Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software

3 Useful Self-Care Tips To Use While Working From Home

As the COVID-19 pandemic creeps into spring, summer and likely the rest of this year, some employees are rescheduling, rethinking or outright canceling vacation plans. However, this does not mean you should not request the occasional personal time-off (PTO) from your HR, (even if it’s just one day) to indulge in self-care. We all deserve a little self-care after this past year of working from home, not being able to visit family and loved-ones — and for many others, in-home schooling of our kids.

Here are excerpts from an article by Beatrice Bowers titled How to practise self-care during the COVID-19 crisis:

It’s okay to dial back on watching the news
As important as keeping updated is, the news can be seriously overwhelming. The repetitive cycles of doom and gloom alerts across the world about the coronavirus can cause anxiety and disillusionment, so if you find yourself struggling to keep your mind centred, switching off once in a while has its benefits. Turn that phone off, give yourself a digital detox for an hour, or tune into something that has no relevance to reality for a bit.

2. Surround yourself with green
It’s never been better to nurture your green thumb. Working from home or being put on stay-home quarantine can get claustrophobic, and one does miss nature, even though it is right outside the door or window. Have tangible green within reach. Nurture it. Foster it. Find purpose in plants if that’s your thing. Having indoor plants is scientifically proven to be a mood booster, and we’re at a time where we are taking all we can get.

3. Find a hobby to centre yourself at home
Hobbies are important no matter the global climate, but distraction has now become imperative. Pick up a hobby that you can practise at home to alleviate stress or boredom — yoga, meditation, playing music, cooking, jigsaw puzzles, the list is endless. Make sure the hobby bears fruitful rewards, like a tangible end product you can feel satisfied with. This nurtures your happiness and wellbeing. No, binge-watching Netflix shows do not count.

Bottomline: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live, work and has made us adapt to new norms in our social lives. This new reality poses a unique set of challenges for all of us and so, practicing self-care is essential when it comes to taking care of our emotional health and well-being.

To learn more about ATS go to our website to download a demo of ATSTimeWorkOnDemand. And, to reach an account executive by phone call, 866.294.2467.

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.

In addition, ATS provides modular analytic solutions that includes; workforce planning, benefits management, employee self-service, business intelligence, human resources, payroll, and advanced analytics based on a robust cloud computing platform for information and data needs. It also offers design, rapid deployment, support services, software updates, and enhancements; and consulting and training services.

Covid-19, HR, Meditation, NetFlix, Personal Time-Off (PTO), Yoga

Managing your Healthcare Organization with ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM

Adapting to today’s unique environment is challenge for businesses in all industries. COVID-19 have unveiled the importance of taking care of employees’ well-being and also showing working parents that they will be supported, in integrating work and home life during the tough times —of this coronavirus pandemic.

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM is a powerful and robust application that will help healthcare providers become more agile and innovate faster. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM encompasses range of software options and services, with process insights all designed to help you manage any business challenges you are facing.

Healthcare providers need to respond quickly to changes in patient needs, government and industry regulations. However, when you consider the amount of wasted time, that is spent on trying to manage disparate system across various departments— this only contributes to the ongoing challenges in the healthcare sector.

The benefits of having an integrated solution like ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM to manage health providers back-office needs include:

Budgeting and Forecasting Tools
ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM for healthcare providers, delivers innovative budgeting and forecasting tool that’s completely integrated with HR dashboards and payroll to drive strategy, planning and execution. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM enables front- to back-end integration of operational and user experience data— to optimize workflows along the patient journey

HR, Finance & Payroll
Simplify HR and payroll processes and engage your workforce to drive better business results, empower your workforce, and developing your talent. Bring together financial processes with automated, real-time analytics, and translate them into forward-looking business insight across the entire organization.

Streamline Real-Time Reporting, Compliance and Analytics
Take advantage of in-depth data analysis, predictions, and processing of complex events, and combine data from a variety of sources into one, integrated platform. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM for Healthcare providers simplifies and facilitates compliance by supporting internal controls and providing accurate, real-time reporting with a complete set of audit trails. Healthcare providers can take advantage of in-depth data analysis, predictions, and processing of complex events, and combine data —from a variety of sources into one, integrated platform.

Improve Transparency and Visibility across Business Entities
ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM for healthcare providers includes, role-based dashboards that provides real-time access to key business data, enabling timely decisions across your entire organization. And, with the modern all-in-one ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM you will have access to— an embedded AI and machine learning technology-spanning across all business entities.

Adapt to Change and Improve Patient Engagement: With ATSTimeWorkOnDemand for healthcare providers, you can configure HR and payroll processes, workflows, and reporting requirements that’s unique to healthcare —then easily make future adjustments as required. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM for healthcare providers helps you gain a real-time, 360-degree view of your business and deliver better patient care.

To learn how healthcare companies are adopting ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM, give us a call at 866.294.2467 or download one a demo.

Analytics, ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, Covid-19, Healthcare, HR, Payroll, Workflows

Canadian Grocers and Their Supply Chain Unlocks Business Value with ATSTimeWorkOnDemand

While the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt organizations worldwide, many are turning to digital technologies to help reinvent processes and go-to-market strategies. The grocery and their supply chain industry know, all too well that consumer expectations of the shopping experience, has to align with brand and inventory management strategies- to ultimately meet demand, while protecting margins.

Here are 5 ways the grocery industry and their supply chains can leverage the best of ATSTimeWorkOnDemand to fuel profits and increase productivity.

Real-Time Analytics Delivers Business Continuity: ATSTimeWorkOnDemand for grocery and supply chain ties every part of your organization together under one system, capturing every detail and maintaining a single version of your data. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand cloud analytics combines workforce planning, forecasting and demand, response and supply, demand-driven replenishment, and inventory planning. Leading grocery companies choose ATSTimeWorkOnDemand for its powerful supply chain analytics, what-if simulation and alerts to stay ahead of change and improve responsiveness.
Fast Deployment: ATSTimeWorkOnDemand for grocers and their supply chain has a plethora of pre-built visualizations and data elements designed for the grocery industry. The scalable platform of ATSTimeWorkOnDemand means that it is easy to grow-with and make changes in the future.
Ready To Use Information: HR, payroll and finance needs accurate data and ATSTimeWorkOnDemand intuitive dashboards viewable by functional areas of the business to ensure users across all departments, can focus on the data that is relevant to them. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand is also accessible to employees on their mobile devices or tablets; to check overtime, schedules and to request time-off through the employee self-service portal.
Manual Time Reporting is a Thing of the Past: Archaic spreadsheet-based reporting won’t help business move forward. With ATSTimeWorkOnDemand instant forecasting and budget analytics helps grocery and their supply chains establish a data-driven culture that will help decision makers can easily retrieve up-to-the-minute data without relying on IT or the next report run. That means getting actionable insights from across your grocery supply chain to understand impacts and execute adjustments in a timely way.
Managing profit when margin pressures are high: With ATS best-of-breed data collectors, grocery and their supply chains, will obtain real-time visibility and transactional updates. Sometimes, the truth about a company’s performance is often hidden deep within labour costs and operational data. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand for grocery and supply chain, does the heavy lifting, by sorting through the noise to isolate, calculate and track the business metrics that really matter.

To learn more about ATSTimeWorkOnDemand for Grocery and Supply Chains, go to our website. You can also register for one of our webinars, or download a demo of our software solution from our website. And, to reach account representative by phone, call: 866.294.2467.

Analytics, ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, Canadian, Cloud, Coronavirus, Grocery, HR, Labour Costs, Pandemic, Payroll, Supply Chain

Get Rid Of Payroll Nightmares Before They Start

If your company is growing, this probably means that you a need workforce management solution that is flexible in its support, of your organizational structures. In other words, this software solution should be able to take advantage of your company’s automation needs now and, in the future— and with ability to seamlessly connect HR, finance and employee information in real-time.

To address these challenges, growing organizations are turning to ATS unified Workforce Management solution for their HR, payroll and finance needs. In doing so they can automate more HR-to-finance and payroll processes, gain valuable insights into employee productivity in a single view — and spend less time preparing compliance reports and for audits.

ATS brings HR and payroll together in an all-in-one Workforce Management Solution. HR related information is built-in into the fabric of ATS Workforce Management Solution, by providing, payroll, HR and departmental managers access to the same set of real-time data to improve communications and accelerate decision making. For example, processes like online time sheets (for remote workforce) overtime equalization, ERP and payroll integration are fully automated, removing the need for staff to manually enter information in multiple places.

With ATS Workforce Management Solution less time is needed to prepare compliance or audit reports, because effective dates are used throughout one system. Employees and managers enjoy secure, self-service capabilities, improving HR service and reducing administrative tasks for the HR team.

The robust and unified data model of ATS Workforce Management Solution provides your organization with a complete view of labour performance key performance indicators (KPI’s) without the need for spreadsheets or manual data imports.

To download a demonstration of ATS Workforce Management Solution, go to our website. To reach an account executive, call 866.294.2467

Employee Self-Service, ERP, Finance, HR, Key Performance Indicator (KPI), Online Time Sheets, Workforce Management Solution

5 Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Responding To Your Online Applications

Sometimes a frustrating online application process can scare off good talent. For example, if it is too difficult or confusing, jobseekers will simply not apply. Even worse, they may develop a negative view of your company and share their bad impression with others. While a statement like, ‘we are an equal opportunity employer’ sends out a positive message, asking prospective candidates to list their ancestry, (in an online application) is tantamount— to landing your company in, proverbial hot-water.

The job descriptions you post are, in all likelihood, the first point of contact you’ll have with potential candidates. Use this opportunity to inform, intrigue, and entice candidates to submit an application—but also make sure candidates really want to work for your company.

Top 10 Mistakes Employers Make in Job Applications, is an article by Jennifer R. Cotner, for SHRM. Here are some excerpts from that article below:

Asking for a photograph. Guidance from the EEOC prohibits employers from asking applicants for photographs. If needed for identification purposes, an employer may obtain a photograph of an applicant after the applicant accepts an offer of employment.
Including any disability-related or medical questions. Employers should steer clear of questions related to whether an employee is disabled or has a medical condition. Any such inquiry would violate guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and possibly the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar state laws. If an employer asks an applicant such a question, the EEOC or a court may presume prohibited information was a factor in hiring.
Not including a non-discrimination statement. Employers may want to inform applicants that the company is an equal opportunity employer (i.e., through an EEO statement) and does not discriminate in hiring based on federally-protected classifications (i.e., race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, disability, veteran status, age [40 or over], or genetic information). Employers may want to add any additional protected classifications under state or local law (e.g., sexual orientations or marital status).
Including any disability-related or medical questions. Employers should steer clear of questions related to whether an employee is disabled or has a medical condition. Any such inquiry would violate guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and possibly the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar state laws. If an employer asks an applicant such a question, the EEOC or a court may presume prohibited information was a factor in hiring.
Asking about marital or familial status. Asking questions about an applicant’s marital status, the number of kids he or she has, the ages of his or her children or dependents, or provisions for childcare could be construed as discrimination on the basis of sex. Furthermore, in many states, marital or familial status is a protected classification about which employers may not inquire during the application process—similar to the federally-protected classifications listed above.

Bottomline: Employment standards and Human rights laws across Canada and the United States are in place to prevent many of the issues mentioned above. Employers should take time to create an appealing job application process that invites, rather that chases away, top talent.

To learn about ATS and our Cloud HCM application go to our website. And, to reach us by phone; call 866.294.2467

Canada, Job Application, Talent

Optimizing Productivity And Tracking The Workforce In Real-Time

It’s possible that some organizations have access to the data they need to optimize productivity in their current time and attendance and/or payroll application. However, access to regulatory compliance and up-to-the-minute reporting, requires a unified Workforce Management Solution that includes, Budgeting and Forecasting, Overtime Equalization, Employee Self-Service, Workforce Planning and HR workflows. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand was designed to give business a deep-dive into employee hours— while controlling labour costs and optimizing productivity.

Here are 3 ways organizations can optimize productivity and track data in real-time with ATSTimeWorkOnDemand:

Real-Time Data Collection from anywhere, anytime:
ATSTimeWorkOnDemand is scalable and lets you track employee data on any device, including: mobile phone, IRIS Scan, RFID Time Clocks, Web Clock, Biometric Face Recognition or Kiosks. These data collection devices offer employee options to access self-service capabilities; including time-off request, view regular and overtime hours worked and benefit balances.

Improve Operational Efficiency for HR and Payroll Managers:
With ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, HR and Payroll managers can manage accrual balances and a streamlined time-off approval process and custom alerts. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand allows managers to deploy schedules to staff, review timesheets and make edits before approving pay.

Adhere to Labour and Payroll Compliance
ATSTimeWorkOnDemand will help your organization comply with labour and payroll compliance policies, even as they change — whether those laws are at the municipal, provincial, or federal/state local levels. ATS TimeWorkOnDemand application pulls in real-time information that can be configured to monitor the changing and complex scenarios.

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, Biometric Face Recognition, Budgeting and Forecasting, Employee Self-Service, HR Workflows, IRIS Scan, Overtime Equalization, RFID Time Clocks, Web Clock, Workforce Management Solution, Workforce Planning

How to Develop and Retain Talent During the Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has forced business executives to anticipate and adapt to change—while navigating talent shortages and a shaky economy. And,while promises of cushy perks and pay are often used to compete for top talent— some employers struggle to develop and retain new hires.

How Talent Development Makes a Positive Impact on Your Business is an article written by, Jori Hamilton for online publication, Talent Culture. She offers the following tips on employee development:

Performance
Talent development is not only the key to retaining employees; it can also be instrumental in improving performance. This doesn’t just mean that your attention to their growth results in greater productivity — although that certainly occurs by acquiring new skills and understanding of productivity techniques. However, when your employees see you’re making efforts to support their growth, they tend to be more engaged with the efficient operation of the business.

Innovation
One of the main errors a business can make is becoming stagnant. In the digital age, the world frequently changes. That often means that to retain the competitive edge, we must innovate. Talent development can introduce employees to new skills and new ways of thinking about the challenges they face – and overcoming them. As such, it is an essential element in building a sustainable culture of innovation within your company.

Company Insight
Provide them with opportunities to better understand the company; what it’s good at, and the not so good. This can include shadowing leadership, attending meetings, and being encouraged to ask questions (and being given honest answers). This helps the growth of new corporate operations skills and incentivizes deeper engagement within the company.

Diversity
Innovation requires access to multiple perspectives and experiences. Studies show that companies that prioritize diversity tend to perform better than their more monocultural competitors. So, your talent development program must commit to nurturing diversity. Undoubtedly, part of this approach is ensuring a range of voices has opportunities to work with you. However, it’s also about encouraging those in the program to value diverse perspectives and adjust their own viewpoints accordingly.

Curiosity
Helping employees follow their curiosity, both within and outside of the business, is a cornerstone of talent development. Give employees opportunities to train with other departments and company time to work on personal projects. Add coaching to ensure employees feel guided and supported. By giving them space to explore and experiment, and encourage them even when they fail, you provide the tools necessary to contribute to innovation — and the confidence to experiment.

Loyalty
One of the greatest assets for any business is loyalty. Employees who feel connected to and supported by their company are more likely to stick with them in the long run. Loyalty isn’t about simple retention, though; it also means a dedication to the company’s ideals and becoming leaders who embody them. Employee development helps to both guide this process and reinforces the reasons why they should maintain their commitment. So, your talent development program must begin at onboarding.

Bottomline: So, what’s the key to developing and retaining talent? When leaders open the lines of communication and address each employee personally— it can help employees shape their learning and long-term contributions to the company, for the better.

To learn about ATS go to our website, where you can gain access to a product tour of our cloud HCM application. And, to reach us by phone, call 866.294.2467.

Cloud, Coronavirus Pandemic, Diversity, Employees, HCM, Productivity, Talent Management

5 Tips To Stay Fit And Retain Your Sanity While Working From Home

Working from home during the pandemic and having to teleconference all day with your boss and/or colleagues can be challenging —especially for some employees, who little to no experience working remotely and, may not be comfortable with it.

HR professionals and managers can also encourage employees to go outside for a walk to get a mental break during the day. If you are looking for some alternatives to a daily walk around your neighbourhood, here are 5 tips (from fastcompany.com) to free online exercise classes:

Core Power Yoga. Sixteen hour-long yoga classes, plus four meditations, on its website.
Echelon and Peloton. Both apps offer a wide variety of live and on-demand classes (yoga, dance, core, Pilates) in addition to the in-home Spin classes they’re known for. Both apps are free for 90 days.
Barre3 and The Bar Method. The ballet-meets-yoga-meets-Pilates classes are free for 15 days.
Daily Burn and Gold’s Gym. Miss gym classes? Try a 60-day free trial of the Daily Burn’s sleek at-home classes, with a variety of specialties such as postnatal. Or hit the 600 audio and video classes on the Gold’s Amp app, which is free until May 31.
Planet Fitness. Planet Fitness has a free daily class at 7 p.m. ET on its Facebook Live page.

Bottomline: According to some recent research, regular physical activity can help optimize our health and well-being during the coronavirus pandemic. Anything that can help us all cope with COVID-19 is better than nothing.

Coronavirus Pandemic, Covid-19, HR, Pilates, Yoga

What Kind Of Challenges Will HR Leaders Face In 2021?

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many companies to adopt remote work arrangements, in workplaces and industries where this was feasible. It now appears, that this trend will continue well into 2021. And, while this was taking place HR leaders had to deal with job cuts, rehiring and managing employee morale. In short, no small task.

According to the recent article in HR Dive by Topia titled, 3 challenges HR leaders face in 2021 those challenges include:

‘Hidden’ remote work risk – The great thing about the remote work model is work can get done from anywhere. The challenging thing about the remote model is the same – work can be done from anywhere. With so many employees working from “home” your employees can be working in another city, state, or country without you knowing it. This opens up businesses and employees to tax and permanent establishment risk. While many jurisdictions have given a pass for this in 2020, it is likely that they will start enforcing it again in 2021.

Business travel compliance – One of the first forms of employee movement to come back in 2021 will be business travel. In the US this will mean getting on top of state-to-state payroll withholding. In Europe, there’s the more complex challenge of the A1 and Posted Workers Directive to tackle. With COVID-19 shutting down most cross-border business travel, complying with these rules was not a top priority for most companies. We can expect that in 2021, as the virus gets under control and organizations start deploying employees across borders, countries will be looking to enforce this rule and others to ensure they are getting the appropriate tax contributions.

Employee demands for new working models – There is a lot of discussion around how work will get done in a post-pandemic world. Some businesses have moved aggressively to embrace remote work. Some organizations have gotten rid of corporate campuses or made working remote the de-facto practice. We’re likely to see more nuanced approaches and policies moving forward. These include fully remote work, flexible work, extending vacation with remote work in their holiday location, etc. Organizations will need the right frameworks and tools to manage new and complex types of employees vs the traditional in-person/office and fully remote employee.

In conclusion, 2020 may have been one of the most challenging times for many companies on a global scale. And, while there have been opportunities too, HR leaders continue to be tasked with adapting to an ever-changing, regulatory labour and payroll compliance, as it relates to the Covid-19 pandemic.

To learn more about ATS and/or to download a demo of our cloud-computing HCM solution, go to our website. To reach us by phone, call: 866.294.2467.

Cloud Computing, Covid-19, HCM, HR, Pandemic, Payroll, Remote-Work

Comparing Cloud-Based Time And Attendance To An On-Premise Solution

If you are considering a time and attendance for your business, chances are you are being bombarded with an array of choices. As you consider your options, one of the more fundamental decisions you will need to make is whether to select a hosted solution (that’s based in the cloud) or one that’s installed locally on your company’s Server.

Here are 5 areas to consider when deciding between a cloud-based or on-premise time and attendance solution:

Accessibility
Today, more than ever, more employees are working remotely, and need to access information quickly. The advantage of a solution like ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, is that it’s a better choice for accessibility and, one of the biggest selling points for a cloud-based solution. And, while some on-premise solutions, can be accessed through VPN services, they can be limited and not ideal for up-to-the minute reporting capabilities.

Cost of Ownership
ATSTimeWorkOnDemand Cloud solution costs much less upfront than an on-premise solution. The set up and run times for ATSTimeWorkOnDemand are also much quicker to deploy than an on-premise system —because you can start using the service right away once subscription is paid. When using an on-premise system and its time for an upgrade, your company’s IT must then redeploy the system across the various users’ computers and re-implement various customizations and integrations that your business installed on your previous software.

System Performance
ATS cloud-based time and attendance solution provides real-time data that can be accessed via the Internet 365 days of the year 24/7. That means your employees can see accurate information on laptops, smartphones, and tablet devices—all without extra setup fees or ongoing costs. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand Cloud delivers better performance than on-premise solutions. ATS software architecture is designed from the ground up for maximum network performance, which means, better availability than a traditional, on-site software solution and, also offers optimized performance that can adapt to your organizational needs.

Updates and Enhancements
ATSTimeWorkOnDemand is continually receives updates so you can be sure you are always using the latest, most advanced version of the application. In contrast, while an on-premise software can be customized, those customizations are tied to your current software deployment and are not easy to re-implement with future versions, thus leaving your company with an outdated software.

Software Maintenance
Using ATSTimeWorkOnDemand solution means you do not have to worry about updating or maintaining hardware or software, because ATS will handle that for you. Spending less time and money on maintenance and updates means you can allocate those resources elsewhere. However, when using an on-premise solution, your company responsible for maintaining the hardware and software, as well as backups, storage and recovery. This typically requires an IT staff, which can be difficult for smaller companies to manage with a limited budget.

Bottomline: Which one is better? That will depend on your unique business needs—but more and more businesses are shifting to cloud-based software because of the upfront cost savings, accessibility, reliability and convenience it offers.

To learn more about deploying a cloud-based time and attendance solution you can reach us at: 866. 294.2467. To download a demonstration, go to our website.

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, Cloud-Based, IT, Software, Time and Attendance

3 Useful Self-Care Tips To Use While Working From Home

Managing your Healthcare Organization with ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM

Get Rid Of Payroll Nightmares Before They Start

5 Reasons Why Job Seekers Are Not Responding To Your Online Applications

Optimizing Productivity And Tracking The Workforce In Real-Time

5 Tips To Stay Fit And Retain Your Sanity While Working From Home

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