Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software

5 ways HR leaders can stay on track during the Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has brought remote work into focus, while forcing many companies to accelerate their digital transformation plans. And, once the worse is behind us, HR will remain firmly in the driver’s seat of their organizations as the one who ignited digital the transformation efforts.

Here are 5 ways HR managers can help their companies maintain digital adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Maintain communication with remote employees: Employees are going to have different viewpoints on the coronavirus. Some may think the virus is not worth paying attention to, and others will take it very seriously. Regardless of beliefs, organizations must maintain clear communication with its workers.

Utilize modern technologies to your advantage. This may require a pivot of strategy, and investments in new technology to ensure that employees can work efficiently without disruption to customer satisfaction.

2. Invest in a cloud computing solution to improve efficiency:

Companies are seizing on cloud computing technology as the key enabler to complete their digital transformation, and COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated this mandate. Cloud computing solutions is becoming a top C-suite agenda item as businesses are transitioning from a piece-meal approach to a more holistic end-to-end digital transformation with cloud at its core.

Manually compiling spreadsheets and waiting days for different teams to get reports together is a flintstones era approach to business. Embrace access to real-time data and interactive user dashboards- thus, helping you make the right choices and engage with the appropriate partners to augment their own capabilities.

3. Change the way you hire and make easier for employees who commute: The pandemic has brought to the front what many experts have been saying for years. Companies need to be open-minded about hybrid work. For salaried and hourly employees’ location is one of the biggest — and often underestimated — drivers of effective recruiting. Many employees moved for family and Covid-related reasons in the last year and more are actively considering relocating, which implies that recruiting challenges can increase for employers whose approach to hiring have remained the same.

4. Continue to embrace innovation: Information technology, and particular, cloud computing solutions will remain central to the post-pandemic scenario, where innovations will drive the surge in use. The disruption caused by the pandemic is unprecedent. And, while, reducing costs during these challenging times should be a priority, businesses would be wise to search for areas, where they can find enhancements within their current product suite. That is far better than trying to identify an eliminator from your offering.

5. Be prepared to adapt to change: The ‘new normal’will include a hybridworkforce. A hybrid workforce is an operational model that combines remote and on-site employees. And, depending on the organization, it could look different, however, it typically includes the onsite presence of a skeletal staff (often deemed “essential”), while others can be fully remote employees or adhere to a fixed schedule of remote and in-person workdays.

HR leaders will be expected to drive several key initiatives to foster an environment of flexibility, equity, and trust where employees are valued and their wellbeing is prioritized. To succeed in this new and ever-changing role, HR leaders will need to remain focused on managing employee experience to attract, develop, and retain top talent.

To learn more call 866.294.2467. And, to register for one of our bi-monthly webinars, go to our website.

About ATS

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

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

Cloud Computing, Coronavirus, Covid-19, HR, Hybrid Workforce, Information Technology, Pandemic, Remote Work, Well-Being

What Are Some Crucial Business Lessons Learned During The Global Pandemic?

The COVID-19 global pandemic turned our workplaces and the world, at large on its head a year ago. Business meetings and tradeshows were held virtually while travel was limited or cancelled completely. Employees who traditionally drove to work found themselves working from home, for the first time–while also juggling, caregiving responsibilities.

Whether you are a CEO, CFO, HR or other business executive, here are the ten crucial business lessons we can all learn from Thom Dennis article for The HR Director:

Measure output not hours. Many businesses have been measuring productivity through the number of hours put in. The pandemic has taught many of us that it matters less how long it takes for someone to do a task and more that they get the job done effectively. Self-employed and small business owners have been working successfully in this way for decades.
Know and show your people are your most important asset. Treat all colleagues with compassion, respect and gratitude, and in return they will show loyalty and work hard. Showing your workforce that you appreciate them will increase job satisfaction which will in turn maintain staff retention rates, boost productivity and morale.
Global without travel. Whilst the pandemic has put a stop on most international and domestic travel, businesses have never worked more globally thanks to working remotely, video and audio conferencing, chat, webinars, and social media. These solutions are a far more cost and time effective and ultimately productive way to work as long as they aren’t depended upon entirely – human contact still has an important part to play, particularly for promoting creativity and innovation. Whilst borders are almost closed, global reach has never been more possible.
Inclusion is an absolute, not a tick box. Countless times in the last year we have seen huge national and global movements standing up for what they believe in despite the pandemic. A business that sees the importance of diversity and inclusion of different races, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, religion and socio-economic status, and celebrates those differences, creates an environment where people feel comfortable to be themselves, bullying and harassment are absent, and people thrive.
Promote health sustainability. The pandemic has made us understand how important but fragile our health and wellbeing is. Reconceptualising health policy is vital. Don’t just follow the guidelines, go over and above. Find out what your employees need, and bear in mind that individuals may well have contrasting needs. Be clear about the importance of physical and mental health.
Promote a speak up culture. Open communication is key to combating systemic problems at work, such as bullying. Where possible, remind colleagues to share their feelings and troubles at work, and be a role model in this way. Be empathetic, actively listen and show care for their wellbeing to help your employees to speak up and feel that they are truly being heard.
Trust, don’t micromanage. With employees having to work remotely, companies have been forced to place their trust in their staff more than ever before. Micromanaging your workforce damages employee trust, leads to burnout and increases employee turnover rates. Trust is key to all aspects of business success including employee retention, loyalty and increased engagement, productivity and empowerment.
We are not in the office but relationships matter. Even if we are physically not in the same building, an absence in communication or the social side of working as colleagues is damaging. Making the effort to reach out to support colleagues, work collaboratively and maintain relationships will help keep the company thriving, encourage creativity and keep morale at a high.
Flexibility and agility are vital. Flexibility increases staff wellbeing and job satisfaction. Giving your employees the option to choose their ideal schedule and setting within reason, allows leaders to show they understand and care that we all have additional important personal commitments and responsibilities. People also work better at different hours of the day – don’t we want them to work when they are most productive? Having internal procedure in place to acknowledge we don’t have to all be “at work” at the same time will benefit the business in terms of employee experience, innovation and ultimately growth.
Place importance on work / home life balance. Burnout is a real problem. During the pandemic it has become worse for many, particularly for mothers who work, but the forced circumstances also highlighted to many what they aspire to and what is important to them. Act decisively on changes that need to be put in place, consider the different spaces, circumstances and equipment people have at home. Working from home was put in place as an emergency solution but is here to stay in one format or another.

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.

CEO, CFO, Covid-19, Health, HR, Remote Work, Wellbeing

Is Your Team Experiencing Video Conference Fatigue With Too Many Meetings?

Before COVID-19 the seemingly, always-too-long and dreaded meetings took place around a conference table with colleagues. Today, many businesses have adopted remote work because of COVID-19 pandemic, and for the most part, those meetings— have shifted to virtual video conferencing with popular platforms like; Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting and Zoom amoung others.

But can these constant video meetings become “excessive,” when for example, a telephone conference would suffice?

A recent blog by David Dye for SHRM titled, Too Many Meetings: How to Free Your Team to Build, Create, and Thrive offers a few tips that are worth considering when planning your next team meeting. These tips include:

“Make Every Meeting Count
If you’re having a meeting to discuss the meeting and then to follow up on the meeting, you can free up time by consolidating. Socialize ideas and provide people the information they need asynchronously. At the end of every meeting, take a few minutes to schedule the finish and ensure everyone knows who is doing what, and by when.

Engage your Team and Ask “How Can We…?”
You’ll find willing thought-partners when you ask your team for their ideas. Use your asynchronous channels to ask “How can we meet less?” (Please don’t have a meeting about meeting less—it’s unnecessary until you have some concrete ideas to discuss.)

Think First, Then Meet
This will help your introverts and cut down on the number of meetings and make the meetings you do have more productive. Solicit ideas ahead of time. Give people time to think about what might work. They’ll likely be more creative when on a walk than staring into a computer camera. Once you’ve collected ideas, establish your success criteria, and then meet to prioritize or make a decision”.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Gartner survey of 127 HR, legal and finance professionals said they “intend to permit remote working some of the time as employees return to the workplace. For many organizations with employees working both onsite and remotely, adapting to a new, more complex hybrid workforce is the challenge as how people work together to get their job done evolves”.

Bottomline: Some companies will do some sort of hybrid remote work after the coronavirus pandemic, while others may adopt it permanently. A virtual meeting via videoconferencing is a powerful way to make use of technology— and will likely become part of the future, but it should be used in appropriate doses. In fact, as a manager, try switching it up, by having a phone conference for your next meeting—and see how it impacts team engagement and morale. You might be pleasantly surprised.

About ATS

Coronavirus Pandemic, Covid-19, Gartner, GoToMeeting, HR, Microsoft Teams, Remote Work, Technology, Zoom

5 Ways To Reduce Security Risks For Your Remote Workforce

As companies adjust to the new reality of their employees working from home in response to COVID-19, identifying security needs rests on the shoulders of overworked IT departments. Before the pandemic, a small cohort, of the North American workforce, had transitioned to working remotely, whether as freelancers or corporations.

Today and likely for the foreseeable future, several companies have adopted the work from home policy for its employees, thus leaving themselves open to cyber security issues. And, this is where the importance of a company’s IT department skillsets is needed most because, if employees are too relaxed about security compliance, it can put an entire company at risk for cyber threats.

This article by Scarlett Rose, titled 5 Cybersecurity Strategies to Assist Your Remote Workforce makes the case, that companies must employ IT strategies to keep their data safe. It reads in part,

Provide Cyber Security Training to Employees: Here’s how you can ensure the cybersecurity of your organization while working remotely. One of the best cybersecurity strategies to assist your remote workforce is by providing detailed information about the latest cybersecurity threats that can steal sensitive information. Cybercriminals can hack and steal critical information from employees using phishing emails, voicemails (vising), text messages (smishing), and more.

Secure all Digital Communications: Securing all digital communications is one of the ways to prevent cyber threats during the pandemic. Make sure that all employee and client communications existing in the network are encrypted. Keep a security check and complete control over the security of these communication channels. If possible, provide all the tools that your employees need to exchange information.

Use Managed File Transfer (MFT) Software: Let’s continue our discussion on the major cybersecurity strategies to assist your remote workforce. The use of Managed File Transfer (MFT) Software is one of the most important tips to enhance cybersecurity while remote working. Cybercriminals can easily hack your employees’ email accounts in order to get unauthorized access to the email accounts of your employees. This is why most of the business organizations use the MFT software as a preferred option for file transfer.

Reinforce Endpoint Security: Let’s read more on Cybersecurity tips to follow while working remotely. Here is one of the most commonly adopted cybersecurity strategies to assist your Remote Workforce. The devices being used by your employees act as a potential entry point for hackers to infiltrate your business network.

Therefore, it is important to ensure that these enterprise endpoints are well-protected and safeguarded from cyber-attacks such as phishing attacks, malware, and more. Most of the Cybersecurity attacks start at endpoints, such as workstations or mobile devices, and then pivot to critical data sources on servers. This is why organizations these days can be seen spending more on protecting endpoints security than ever before.

Establish Secure Connections: The employees should connect to your internal servers via a VPN connection, which encrypts all the data that is being transmitted. Doing this makes the entire data unreadable to anyone who intercepts it, thus ensuring the safety of your data.

Moreover, make sure that your employees take the necessary steps to secure their routers. Make use of a strong password protocol and multi-factor authentication. Most of the systems are breached because hackers often steal the employee’s login credentials and use it to infiltrate the whole network.

Bottomline: Organizations should have strong systems and processes in place to ensure business continuity. And, even if its only part of your workforce that works remotely, you should take the time to think about the security of your network and have a policy in place, that spells how everyone should use it when logging into your network.

To reach an account representative by phone call: 866.294. 2467 or to download a demo go to our website.

Digital, Employees, Remote Work, Software

What Exactly Is A Family-Friendly Workplace?

Family-friendly employers do exist, however, with competition for talent at an all- time high, some companies are offering; nap rooms, in-house entertainment and laundry service, minimizing the need to ever leave the office. While those are all nice perks, many working parents, don’t necessarily want to be working 60 hours a week while trying to manage a family. And, so in the talent-perk field of today’s landscape, how hard is it to find a company that embodies the family friendly workplace?

Alice Gomstyn article How to tell whether a prospective employer is actually ‘family-friendly’ illuminates the age-old argument about what constitutes a family-friendly workplace. It reads, in part;

“Fewer hours. Less travel. More flexibility. Minimal stress.

The promise of having it all led Al, a father in suburban New Jersey, to leave a high-pressure career at a New York City talent management agency to work as a marketing director at a theater just a few miles from his home. Al (who asked that his last name not be used so he could speak candidly about his employers) wanted to devote more time to his son, who has special needs, and be available to visit the boy’s elementary school when necessary.But things didn’t work out as expected. Al’s hours grew longer and his boss began calling him on weekends. Occasional requests to leave work to deal with issues at his son’s school were met with disdain.

“What was presented to me at the interview,” Al says, “was very different from what the reality was at the workplace.”

Sometimes the quest for work-life balance can lead parents to change jobs. Those who believe they’re moving to a more family-friendly company or industry may face a rude awakening, though, when hiring managers don’t keep their promises, or when personnel changes transform a once laid-back department into a high-pressure environment.

The family-friendliness of a workplace often depends on who’s running it at the moment, says Samantha Ettus, a work-life balance expert and author. People commonly “leave companies for the grass-is-greener mentality of ‘maybe that other company is going to afford me a better lifestyle,’” she says. “But if they’re working for a boss who doesn’t have any boundaries with their own personal life … [that boss] is certainly not going to care about protecting yours.”

Rachel, a Memphis-based accountant who asked to be identified by her first name only to speak candidly, felt like no one was protecting her when she faced a dramatic increase in her workload. She had traded 60-hour-plus weeks at a public accounting firm for what was supposed to be a better quality of life at an in-house corporate tax department. For a few years, Rachel was satisfied with her move. That changed quickly, however, after several members of the department left. When their positions went unfilled, much more work was heaped onto Rachel’s plate.

She still managed to get out of the office in time to pick up her young son from day care, but it meant spending hours catching up on work each night. The stress took its toll and affected her home life. “I was leaving every day from work in tears,” she says. “I was on edge most of the time. My poor husband probably got my sharp tongue way more than he deserved.” Exhausted and distraught, Rachel reached out to supervisors asking if she could get more support, but she says her pleas were ignored.

Companies today are often quick to tout family-friendly benefits such as parental leave and remote-work options, but the hard truth is that employers are generally under no obligation to deliver on those promises and accommodate parents struggling to balance their duties at work with their responsibilities at home”.

Bottom-line: Employers shape their workplace policies and culture and so, working- parents should be prudent in asking as much information as possible about a prospective company’s expectations before signing on the dotted line of a work contract.

Keep current with ATS:

Follow ATS on Twitter
Join the conversation with ATS on Pinterest
Follow ATS on Google Plus

To learn more about ATS Time and Attendance Solutions, go to our website. You can download a free demonstration or register for one of our bi-weekly webinars.

Remote Work, The Washington Post

Do Most Companies Understand That Working Remotely, Can Attract Future Talent?

It wasn’t too long ago that asking your boss to work from home would likely stunt your career aspirations. And, while some companies still frown on the idea of employees working from home, there is no stopping this shift towards working remotely, a shift that has been taking place for the last several years.

Want further proof that remote work is on the rise, despite reluctance from some companies? Here are excerpts from an article, written by Valerie Bolden-Barrette for HRDive titled, Working remotely is now the norm for developers, new study shows

Eighty-six percent of IT developers work remotely, with almost one-third working from home full time, according to a study by DigitalOcean, a cloud-based platform. Of the more than 4,500 respondents to the study, Currents: A Seasonal Report on Developer Trends in the Cloud: Remote Work Edition, 43% said that the ability to work remotely is “a must-have” when considering a job offer.
Contrary to the belief that remote workers are isolated and disengaged from the workforce, 71% of respondents who work remotely said they feel connected to their organization’s community. However, the 29% of remote workers who feel isolated said they’re disengaged from their company’s culture and excluded from offline conversations with team members when working offsite. Seventy-six percent of respondents expected remote work to offer more work-life balance, but many reported working longer hours and that their work-life balance was only slightly better than their onsite colleagues.
Although remote work is considered the norm for developers, a plurality (47%) started working offsite between one and four years ago. The study also found that on a scale of 1-5, a flexible work schedule was “very important” to many of the respondents (44%).

Despite the above-mentioned stats that shows an upward trajectory, that more companies are adopting a remote workforce mentality-you will have to build a compelling case on the benefits of remote work if your employer does not believe it in.

Here’s some additional stats from the article; “Remote work has swiftly become a norm, especially in a tight labor market with more specialized jobs. Since 2005, the number of U.S. employees who work from home at least half the time has more than doubled, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But employers have been comparably slow in outlining how such arrangements work for their companies; a majority of employers surveyed in a 2018 Upwork study lacked any official remote work policy”.

Bottomline: There are certain jobs like payroll and HR and in some industries that require employees to be in the office or on a job site. On the other hand, other jobs like software programing or sales can be done remotely. In the end, if you have presented a strong business case on the reasons why you should work remotely, and it does not match with your employers’ corporate culture, it might be best, in the end, to start looking elsewhere.

To learn more about ATS and our Cloud-Based HCM Workforce Management application for mid-enterprise size organizations, go to our website.

You can also request a demonstration or register for one of our bi-monthly webinars. To reach an account executive by phone call: 866.294.2467.

Cloud, HCM, HR Dive, Payroll, Remote Work, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Workforce Management

What Are Some Crucial Business Lessons Learned During The Global Pandemic?

Is Your Team Experiencing Video Conference Fatigue With Too Many Meetings?

5 Ways To Reduce Security Risks For Your Remote Workforce

What Exactly Is A Family-Friendly Workplace?

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Meta