Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand Is Keeping Pace With Cloud Computing

The concept behind cloud computing is actually quite simple in that it lets you access applications over the Internet, without having to buy, install or manage your own servers. Case, in point, to retrieve your company’s payroll and time attendance records, all you need is an Internet connection and your favourite browser.

Companies of all sizes in a range of industries, across Canada and the US, are utilizing ATSTimeWorkOnDemand cloud-based software, platforms, to streamline processes, lower IT complexity, gain better visibility, and reduce costs. ATS machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. ATS helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition.

Here are 5 benefits to ATSTimeWorkOnDemand and the next iteration of cloud computing:

Easy upgrades without the headaches: With ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, you are regularly and transparently being upgraded to receive the latest innovations and benefits. These upgrades combine the elasticity and utility of the cloud with the control, security, and performance that responds consistently — to ongoing application demands.

Deployment with expediency: Your organization can be up and running with ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM applications, with one or multi-site locations within a few months. Upgrades and maintenance administration take place in the cloud and are managed by ATS, so your organization does not have to spend weekends supervising new version upgrades.

Anytime, Anywhere on any Platform: ATSTimeWorkOnDemand is “always on,” making it easy to grow your business and support remote employees and locations, and which means your people can access the app any time, day or night 24/7 from any browser on desktop or mobile device.

Streamlined Payroll, HR and Time Tracking Process: ATS contactless and biometric data collectors allows employees to clock in/out with embedded workflow approvals — allowing HR, to set rules for single-record or batch time-sheet approvals for time-off requests.

Availability and Optimized Performance: ATSTimeWorkOnDemand software architecture was designed from the ground up for robust network performance, thus delivering, better application-level availability than conventional, on-premise solutions. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM App adjusts to a company’s performance needs and assigning server cycles and automatically adjusting to spikes in your business.

Bottomline: ATSTimeWorkOnDemand lets you focus on your business rather than on your software. You don’t have to use valuable IT resources to keep business systems on life support. And, given the vital role that IT plays in today’s business environment ATSTimeWorkOnDemand cloud computing application continues to change the way that companies operate.

To learn more or to download a demonstration, go to our website. And, to reach us by phone, call: 866.294.2467.

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, Biometrics, Canada, Contactless, HCM, Internet of Things (IoT), IT, Machine Learning, Payroll

HR Task: Ensure A Safe Return To Work In The New Normal

COVID-19 has taught the business world, that business strategies and plans should not be set in stone and instead they should adopt agility as the preferred business model. This means, HR professionals, in addition to their current workload, have to ensure the wellbeing of their workforce during the pandemic and help navigate the new normal.

As your employees return to work, companies must prioritize their well-being while adopting strategies— to meet the needs of the current working environment to keep operations running smoothly. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand Workforce Management Suite helps you create, and embody, a culture of caring while increasing productivity.

And, regardless of what your company’s “new normal” looks like, a safe and productive return to work—that includes pre-and-post-shift screenings, contactless time and attendance, and contact tracing—can safeguard your employees and give you the best opportunity to thrive in these unprecedented times.

ATSTimeWorkforce Management Suite will help you with:

Optimize Scheduling and Manage Absenteeism
Create a few what-if scenarios to determine when to re-open based on social distancing guidelines, and demand requirements.

Make use of updated federal, provincial and local payroll and labour compliance— within ATSTimeWorkOnDemand to give employees the freedom to manage personal responsibilities— while meeting their work obligations, through leave management.

Contactless Data Capture
To minimize risks associated with shared data collectors, ATSTimeWorkOnDemand Suite supports multiple contactless time clocks clocking, including; proximity, face and IRIS Scan and mobile technology.

Managing Remote Work
The current pandemic has forced many employees to work from home and companies across the world have transitioned their employees to work virtually to support physical distancing efforts. With ATS Employee Self-Service options, employees can request time-off and punch in/out from a mobile device or PC.

The world has changed, with the current pandemic and it’s going to keep changing. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand helps your workforce adapt, evolve, and win by working more effectively within it. Spend less time focused on tasks and more time focused on strategy. Turn data into smarter decision making, and use modern technology to create experiences your employees will love.

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.

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, Contactless Time Clocks, Employee Self-Service, HR, IRIS Scan, Payroll, Social Distancing

Contactless Time Clock Options In The COVID-19 Era

As parts of Canada and the US begins the process of a slow reopening, social- distancing and workplace hygiene remains top of mind for employers and employees alike. And, if some of your employees continue to work from home, you can make use of employee self-service and online web punch options, which means, you likely don’t have to think about workplace logistics for this cohort. But what about the employees who have to report to work because of the nature of your industry? Whether its food manufacturing, retail, or grocery, you probably have some way of recording their time. And, if you don’t, here are 3 ways to record employees time while they are on the job, that is both safe and contactless:

RFID/Keyfobs: ATS time clocks supports RFID and Smart Card/key fob reader options. RFID, Smart cards and key fobs, do not require contact, and chances are some or all your employees already use these types of cards.

FaceScan and IRIS Recognition Data Collectors: Due, in large part to the ongoing pandemic, more companies are requesting touchless data collectors. And, when combined with ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, innovative time and attendance app, these data collectors — pave the way for a new era of powerful employee time-tracking data that helps control labour costs and improve workforce productivity.

Proximity: ATS Proximity time clocks have an embedded sensor which reads the badge to quickly record employee arrival times, breaks, lunches, overtime and departure times. ATS proximity cards are “contactless” and is read when held within two inches of the time clock sensor. Alternatively, proximity wristbands offer another approach, this wearable method has the potential to ensure almost no contact between employees and time clocks.

Mobile and web time clocks: With ATSTimeWorkOnDemand application, employees can punch in/out from a personal device or terminal thus, eliminating hygiene concerns of a shared time clock. ATS mobile and web time clock options, delivers an engaging experience that drives user adoption across the workforce. Managers can initiate mass approvals, manage exceptions, and get approval alerts on mobile devices from anywhere 24/7.

Magnetic stripe or Barcode: Magnetic and Barcode cards: allow employees to swipe to clock in and out, without directly touching the time clock. ATS State-Of-The-Art Time Clocks are equipped with a large 7” touchscreen with and full color LCD Screen. It delivers a superior user experience and fast user adoption and has a straightforward user interface, that provides self-service view into any employee’s work-related information.

Bottomline: ATS contactless time clocks was designed with you and you and your payroll costs, in mind. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand offers complete automation and full visibility –with innovative and functionality that translates to faster employee deployment, less wasted time, and increased productivity.

To learn more, go to our website, where you can download a demo or brochures. To reach us by phone, call 866.294.2467.

Looking for Tips on How to Host a Virtual Office Holiday Party?

’Tis the season for moving holiday parties online or just cancelling it, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some HR professionals who have the pulse of their company and, has likely made the decision is to go ahead — with a virtual holiday party to show appreciation to your employees after what we’ve all had to endured this year.

If your company is looking for some tips on how to pull off a virtual office holiday during the current pandemic here is an article titled, 5 Creative Ways to Host an Amazing Office Holiday Party on Zoom by Dave Kerpen.

1. Use Cameo for personalized shout-outs and live celebrity entertainment-Cameo is a tool that allows people to book shout-outs from celebrities, ranging from A-list actors like Mandy Moore to rock stars to reality TV has-beens. Is your team based in one city and into sports? Book a local popular professional athlete. Is your team primarily older? Book a TV star from a classic show like The Brady Brunch. Cameo even has a reality-TV star turned author and entrepreneur. And you can now book live appearances from your favorite celebrities–so they can stop by during your holiday party to say hi. There’s truly something for everyone.

2. Host a magic act or improv comedy troupe.
Zoom is tough for “typical” party entertainment like bands and DJ’s, because people probably aren’t going to want to dance alone at home. But entertainment such as magicians and improv comedy can work really well in a virtual setting, since they’re interactive at their core. Guests won’t just be entertained–they’ll be part of the entertainment! Pro-tip: Give the magician or comedians you book insider info prior to the event to make their acts even funnier.

3. Host a game show, with prizes!
Bring in an MC (or handpick the most outgoing, charismatic person at your office to MC) for your own version of a game show. You can do Family Feud with two teams competing, Kahoot with everyone answering trivia questions, or your own version of The Newlywed Game, where contestants go to a breakout room to try to predict what their colleagues will say when asked predetermined questions. With prizes for winning contestants and a “host” with a big personality, a game show can be a huge hit.

4. Use breakout rooms smartly.
At your offline holiday parties of old, 50 people didn’t gather together to have one conversation so they shouldn’t for your online holiday party, either. Instead, use Zoom’s Breakout Rooms feature to set up groups of 10 to 15 people per “room.” One room might be the ugly sweater contest while another is Christmas carol karaoke, a third is a craft activity, a fourth is your Secret Santa gift exchange, and a fifth is casual conversation. Then, rotate rooms every 15 minutes. A company with 200 employees can still have everyone engaged at once in 20 different Zoom breakout rooms!

5. Try a wine or cocktail tasting.
Shipping alcohol across state lines is next to impossible, but if your employees are mostly based in one state, you can send people wine or scotch samples and host a tasting during your party. You can even have an expert on hand to walk everyone through the story behind each wine. The nice thing is, food and beverage is usually a huge expense for offline holiday parties, so this can be done virtually and still save money.

Finally, be mindful that your remote employees have family members or roommates in the same or sometimes worst circumstances during the pandemic and as a result, may find it hard— that their significant other, has to be on another virtual call after hours.

COVID-19 Pandemic, HR, Office Holiday Party

Grow Your MidsizeBusiness In The Cloud With ATS Time & Attendance

Your company is all about growth and, the time and attendance software you choose to deploy, should be too. With ATS, your company will scale effortlessly on a product that’s delivered proven results for Canadian companies over a decade and counting.

ATS Time & Attendance, is the choice for many midsize businesses to run and integrate their payroll, HR and ERP applications in the cloud. Companies turn to ATS Time & Attendance to help cut their IT costs, reduce payroll costs and improve productivity.

So, why should you run your business in the cloud with ATS Time & Attendance?

Up-to-date: Automated upgrades deliver the latest innovations
Integrated: Payroll, HR, CRM, ERP, CRM and HCM suite cuts cycle times and errors
Visibility: Real-time dashboards and analytics that eradicates spreadsheets
Global: Multi-site intelligence scales as you grow
Efficient: Up-to-the-minute cloud delivery eliminates on-premise IT costs
Anywhere 24/7: Browser and mobile access lets you access from anywhere
Scalable: Configure to your company’s requirements with confidence

ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud utilizes emerging technologies and powerful predictive analytics to control costs and risks- manage increasingly complex transactions, and make better business decisions. When you deploy ATS Time & Attendance in the cloud you will:

Save time
ATS Time & Attendance is intuitive on-screen tips help you complete your payroll and HR tasks quickly and accurately.

Achieve piece of mind
ATS Time & Attendance complies with complex, ever-changing payroll regulations, collective bargaining agreements, municipal state and federal regulations.

Gain access to the software from anywhere
You can drive innovation, profitability, and growth, while making accurate, data-driven decisions. And, with anywhere access to your software you can run payroll at the office or on-the-road.

To learn more, go to our website and download a demonstration. To reach an account executive, call; 866.294.2467.

Analytics, Canadian, Cloud, HCM, Payroll, Time & Attendance

How To Use Employee Contactless Time Clocks In Your Organization?

Whether your company is in food production, healthcare or manufacturingCOVID-19 has forced us all to rethink how we live our everyday lives while keeping ourselves and others safe. Face masks have emerged as a simple and effective strategy for reducing the virus’s threat. And, for employers, having the right tools to detect whether an employee has a fever and/or is wearing a mask, before the start of a shift, is now the new norm.

We recently introduced the ATS Fever and Mask Detection Time Clock. If your employees have returned to the office and you want to make sure everyone is safe, here are three benefits to using ATS contactless time clocks:

Contactless Punching In/Out
Provides an innovative method of punching in at the clock by allowing employees to identify themselves through facial verification, helping to eliminate buddy punching.

Touch-Free
ATS Face Recognition provides temperature readings without needing additional human interaction and support various read technologies including–barcode, RFID, magstripe, and proximity – and can be connected via Wi-Fi or Power Over Ethernet (POE).

Social Distancing and Contact Tracing
Social distancing and contact tracing are part of the new normal. With ATS Face Mask Detection Time Clock you can give your employees a more modern and visual experience with this innovative device – an alternative to traditional paper-time punch clocks.

With up-to-the-minute results, CFOs, HR and Payroll leaders can create a policy for failed temperature checks through ATSTimeWorkOnDemand. ATS Face Mask and Temperature Detection Time Clock send results to a cloud management portal software so your organization can see on-screen results from any location.

Other features include:

High definition camera for contactless facial recognition
Infrared sensor for real-time temperature detection
Facial detection with or without face masks and alerts if a mask is being worn incorrectly
Anonymous thermal scanning and temperature detection for visitors
Recognition speed of less than 0.1 seconds per face
Ability to manage up to 30,000 facial templates-optional
Touch-free clock functionality with voice commands

To explore our range of workforce management HCM solutions go to our website and download a demo. And to reach one of our account executives, call: 866.294.2467.

CFO, Face Mask Detection Time Clock, FaceScan Biometric COVID-19 Time Clock, Facial Recognition Fever Detection Time Clock, HCM, HR, Payroll, Power Over Ethernet (POE), Thermal Temperature Checker, Time and Attendance, Touchless and Body Temperature Time Clock, Workforce Management Solutions

How to Remain Compliant and Manage Pay During a Pandemic

Since the early days of COVID-19 pandemic several industries like grocery and retail jobs were deemed essential services while some others were furloughed or moved online. As some businesses slowly reopen it can be nerve-racking to head back into the office, while a global pandemic is still looming over everyone’s head.

Here are some useful tips, companies can take to help their employees adjust to the new conditions, and also ease their fears, as they slowly reopen:

Temperature Check Time Clocks
Some of ATS customers have migrated to a contactless and temperature check biometric time clocks. These data collectors offer an automatic, touch-free tool for accurate employee temperature screening. And, with real-time results, Payroll and HR leaders can create a policy for failed temperature checks to ensure a safe environment and a consistent experience for all employees at the point of entry to the workspace.

Pandemic Pay/Shift Differential
The high volume of shutdowns caused by the global corona virus pandemic has triggered organizations to consider salary continuance options to help employees through this difficult time and to retain their talent. While some industries, like grocery, healthcare and retail chains have eliminated pandemic pay, others have added shift differential to bolster employees pay. Whichever option you choose, ATSTimeWorkOnDemand will ease the burden for HR by seamlessly applying these pay codes through our software configuration.

Working from Home and Managing Childcare
The shut down of schools in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, had many parents working from home with their children-managing professional priorities, while helping their kids with school work. Some of ATS customers have made use of online timesheets and project tracking solutions for these remote workers.

Leave Management
While some parents are able to stay home with their kids, others are not so fortunate, and without access to childcare, like some of their colleagues, will likely find themselves in a stressful situation. HR can encourage these parents to request time-off by making use of existing vacation time they have accrued. This simple act, could alleviate some of the stress, these employees are trying to manage. And, don’t forget the employees who do not have children, they could also benefit from taking time-off, to deal with the stress of COVID-19.

ATS Workforce Planning
With COVID-19 showing no signs of abating, companies can make use of ATS Workforce Planning for employees who want some flexible options as they manage work and at life at home. ATS Workforce Planning gives managers a real-time schedule that changes with the organization’s needs. With ATS Workforce Planning managers gain immediate insight into how many staff members to schedule at any given time and optimizes planning breaks, setting vacations, adding time for training and addressing unplanned absences.

Bottomline; maintaining compliance, keeping track of employment agreements, and internal policies during these trying times can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM suite is a comprehensive workforce management application with a— future-ready platform that addresses the unique requirements of a company. In short, we have got your covered.

To learn more, you can download a demonstration of our product or to reach us by phone, call: 866.294.2467.

ATS Workforce Planning, ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, Covid-19, Grocery, HCM, Healthcare, Leave Management, Pandemic Pay, Payroll, Retail, Shift Differential

Yes, You Should You Take Time-Off During COVID-19

COVID-19 has forced many employees to work from home. And, if you happen to be one of the many employees, who are working from home for the first time, it is likely a daunting task. And if you happen to be a parent with kids-chances are, you are helping them with online learning, preparing meals for the family, and to top it off, you are also trying to complete work projects and remain productive.

Recent research has shown that the pandemic has made the average workday 48 minutes longer. A recent article by titled Time Off From Work Is Critical During The Pandemic by Ashira Prossack, contributor for ForbesWomen, offers some useful tips and, reads, in part:

Truly disconnect.
The only way to take full advantage of a vacation is if you fully disconnect from work. Close out all of your browser tabs and open windows, put an out of office message on your email, and tidy up your workspace. Turn off notifications, alarms, and anything else that will tempt you to look at your work during vacation. This helps you mentally transition out of work mode and into vacation mode.

Prepare for your time off.
There’s nothing worse than coming back to a mountain of emails and playing catch up to with work that wasn’t done while you were away. Before your vacation, take a look at your workload. Figure out what can be done ahead of time and what can wait until you get back. If you’re in a leadership position be sure to delegate, but be mindful when assigning tasks to ensure that you aren’t overwhelming your team with too much work.

Set boundaries.
While a truly phone and email free vacation is the ultimate goal, the reality is sometimes you can only disconnect 90% of the time. Clearly communicate with your team about how and when you’ll be available, and try to keep communication to a minimum. If you know that you’ll need to check in on a project or respond to issues, be very conscious of limiting your time. Set a specific timeframe for when you’ll work and try your hardest not to exceed that time.

Bottomline: Working from home does not mean you should not take time off, because, for many employees, there is no separating between home and office, and as a result, they can risk burning out. In fact, researchthat taking time-off is an important predictor of our well-being and satisfaction with life- including our health. So, if you have some accrued paid sick or vacation days, this might be a good time to approach your boss and request that time-off.

Covid-19, Productivity, Time-Off, Vacation, Work from Home

Workforce Management Software Implementation: It’s All In The Process

A common phrase used by some of today’s sports teams is, “trust the process”. That’s another way of saying that the team has a plan and if everyone embraces (including management) the plan it is, likely to succeed. Of course, plans do go awry sometimes so sports teams should always expect the unexpected. It’s no different with software implementation in business.

In the world of workforce management software, the central feature is that of a shared database that supports multiple functions used by different business units. In practice, this means that employees in different departments or locations, such as; distribution, engineering, HR, payroll and finance can rely on the same information for their business process needs.

Implementation stages
The process that encompasses workforce management software implementation can be simple or complex, based on factors like size of the company, the project’s complexity and expectations.

Workforce management software implementation that takes advantage of the cloud, can skip some of the traditional steps that an on-premises deployment involves. ATS manages the infrastructure, allowing organizations to focus on data migration, process changes and employee training. The added steps of hosting the application is handled by ATS.

Project Team
The project team is responsible for the overall health of the implementation project, overseeing day-to-day initiatives and timelines. And, depending on the size of the company, the project team will look different.

Complex implementations for larger enterprise will likely have a steering committee. The committee might consist of the senior executives and departmental managers, who will establish the strategy, goals and priorities that justify the investment.

The budget
The success or failure of a workforce management software implementation project can sometimes, hinge on a realistic budget. And, one of the reasons that a company might go over budget is the expansion and scope of the project.

Implementation Costs
Initial costs are typically much lower for cloud computing solutions like ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, because you only need to focus on the software requirements and connectivity to the system. And, that’s because ATS hosts and maintains the application, thus minimizing demands on time and IT resources.

Application Design
If your company is migrating to a cloud application from on-premise solution the new solution will need to connect with other platforms, like HR, talent management, CRM or payroll. The ATS programming team will need design and develop the APIs before any data integration is established.

Migration
Data migration is crucial to a successful implementation, but transferring data from one system to another can be cumbersome and present unanticipated roadblocks. The ATS project team can make this process more efficient by coordinating with a company’s project manager to ensure a smooth data and mapping analysis is performed.

Training
It’s important to unlock the benefits of your workforce management solution. In order to do so, you need to ensure your employees, understand how to leverage the new system. ATS training is comprehensive and is available to employees through a combination of online learning opportunities.

Testing
ATS software engineers and other users from your company’s project team test connections and validate data integrity, fine-tuning adjustments so the software solution runs as you would expect, before the final data transfer and go-live date.

And…We’re Off
By now, most of the glitches (if any) have been dealt with, the system has been configured according to specifications, data has been transferred and onboarding activities have occurred, and testing is complete.

Support
Post-implementation support is the final step in the project. Sometimes everything does not go as planned, you can rely on ATS team of industry experts to help you navigate through implementation wrinkles.

No matter the type of organization, implementing a workforce management solution is a critical project that demands careful planning and commitment from the entire organization.

To learn about ATS workforce management software in the cloud, go to our website. To reach an account representative, call: 866.294.2467

Cloud Computing, CRM, HR, Payroll, Talent Management, Workforce Management Software

3 Benefits To Using ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM

Human Capital Management or (HCM) has become the new buzzword for an all-encompassing solution that does it all: time and attendance, customer relationship management (CRM), payroll, HR and talent management or recruiting software. So, if you are looking to implement a solution that’s modular and flexible, look no further than ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM. This best-of-breed application is a fully integrated HCM platform that has everything you need to manage your workforce – all in one system, and yes it will allow you to streamline payroll costs. And who does not want to streamline costs?

Here are 3 benefits to using ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM that will knock your socks off:

Seamless Workflow: Create one employee record, once, and it flows through our unified suite. This solution is in the cloud and gives you access 24/7 365. While in the cloud, you can move to shift differential pay…to employee self-service…to payroll…time and attendance…benefits accrual and more. The solution is capable of handling complete collective bargaining agreement, while at the same time adhering to provincial, state and federal labour laws across Canada and the U.S.

Easy-To-Access HR Modules

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM comes complete with a bevy of analytic reporting. This fully integrated solution will ease the burden on your finance, payroll and HR staff so they can get back to focusing on your core business. Our human capital management (HCM) suite, will help you work your way with embedded analytics, that provide real-time visibility— for actionable insights when it matters most.

The Best Employee Time Tracking: ATSTimeWorkOnDemand is a robust and powerful time tracking solution that checks all the boxes. ATSTimeWorkOnDemand is designed for the modern workforce — with a powerful technology infrastructure, seamlessly integrated with foundational applications, and extensible with open APIs — to easily adapt as your business evolves.

Now, would you like to see it in action? Of course would, so here’s how you can make this happen, download a demo or go to our website to see a range of our data collectors or call us at 866.294.2467.

Benefit Accrual, Canada, HR, Human Capital Management (HCM), Payroll, Shift Differential

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand Is Keeping Pace With Cloud Computing

Contactless Time Clock Options In The COVID-19 Era

Looking for Tips on How to Host a Virtual Office Holiday Party?

How To Use Employee Contactless Time Clocks In Your Organization?

How to Remain Compliant and Manage Pay During a Pandemic

Yes, You Should You Take Time-Off During COVID-19

3 Benefits To Using ATSTimeWorkOnDemand HCM

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