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During the height of the pandemic, many employers espoused the virtues of their companies and how it valued workers are partners. Sign on bonuses for new recruits became the norm, because it was difficult to find talent.

Fast forward to 2022 and it appears, some companies may have reverted to their old ways of doing business. Attracting talent is one thing, but retaining it has become a challenge onto its own. And employees who are looking for work these days are not interested in accepting the old ways of doing things. Still scratching your head about what employees really want? Here are 5 tips:

  1. Compensation: It’s important so, it include on your online job ad, discuss in the first and second interview. No one wants to work for low wages. Recent studies revealed income being is the number 1 factor for candidates who are seeking employment. If a candidate accepts a lower wage with your company, chances are, they will eventually leave as soon as they higher pay job comes along.

2. Value: Employees want to feel valued. Companies should openly recognize and appreciate their team. Making your employees feel valued can be achieved through a variety of ways. The most tangible way is to provide compensation in the form of bonuses, raises, or expanded benefits, as mentioned above.

Creating an environment where your employees feel they are seen and heard ispowerful. Small steps that recognize and appreciate your employees, such as celebrating birthdays, sending thank you emails, and recognizing workplace milestones can go a long way towards creating a workplace where gratitude is present.

3Diversity: If you really want to diversify your workforce, stop asking potential candidates to optionally self-identify their ethnicity, among other things, on digital applications. These questions have nothing to do with a candidates’ ability — in fact, it will likely shine a light on your company’s inherent biases and, drive potential candidates to another company whose online applications do not have self-identifying questions of this nature.  According to the OHRC, “application forms should not have questions that ask directly or indirectly about race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, record of offences, age, marital status, family status or disability”. And finally, if these questions are optional, why add them to the application in the first place?

In the end, do you know what employees want to see reflected in a company? They want real change, not platitudes, when it comes to a company’s ongoing commitment to diversify that includes hourly employees as well as leadership, that reflects a culture of inclusion for everyone.

4. Work-life balance: That’s right! And its not going away anytime soon. If you do not have a remote or hybrid work policy, good luck finding employees willing to work for your company. While not all jobs can be done remotely, many of them can. Work-life balance and well-being has becoming increasingly important to workers.

Pandemic-induced life changes have prompted a work-life balance reset for many employees who are more likely to prioritize lifestyle (family and personal interests) over proximity to work, and will pursue jobs in locations where they can focus on both. To win the war on talent in the future, companies will need to meet employees where they are.

5. Paid Time Off: Increased paid vacation time and parental leave are high on employees’ lists. Aside from health care and retirement benefits, employees are interested in working for a company that gives more paid time off and paid family leave. The dark days of pandemic became a time of self-reflection for many employees —and the days of working past the end of their shift or on weekends if they don’t have to, are gone.

Bottomline: So, what’s in it for employers? As an organization, if the prospect of a productive and happy workforce plus increased profits makes sense to you, then these tips should not be hard to implement. Conversely, you can always place your bet on employees putting the pandemic behind them in the hope, that they will just “get over it.” But the pandemic has stretched this piece of elastic so far that it cannot snap back. Moreover, employees don’t want to go back to the way it was before. Many are developing a new sense of self-awareness and worth, and they won’t easily forget if they are working for a company, that favours profits over its workers and one that does not reflect the diversity of the communities in which it operates.

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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.

The phrase “The Great Resignation was coined by Texas A&M University Professor Anthony C. Klotz coined back in 2020. Now this term is widely used to describe the challenges many businesses, both small and large face with the max exodus of employees. Some experts have anecdotally, opined employees chose to stay home and collect stimulus covid-19 panademic cheques. However, recent surveys, suggest the real reasons, is because many people have decided to make a major shift in their life and focus on what matters most to them during the pandemic. Some of these reasons for quitting their jobs include: family, children education, and work-life balance. In other words, most people decided to leave their old jobs and look for new jobs that align with their new identity and life goals.

In a recent blog Sophia Lee at Blue Board  lays out some of the reasons why so many employees have decided to quit their jobs.

1. Employee burnout rates are through the roof.

Employee burnout is a long-term reaction to stress that usually comes with mental, emotional, and physical side effects. While 42% of employees were already experiencing burnout before the pandemic, that number skyrocketed to 72% a few months into lockdown—largely due to increased anxiety, heavier workloads, and people taking less time off. 

But many employers still aren’t addressing employee burnout in their retention strategies. One in five workers believes their employer doesn’t care about their work-life balance. And they’ve had enough. They’re quitting in droves, looking for companies that care about their wellbeing. Others are staying put—but at a cost to organizations. The lost productivity of an actively disengaged employee is equal to 18% of their annual salary. This means a company of 10,000 employees with an average salary of $50,000 each will lose $60.3 million a year due to employee burnout.

2. Companies aren’t providing the flexibility employees need.

When COVID-19 sent so many people home, employees realized how powerful (and possible) it is to be able to decide where, how, and when they work. Which is why nine in ten employees continue to demand flexibility from their jobs.

Too many organizations have dismissed this shift, and expect people to quietly return to the office. But this will likely result in significant turnover, as 54% of employees are considering leaving their job in this new normal if they’re not afforded some form of flexibility in where and when they work. 

3. Manager training continues to fall short. 

Managers have the most influence on an employee’s job satisfaction, wellbeing, and likelihood to stay at a company. In fact, 57% of employees have left at least one company because of their boss. But being a manager isn’t intuitive. It requires an entirely different set of skills than being an individual contributor, which is why training programs are essential.

In these uncertain times, managers are playing an especially critical role in supporting their employees. Or, at least, they should be. But due to a lack of effective training, many managers aren’t giving employees what they need, causing them to burn out and look for new jobs. 

Managers themselves are frustrated by the lack of support from their employers. They’ve been asked to take on significantly more responsibility without being given additional tools, resources, or guidance. The employee retention numbers reflect the frustration: as of December 2020, the resignation rate for managers was nearly 12% higher than the previous year.

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.


Working from home full-time for some during these trying times of COVID-19 has throw a wrench into the concept of work-life balance. And, while some of us are slowly returning to the office, others have continued to work from home.

Wheter you have an arrangement with your manager to telecommute a couple days a week or if you are working from home full-time, here are 3 tips for taking care of your eyes from an article written by Sarah D. Young

  1. Adjust your environment: Sit about two feet away from your computer screen to reduce eyestrain. Position the screen so that your eyes are looking slightly downward, not straight ahead or up. Adjust the screen brightness and contrast until it feels comfortable, and consider using a larger font if you’re working hard to see letters. 
  2. Take regular eye breaks: Seldomridge advises following the “20-20-20” rule, by looking 20 feet away from the screen every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. Alternatively, you can close your eyes for 20 seconds every 20 minutes. 
  3. Use artificial tears: Because staring at screens reduces blinking and increases dryness, the use of eye drops (“artificial tears”) can help keep your eyes moist and alleviate dry eye discomfort. Seldomridge said a humidifier can also help add moisture to the air and help prevent eye dryness. 

Bottomline: These tips can help reduce eye strain when we are forced to look at screens all day. Some experts suggest that we create technology-free zones in certain areas of ours homes, like the bedroom or bathroom. Just imagine spending the entire day working on the computer, getting in bed and scrolling through social media?  We should instead, truly unplug by reading a book or spend some quality time with family members without our phones.

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, call: 866.294.2467 and to download a demo go to our website.

Working from home during COVID-19 pandemic can make seem like you are working all the time. Know how to set boundaries between your work and personal life, as well as avoid professional isolation. And, if your office is closed due to the corona virus pandemic, you might be working from home for the first time.

If you are working from home for the first time and/or just can’t seem to stay focused with the knowledge that your TV and fridge is nearby, consider these tips for maintaining work-life balance and avoiding professional isolation. These tips are from an article by Elizabeth Grace Saunders in Harvard Business Review titled, How to Stay Focused When You’re Working from Home

  1. Establish working hours- It may sound silly, but if you want to have a focused day of work, pretend you’re not working from home. Before I became a time management coach, my schedule was chaotic. I didn’t have a set time that I would be at my computer, and I would often schedule personal appointments or run errands during the day. And since my personal life didn’t have boundaries, my work life didn’t either. When I was home, I would feel guilty for not checking business email at all hours of the day and night. I never felt that I could truly rest.
  2. Structure your day for success- Maximize the effectiveness of your time at home by structuring it differently than a typical workday. For example, if you work from home only one day a week or on occasion, make it a meeting-free day. If you can’t entirely avoid meetings, reserve at least half a day for focused work. Choose a time that works best for you, based on any required meetings and your energy levels.
  3. Set boundaries with others- To make your efforts stick, be clear with the people who might see your work-at-home days as simply days you’re at home. Explain to friends, family, and other acquaintances that the days you’re working remotely aren’t opportunities for non-work-related activities. For example, if you’re home with your spouse, tell them, “I’m planning on being on my computer from 8 AM to 5 PM today. I’m happy to chat at lunch, but other than that I’ll be occupied.” Typically, when you set expectations and stick to them (say, really stopping at 5 PM), people understand your limits instead of assuming you’ll be available. (I also recommend having a place where you’re away from anyone else who might be home, such as an office or bedroom where you can shut the door and be out of sight.)

Bottomline: While some employees have been working remotely for many years and will likely keep their same routine, managers should remember that not every employee actually wants to work from home, a shift that can be stressful for some. However, as organizations increasingly mandate that many employees work from home during this pandemic outbreak, it’s becomes even more important that managers, communicate with their employees as some might be struggling with the change.

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 about ATS, go to our website. To download a demo of our time and attendance app or reach us by phone call; 866.294.2467.