Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software

The Power Of The Cloud Makes The Choice Easy

The growth prospects of cloud-based applications has surpassed all previous projections, and is finally is being realized by businesses the world over. Traditional IT spending on heavy computing servers and software licenses has been usurped by businesses shifting to cloud computing solutions. According to a recent report by Gartner, the amount of money spent on cloud services in 2016 grew 25% over 2015 to $148 billion, and this is number is expected to grow to $216 billion in the year 2020.

The availability and user acceptance rate with cloud-based applications like ATS TimeWork OnDemand have exploded in recent years.

The Power Of The Cloud Makes The Choice Easy

Here is what you can expect from the power of ATS TimeWork OnDemand:

Flexible Deployment Options
ATS implementation team’s approach to our cloud-based time and attendance solution is unique. We offer a best-of-breed cloud deployment for ATS TimeWork OnDemand that encompasses multi-tenancy, single tenancy, and an industry-changing dedicated tenancy model that offers cost savings to our customers and is second to none in the cloud space. This provides our customers with unrivalled levels of choice and scalability on a platform that is specific to their industry.

Scalability
ATS TimeWork OnDemand opens up new capabilities for new and growing organizations. The solution can be scaled in accordance with an organization’s business demands, and financial agility. ATS TimeWork OnDemand provides companies with an opportunity to focus on the core aspects of their business, while knowing, that their time and attendance is always on, accessible 24/7, and always up to date.

Built-In Analytics
ATS TimeWork OnDemand is designed for modern businesses, enabling customers to streamline their mission-critical business processes. And, with real-time insights into key business performance indicators for a unified view of the organization, you will never go back to manual punch clocks or paper timesheets. That’s the power of the cloud.

To learn more about ATS TimeWork OnDemand, go to our website, where you can download a demonstration, or register for a bi-monthly webinar. To reach us by phone, call: 866.294.2467

Analytics, ATS TimeWork OnDemand, Cloud Computing, Gartner, Time and Attendance

What’s The Best Way To Deal With An Employee Who’s Wrecking Office Morale?

October 11th, 2016 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Benefit Accruals | Time and Attendance On-Demand | Time and Attendance System | Workforce Management Solutions - (Comments Off)

In a perfect world all employees are great to deal with i.e. arrive on time for work, takes the initiative and goes over and beyond the call of duty. Of course, we do not live in a perfect world. So, what are the strategies for dealing with difficult employee? Experts suggest dealing with the bad behaviour of employees as soon as possible so, it does not permeate through the organization thus, affecting the morale of your workforce. There is no dodging from dealing with a difficult employee and this burden of responsibility should be shared between HR, the manager who that employee reports to and senior management.

Here are some tips from Amy Gallo contributing editor at Harvard Business Review from an article titled “How to Deal with a Toxic Employee”

Do:

Talk to the person to try to understand what’s causing the behavior.
Give concrete, specific feedback and offer the opportunity to change.
Look for ways to minimize interactions between the toxic employee and the rest of your team.

Don’t:

Bring the situation up with your other team members. Allow them to mention it first and then provide suggestions.
Try to fire the person unless you’ve documented the behavior, its impact, and your response.
Get so wrapped up in handling the issue that you ignore more important work and responsibilities.

Employees do not automatically become bad apples overnight; something had to have happen for their behaviour to change. The trick then is to dig deeper, and figure why this is happening and how your organization can resolve it so, it does not become a determent to the health of your workforce. Some might argue and they will be right, that the employee did not exhibit this type of behaviour during the interview process. That’s also true, but how many employees are going to show his or her lest than pleasant side during the interview process, let alone five months into their new job? It is also naïve and unrealistic to expect that all co-workers will truly like and appreciate each other. It’s not, however, unrealistic to expect a respectful, courteous and productive work environment.

In closing, a change in behaviour of employee from good to bad could stem from a personal situation in her life. It could also be that the manager he reports to is horrible to deal with, or perhaps, they are being shunned by co workers etc. However, you decide to deal with a difficult employee, diplomacy should prevail, because your other employees will be watching how you deal with it.

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What’s The Best Way To Deal With An Employee Who’s Wrecking Office Morale?

Employee Interview, Harvard Business Review, HR

How To Quantify The Benefits Of A Workforce Management Solution

Companies using an outdated workforce management solution not only fail to take advantage of the latest technology advancements and functionality, but they also run the risk of relying on an unsupported and an increasingly unreliable system-thus, making their entire business vulnerable.

Using a reliable and modern workforce management solution has many benefits. However, in order to quantify the benefits of such a system, you first have to know what to look for. ATS workforce management solution can help you in different areas.

Here are three benefits of an ATS Workforce Management Solution that will deliver immediate results to your business:

Paper Reduction
ATS Workforce Management Solution will reduce the cost associated with creating and distributing paper timesheets. Cost savings result from:

Direct savings from reduced paper, printing, and distribution costs
Indirect savings from time spent handling paper timesheets

Paperwork Transfer
A big expense with a manual time tracking systems is that of transferring timesheets from one person to another. For example, the employee needs to get blank timesheets from the HR or payroll department. They fill out the timesheet and walk it over to their manager. The manager signs the timesheets and walks them to the payroll department. A very conservative estimate of the direct time spent on simply transferring the paper timesheet around would be 2-3 minutes per employee each pay period.

Improved Data Quality
Manual timesheets must be keyed into a computer in order to be processed for payroll. Whenever data is keyed into a computer from a hand-written document, errors will be made. These errors can cost you in many direct and indirect ways:

Incorrect pay. How many employees complain if they get overpaid? If even a small number of employees keep their overpayments, it is costing plenty. And when employees get underpaid and complain, issuing a new paycheque or adjustment is costly.

Without accurate information, you lose the ability to perform useful decision support. Payroll is the biggest controllable expense in most organizations. You should have accurate information about hours worked, and departments worked in, to support your decision.

To read the complete white paper on the benefits of an ATS Workforce Management Solution, go to our website. And, to download a demonstration or to register for one of our weekly webinars, go to www.atimesolutions.com

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How To Quantify The Benefits Of A Workforce Management Solution

Human Resources, Payroll, Workforce Management Solutions

Recruitment Software And The Challenges It Presents For Job Seekers

We, at ATS are users of recruitment software and, over they years, have had feedback from applicants, who have used application tracking systems to apply for various positions. Some have lamented about the inherent difficulties they have faced when sending their resumes through these systems, in the hope that it will somehow get to the top of the pile and/or noticed by the HR manager. A recent post by Lynda Spiegel for The Wall Street Journal titled “How Job Seekers Can Get Around Flaws in Hiring Software” might be the antidote that some job seekers need when navigating through the algorithmic world of recruitment software. She writes in part;

“Job hunting may be the one of the few instances where technology doesn’t improve our lives. That’s because most companies use Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software to parse the resumes they receive. This helps recruiters by simplifying the task of assessing resumes. But research indicates that the ATS rejects a startling 75% of resumes because of formatting, insufficient use of relevant keywords and other criteria that have nothing to do with candidate qualifications.”

In a tight job market, a 75% rejection rate will not be a comfort to many job seekers. However, Lynda Spiegel article provides some helpful tips, that might help combat the rejection rate. These tips include:

“Job seekers should avoid fancy resume formats because interpreting lines and boxes can flummox ATS software. A contemporary sans serif font and a pop of color for the headings is all that’s needed for the document to be ATS-friendly and still visually attractive for a human recruiter, if it gets that far.”
“Despite what many job seekers have heard, they shouldn’t upload a PDF resume; while ATS is getting better at reading PDFs, they don’t always process them well.”
“Job seekers should keep headings simple, such as Summary of Qualifications, Experience, Education, Achievements.”

Recruitment Software And The Challenges It Presents For Job Seekers

When using any software, whether it’s time and attendance, ERP, HR, payroll and or in this case, recruitment software, companies should ensure that their vendors, tailor the solution to suit their business requirements. For example, if the recruitment software is configured in accordance, to the type of candidates that a company is looking for, perhaps the rejection rates will decrease. In the end, however, it will require some initiative on the part of the job seeker to make sure their resume get noticed.

Applicant Tracking System, ERP, Payroll, Recruitment Software, Time and Attendance

Job Search Sites That Might Just Help You Find That Perfect Job

Although we are in the month of February the year still feels new and depending on where you live in North America your area is either very cold or you have snow on the ground or both. Yikes! From time to time we post articles from other sites that we find informative. ATS social media and marketing team found a site by Sarah Landrum titled “Punched Clocks.” And, because ATS provides workforce management solutions with accompanying hardware that’s referred to as “Punch Clocks,” “Time Clocks,” or “Data Collectors,” the name of the site was quite fitting.

This particular blog by Sara Landrum is titled “15 Job Search Sites To Help You Find A Job”. The list includes:

LinkedIn
This website is a nice way to ease into the professional world. It’s specifically made to enhance people’s professional relationships. It runs on a platform similar to Facebook, where you can friend-request people you know and view their profiles to learn more about them.

Indeed
With more than 800,000 new listings posted on the site every week, Indeed claims to be the biggest career site out there.

Twitter
One of the most overlooked job-hunting sites is right in front of most of our eyes every day. Recruiters and big companies are starting to tweet out recent job openings or challenging jobs that need to be filled immediately. Often, they will provide links to position descriptions and application instructions. You can download an app, such as Tweetmyjobs, that will send Twitter alerts to tell you who’s hiring.”

You can browser through the entire list of job sites on Sarah Landrum’s blog.
Job searching have changed in the last several years with the proliferation of social media and other online tools including, Workforce and Human Capital Management Software which also has embedded recruiting tools for today’s employers. And, in a somewhat shaky economy employers are in search of candidates that can help them grow their business and provide optimal customer service.

So whether you are actively looking for otherwise, you will find these sites very informative.

To learn about ATS you download a demonstration and to attendance live webcast, go to our website.

Employee Time Clocks, Human Capital Management, LinkedIn, Punch Clocks, Time and Attendance, Twitter

On-Demand Webcast: How Businesses Can Use Analytics To Achieve Profitability

Today, leveraging analytics is an absolute must for most industries and it has become more feasible as economic approaches have emerged to cultivate the velocity and variability of data, formerly too massive for traditional time and attendance database systems to process. ATS Software Engineers will give an overview of our workforce planning and analytics module built within ATS cloud-based time and attendance and address its challenges for today’s growing industries.

In this webinar you will learn how you can have a real-time view of your business and events as they occur. You will also learn how other companies are utilizing analytics to give them a competitive edge in shop floor data collection, financial data, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), up-to-the minute data metrics and more.

Webinar details: Friday, October 9, 2105 at 1:00pm Eastern. To register for this webinar go to our website. To reach us by phone call: 866.294.2467.

On-Demand Webcast: How Businesses Can Use Analytics To Achieve Profitability

Analytics, Attendance OnDemand, Cloud Based Time and Attendance, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Webinar, Workforce Planning

How Businesses Can Streamline Costs And Increase Workforce Productivity

Streamlining costs and increasing workforce productivity are golden words to CEOs, shareholders and other senior executives. And, in an era of market fluctuations and shrinking profits, chief decision makers need effective tools, to help them meet the demands of today’s face-paced business landscape.

In an article titled “Want To Reduce Business Costs? Here Are 10 Areas To Start With”
by Michael Evans on forbes.com it reads in part;

“One way to avoid this situation is to reduce and control non-strategic costs. Through technology and the emergence of the outsourcing industry, companies can reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and increase profits to be in a better position to deal with the inevitable cyclical economic downturn.”

We chose 5 of out of the 10 that’s listed in the article:

Manufacturing
“The economics have changed substantially between producing goods in China and in the United States. A recent study indicated that offshore manufacturing companies are looking at a 15 to 20 percent average wage increases and will reach wage parity with the United States by 2017. Energy costs outside the country are growing quickly as conversions from coal to natural gas are implemented in China.

Finance and Accounting
The cloud simplifies outsourcing of accounting and makes cost reductions easier and to achieve. This makes a lot of sense if you are having to scale up, or if you do not have accountants on staff to improve reporting or make sure you are GAAP compliant.

Human Resources
A Professional Employee Organization (PEO) can help process your payroll and offer your employees a better offering of benefits. In addition, by pooling with other companies through a PEO, you can get significant pooling discounts on the cost of benefits.

Social Marketing
Your website, social networking, and LinkedIn usage can save you enormous sums for marketing your company. Look at the outbound marketing costs and see what you can substitute.

Selling to the right customer
Smart firms will not only rid themselves of loss-making customers but, by mapping the on-boarding sales prospect process, incorporate activities and incentives for salespeople to bring only profit-producing customers on board. Whether you are reducing the selling cost or diverting resources to attain more profitable sales, you are moving to increase the cash and the profitability of the firm.”

To read the article in its entirety, go to forbes.com. Reducing business costs is not rocket science if the right approach is taken; for example, ATS workforce management solution provides proven, comprehensive time and attendance capabilities which take your company beyond manual time sheets or antiquated punch clocks. And, with ATS TimeWork OnDemand you can streamline key business processes and gain the real-time visibility and efficiency you need to run, grow your business and, at the same time, streamline costs.

To learn more, you can register for our webinar “How To Use Time And Attendance Effectively With Big Data” on Friday, August 14th at 1:00pm eastern. To download a demonstration, go to our website, and, to reach us by phone call; 1.866.294.2467.

Human Resources, LinkedIn, Manufacturing, Punch Clocks, Time and Attendance

Who Doesn’t Need A Little Relief From Work?

Practitioners in the field of psychiatry have been saying for years that most us are overworked and too stressed to enjoy life. The answer to this has been a proliferation of companies offering recognition and loyalty programs designed to help executives and employees better deal with the rigorous work schedules and achieve the much sort after, work-life-balance.

If you happen to be in a job that requires 11 hour (perhaps more) work days, here are some suggested books on meditation by David G Allan in an article, titled “Is this the answer to office stress.”

The list of recommended readings include:

Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan. In his book on mindfulness and happiness, Meng offers meditation techniques he introduced at Google that range from basic to one (my personal favourite) that asks you to visualise yourself as a force multiplier for goodness, as if you are (my words) some kind of Buddhist superhero.

Stop, Breathe & Think. This app has a growing library of meditations. These all start the same, which is repetitive, and the narrator’s voice so soothing it threatened to put me to sleep. But guided meditations can be useful for beginners and the app tracks your progress, as if you were going to a transcendental gym.

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hahn. The renowned pacifist Buddhist monk has written many volumes, but this classic has a whole chapter of meditations, some as little as 10 breaths long. The narration contains others, so it’s worth reading the entire short book.

Whether the countless hours we spend working overtime at the office is by choice, or the subtle pressure we feel when we see our colleagues do it, the experts all agree, it takes a toll on our health. Hopefully, at some point, we will the take time to smell the roses.

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.

To learn more, download a demonstration and you can see why today’s leading organizations choose ATS.

Who Doesn’t Need A Little Relief From Work?

Overtime, Payroll, Time and Attendance

Cloud and Big Data Drives Today’s Advanced Time and Attendance Solution

Charged with the responsibility of calculating the attendance and pay records of thousands of employees, ATS TimeWork Time and Attendance helps to streamline payroll expenses, increase productivity and — process and, positively transforms the way people work.

If you are currently using ATS TimeWork unified workforce management solution chances are, your company is reaping the benefits of a robust, time keeping system that uses— the power of the cloud to help you better schedule, track and measure your workforce strategic activities.

Cloud and Big Data Drives Today’s Advance Time and Attendance Solution

Benefits of ATS TimeWork Time and Attendance include:

Increase business agility with Big Data- Achieve more, faster, while using less resources. With ATS TimeWork you can access the cloud to see up-to-the-minute attendance, missed punches, absenteeism, broad-based activities, the power of the cloud, and big data, while transforming your business for the future.
Employee Self-Service –Engage your employees with a user-friendly self-service module. With ATS self-service module, employees get access and the ability to request time-off, see changes anytime, from a Web browser or Smartphone.
Time Tracking – Using your business rules and policies ATS TimeWork responds to and will automatically calculate breaks, statutory holidays and hours paid.
Management Exception – Define rotation plans based on shifts and work plans. Define which employees can charge to which organizations in your company. ATS TimeWork identifies exceptions that requires action, and provides a list of each employee based on selected rule and/or exception information.
Well Constructed Calculation Engine – ATS TimeWork will accurately calculate unpaid, paid and specialty wages. TimeWork calculation engine is robust and uses rule-based time and attendance configurations.
Job Costing and Labour Tracking– ATS TimeWork job tracking capabilities gives you broad flexibility to track employee time and projects in different departments. This, all while working within the same system and, maintaining visibility of your jobs and business on a moment-by-moment basis.
Time and Attendance Benefit Accruals– ATS TimeWork accommodates a wide variety of methods for accruing leave time, as well as the many complex rules. ATS TimeWork benefit accrual module, can generate benefit time earned, as well as deduct time taken, maintaining an accurate, editable record of all your employees benefit time.

To learn more go to our website or contact us by phone for a demonstration.

Big Data, Job Costing, Time and Attendance

The Future of Technology in the Working World

February 10th, 2015 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Software-as-a-Service (saas) Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance System | Workforce Management Software - (Comments Off)

The advantages of a cloud-based time and attendance and cloud computing on the whole, is rapidly becoming a moot point. Some companies, in various industries, who were previously hesitant to embrace the power of the cloud and technology to improve business processes are quickly realizing the enormous advantages and cost savings.

In an article written by Dr. Michael Woody and adapted from The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) “Top Ten Workplace Trends for 2105,” here are the top 3 trends, in no particular order from that survey. It’s important to note, that these trends lend themselves to the importance of technology in this new era:

“Going Mobile – The world is very rapidly going mobile. There is no doubt about it. More and more people are using their smart phones to access the web, conduct transactions, apply for jobs, and even find dates. If it can be done online, it likely can now be done on your smartphone. Following this trend the folks at SIOP believe that companies will be looking to mobile technology for evaluating “selection, performance management, and training” so as to make the hiring and development of employees faster and more accessible.”

Continued Use of HR Analytics and Big Data-SIOP points out that “I-O psychologists have long recognized the value of science and data analysis for improving business and HR decisions.” They go on to explain that “with the automation of data collection and storage, more advanced hardware and software, and larger databases, empirically-based Big Data predictions will become increasingly fundamental to workplace decisions.”

Doing More with Less -With declining budgets over the past few years and stakeholders calling for better management and performance of organizations resource optimization has become core to many organization’s business strategies. psychologists are working to help organizations identify innovations that allow them to reduce costs, increase organizational efficiency, and generally do more with less.”

Bottom-line; there is no denying that the right technology will improve business processes, streamline costs and improve productivity- and while some organizations might be slow to adapt these solutions, several of their competitors are jumping onboard and seeing their profits increase.

To learn more about ATS time and attendance solution go to our website. You can also register online for our live webinar on Friday, February 13^th, 2015 at 1:00pm eastern.

Big Data, Cloud Based Time and Attendance, HR

What’s The Best Way To Deal With An Employee Who’s Wrecking Office Morale?

How To Quantify The Benefits Of A Workforce Management Solution

Recruitment Software And The Challenges It Presents For Job Seekers

Job Search Sites That Might Just Help You Find That Perfect Job

How Businesses Can Streamline Costs And Increase Workforce Productivity

Who Doesn’t Need A Little Relief From Work?

Cloud and Big Data Drives Today’s Advanced Time and Attendance Solution

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