Tanda Blog

Jessica Genio-Ignacio

19 February 2020    |   

Hospitality consistently receives the highest Fair Work Ombudsman disputes per year. In the 2018-2019 financial year, 36% of all anonymous reports were made in the industry. Data underscore troubles as well, with the fast food, restaurants, and cafe sectors leading the way in noncompliance rates. One report of a surprise audit conducted in 2018 netted $471,904 unpaid wages from businesses in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. Compliance issues harm business. There’s the spectre of litigation, as well as the direct blows to brand value. For the workforce, it’s disheartening to learn you may have been ill-compensated for your hours. One survey by hospitality job platform Barcats found of participating hospitality professionals, 40% suspected pay shortages in packets, with 33% of that number discovering suspicions were true.  How non-compliance hits business growth In our study conducted in partnership with Workforce, we found two of the most prominent concerns organisations have about compliance is damage to employee morale (mentioned by 58.1% of respondents) and damage to brand equity (44.2%).  Morale is key to engagement. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace study, engaged employees consistently produce better business outcomes: 10% higher customer ratings, 20% higher sales, and 21% higher profitability. Research also says that highly engaged business units reported a 24% lower turnover in high-turnover organisations. And the hospitality industry has a problem with turnover. High competition, low barriers to entry for businesses and workers alike, and casual employment, all contribute to turnover.  Replacement hiring has costs. In one case study on Australian four and five-star hotels, researchers from Griffith University found $9,591 was the average cost for replacing an operational employee. At the same time, $109,909 per annum per establishment was the average cost for replacing executive, managerial and supervisory staff.  It doesn’t stop at that. The Fair Work Ombudsman imposes a strict set of penalties on those who fail to adhere to workplace laws, each misstep potentially costing businesses thousands to millions of dollars if they aren’t careful. Sanctions include: On-the-spot fines  Court appearances Money paid per infringement, amounts varying by severity Paying back employee entitlements plus interest Mandatory training and audits Compensation payments Some cases can go back decades. One such high-profile case is that of George Calombaris’ (of MasterChef Australia fame) MAdE Establishment group. In 2017, the group paid $2.6 million to 162 affected workers from three Melbourne restaurants. Two years later, that figure grew: In 2019 the company revealed they paid $7.8 million in wages to more than 500 employees. They attributed the errors to lapses in annualised salary arrangements, resulting in mistakes in overtime and penalty rates.  Watch: ASBFEO Ombudsman Kate Carnell on Governance and Compliance There’s even talk of the government drafting laws to criminalise intentional wage theft. Groups believe such rulings merits greater consequences, but it remains to be seen whether harsher penalties make it into law. Why labour violations happen With these risks, why do most businesses only learn of errors through employee complaints? The root is the same barrier preventing hospitality businesses from addressing compliance inaccuracies immediately: the complexity of Australian labour regulations. Wages are influenced by everything. Fair Work also makes periodic amendments to industry award rules, necessitating thorough reviews of changes lest an employer be liable for violations.  A payroll officer needs to take all that into account for calculations. That requires accurate timesheet and attendance records and onboarding documents, including employee information such as birthdays and qualifications. Human resource professionals have their hands full with workforce management, not just with running the daily operations, but also recruitment and onboarding processes to mitigate turnover.  Less breathing room means payroll officers may not catch errors on time—according to our Workforce Management Trends study, 46.1% of HR professionals say manual errors are a challenge they regularly face with time and attendance.  How successful businesses navigate complex regulatory changes Technology helps. Hundreds of workforce software solutions exist in the market aiming to solve payment problems their way. What makes for good software? Seek solutions considering compliance central to their system. Such systems should have an award interpretation engine that: Automatically updates base rates according to age and Fair Work standards Applies prepared allowances directly into staff wage calculations Calculates higher duty rates Provides detailed timesheet breakdowns that summarise all applicable modifiers to an employee’s wage for easy double-checking  Investing in automated solutions cuts down time alongside accurate employee clock-ins. That simplifies the double-checking process and can export directly to payroll as well.  Hospitality leaders can make data-driven decisions when it comes to staffing, which streamlines operations and minimises human error. That puts the future of your workforce firmly in your control: as technology develops, so can the scale of your operations.  

J. Barbor, Guest Writer

27 August 2019    |   

Technology as a business necessity In 2017, nearly half of all Australian innovation-active businesses spent on new equipment or technology, making tech the most common innovation expenditure — and rightly so. Technology has become a necessity for businesses everywhere, and the most competitive companies are always looking to upgrade theirs to improve productivity. However, it’s important to keep in mind that investing in innovative technology means more than just purchasing it. Often, the most crucial steps to maximise its benefits are what comes afterwards, when it is integrated into everyday business operations. Businesses must consider how new technologies will affect their employees, and although it might sound obvious, it’s a little more complicated than simply deploying them. Indeed, there are a lot of factors to think about, particularly with regard to how the technology will affect your frontline employees. They play a huge role in customer satisfaction, and the alienation or intimidation they may feel towards new tools will most likely affect their interactions with clients. Rosie Ramirez wrote that the smallest interactions with frontline employees can shape people’s opinions of your brand, meaning that even the small instances of bad customer service can make or break your company in the long run. That’s why getting frontline workers to engage with and accept new technology is essential in keeping them and your customers happy. That said, we’ve listed down some tips to make this adoption of new tech possible with your invaluable frontline workers. Choose user-friendly tech Frontline employees already face a lot of pressure at work — customer service workers know this more than most, and understand how stressful it can be to handle customers well. Adding new and complicated-looking technology can be frustrating (and terrifying) to those who already have a lot on their plate. Remember that there is a myriad of options for functional and user-friendly tech these days, so simply lining them up to compare your options will make a world of difference for your busy frontline workers. Think about day-to-day operations Considering how new technology will affect day-to-day operations is not a one-man job, and at this stage, it’s important to actually talk to your frontline employees who are likely affected by any changes made in the back office. For instance, if you change tracking systems for stock that will benefit your operations managers, how would this affect sales teams on the ground who rely on this information on a daily basis? Don’t assume that you know how everything works, and ask different departments how new tools might change operations from the ground up. That way, you and your workers know exactly what to expect and how to prepare for it. Be transparent about new tools Change can be intimidating, especially when employees don’t know exactly what is changing. It’s important to spell it out for frontline employees who are most likely going to be affected by the new tech. Verizon Connect’s guide on how to get employees to use new technology points out that it’s crucial to constantly repeat the benefits of new tools to employees until they’re integrated into the existing company culture. Resistance can be expected at first, but by being transparent about the new technology, you’re making frontline workers feel confident and included in the change. Guarantee effective training When you invest in new technology, it’s best to invest in effective trainers as well. This can make the adoption of new tools easier for both you and your workers. Staff won’t have to juggle trying to learn the new tech on their own while meeting with clients, since you will give them the one- or two-day training they need to understand it. Of course, follow-ups are key to knowing if additional training is necessary for certain employees, particularly the less tech-savvy ones. Data from the Australian Institute of Family Studies confirms that older generations are less likely to interact with new technology and often require extra training courses to improve basic skills for online activities. Listening to what individual workers need will help everyone gain the skills needed to operate new technology. It goes without saying that more changes should be expected in an increasingly digital world, and it’s critical to think about the individuals working on the frontlines when implementing these changes, given that they are the faces that drive brands forward. After all, what use is shiny new machinery to improve operations if your staff don’t know what to make of them? Ready to adopt a frontline-friendly technology platform? See how Tanda can make rostering and payroll more efficient when you start your free trial today.

Jana Dee Reserva

19 March 2020    |   

Communication is at the heart of workforce management. From establishing clear expectations, setting a bigger purpose, building company culture down to fostering accountability — communication will always be at the core of it all. It can either make or break operations and employee engagement. Remote work is surging as a response to COVID-19. Constant, unambiguous communication is more important than ever. A study shows how poor workforce communication can be detrimental to an organisation. Respondents say that communication barriers result in delay or failure to complete projects (44%), low morale (31%), missed performance goals (25%), and lost sales (18%). And it can be worse when a crisis hits.  Clear communication is crucial to stability  Effective communication becomes even more critical during times of crisis and uncertainty.  Workforces globally are facing a massive challenge to their operations and businesses: the COVID-19 virus. The pandemic has prompted businesses to take drastic measures to ensure the safety of staff and customers alike. Depending on the nature of the business, some have ceased operations or function under a skeleton workforce and limited hours, while other organisations have implemented work from home arrangements.  Effective communication can bind your team together. Given this situation, effective workforce communications are more critical than ever. A crisis, whether due to a natural disaster, a corporate debacle, or a disease outbreak like what we are facing now, affects employee morale. Effective communication can still bind your team together, even during times of uncertainty. But leaders need to do their part to address issues promptly and clearly.  It’s also important to note that social media and online platforms can turn your employees into de facto spokespersons for your organisation. Whatever they share on their platforms about working in your company will be reflective of how you communicate with them. It can result in a better brand image or can sprout into a new crisis.  So how can leaders effectively address their staff during a challenging time?  Act fast When a crisis strikes, it’s essential to address your employees as soon as possible. You might not have answers to some of their questions right away. In the case of continually developing situations, like the COVID-19 pandemic, this is completely understandable. But it’s crucial to let your people know that you are looking into the issue and finding solutions to their concerns. What matters is to give them the assurance that the organisation is aware of the situation and that the welfare of staff will be prioritised. Solidify your message Consistent messaging is key. While different roles have different concerns, it’s essential to keep the overall message encompassing and consistent.  As much as possible, address all of their issues and frequently-asked questions. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the questions are around the possibility of remote work, schedule changes, payment arrangements, leave management, and other operational issues. Read more: GPS Clock-in: Keep your workforce clocking in remotely Diversify message delivery How you spread the message is equally important as how you craft it.  Empathy is important during crisis times, but what if face-to-face communication is no longer possible?  Video conferencing or a video recorded message are viable options, but how do you let staff know about it? Email is a common communication channel for organisations, but it’s best to diversify delivery channels when the situation is urgent. In a survey of over 1,000 employees across the US, 43% of respondents admit that timely notifications and emergency alerts are best sent through SMS and not email. Chat platforms are also useful in this case as they can get information across quickly and more concisely. Employees are likely to open chat platforms frequently too.  Keep the feedback loop open Effective communication to staff goes beyond issuing announcements or bulletins. It’s about keeping communication lines open and allowing for feedback.  During a crisis, it’s imperative to open channels for discussions and to raise questions. Chat applications are suitable not just for discussing in groups but in one-on-one correspondence as well. It’s more real-time than email messaging too, which helps pass information more quickly.  A platform to stay connected A good communication process is vital for any organisation. Whether there’s a crisis or not, it’s important to equip the workforce with different ways to stay connected.  Thanks to technology, employers and staff can still stay connected. But a more effective approach is to keep all necessary communication in one place. If you have a workforce management system, you can take advantage of its features to stay on top of your operations and team communications.  If you’re a Tanda user, there are features available at your disposal to keep communication lines open during this difficult time. Chat with your staff, roster according to operational changes, manage leave, clock in and out remotely, and communicate changes through custom events, among other things.  COVID-19 is rapidly changing how businesses operate. We recognise that organisations need an extra helping hand right now. So we’re offering our platform for free to new sign-ups over the coming months. Sign up today and our Workforce Success team will gladly provide a personal, online walkthrough of our platform to help you get started.

Jessica Genio-Ignacio

4 March 2020    |   

Eat out at a trendy restaurant or stroll into a store for some window shopping and the first person you encounter can set the tone of your interactions with the business as a whole. The demanding job of pleasing paying customers falls squarely onto the shoulders of frontline workers. They’re the first touchpoint someone has with a business and could be their last. You can be a loyal customer to your favourite brand for years and never interact with someone who works behind the scenes, at a desk in the head office.  Numbers support the value of a well-trained frontline workforce providing high-quality customer service. According to a HubSpot research, people no longer trust businesses as they used to, preferring the opinion of family and friends. But who influences that opinion? Around 90% of the research participants consider an immediate response from customer service support very important, while 72% expect a response within 30 minutes. And they aren’t afraid to spread the word about their experiences, good or bad.  So to keep doing good business, you need to retain your best-performing frontline employees. How do you make them stay?  Give frontline workers their due Sometimes struggles with employee retention can be traced back to the basics. Are you paying them the right way, with the right wage, at the right time? Wage compliance is a big deal for frontline staff, most of whom are casual workers.  When managers are too busy chasing down employees to wrangle data on clock-ins, overtime, and leave balances, and payroll managers are unavailable for hours every pay period, they lose precious time that could have gone to improving employee engagement (understood to be a key factor in retention).  A few employee engagement strategies managers could be missing out on implementing: Instituting more transparency Creating programs for appreciation and recognition Professional development training and career planning Regular communication and candid feedback The Australian award system can be a roadblock to this, however. It has been steadily undergoing review since 2014, and businesses can expect many policies to change this year. While the review’s main aim is to simplify the language used in regulations to make them easier to understand, there’s also the possibility of slight changes in rates. These award changes are yet another factor businesses need to adapt to—and combining that with an already-complex system means without the right workforce management tools, administrators may make mistakes.  Streamline pay processing with an online payroll calculator  When manual payroll errors hold you back from improving frontline engagement, it’s time to find automated tools to do it for you.   Save time by avoiding the need to encode each clock-in, set up spreadsheets, and manually calculate staff wages. Using an online payroll calculator makes it easy. Just input your employees’ start and end times, their hourly rate, and any breaks they’ve taken and the online payroll calculator will automatically present their final wages to you.  You can add as many employees as you want and print the completed calculations when you’re done. With an automated tool, not only do you reduce time manually calculating, you can also be more assured that what you’re paying staff is accurate. Timesheets shouldn’t take days on end for any company, and software is taking care of these tasks to give back time to many HR and payroll officers. Is an online calculator not enough for your more complicated wage calculations? Then it might be time to invest in a workforce platform with more features.    For more extensive payroll automation, Tanda’s Award Interpretation Engine automates rostering and payroll for any business, taking into account overtime, allowance, and higher duties. It also automatically updates for any new Fair Work regulations. Try Tanda for free, for 14 days, no credit card required.

Emerson Domingo

4 December 2019    |   

There is a pattern consistent in most industries. Companies that succeed are ones where frontline managers have influence in improving the execution of business strategy. Former Schering-Plough (now Merck & Co.) CEO Fred Hassan says frontline managers ‘represent an all-important feedback loop that allows the CEO to stay abreast of the latest developments in the business.’ At Tanda, we believe frontline managers need to be in the frontline — enabling their team to be their best selves. In the past 6 months, our product team has been working on making each task you do on Tanda quicker and easier. So you can use our software less and grow your business more. Here are 50+ features that do exactly that. 1. Tailor Tanda to your business needs with The Platform The Platform lets you customise your Tanda workflow. Using custom objects and custom fields, you can create new ways of storing and communicating information. No matter how big or small your team is, they are always informed. Learn more about The Platform > 2. Demystify part-time compliance by rostering from Regular Hours of Work Having a permanent part-time (PPT) staff is more cost-effective than a casual team. However, the administrative requirements of having PPT staff may be a discouraging factor for employing them. One of the most labour intensive requirements for managing PPT staff is rostering. Keeping track and manually implementing regular hours of work (or contract hours) in rosters can be exhausting — especially if it’s for an entire team. Rostering from Regular Hours of Work removes these administrative hurdles. Learn how to roster from Regular Hours of Work > 3. Brand-new, more powerful, more customisable rosters Our new, more powerful rosters have the same features you’re used to, but with more functionality on top. See what’s new > 4. Approve and edit timesheets from anywhere No need to stay behind a computer to go through your team’s timesheet. With the Tanda app (version 0.34.3 or newer), you can edit and approve timesheets from anywhere. See what else you can do on the mobile app >   5. Onboarding: Multiple contract uploads and welcome messages In the first days of your newest hire, a smooth onboarding is one of the best ways to ensure early success. One of the core parts of this process is signing a contract. The easiest way to do that is with Tanda’s onboarding offering. Learn more > 6. Customise leave by hiding leave balances and leave types This is helpful for leave staff cannot apply for (e.g. public holiday paid/not worked); less common leave types, such as long service leave; and types that are not commonly taken by your team, such as maternity leave for a majority-male staff. Learn more > 7. Pay overtime for work outside contract hours Learn more > 8. Key Alert: Maximum qualification hours reached A key alert can now notify managers if an employee will go over their qualification max hours. Learn more > 9. Roster edit history filters Filter roster edit history by staff and action. Learn more > 10. New Employee Navigation: See unavailability, leave, clock-ins, and other employee information in one place Everything about your employees is now all in the employee profile. Learn more >

Joel Jensen

15 November 2019    |   

Introducing Tanda’s New Employee Onboarding feature! Tanda’s Employee Onboarding Feature is the paperless way to collect all those necessary staff details such as Tax file Numbers and Super Choice forms, without the hassle of scanning and signing forms, or chasing new staff for paperwork. Through Tanda, managers will now be able to onboard new staff and their details directly into Tanda. How does it work? Talk to the Tanda Onboarding team to have the onboarding tool enabled in your account. From here, managers can send out an email with the onboarding link to new staff, prompting them to complete the necessary forms. Using this link, the onus is put on staff to fill in all their details, which are then submitted securely to Tanda. Once all the details have been submitted, Tanda will then automatically create a staff profile for the new team member in Tanda. If your payroll software has an onboarding integration, Tanda will export the newly created staff profile to your payroll software where it will create a new staff profile in payroll as well. What forms can my new team member fill out? Through Tanda’s Employee Onboarding feature your team member will be able to fill out all the core paperwork, that is required for them to be paid, and rostered. Personal Details Emergency Contact Details Bank Account Details Tax File Declaration Form Super Choice Form What are the benefits of Employee Onboarding for Employers? Cuts out paperwork by replacing the forms new staff have to sign, with digital versions. No chasing up paperwork, as staff can enter their details themselves. Reduces errors by validating BSBs, Addresses, Tax File Numbers, and Super details. No problems trying to decipher staff members’ messy handwriting. Cuts out double entries for payroll by automatically syncing with certain cloud based software. Improves engagement with your new staff.  What are the benefits for Employees? Simple easy to follow process for staff – they no longer have to enter their name, date of birth or address multiple times. Can be easily completed from home or from your mobile phone, wherever you are. No need to print, scan, email or post hard copy forms. Get started with Tanda’s Employee Onboarding today! Tanda’s Employee Onboarding feature is already live! For more information contact one of our friendly Tanda Consultants today, on 1300 859 117 or via email at support@tanda.co to get started with Tanda Employee Onboarding.

Rosie Ramirez

4 June 2019    |   

“Staff members have good and bad days. We need to adjust. There will be times when there is a short deadline. We need to drive and lead because we are the team leader. There will be times when you’ve got the flexibility to take staff on a journey,” says leadership expert William Gooderson of PwC. Once a British Royal Engineers Major, William is a class unto himself. After leaving university in 2003, he spent the next 9 years leading troops in Europe and Afghanistan. What was first a job with 30 soldiers soon grew into missions with over 2,000 people involved. But his journey into challenging work had just begun. Throughout the next few years, he would continue working with people in various fields. Becoming a master of work in the service of others William Gooderson left the army and moved to Australia to work in construction and government. Soon after, he joined consultancy firms and began to specialise in leadership and coaching. Today, he brings all of these different experiences to the table. “We’re very fortunate within the military to spend a year learning leadership before you actually run any teams. So you learn a lot of experiences before you get a hands on,” he shares. “That’s where I’ve realised the lessons that I was getting or taking for granted through my military career would actually be very relevant to industry and the corporate mindset.” 1. Strive for a flexible coaching style “Industries spend less money on training its leaders than it does on any other area of development,” William lamented during his talk at the Workforce Success Conference last year on the Gold Coast. Indeed, there is little hope for an organisation if it doesn’t coach the next level of staffing. He encourages leaders to first determine how much time they can invest. “Do you have the time capacity and energy to take your staff on the journey? Or do you need to be more direct? [Are] there staff members struggling because you keep giving them direction and they’re not listening?” he asks. “Maybe they need actually to be given a bit more of a pointed approach to how they need to undertake things.” The key is staying flexible and adapting to how people are feeling. Read more: From Battlefields to Boardrooms: Finding Good Managers with William Gooderson 2. Track performance, give and take feedback Two-way communication is important for every organisation, regardless of the industry. Tracking performance without communicating is a clear waste of time and resources. And above all, there must be a way for employees to give feedback. “There is a real importance around […] the opportunity for staff to be able to give that feedback to their team leaders. If they can’t, the team leader can never learn where the staff is being challenged,” he says. “Without [the feedback loop] you aren’t really going to struggle to be an effective team leader an effective team member.” He adds that it’s impossible to get it right every time, but each mistake is a learning point that can be developed for next time. Read more: Actionable feedback from the front line 3. Use tech to bridge communication gaps “We now live in a very much a data-driven world where you can live and work in the global workspace,” he muses. Managers can take advantage of this and use it to do more face-to-face interactions. A telephone call or an email doesn’t have the ability to convey emotions. But he also reminds managers to balance it out with other aspects of the job. “It doesn’t have to be daily. We’re all busy. Your staff members are busy, the [operation] teams are busy, but there is nothing to stop you walking the floor on a Friday, or actually getting out and about. Drop by saying hi and make them feel like you’re actually listening,” he advises. Managers need to communicate well and often to achieve success. Read more: Four Ways to Keep your Managers on the Frontline Leadership is communication “You can’t just have communication on its own and expect it to work. You need to have an environment where people feel like they can communicate. You need to make the time to communicate. You need to provide opportunities and transparency. [You can’t just be] a one trick pony every now and again where you release a statement and expect everything to come back to it,” he advises. For William, communicating means listening as much as talking. It also means building a strong rapport that will make communication easier. Finally, he stresses taking care of the core leadership team that you work directly with. “They will know what’s going on the level below and the level below,” he notes. Regardless of how many people are in the team, the principles are the same. It’s the core leadership that bridges you to them. “Talk to them, work with them, understand them, and then it’s your job to trust them to do the same to their team,” he advises. “If you have good communication and good leadership then you will hear the problems. It will be communicated all the way through the chain.” Want to communicate with your staff better? Eager to train the next generation of leaders? Learn from William Gooderson and other topnotch speakers at the Workforce Success Conference on 26 July 2019. Get your tickets now!

Rosie Ramirez

23 May 2019    |   

John is 5 minutes late for work every day while his colleague Martha is late for 30 minutes once a week. Do these late clock ins really matter? For many businesses, they do. In shift work industries and frontline roles, frequent tardiness can mean disruption and loss of profit. Even just 10 minutes of being late accumulates over time and eats away at the bottom line.  But in a 2017 CareerBuilder survey, 29% of respondents said they came in late at least once a month. 49% blame the traffic for their tardiness, 32% blame it on oversleeping, while the rest blame bad weather, procrastination, and “too tired to get out of bed.” How can managers discourage lateness among employees? How to increase employee attendance Many traditional managers believe that harsh sanctions are the best way to eliminate lateness at work. However, sanctions lower employee morale. They can drive productivity down and result in a high turnover rate. That’s why at this year’s Workforce Success Conference, we are inviting students to propose ways to increase employee attendance in Australia. Read on to know more about the tried-and-tested ways to increase employee attendance. Get the chance to improve on these methods by signing up for the case competition today! An internship and cash prize awaits the winner. 1. Track time and attendance accurately The first step to making sure that proper clock ins and outs are observed is by tracking them accurately. Otherwise, your company will be exposed to a risk of time theft, or employees being paid for the hours they did not work. Lax monitoring systems make companies vulnerable. Manual time clocks are no longer reliable, as they are susceptible to time theft. Investing in cloud-based time and attendance software saves you time and energy on processing employee timesheets. Download a clocking system app for free and give it a try. Read more: Time Theft: Top 3 ways employees steal time and how to stop it 2. Address frequent lateness ASAP Feedback and coaching are important parts changing behaviour. Those who fail to meet time and attendance targets could be doing so for any number of reasons, such as single parenthood, chronic illness, or even financial instability. Understanding what they are going through is instrumental to helping them perform better. Managers should be able to empower employees to comply with their work hours. Schedule consultations with them to identify the issues and address them accordingly. Download and customise: Written warning – Late Attendance 3. Reward good employee attendance Deducting pay for frequent lateness is one solution and is a common one. But employee incentives for punctuality serve to underscore the importance of time and attendance in a more positive way. There are many ways managers have incentivised coming in on time. They require some work for managers, but the effect on morale and productivity cannot be understated. Here are some of the most frequently used strategies to increase employee attendance. Provide free breakfast once a month One popular way to reward punctuality is to provide free breakfast. This can be done once a month on a set day, or even more frequently, but on random days. Those who have good attendance will feel the benefits of coming in early, while those who don’t will start thinking about it. Give out tokens to multiple employees Gift cards, lunch vouchers, and company apparel cost little but are always appreciated. Keeping the rewards budget-friendly will allow you to give them out to more people and more often. It’s also a great way to keep attention on the program. Create a “Hall of Fame” for time and attendance Publicly recognise employees who consistently come in on time and do not have unexcused absences. It will boost their morale, and hopefully inspire others to follow suit. Give consistent performers time off Don’t think of this as an additional expense, because a consistent performer will have more than made up for it. This can be the high value reward given out during your end-of-year party. Include a plane ticket and hotel accommodations if you can afford it! Read more: Only a Matter of Time: Punctuality and attendance in multicultural workplaces Forge the workforce of the future Modern managers are people-centric. Many of them want to create a work culture built on trust, respect, and balance. When employees are constantly late to work, there are usually reasons that lie below the surface. Empowering them through attendance programs are more likely to increase morale and productivity. Sanctions and punishments for lateness are sometimes necessary, but there is plenty of room for creativity in this area of management. In the end, increasing employee attendance will benefit not just them, but also their team and the company as a whole.   Ready to forge the workforce of the future by increasing employee attendance? Form a team of 3-5 students and sign up today. A cash prize and internship awaits! We’ll email you more details and provide consultation once you sign up.

Jana Dee Reserva

20 March 2020    |   

“To provide the type of healthcare our community deserves.” This is what Australia Health Alliance (AHA) promises to deliver since they opened their first clinic, the AHA Seaford Day and Night Clinic, in 1979. In 2015, they expanded and opened a new clinic, The AHA Seaford Meadows Day and Night Clinic. Every day, the clinics’ 27 staff and 20 doctors are servicing an average of 400 patients.  Each AHA staff works to make health services easily accessible to individuals and families in their community. They introduced online booking, which can be done 24/7 via mobile phones or tablet devices.  AHA streamlines clinic visits by enabling patients to book consultations online. While using technology is a step in the right direction, AHA needed a way to streamline their admin and workforce management, so they can focus more on delivering their promise.  Tending to payroll and other admin woes A typical day working in AHA clinics varies depending on role, but for Madeleine C., group accountant at AHA Clinic, her workdays are filled with different sorts of paperwork.  “A regular day at AHA involves a lot of data entry, paying invoices, reconciling accounts, generating reports, so having a good system in place is very important for me,” shared Madeleine.  When it comes to financial data, there have to be no grey areas. Madeleine’s day is spent making sure that all information is accurate, but it can be easier said than done when awards come into play.  “The biggest problem is always award interpretation. It would take us hours to gain clarification on one small section, especially for the health support services and nurses awards. It’s very complicated, so payroll was just very stressful,” admitted Madeleine.  Timesheet to payroll processing is one of the ways Tanda has helped AHA. Before using the platform, it takes the team one whole workday to process payroll. When Tanda was integrated into their process, it only took them half a day.  Among other things, Tanda has helped AHA with payroll processing and award interpretation. “We have utilised a lot of features in Tanda, but for me, the payroll integration is a huge one. I love how Tanda automatically feeds the correct pay information into Xero. That’s been a big help for me,” shared Madeleine.  Read more: Payroll Compliance: Solving the Underpayment Crisis Aside from payroll, Tanda has helped simplify other workforce management processes for them. “AHA was looking for something that would streamline our whole process, from rostering, wage tracking, to payroll. Even the management of staff leaves. We found that Tanda was able to offer that for us and we haven’t looked back since,” shared Gemma G., Senior Operations Manager at AHA.  Right now, the staff at AHA use the platform to quickly and accurately do tasks such as clocking in and out, rostering, filing and managing leaves, and payroll.  A tall order calls for a larger workforce and an automated system Running a healthcare facility is such a tall order. Each healthcare employee knows that there are high stakes that come with every patient interaction. It requires expertise, quick decision-making, and empathising with patients and their loved ones. A healthcare facility needs all hands on deck in providing the best quality of care to their patients. And inefficient admin practices or systems can be detrimental to that.  AHA recognised the need for a platform that can simplify complex processes so that they can focus more on their mission–and that is to “lead the way for convenient access to quality healthcare”.  Having a workforce management platform that covers all bases has been proving to be a smart move for AHA, especially now that they’re growing their workforce. “AHA is currently undergoing a large recruitment drive. We are in the very fast-growing area of Adelaide, so we’re currently working hard to recruit doctors,” shared Gemma.    Organisations that provide healthcare services are in a unique and challenging position today because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We recognise that healthcare frontliners need an extra helping hand right now. So we’re offering our platform for free to new sign-ups over the coming months. Sign up today and our Workforce Success team will gladly provide a personal, online walkthrough of our platform to help you get started. 

Jana Dee Reserva

6 March 2020    |   

A day of recognition for women all over the world, International Women’s Day is happening this Sunday, March 8. To mark this year’s celebration, we spoke to six women across the globe and asked them to share their moments of success in their respective fields, as well as what advice they’d like to give women who are working in similar industries. The History of IWD International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8. The first IWD gathering happened over a century ago, in the year 1911. It was born in a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialised world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. The first recorded activity for the campaign happened in New York City, where 15,000 women marched the streets to demand shorter work hours, better pay, and voting rights. IWD has grown since into a wider celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world, with no single organisation nor institution responsible for this day.  Of course, the landscape of the workforce back then was drastically different. Today, women are leading and succeeding in all fields of work. So how did these women trailblazers thrive and make a difference? Here’s how they map their steps to success: 1. Identify a Need “The key to solving a problem is to first truly understand it. My personal mission is to keep focusing on the ‘why’,” shared Bridget O’Hare, Product Manager for Workforce.com UK. Her role and team is all about providing solutions to users of their platform. “Repeatedly asking ‘why’ helps you to discover the root cause rather than waste time focusing on symptoms,” she added.  Just like Bridget, Savannah Samples, Founder and CEO of Angel Assistance also felt strongly about a particular need affecting today’s households. With people juggling so many things in a day, Savannah set out to help families focus more on things that are more important than daily to-do lists. “To provide a helping hand in the household, relieving stress from hardworking families and individuals so they can focus on the tasks and relationships that matter most,” Savannah remarked when asked about her cause.  It clearly starts with identifying a gap, but what makes the difference is taking action and facing challenges head-on.   2. Take Action Women trailblazers are not afraid to pull their sleeves up and work hard to get results.  Sally Roebuck, P&C Services Manager, Bulimba State School P&C Association OSHC is one of them. “I believe my greatest achievement to date has been advocating for the improvement of the state award for educators working at P&C run services in QLD,” Sally shared.  Just the same, encouraging others to join you in your quest is not an easy feat. But it’s possible when you have the passion and drive to make it happen, just like Tracey Johnson, CEO of Inala Primary Care.  “I frequently refer to myself as ‘MAD’. My passion is to ‘make a difference’ by enabling people to be their best each and every day. This applies to patients, our team, and those whose interests overlap with our work,” Tracey shared. Today, Tracey leads a team of professionals and partners to deliver nearly 50,000 consultations a year and growing.  Savannah Samples and the Angel Assistance team Developing the confidence to trust in your own capabilities is a long process, but an essential one. Savannah shares what women entrepreneurs should understand: “You are doing work that the majority of the world cannot handle or don’t know where to begin. You started and you are making the world a better place just by being you.” Of course, some extra support doesn’t hurt either. “Find your girl gang. Those are the ones that are going to get you through and celebrate every milestone!” she adds. 3. Go Beyond Leaders don’t stop once they deliver results. They strive to do more and expand their knowledge.  Meg Levis, Head of Human Resources at Workforce.com, believes that learning is the key to moving forward. “[My personal mission is] to continuously learn. There is so much knowledge out there that can benefit my life both personally and professionally,” she shared. But how do you focus on the right things to learn? She has this advice, “Have five and ten-year goals outlined that you can use to spot check to ensure your day to day tasks align with where you want to be in the future. Also, always be up for a challenge. Growth does not come from being comfortable.” We hear so many leaders advise us to stay focused. But it goes beyond getting the job done. Focus is all about working smart to have time for life too. “Keep it simple.  When we have ambitions to achieve great things, we often conflate the task and try and do too much. Remain focussed, deal with the real levers for change and allow time to simply enjoy life.” Tracey shared.  Setting goals. Breaking barriers. Getting it done. These women and many others around the world are proving that making a difference goes beyond gender. It is all about having the passion for the change you want to see and the willingness to make it happen.