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While governments are taking action to prevent the spread of COVID-19, working remotely, will be the new normal for tens of thousands of office workers across Canada, the US and around the world. In short, this means, many office-based employees are now predominantly, if not 100% will be working remotely for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will therefore, be up to the companies – and in particular, their HR departments – to ensure that employees feel supported through this unprecedented situation. And, while the transition of working remotely, might be easy for some (especially those who may have been working from home, pre-COVID-19) employees – for others, it can be particularly daunting.

Here are 5 steps, business leaders and their HR teams can use to ensure the effectiveness of their remote workforce:

1.Be open to flexible work policies: Employee value flexible work schedules. Some of them may have their children at home and are balancing helping their kids with online learning while also working. If employees have the flexibility to take a reasonable amount of time to look after their kids, when it’s convenient, could mean that your employees will be happier, less stressed and more productive.

Resist the urge to install keystroke tracking devices on the laptop of employees. This will only create mistrust and resentment from your workforce. Instead deploy a flexible online timesheet that employees can use to input their time and request time-off. And, if an employee is not able to start promptly at 9:00am, because of some unforeseen circumstances at home show some empathy. The manager and the employee, can perhaps arrange another day when the employee can make up the time.

2.Figure out the best way to boost productivity for employees: Sometimes daily calls and emails while good, might not always work. Change it up, by encouraging employees to look up some free online learning courses.  For example, LinkedIn, has a list of online courses designed to boost productivity while working from home.

3.Establish regular manager check-ins: The daily call-ins, could take the form of a series of one-on-one calls, or a team call to instill collaborative team effort. Make sure that the calls are regular and predictable, and that they are a forum in which employees know that they can consult with you, and that their concerns and questions will be heard.

4. Create Social Interaction Channels: As a species, we are social beings and enjoy fellow human interaction.  Managers, should therefore, structure ways, for employees to interact socially on a variety of topics. In other words, ‘water-cooler’ type of conversations. An example, might be to devote some time at the beginning of team calls to discuss non work-related items (e.g., ‘How was your weekend’? And, ‘are you watching any new shows on Netflix’?

5. Share wellness tips, offer encouragement and emotional support: Encourage employees to take their full lunch break and perhaps go outside for a walk. Some employees may not take a lunch break, fearful of what their manager might think.

In the wake of Covid-19, many employees have gone from working in an office to being 100% remote-and that, in and of itself, could raise employees’ anxieties and concerns. Managers should offer encouragement during one and one or team chats to employees. With remote workers not getting any face-to-face communication with their teams, mental health wellness becomes even more important.

COVID-19 is arguably one of the biggest changes, the modern world of work has had to navigate through so, this has been a challenge for many business leaders and their HR teams across the world.

To learn more about ATS you can register for one of our bi-monthly webinars. To download a demo of our work from home time and attendance application, go to our website. And, to reach us by phone call; 866.294.2467.

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Tracking Leave Management During A Pandemic

Time And Attendance HR App To Manage Your Remote Workforce

During this ever-evolving challenging time, organizations should be prepared for additional leave requests from their employees. Federal, provincial and local governments, are quickly amending or passing laws in response to COVID-19 outbreak, to protect workers who need time off. And, as this pandemic drags on, with no end in sight, organizations can expect, from workers —additional stress, feelings of fear and uncertainty.

If you are using paper and pen to track your employee time-off requests, during this pandemic, there is a better way.

With ATSTimeWorkOnDemand, employees and supervisors can:

Employee Self-Service Portal

  • Employees can request time-off, view hours worked for the week or period.
  • Find out if their request for time-off was granted or denied by their supervisors
  • Key in their start and end time from any computer or mobile device

Supervisor Portal

  • HR, supervisors and operational managers can review time-off requests in real-time and respond accordingly.
  • Supervisors can enter time-off for themselves directly, without an approval process. However, if you want supervisors to submit their time-off, for approval, to the managers they report to, you can simply change their access rights.

Notifications

Supervisors, managers and super-users can push notifications from the dashboard to their mobile device. They can also select their preferred notification from their ATSTimeWorkOnDemand Dashboard.

Vacation and leave management Balances

  • Leave management balance are hours from existing edit time card that have been deducted.
  • Future benefit accruals have notbeen added.
  • Time-off hours in the edit time card that have not been deducted.

Available Benefit Accrual Balance

  • Time-off hours accrued between now and when the time-off occurs have been added. 
  • All future time-off hours that have been deducted. 
  • Any hours from existing time-off dashboard that have been deducted.

ATSTimeWorkOnDemand Payroll Ready

  • With ATSTimeWorkOnDemandHR ESS, you can integrate, automate, and streamline your entire payroll process while providing in-depth reporting options and ensuring accuracy.
  • Integrated payroll engine interface that simplifies your entire payroll process while providing in-depth reporting options.
  • Access and make amendments to compensation and Benefit Accruals

Companies that implement ATSTimeWorkOnDemandHR will be positioned to maximize efficiency and cost savings by —streamlining processes and freeing up the HR department from manually tracking and managing employee requests. The Employee Self-Service features of an ATSTimeWorkOnDemandHR can positively impact employee engagement by actively involving them in their own vacation planning, overtime requests and benefits decisions.

To learn more about ATS you can register for our next webinar Embracing The Future of Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. To download a demo of our time and attendance app or reach us by phone call; 866.294.2467.

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How To Maintain Employee Engagement During COVID-19

The world is different today than it was a few weeks ago. COVID-19 is sweeping across the world. Uncertainty, without question, is at an all-time high, as we experience an utter disruption in our workplaces and homes. And, above all, there’s no quick fix. The best thing employers can do is take time to listen to their employees. This means, being proactive with your employees by way of showing empathy towards their concerns, communicating frequently, while also being flexible and supportive of their needs.

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the outbreak of COVID-19 may be stressful for people. Fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children.

Stress during outbreak can include:

  • Fear and worry about your own health and the health of your loved ones
  • Changes in sleep or eating patterns
  • Difficulty sleeping or concentrating
  • Worsening of chronic health problems
  • Worsening of mental health conditions
  • Increased use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs

This current pandemic has many employees working remotely, and as a result, it has made it next to impossible, for companies to maintain an engaged workforce. However, it does not have to be that way.

Here are three ways, companies can maintain employee engagement during this COVID-19 pandemic:

  1. We are social creatures, and whether it’s talking about our favourite hockey team, the latest movie with a work colleague, getting together for birthday celebrations or just casual conversations around the office-these activities include some of the reasons why we enjoy our jobs. All of a sudden, covid-19 has put a stop to all of this. So, as an employer, when checking in with your staff, something as simple as; how was your weekend? can make all the difference to them.
  2. Several provinces and states across Canada and the US are slowly opening up parts of the economy. But does this mean all employees should be asked to start driving to the office? A better approach might be to extend flexible work arrangements, such as telecommuting, and staggered schedules that can help prevent the spread of the illness by allowing employees to work without exposing themselves or others to the virus. Greater use of teleconferences and e-mail versus face-to-face meetings are additional social distancing strategies that can help prevent the spread of illness.
  3. When checking in with their employees, managers should remind them how important their work is. Whether your industry is in telecommunications, manufacturing, insurance, or the front-lines providing healthcare or in the supply chain keeping the economy going, every company’s work is important. Your employee should be told that the work they perform is important and they should be made to feel that way not only now, but beyond COVID-19.

Bottomline: Your employees are anxious. Not only are they worried about getting sick and having enough food and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are also weathering financial uncertainty, canceled social plans, and a completely new way of working.

To learn more about ATS, go to our website to download a demonstration of software or you can also register for one of our bi-monthly webinars.

As coronavirus pervades every aspect of life, many companies (big and small) are grappling with how to support their employees during this time when there are many unknowns. And in many of these organizations, employees look to their leaders, in particular, HR for guidance as they navigate through the unknown territory of this pandemic.

Nathan Christensen wrote an insightful guide for HR managers on TLNT.com titled

7 Tips for SMBs to Manage Their HR in the Time of COVID-19 

These tips include:

  1. “Communicate honestly and openly with employees. It can be tempting to shelter employees from fears and risks, especially since high stress has been shown to destroy trust and inhibit empathy. But it’s likely your employees are already thinking about the issues keeping you up at night.
  2. Invite employees into the challenge. Surviving during a crisis requires creative and innovative thinking, as well as a willingness on the part of everyone to rise to the occasion. Focus your team on the purpose of your company’s work and the challenges ahead, and invite employees to seek new ways to contribute to the mission of the company, deliver its values, and achieve its strategic objectives. If your employees are invested in your culture, company, and mission, they will respond.
  3. Practice “open-source HR.” One of the unique aspects of the COVID-19 crisis is how broadly it has affected employers. Reach out (virtually) to other business and HR leaders in the community, perhaps through social media groups or by hosting virtual chats.
  4. Pay close attention to the new legislation that is being passed in response to COVID-19. Laws like the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, New York’s paid sick leave for COVID-19, and Colorado’s emergency rules for paid sick leave are important efforts to help employees who have lost pay and work, but they also bring new compliance requirements to employers.
  5. Protect against any semblance of discrimination. During periods of significant change, it’s important to make sure that any actions taken with respect to employees do not discriminate or appear to discriminate based on an employee’s protected class. There are legitimate business reasons for treating groups of employees differently.
  6. Manage your employees holistically.Employees working from home may have additional distractions or disruptions they’re not used to managing during the workday. It’s also possible that employees or their family members are experiencing distressing financial or health-related circumstances. Prioritize the health of not only your employees, but also their support network. If an employee is sick, give them time to get well and forego asking for a doctor’s note (health care professionals are already overwhelmed). Employers shouldn’t lower their standards for employee performance — that can also have a negative impact. But a little flexibility can have a big impact on employee wellbeing, commitment, and contribution.
  7. Understand limitations on privacy. If you need to have a difficult conversation with an employee, such as to notify them of a layoff or furlough, keep in mind that if they are working from home, the conversation may not be a private one. There may be a child, spouse, or roommate in the room with them, which can make it challenging for the employee to process the information and communicate openly.”

Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on businesses across every industry and, to the global economy as a whole. Organizations in the immediate term, need to ensure that the health and safety of their employees above all else, come first. In the short and long term, covid-19 will change the way businesses operate and compete.

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.

To learn more, go to www.https://www.atimesolutions.com