many employees who initially felt anxiety about working from home, have come to embrace it after 15 months of lockdown.

Today, as many employers start to unveil their post-pandemic plans for a return-to the office, they are getting pushback from some employees, who are keen to retain their work from home privileges. But is this indicative of a more widespread resistance among workers who do not want to revert to pre-pandemic patterns or is it something else? It is possible, that employees, after working remotely for so many months, feel they can be productive at home – and that the reasons their employers want them back in-office does not add up.

While there are several factors at play, as to why, some employees, are pushing back about returning to the office — below are 3 reasons for the possible hesitancy by some workers.

Lockdown fatigue is real- COVID-19 has been debilitating for all of us and we’re tired of lockdowns. The constant anxiety of living and working through a pandemic has left many of us feeling low in energy, and the thought of driving and working in an office alongside others-in and of itself, is exhausting.
Office work doesn’t allow for a healthy work-life-balance-Lockdown has been isolating and although we have craved the company of coworkers, we have also been able to separate work and leisure time. We have been able to exercise, read and spend time with our loved ones without feeling guilty because we were late getting home for dinner, after the commute from the office.
Going back to pre-pandemic work is the cause of our anxiety- In addition to wearing face masks, we would be following social distancing guidelines and staring at stickers telling us how to behave correctly and politely, while on the subway or standing in a crowded elevator. This is an added layer of anxiety to an already stressful time, that not everyone is looking forward to.

Bottomline: It’s still early to say what the post-pandemic work environment will look like, and not all employers are scheduling employees back to the office. In fact, some are doing it in stages, while others are delaying a return to the office for some staff. Many employers are still being lenient with policies as the virus lingers, vaccinations continue to roll out and childcare situations remain erratic.

You might like:

Are Companies Going to Embrace A Hybrid Workforce Post COVID-19?

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Are HR Leaders Ready For The Future Of Work?

Covid-19, Fatigue, Mental Health, Pandemic, Telecommuting, Well-Being, Working-from-home

You Should Be Mindful Of Your Company’s Tech Workplace Etiquette

Work etiquette is part common sense and part culture and can depend on the company you work for. For example, the corporate culture at the company you work for, might have a list of unwritten rules about work etiquette. It is up to you to know them, and if you don’t make, an attempt by asking someone who has been at the company longer than you have been. All workplaces are different, but basic work etiquette is pretty universal within a country.

Here is an excerpt list of technology workplace etiquettes from a recent article by Deborah Lynn Blumberg titled 8 tech etiquette rules for the modern workplace.

“Shut off your cell phone
It can be tempting to zone out by checking personal email on your smartphone or scrolling through Facebook during a team meeting. Resist, says Diane Gottsman, a national etiquette expert and founder of The Protocol School of Texas. When you’re on your personal device, you send a message that the meeting and work aren’t your priority.

Be mindful during conference callsYou wouldn’t crunch a bag of potato chips during a department meeting or send out a flurry of personal tweets. So, don’t do it during a conference call, says Gottsman. A general rule for video calls is to imagine you’re in an in-person meeting. Be especially careful if you’re calling in from home.

Know your email etiquette
Email subjects should clearly communicate the point of your message, Gottsman says. She also advises to be cautious when using the Bcc or blind copy features. You run the risk of the person who’s blind copied responding to everyone, she says. “There’s secrecy in blind copying. A cc feels more upfront.”

Think before adding an emojiEmojis can soften the tone of requests you make of your employees or colleagues. But, they also create the potential for misunderstandings. One recent study found that using smiley faces in work emails makes readers perceive the sender as less competent. It’s safest to use emojis with colleagues you know well, says Senning.

Keep notifications in checkIf you’re using your personal laptop for a work presentation, build in time to disable notifications that might pop up. For Belanger, who received that mid-presentation question about her date, it was an instant message, but it could also be Facebook alerts or even calendar reminders.

Don’t friend-request your boss
We spend most of our days at work, and that’s where we build our relationships. So, friending a co-worker on Facebook might feel natural. But it’s also a risk. You might see a picture from their personal life that makes you uncomfortable. If that’s the case, “there’s nothing wrong with unfollowing someone,” Gottsman says.

When F2F is better than screen-to-screen
Senning says part of good tech etiquette is knowing when not to use it. Relying heavily on email presents a genuine challenge to our ability to empathize, he says. For issues that are sensitive or could impact the relationship between colleagues or between a supervisor and her direct report, it’s better to meet face-to-face. It doesn’t have to be formal, a quick coffee or a “walking meeting” often works wonders to facilitate clear communication.

Say you’re sorry
Inevitably, despite our best intentions, embarrassing tech mistakes will happen. “Technological tools are extremely helpful,” says Gottsman. “They make our job and life easier. But at the same time, they can complicate matters because we don’t use them right, or we get too comfortable. We need to use technology responsibly and politely.”

Bottomline-Many of these work etiquettes mentioned here are not hard to adopt, and as previously mentioned, most of them comes down to common sense.

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Cell Phone, Conference Calls, Email, Facebook, Technology

8 Reasons Why You Are Still Struggling To Recover From Daylight Savings Time

This past Sunday, November 4, 2018, at 2:00 a.m., daylight savings time occurred with many provinces and states across the US setting their clocks one hour back. And, every year, a growing chorus of health professionals, bemoans the need for this and, like many of us, ask why is it we simply don’t get rid of daylight savings time altogether.

Here is an excerpt from a recent article with some compelling reasons to ditch this yearly ritual, by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) titled Eight scientific reasons to ditch daylight time:

You are eight per cent more likely to have a stroke for two days after changing your clocks.
You are also 24 per cent more likely to have a heart attack the Monday after (and 21 per cent on the Tuesday)
Suicide rates in men increase for two weeks after the clocks change.
Judges give harsher legal sentences the day after switching to daylight time
Losing that hour of sleep increases workplace injuries, and the injuries themselves are much more severe.
You’re also more likely to get into a car crash. In fact, this researcher estimates that over the years, 30 fatalities have been caused by the time change.
Daylight time can lead to a dramatic increase in ‘cyberloafing.’
In adolescents, it can take over a week to adjust to the change, losing an average of 32 minutes of sleep per night, which messes with their memory and reaction time.

Bottom line: Daylight savings time has served its purpose, whatever purpose it was. Lost productivity and sleepy eyed employees is not exactly what employers expect in their organization. Maybe that’s why the European Union is considering doing away daylight savings time in 2019.

Bottom line: Daylight savings time has served its purpose, whatever purpose that was. Lost productivity and sleepy eyed employees is not exactly what employers expect in their organization. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why the European Union is considering doing away daylight savings time in 2019.

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Canada, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Daylight Savings Time, European Union, Productivity, US, Workplace

There Are Several Benefits To Upgrading Your Business Office Tools

As creatures of habits, many of us do not like change and are emotionally attached to just about everything we own or things we like to do on a daily basis; from our handheld devices, to work stations or our favorite morning latte at the local coffee shop. Of course, when it comes to things like office software or hardware, we need to make sure we are using technology that is not from the 80s, otherwise it could impact productivity.

Windows10 has been around for a few years and despite its gradual adoption use in the world of business, it still has its detractors. Hopefully, you are still not using WindowsXP? And, if you are, hopefully you and/or your company’s IT manager are technology wizards with the smarts to support it.

There Are Several Benefits To Upgrading Your Business Office Tools

Sometimes, upgrading is a pain and most of us hate it. Here are some useful tips from an article titled 7 Reasons Why Your Business Should Upgrade to Windows 10 Now by Howard Wen for Business News Daily.

“1. Ransomware prevention
Computers running older versions of Windows are more vulnerable to ransomware. Windows 10 has a feature to thwart ransomware from locking up a user’s work and personal documents on their computer. The Windows Defender Security Center tool in Windows 10 lets you whitelist, or approve, which apps can access and change files saved in the Desktop, Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos folders.

Stronger malware security tools

Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender Exploit Guard, which scans for, quarantines and removes malware. In addition to ransomware protection, it includes other tools that can be used to stop zero-day attacks, to block and quarantine malicious programs on your computer or office network, and to isolate infected computers on your network. Upgrading to Windows 10 gives you the option of subscribing to Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection. It’s a more sophisticated, cloud-based service for managing security threats across your business’s Windows 10 computers.

Safer web browsing

Windows Defender Application Guard is available in Windows 10 Enterprise and Professional. It lets you use the Edge browser inside a virtual machine. If you or an employee unknowingly contracts malware by visiting a malicious website, it won’t be able to damage the computer or the network, because it will be confined inside this virtual machine.

Keep your frequent business contacts on the taskbar

The My People feature lets you pin your business contacts as shortcut icons on the Windows 10 taskbar. Click the icon of a person to email them or start a video call through Skype. You can pin up to 10 contacts on the taskbar.

More efficient updates for Windows 10

A technology feature in the Windows Update tool, the Unified Update Platform (UUP), significantly streamlines the update process. UUP identifies new changes to Windows 10 that your computer needs and downloads only those specific updates. Your computer won’t have to download a larger package. Microsoft says UUP can reduce the download size of Windows updates by up to 35 percent, sparing storage space on your computer and the time it takes to install updates.

Sync your work between your personal and work computers

The Timeline feature saves “snapshots” of the Windows applications you were using at a given point of time. By clicking the Task View icon on the taskbar, you can select a snapshot to continue working on something where you left off. These snapshots are synced across your different Windows 10 computers (if you are signed on to them with the same Microsoft user account). For example, you can create a new spreadsheet on Excel on your home computer and work on it later on another computer at the office.

Configure your business’s computers quickly

Windows Autopilot lets you set up system configurations that can be downloaded from the cloud onto your business’s Windows 10 computers. For example, an employee can take a new computer, connect it to your office network, and it will automatically be configured to your business’s required settings. A system configuration can be tailored for a particular employee. This Windows 10 feature makes configuring, managing, and resetting your business’ computers easier, faster, and more secure.”

Bottom-line: There is only so much you can do with older technology, whether its business software or hardware, once it starts to impact workforce productivity the inevitability of loss profits are sure to follow.

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Cloud, Computers, Microsoft, Productivity, Windows10

Can You Keep Your Sanity In A Toxic Work Environment?

Who wants to be part of a work environment that has bad managers, unhappy workers, and is rife with gossip and innuendo on a daily basis? Hopefully, very few people if any at all. In his article, 6 toxic work habits that will kill your office culture Marcel Schwantes describes some of the reasons that can make some work cultures unbearable. We selected three out of the six reasons, in this article, which are signals that you should start looking for another job when you notice these dysfunctional patterns in your workplace.

Can You Keep Your Sanity In A Toxic Work Environment?

“Negative cliques and gossipers
One clear sign of a toxic work environment is a group of disgruntled employees actively acting out their unhappiness. It’s easy to spot them–they’ll congregate in hush-hush circles around cubicles after meetings to put a negative spin on what just transpired.

They are quick to gossip, and even quicker to crucify leadership and company direction. They’re basically corporate teenagers whose time with the company is about to expire, and who now rely on each other for strength and safety. Keep a close eye out for their whereabouts; they may go out of their way to befriend new hires to vilify someone or something and spread their cancer.

Dictator Managers
The feeling of watching your back (for your manager’s whereabouts) is never a pleasant one. It means you either fear or loathe your manager, and facing him or her during the day probably means bad news because the exchange is never positive. This type of manager will create a toxic culture of distrust where it’s not safe to disclose information, offer input, or work in close collaboration. Job survival under a dictatorship is day-to-day, due to the unpredictability of the environment you’re in. Everybody is on his or her own. Trusting your peers is risky–they may really be your enemies. Trusting your manager is just corporate suicide. Consider updating your resume.

Sabotage
This example is quite astonishing if you find yourself sharing space with this toxic co-worker. They will go way out of their way to sabotage anything you’re trying to get done, putting obstacles in your way, and spreading rumors (see “Negative cliques and gossipers,” above). There’s usually a personal vendetta at work here. Perhaps you’re up for a promotion and your co-worker, who thinks he is more deserving, is not. Now he’s out to make your life miserable, and trying to spin a negative campaign against you. Now you’re left with covering your bases to protect yourself — writing more detailed emails than usual, CC’ing and BCC’ing more people than normal, documenting everything, and making backup copies of stuff in the event a false accusation comes your way.”

You can read the rest of the article on Inc.com. Basically, if you decide to continuing working for a company that has many of the toxic habits described above, you should take advantage the benefit plan-especially, if it includes therapy. The alternatives, are of course, to go about your work and ignore the dysfunction happening (might be difficult to do) around you, or to start actively looking for a new job to regain your sanity and well being.

ATS is Canada’s foremost time and attendance company and offers a broad of comprehensive business management software solutions that streamlines the collection, calculation, and reporting of employee hours for workforce management and eliminates the manual tasks of payroll preparation, increasing efficiency and reducing errors in corporate payroll departments.

To learn more, or to download a demonstration or attend a bi-weekly webinar go to our website.

Benefit Plan, Manager, Work

3 Ways Companies Can Ease Employees Transition Back To The Office

Why are Some Employees Feeling Anxious About Returning to the Office?

You Should Be Mindful Of Your Company’s Tech Workplace Etiquette

8 Reasons Why You Are Still Struggling To Recover From Daylight Savings Time

Can You Keep Your Sanity In A Toxic Work Environment?

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