Tag: absence reporting

Absence Management Mistakes Costing Your Business Money

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November 2nd, 2020

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A talented team isn’t enough to ensure a company’s success. Projects will suffer if critical members duck out early, show up late, or fail to show up at all. This puts extra stress on punctual employees who have to pick up the slack, but this approach isn’t sustainable for long. Eventually, those employees will burnout, and productivity will tank across the board. If you start missing deadlines, clients and stakeholders will lose faith.

Remote employees add a layer of complexity to absence management. Many employers have a hard enough time keeping track of who arrived and at what time at their brick and mortar offices. Remote teams are even more difficult to keep tabs on due to the virtual nature of their work. For businesses that suspect or know they have an attendance problem, the following mistakes could be the cause:

  1. Insufficient attendance tracking. If a company doesn’t have a robust system for tracking tardiness, early departures, and absences, they aren’t going to know where to start to fix the problem. By collecting attendance data, businesses can see if the problem is company-wide, specific to a department or team, or an individual. This gives them a good idea of where to focus their attendance improvement efforts.
  2. Ambiguous attendance policies. Some businesses have a strict arrival time for employees while others focus more on when employees begin working for the day. If a company allows for flexible scheduling, this can make matters murky for employees. It also makes it more difficult to track without an absence management system. If employees come and go at different times, managers may not be able to keep track of who is trimming their work hours. Eliminating gray areas in attendance policies can cut down on employee confusion.
  3. Focusing on the negative. While businesses need to take action against attendance issues, they shouldn’t only focus on the disciplinary elements. Highlighting employees with perfect attendance improves morale and provides a model for other employees to emulate. Offering small incentives such as a free lunch for any employee with perfect attendance for the month can help reduce absenteeism as well.
  4. Not listening to the data. Even the best absence management software isn’t useful if businesses don’t look at the data. This information can help companies identify attendance trends before they become a widespread problem. Knowing where to start investigating saves time and money by homing in on the root of the issue.

Manual methods of attendance tracking are outmoded and don’t help businesses identify attendance trends in time to correct them. Actec developed an absence tracking mobile app to help businesses overcome this hurdle. Our absence management solutions provide several channels for communication including telephonic, text/chat, within the app itself, or the web. Employees can report in for the day from the convenience of their smartphones or devices. This is tremendously helpful for remote teams or teams working out of numerous locations. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about absence management.

Signs Your Company Needs a Better Attendance System

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October 19th, 2020

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Keeping track of employee attendance should be a straightforward process. However, without a cohesive attendance management system, several issues can occur. Managers may report absences at different times of the day using a variety of communication methods. With HR receiving emails, texts, memos, or in-person visits on an unpredictable schedule, errors are likely to occur. However, implementing an electronic attendance system can reduce the tedium and frustrations of absence management.

Antiquated absence management processes cost time and money. Upgrading to an electronic absence reporting system can reap several benefits. The following are some key indicators that your attendance system needs an update:

  1. Frequent errors or inaccuracies. Manual timesheets or uncoordinated absence reporting channels are prone to error. Managers may not understand the various types of leave and misreport their employees’ absences as a result. For example, an employee may request leave that qualifies for Family Medical Leave, but the manager may report it as sick leave. Having a streamlined electronic system can eliminate these kinds of record-keeping errors.
  2. Productivity issues in the HR department. If HR employees are spending several hours combing through various emails, notes, and voicemails to try and track employee attendance, they’re losing valuable time. The HR department manages several essential functions that keep the business going, such as employee benefits, employee training, job design and analysis, and recruiting. Having an electronic absence reporting system can free up their time to focus on these other critical tasks.
  3. Employee performance is lagging. Unchecked attendance issues often result in productivity problems. Employees who arrive late, duck out early, or don’t show up put projects behind schedule. They also cause stress for their coworkers as many have to pick up the slack. Having an electronic system sends all attendance records to a centralized location, which allows HR to take note of negative attendance trends. With this data, managers can take steps to identify the cause of the absence issues as well as take steps to rectify them.
  4. Morale is low. Attendance can affect employee morale in several ways. They may harbor resentments toward coworkers who abuse their paid time off without repercussions. A confusing or poorly enforced system can also leave employees feeling powerless. Either way, poor absence management can result in employee disengagement. Electronic attendance software with self-service features gives employees a sense of agency and control.

If your absence management system is creating more problems than it’s solving, Actec can help. Contact us to learn about our absence tracking mobile app as well as our other absence reporting solutions.

How to Track Excessive Absences in the Workplace

Posted on

September 21st, 2020

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Businesses can’t function much less turn a profit if the employees don’t show up to do the work. When absences begin piling up, it has a domino effect on the rest of the company. Projects may fall behind schedule if a key employee is regularly missing. This bleeds into other projects as well as team members may need to stop what they’re doing to catch up on the absent employee’s work. This effects workplace morale as well, causing a company-wide productivity problem.

Identifying Absenteeism

Without adequate absence management software, managers will struggle to keep track of which employees have impeccable attendance, spotty attendance, or rampant absenteeism. Before taking any action, however, managers need to determine the cause of the absence as many are legitimate. Some common examples include:

  1. Calling out sick
  2. Doctor’s appointments
  3. Paid time off (PTO) such as vacation days
  4. Maternity/Paternity leave and other leave protected by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
  5. Religious holidays
  6. Unpaid, approved leave
  7. Jury duty

Whether the absence is valid or not, employees should give notice before the day itself with the exception of requesting sick leave. Having an absence management system in place allows managers to keep track of excused and unexcused absences.

The Benefits of an Absence Management System

Absence management systems keep all attendance data in a centralized location. This allows managers to simplify tracking attendance, tardiness, leave requests, and absenteeism. It also lets managers identify trends such as an individual employee that frequently arrives late or calls out of work without notice. With that information, managers can make data-driven decisions and changes to reduce attendance issues, address work-related problems contributing to absenteeism, and improve productivity.

Mobile Absence Tracking

With COVID-19 forcing many businesses to shift to a remote workforce, tracking attendance is more challenging than ever. Having a mobile app to manage leave requests and track absences reduces confusion and simplifies absence management. Actec’s absence tracking mobile app provides employees with several channels for submitting leave requests including telephonic, text/chat, and directly through the mobile app itself. This allows employees to choose the method they’re most comfortable with, which is vital to ensure employees follow attendance policies and procedures. To learn more about mobile absence tracking, contact the experts at Actec.

How to Keep Your Remote Workforce Healthy During COVID-19

Posted on

July 13th, 2020

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With several states seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases, many businesses are opting to have their employees continue working from home. However, while working from home has significantly fewer risk factors for spreading COVID-19 than working in an office setting does, it’s not guaranteed employees won’t become sick.

Common Risk Factors in Employees Homes

Even if a company’s employees are telecommuting, this doesn’t mean the rest of their households are as well. Spouses or adult children still living at home may have jobs that don’t allow them to telecommute. These individuals may bring illness home with them (COVID-19 or otherwise) that then may infect remote workers. Telecommuting employees still need to go out as well to pick up groceries, prescriptions, and more, which increases their risk profile of contracting COVID-19.

4 Steps to Keep Remote Employees Healthy

Employers should encourage their employees to utilize the following best practices to stay as healthy as possible during the pandemic:

  1. Sterilize common household surfaces. Alcohol is the great equalizer when it comes to viruses. With the proper application and concentration, employees can kill 99.99% of germs lingering on surfaces everyone touches. This can help prevent the accidental surface spread of illnesses among household members. The most effective alcohol-based cleaners have a concentration of at least 70% alcohol.
  2. Condense grocery trips whenever possible. Prior to COVID-19, making a quick trip to the store for a forgotten item didn’t pose major health risks. Now, unnecessary exposure in crowded places increases the likelihood of falling ill. Utilizing grocery pickup or delivery services can significantly curtail this source of exposure.
  3. Wear a mask when out in public. While hotly debated in some places, wearing a mask out in public is the easiest way to prevent the spread of contagion. This is particularly important if employees are visiting places where sick people congregate such as the pharmacy or at a doctor’s office. Wearing a mask is also a good reminder to avoid touching the face while out in public, as the mouth, nose, and eyes are common entry points for viruses.
  4. Wear gloves when out in public. Many people know that door handles, grocery carts, and other surfaces touched by dozens if not hundreds of people each day are likely sources of germs. However, not many stop to consider the produce and products they touch while at grocery stores. Several people have likely handled those items and wearing disposable gloves can cut down on the spread of germs.

While employers can educate and train their employees on the best practices to stay healthy during the pandemic, it’s impossible to safeguard against every risk. In the event that employees fall ill, employers will need a simple solution to keep track of absences and leave requests from their remote workforce. Contact the experts at Actec to learn how our absence tracking mobile app can help your business.

Absence Reporting During and Beyond the Pandemic

Posted on

June 22nd, 2020

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COVID-19 has created new challenges for businesses in several areas, one of which is absence management. As many businesses begin a phased return to the office while others are maintaining their remote staff, keeping track of absences and leave requests can quickly become confusing. Prior to COVID-19, it was common practice to urge sick employees to stay home. Now, it’s less a matter of should symptomatic employees stay home and more an issue of when it’s safe for them to return to the workplace and how that affects leave and absence policies.

Federally Protected Leave and Emerging Programs

Federally protected leave programs like FMLA, disability leave, and so on still apply during COVID-19. However, the U.S. Department of Labor issued two new forms of leave to address the challenges created by the pandemic: the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act.

Both fall under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which grants up to 80 hours of paid sick leave to employees who have to quarantine due to a government order or at the recommendation of their physician. Employees experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking treatment also qualify for this kind of leave.

FFCRA also offers up to 80 hours of paid sick leave at two-thirds of employees’ regular income if they are unable to work because they have to care for a quarantined individual or child due to school and childcare closures. Employees can seek an additional 10 weeks of paid leave at two-thirds of their regular income if their child’s school/care facilities remain closed due to COVID-19 so long as they have been employed for at least 30 days. FFCRA is available through the end of the 2020 calendar year and employers can acquire a payroll tax credit for 100% of the amount.

Tracking Employee Leave Requests

Tracking leave requests, remaining compliant with shifting Federal and state employee leave laws, all while keeping the workforce healthy will quickly overwhelm HR departments. Actec developed the app Absence 365 to meet businesses’ absence management needs during these stressful times. This customizable app allows employees to submit leave requests and centralizes all absence notifications in one location. In addition to remaining compliant, the app can also help employers recognize trends to enact effective change within their company. Contact us to learn how we can help meet your business’ absence management needs.

How Flexible Schedules Can Benefit Your Business

Posted on

June 17th, 2020

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Absenteeism in the workplace is a challenge all businesses need to be ready to take head-on. Letting attendance problems slide can lead to a productivity crisis as well as spread like an infection to other employees. However, preventing absenteeism is a lot simpler than many companies realize. By implementing flexible schedules, employers can see an uptick in punctuality, productivity, and more.

Reducing Tardiness, Early Departures, and Absenteeism

Employees that work traditional nine to five jobs suffer through rush hour traffic on the front and backend of their workday. This can cause them to arrive late or duck out early to avoid it. Spending hours of their day in traffic can also lead to resentment and burnout. By allowing employees to shift their schedules to an earlier or later time, they can avoid rush hour and find a better work-life balance. Happier employees are more punctual and less likely to call out of work as well.

More Productive Employees

Allowing employees to set their own schedules gives them agency and improves engagement. Often, they get more work done than usual because they’re in a better mood and not struggling with work weariness. If your business doesn’t have to adhere to strict, traditional work hours, you can reap the benefits of improved productivity such as better workplace morale and more profits.

Recruit Top Candidates

Having a flexible schedule is a much sought after benefit and can attract top tier job candidates. Having the ability to set their own schedule can entice applicants away from the competition as well. In addition, employers don’t typically have to worry about absenteeism from high-quality applicants. This saves time and money by reducing employee turnover rates.

Making the change to flexible scheduling may seem radical to many businesses, especially if they’ve always operated during traditional work hours. However, it doesn’t have to be the scheduling nightmare it seems like with the proper tools. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about our absence management solutions.

4 Tips to Improve Productivity While Working from Home

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May 18th, 2020

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For many employees, the shift to working 100% from home has been a challenging one. Many are working alongside their spouse with limited office space while others have their children’s homeschool schedules to manage in addition to their work responsibilities. Some may be caring for at-risk family members or struggling with isolation if they live alone. Working from home with little notice due to COVID-19 has its hurdles, but employers and employees can take the following steps to maximize their productivity.

  1. Create a general schedule for everyone. An employee’s work schedule no longer exists in the insulated walls of their work building. They need to outline what the new daily routine will look like to include sleep schedules, work hours, school obligations, meal times, outdoor/recreation time, screen time, and more. Employees may need rigid hours or flexible time slots to make a schedule work for their family. However, having a basic plan for how the day will unfold can help keep everyone on track and keep chaos to a minimum.
  2. Accept that work will be different than it was before. Trying to force an office building-oriented routine onto a working-from-the-kitchen-table scenario will fail every time. Employees will only be able to complete a certain amount of work if there are several other people living at home with them. Limited office space, a significant increase in the relative volume level, limited access to previous resources and tools, and a host of distractions will drastically overhaul the appearance of a typical workday. Employers and employees will need a significant degree of flexibility to avoid burnout.
  3. Schedule work hours and stick to them. Having other people around such as a spouse, extended family members, or children can derail a workday without much effort. It’s important for the employee to establish clear work hours and let everyone know they are unavailable to chat or play during that time frame barring emergencies.
  4. Outline a weekly work plan. With more things competing with employee’s time while working from home, outlining a plan for each day can help. Having a schedule lets employees know exactly what they need to do when they sit down at their computer rather than wasting rare uninterrupted time figuring out where to start. Several online project management tools can help with this.

Finding ways to improve productivity, engagement, and morale can help reduce employees’ stress, the likelihood of burnout, and attendance problems. To learn more about managing attendance with a remote workforce, contact the experts at Actec.

4 Ways to Determine If Management Is Causing High Absenteeism

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April 27th, 2020

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Seasoned managers don’t allow themselves to get too hung up on whether their employees like them or not. While it’s good to foster positive communication and a good working relationship with employees, management isn’t there to win popularity contests. However, when company leaders are actively unpleasant, it can tank productivity and cause attendance problems such as tardiness, ducking out early, or calling out of work altogether.

If employee retention, attendance, and engagement are down across the board, it may be time to take a closer look at leadership styles. The following red flags can indicate the absenteeism problem isn’t because of the employees, but because of their managers or team leads:

  1. Employees avoid management at all costs. Employees may be intimidated by casual conversation with the boss, but it’s another thing altogether if they go to great lengths to avoid any encounter. For example, they may vacate common areas when management enters them, avoid meetings/sit as far as possible from management during meetings, or find an excuse to skip out on company events that put them in close proximity with management.
  2. Small talk is forced and awkward. Small talk happens throughout the day, but unhappy employees may clam up abruptly around management. If they refuse to discuss even the most superficial topics with company leadership, it may be a sign that something is amiss.
  3. They don’t offer to help. Employees are aware of their workflow and many will offer to help with related tasks to keep projects on schedule. It shows initiative and many companies view it as a positive trait and reward it accordingly. When employees are at odds with management, however, they won’t extend aid for one of two reasons. Either they don’t feel like they should help someone who is antagonistic to them or they are afraid to speak up to make the offer.
  4. Attendance becomes a problem. It can start small, like employees leaving the second work hours are over even if projects are incomplete for deadlines. They may begin to sneak out five minutes early or take longer breaks. They might start calling in sick on a frequent basis, which hurts productivity and the morale of the remaining staff.

One employee exhibiting the above signs may be indicative of a problem with that particular individual. However, if employers notice numerous employees are showing symptoms, it may be time to take a closer look at company management and their leadership styles. Recognizing the signs of an unhappy staff can allow leaders to address the problem before it devolves into widespread absenteeism. To learn more about absence management, contact the experts at Actec.

Biggest Work from Home Challenges Employees Face

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April 6th, 2020

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As more states issue stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19, many businesses are trying to implement work from home programs. This will allow them to keep operations going while complying with CDC recommendations for social distancing. While there are many benefits to working from home—no commute being one of the biggest ones—there are also several hurdles employees need to deal with in order to remain effective.

The following are some of the leading difficulties that will impede the success of a remote workforce:

  1. Employees working too much. Work is a job without end. There is no true finish line as more tasks follow on the heels of completed jobs. When working in a typical office building, employees have clear cues on when to begin and stop working. At home, those lines can become blurred and many employees may overwork as a result, which can lead to burnout. To avoid this, employers should set clear business hours and encourage employees to create boundaries between their workspace and the rest of their house such as creating a home office space.
  2. Prioritizing tasks. There are significantly more distractions at home than there are in the workplace. It’s easy for employees to get sidetracked by a sink full of dishes or watching TV during their lunch break. To mitigate wasted work hours, employees should focus on their most important tasks first. Many employees find certain tasks daunting and they’re less likely to procrastinate if they tackle those jobs first thing during the workday. This can set a momentum for a productive day.
  3. Household interruptions. In light of the coronavirus, many parents working from home will also likely have small children or spouses home with them as well. Establishing a workspace or office is critical to creating boundaries between family time and work time. Explaining to children and other household members why it’s important to avoid interruptions as well as setting consistent work hours can help limit these kinds of disruptions.
  4. Isolation. Switching from a typical office setup to a one-person work environment can be jarring for some employees. Loneliness and cabin fever can derail productivity so it’s important that employees incorporate socialization into their day. Downloading video chat apps or making a social phone call during lunch breaks can help ease the feelings of isolation.

Communication will also be a significant challenge as workplaces adjust to using chat programs and making calls to discuss projects rather than stopping by a coworker’s office or cubical. Actec understands the challenges employers face ensuring their workforce is productive. Contact us to learn more about managing employee’s time and attendance while working from home.

How to Implement a Successful Work from Home Program in 5 Steps

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March 16th, 2020

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The novel coronavirus has made headlines for months and isn’t showing signs of stopping anytime soon. For many employers, the likelihood of business interruptions is no longer a potential that can wait unchecked. If schools and daycares close, employees will need to stay home to provide care for their children. This leaves employers in a quandary—how do they continue business as usual with a skeleton crew? For many, the answer will be allowing their workers to telecommute.

What a Telecommuting Workforce Will Look Like

Many companies offer flexible schedules or work from home options on certain days of the week already, as these are appealing benefits among millennials. Expanding this policy to allow employees to work 100% remote won’t be without its challenges. It will be even more difficult for businesses that have no exposure to such policies.

To implement a successful remote work policy, employers will need to know its limitations first. Not every job is suited to working from home so employers will still need to develop strategies or workarounds for jobs that are impossible to perform from home. Managers will be a vital resource to executives, as they should know which tasks are most suited to telework and which ones are not.

Employees will also need access to adequate equipment including, at a minimum, a computer with high-speed internet. While most households have these things, executives should be sure employees have the ability to attend teleconferences and maintain good communication while working from home.

How to Implement a Work from Home Policy

There will be a learning curve as employees and employers alike adjust to the change. Some employees may find they’re more comfortable working from home in their pajamas while others may dislike bringing work into the home. There may be communication hiccups as well so investing in a company chat program may help employees maintain the back-and-forth needed to keep projects moving.

To ensure the program is a success, employers should do the following:

  1. Start testing it now. Waiting until a closure happens and forces the company’s hand isn’t likely to be a smooth transition to remote working. To get a feel for how telecommuting would work, employers could implement the program on a one-day a week basis.
  2. Iron out the wrinkles. Establishing a telecommuting policy isn’t as simple as providing employees with a computer and access to the company network. Communication will be key to maintaining order. Investing in apps that focus on communication like chat programs, video conferencing, and more will help achieve that goal. In the testing phase, employers can identify problem areas and tweak the policy or find an application to resolve the issues.
  3. Establish work hours. This will be especially critical for workplaces that offer flexible scheduling. With employees clocking in and out at varying times of the day, chaos can quickly ensue. Employers will need to decide whether all employees must be available during the same hours of the day or if the work lends itself to a flexible schedule without issue.
  4. Recognize where it won’t work. Some jobs require employees to be onsite without any way to perform the work from home. Employers will need to determine a plan for those employees as well as how (and if) their business can continue to operate without them.

Businesses need to have a plan in place for how they will respond if shutdowns or illness forces their employees to remain at home for an extended period. At the bare minimum, employers should consider revising their absence policy. For example, progressive discipline policies may unfairly affect working parents or employees who have to remain home to care for an ill family member. Contact the experts at Actec to learn more about our absence management solutions.