Tanda Blog

Rosie Ramirez

10 June 2019    |   

Superannuation underpayment is a significant problem in Australia. An estimated 2.85 million Australians are being short-changed. On average, they have 50% less in their super balances than those who are being paid correctly. Further, analysis of ATO data has shown that the average underpayment is $2,070 — that’s $80 per fortnightly pay. Young, blue-collar workers are especially vulnerable to underpayment. So how do you make sure that superannuation contributions are accurate for your employees? Trade in your pen and paper for a super calculator Superannuation is important because it applies to almost every type of worker in Australia. Thus, employers must pay super for any work casual, part-time, and full-time temporary resident employee who falls under the following: Employees over 18 years of age, who earn $450 or more every month (before taxes); and Employees under 18 years of age, who earn $450 or more every month (before taxes), and work at least 30 hours a week. Employers must pay a minimum of 9.5% of the employee’s ordinary time earnings into super. But this is set to gradually rise over the coming years. However, you won’t need to worry about any of this when you use our free superannuation calculator. See correct superannuation contributions for multiple employees Figuring out the correct superannuation for your employees is effortless with our free super calculator. This free super calculator shows you the correct contributions for multiple employees at once. Follow the steps below to see the correct superannuation contributions. Don’t forget to check all the data before June 30! Step 1: Input. Input the first employee’s details in each field using our switch system. Step 2: Add. Click the “add employee button” to input another set of details. Repeat as necessary. Step 3: Calculate. Click the “calculate” button to see results. Avoid being charged fees and interest for unpaid superannuation contributions Employers who do not pay the correct superannuation may face fines, penalties, or charges. Additionally, you may lose your tax deduction for super contributions. If you are a small business that pays employees in cash, you may be more vulnerable to making mistakes in filing superannuation contributions. Don’t take the risk. Use a superannuation calculator that eliminates human error from your administrative work. Switch to complete workforce management system effortlessly Calculating correct super contributions is just one small part of our full range of services. Upgrade your free superannuation calculator to our full range of services and you will also be able to: Search and consolidate all employees’ superannuation contributions Accurately track time and attendance Manage leaves, shifts, and unavailability See real-time staff count and wage spending Connect to your existing payroll system Produce reports for strategic planning Ready to take advantage of technology to make sure your superannuation contributions are spot on?  Start your free trial now and get one step closer to workforce success! Disclaimers: You should only use the results generated from this website as a guide. They may not be completely accurate for your business. If you have other eligibility criteria not covered by this calculator, please refer to the ATO’s superannuation guarantee eligibility decision tool.

Rosie Ramirez

16 May 2019    |   

Managers juggle different roles throughout the day. They set goals, coach employees, monitor performance, and control budgets and expenses. When they don’t do it effectively, employees become frustrated and can’t perform their best. In fact, a worldwide survey revealed that 40% of employees are dissatisfied at work due to a lack of help and support from their boss. Uncertainty about the workplace’s vision or strategy and heavy workload also factor into employee dissatisfaction. You can bet that this is because of an ineffective manager who doesn’t spend time on the frontline with employees. There are a couple of reasons why this is bad for any business. When managers aren’t on the frontline as often as they should be, they’re left guessing about day-to-day operations. They miss out on observing team dynamics and employee satisfaction. Engaging customers or responding to complaints about products and services is harder. And they become increasingly out of touch with both their team and customers. As a consequence, they don’t see why costs blow up and can’t figure out how to increase sales. The bottom line is that managers need to spend a significant amount of time on the ground. Few problems in service-based industries can be solved from behind a computer. So how can you keep your managers on the frontline? 1. Keep your managers mobile Don’t let your managers get stuck behind a desk. Keep admin tasks short by bringing it right to their smartphones. Tanda’s employee scheduling app gives managers the information they need to run a shift through their mobile device. It features automatic notifications and tools to respond to changes throughout the day. Managers can see who’s coming in for the day and when they start work. They can edit shifts without needing to sit down at a computer. They can even notify staff when new schedules are published, or when there are vacant shifts to fill. It doesn’t matter how many teams and venues a manager is handling because they can all be accessed from a mobile phone. They will be able to adjust rosters based on the flow of customers and other observations on the ground. Read more: Peak Season Rostering: How to use data to meet demand and raise profit 2. Keep an eye on staffing in real time Monitoring late staff and breaks, substituting unavailable staff, and calling in extra help are all part of running a shift. That’s where Key Alerts comes in. Key Alerts helps you make sure that staff stick to their rostered hours. It lets you know who clocks-in or out late, doesn’t take breaks, or takes breaks too long. Key Alerts, which comes for free with Tanda’s mobile scheduling app, also flags managers if staff are approaching overtime. Managers don’t have to sit at their desktop or constantly check their app to see who’s not in. The alerts come automatically every time. All bases are always covered with Key Alerts so managers can focus on helping employees identify ways to improve the business. 3. Lessen paperwork with Time Clock Questions Are employees clocking in too early without informing their supervisor? Are they consistently staying back into overtime without a known reason?  Instead of manually contacting staff about this and clarifying why, Time Clock Questions does this automatically. The feature asks staff relevant questions about their shift when they clock-in and -out of their rostered hours. You can customise questions and answer options to facilitate the process. Now there’s no need to call up staff manually to verify their reasons. The faster managers can complete timesheets or timecards, the faster they can get back to the frontline. Free download: Overcoming Employee Challenges in Shift Work Industries 4. Stay ahead with Shift Replacements Absences are inevitable, and good managers know that every unfilled shift adds burden to other team members and compromises overall performance. With Shift Replacements, managers can see which employees have indicated they won’t be able to work a shift. Once a replacement has been requested by an employee, the manager can go into Shift Replacements on their app. The number of replacements that need action is shown as a red bubble. Managers can offer these shifts to all available people on that team or just to specific people. Overtime, hours, and other information is shown to managers so that they don’t get any nasty surprises in payroll. With calling for replacements out of the way, managers can devote time and effort to other more important tasks. Keep your managers on the frontline Managers need reliable data to get their work done. Looking at the numbers after a day’s work is good. But looking at what’s behind the numbers is better. Ideally, managers should be able to address issues in real time rather than at the end of the day. Rosters, sales, demand, and staff engagement all affect how well the team does. But many managers are swamped with paperwork. They’re spending more time in the back office than on the frontline with their staff. Managers who are unable to spend time training employees and engaging clients will not be able to have a clear idea of how to improve the business. Indeed, time spent in your office as a frontline manager is wasted time. Tanda helps keep managers in the frontline with several features made with shift work in mind. Gone are the days when managers are burdened with hours and hours in the back office. And the less time you spend on paperwork, the more time you have to pay attention to things that really matter. Managing staff, engaging customers, and growing the business are easier with the right technology. No matter how competitive the business landscape is, managers on the frontline will make a difference. Investing in workforce management technology to empower your managers gets you closer to cementing your place in your industry. Want to eliminate tedious tasks and keep your managers on the frontline? Start your free 14-day trial with Tanda today! No credit card required.

Monic Del Rosario

10 May 2019    |   

Every year, problems with tracking time and attendance (and ultimately, wages) cause governments to apprehend and collect millions of dollars in penalties. Planning shifts, creating rosters, managing leaves, and keeping track of employees’ clock in and out are some of the most important things a business manager does on a regular basis. While some still use paper and punch cards in order to get these done, it can easily become tedious and prone to errors — especially if the company is growing at a steady pace. Luckily, with the age of technology comes automated solutions in the form of time and attendance software. Here are some reasons why it’s worth investing on: Whether you’re in need of a solution for simply creating rosters, or something that already integrates with your POS system and payroll software, or perhaps all of the above, an all-in-one platform is guaranteed to cut down admin work from hours to minutes. One of these software is Tanda, which provides an automated solution that covers ground from onboarding down to paying employees for the hours they worked. Read more: Why Fingerprint Scanners Don’t Work for Time and Attendance Find out what Tanda can do for your business. Get your 14-day free trial today — no credit card required.

Rosie Ramirez

16 April 2019    |   

The number of festivals, trade shows, conferences, and marketing meetings is on the rise. According to Eventbrite Australia, 54% of businesses plan to host more events in the future. And with several major holidays like Easter and ANZAC Day just around the corner, businesses face an increased demand in products and services. Hotels, pubs, retail shops, and restaurants all encounter staffing challenges during peak season. Businesses that do not roster with increased demand in mind risk losing out on profits and providing quality customer service. Is effective rostering easier said than done? For many managers, there is too much guesswork involved to really be successful. Without modern tools, managers roster based on what has worked before, some even based on gut feelings alone. But each small staffing decision can impact costs and productivity in a huge way. How you respond to the flow of operations throughout the day also matters. Instincts and guesswork can only take you so far. Data about employees, wages, and operations can change the game for businesses, especially those that rely heavily on shift workers.  Check out these three data-driven tools that help you meet demand and raise profit! 1. Cover all your bases with Key Alerts Anything can happen after publishing a roster. Monitoring tardiness and breaks, substituting unavailable staff, and calling in extra help are all part of running a shift. And losing track of them has severe cost and productivity impact that accumulate over time. For example, if staff clock-in or out late, the business doesn’t have the appropriate level of staff. There could be too few or too many for several minutes, even hours. If there’s only one person rostered and they’re 10 minutes late, the revenue potential for those 10 minutes is zero. Your quality of service suffers tremendously. That’s where Key Alerts comes in. Key Alerts helps you make sure that the staff sticks to their rostered hours. It lets you know who clocks-in or out late, doesn’t take breaks, or takes breaks too long. This is helpful throughout the year, regardless if it’s peak season or not. But especially during peak season, deciding on whether to allow overtime is crucial, particularly when it comes to being on top of wage costs and additional allowances. Key Alerts, which comes for free with Tanda’s mobile app, also flags managers if staff is approaching overtime. The data lets you decide between paying overtime and calling in another capable staff member. And because software takes care of monitoring for you, all bases are always covered. Read more: Why Live Workforce Data is the Future 2. Respond to changes in real-time with Live Insights Getting Key Alerts throughout the day is one thing, but responding to real-time demand is another. For hospitality, retail, and food businesses, events in the area cause an uptick in customers. Sometimes, the change can be so unprecedented that the staff is swamped and customers are left unsatisfied. Fortunately, you already have something at hand that can help you keep up: your Point-of-Sale (POS) system. Your POS can track the number and type of sales each employee makes, and more importantly when they make those sales. The same data can be used to optimise your daily operations. Live Insights, or real-time staffing, utilises data from your POS to tell you if you’re under- or over-staffed. Previously, managers needed to wait for end-of-day reports to see if the rostered staff was enough and how the business went overall.  With Live Insights, multiple staffing decisions can be made throughout the day in response to real-time data. You can see how much you’ve made compared to how much you’re spending on wages. You can also see how sales compare to expected numbers. Based on this data, you can adjust staffing levels to make sure targets are hit and customers are happy. Read more: Introducing Live Insights: Using real-time staffing to secure your business 3. Plan ahead better with Cognitive Rostering Continuously learning from experience to plan better is the key to success. Many businesses rely on optimising wage costs to ensure a decent profit margin. During peak season, there is a real opportunity to recover from slow days. You can engage more customers and create programs that can keep them coming back throughout the year. But when you overspend on wages, that opportunity is lost. So how do you get the staffing level right? How do you make sure that your customers are getting the best service without spending too much on wages? The simple answer: use technology to learn better. With Cognitive Rostering, you don’t have to remember how you built your most effective roster a year ago. Using indicators such as wage percentage of sales, this tool builds the perfect roster for you. And because it learns how your business is doing, the more you use it, the better it works. Cognitive Rostering uses your own data to save you time, effort, and money. You can test millions of scenarios for every roster to find the optimal solution, and you can concentrate on more important tasks like training staff or developing sales strategies. In short, you can empower yourself to grow your business faster than you ever thought you could. Read more: How this retailer increased profit by $8.9m from rostering more hours Stop guessing — Become a data-driven workforce Technology for businesses has definitely gone far. But they can go much farther, right into the heart of your business: workforce management. No company or organisation will survive without its workforce. For many businesses, especially those that rely on shift workers, wages are the biggest overhead expense. However, we often use outdated systems to manage them. Data and digital technology are highly transformative, and businesses need to take advantage of them. Key Alerts, Live Insights, and Cognitive Rostering are testaments to the difference data can make on operations, whether it’s peak season or not. There is no way around it: meeting demand, raising profit, and growing your business can only be done with a data-driven workforce. You need to use technology not only to solve workplace challenges but also to optimise it. Investing in the correct workforce technology platform can increase productivity, savings, and even sustainability. The long-term benefits of shifting to a workforce technology platform are more than worth its initial birthing pains. Taking advantage of these tools may well determine if you will succeed in this increasingly fast-paced business environment. Free eBook: Overcoming Employee Challenges in Shift Work Industries

Emerson Domingo

10 June 2019    |   

At Tanda, we move fast to solve the world’s greatest workforce challenges. We released over 200 features last year. Here are the major ones. The last 12 months have seen Tanda rise above the capabilities of traditional workforce software.  Our product team has focused on releasing features that help management to plan and execute the perfect shifts — all while constantly strengthening our core offering. Building the world’s #1 workforce platform requires going above the administrative efficiencies traditionally gained with workforce software. We’re talking about features that empower businesses to enhance the way they employ and manage staff. These help managers plan and execute successful shifts; help employees integrate their work and private life; and allow businesses to measure their success in the right ways. In these last 12 months, the Tanda product team also materialised the 6 headline features announced at the 2018 Tanda conference, all of which are now live in the Tanda platform. The year has seen the release of over 150 user interface updates, 25 key redesigns of existing features, and 10 key feature releases.  They all fall into these themes: Helping managers to execute the best decision-making Helping managers integrate compliance into decision-making Helping employees integrate their employment and personal lives Allowing businesses to build their own workflows by adopting a platform approach   Features that help managers execute the best decision making Live Insights: on-the-go decision-making Live insights is big business technology that we’ve made available to businesses of any size.   Off the shelf, Live Insights syncs live sales from integrated cloud based point of sale systems like Kounta, Vend and Ordermate, and compares real-time with award-interpreted wage cost.   This closes the feedback loops on wage cost reporting and allows managers to execute decision-making during operations, instead of after the day is done. Live Feed: real-time shift updates Managers who are involved in shift handovers know how important it is to be updated on what’s happened during the previous shift.  Live Feed gives a real time overview of the state of the shift, showing a full picture of who is there, who isn’t, and what the staff movements will be. Key Alerts: Know staffing issues in real time Great shifts can be planned ahead of time on the roster, but it’s not until the shift starts that the plan is put to the test. This is where wage costs can unexpectedly inflate. Five minutes here, five minutes there. These minor variances to the roster add up to large amounts when it happens across multiple shifts. Key alerts helps managers stay in control by proactively notifying them of these little variances before they blow up costs. Cognitive Demand Builder: Predict future demand, and adjust for it Integrated point of sale data has been available as standard in Tanda for several years now.  Access to data is one thing, but it’s the way we’re allowing managers to use that data which is unique to Tanda. Tanda’s new demand builder allows managers to build a demand profile from historical sales data and modify for expected changes in demand.  The feature can algorithmically select a sample group of historical sales while eliminating anomalous days automatically. It means that businesses of any size can plug in their point of sale system and have access to meaningful demand data instantly. Best-fit shift replacements: Finding the right match When choosing a replacement for an employee who can no longer work a shift, it’s difficult for a manager to assess every influencing factor. This can include contract hours, overtime risk, cost difference, qualifications, and safety considerations such as fatigue management. Receiving shift replacement requests on My Tanda (L) and choosing best fit replacements on mobile (R) When a shift replacement request comes through, the manager sees a set of best fit options. Importantly, Tanda calculates the cost difference between employees in real time, which avoids the issue of employees unexpectedly entering overtime, or more senior staff members performing junior roles. Shift Feedback: Information is Powerful Feedback needs to be actionable and specific to be useful to management. We trialled several methods of collecting frontline feedback with our beta group to create the first version of Tanda Shift Feedback.  The feature is integrated as a prompt on the existing platform, meaning employees and management aren’t required to divert their resources to a new process, and the time investment is minimal. More about shift feedback. A more full-featured leave Tanda users can now open the app on their phone and instantly view their leave current leave balance, see the best times to apply for leave, and plan future holidays with leave balance projections. We’ve also strengthened the management controls in the leave process and increased transparency with additional features: Custom events: a method for employees to gauge the best times to take leave by being able to see who else has applied at the same time Leave balance projections: ensures adequate leave balance for planned time off Safeguards against leave balances entering negative territory Backup leave types for when the primary leave type is exhausted The ability to accrue Time In Lieu within Tanda Accurate leave hours through editing breakdowns on leave requests Features that integrate compliance into management decision-making In Australia, maintaining compliance doesn’t just mean paying staff members correctly.  There are many state and local laws that apply in respect to workplace health and safety, fatigue management, licencing & qualification requirements, and record keeping requirements. Compliance HQ: Compliance in one place Given the multifaceted nature of workforce compliance in Australia, we’ve made things simpler. Compliance HQ is a central dashboard for all of the tools used in the process of maintaining compliance.  Every setting you need to stay compliant with all levels of government is here. Qualification Notifications: Stay on top of expiring qualifications Qualifications cover processes of any nature that are required to be reviewed, retrieved on demand or represent a minimum training requirement for particular activities within the business.  Employees are now notified of pending qualification expiries, as is the manager, and qualification expiries are now easily reportable. Roster validations: limit inefficient rosters Roster validations are customisable limits that will flag managers when it’s reached. They can be used operationally to control overtime for example, and used in the same way for fatigue management or other forms of compliance such as minimum and maximum shift lengths. Read more about roster validation. Automated higher duties: approve timesheets quicker Automated higher duties allows different pay rates to be associated to teams and activities where an employee may be paid more than one level.  This ensures that roster costs consider changes in level based on activity, and that higher duties are automatically tagged on timesheets for export to payroll. Use cases include staff members in food service industries who work in both a supervisor and non-supervisory capacity, and industries such as transport that pay different rates depending on the type of equipment operated. Training Centre The Tanda Training centre cuts down the resources required for businesses to train new management in using the Tanda platform.  The Training Centre includes the option for businesses to upload their own resources customised to their unique workflows to ensure a bespoke experience based on their internal procedures. GPS Clock-ins: Clock in anywhere in the world Tanda supports your mobile workforce. So we built GPS tagged clock-ins on the Tanda mobile app. Wherever they are, and wherever you are, Tanda’s time and attendance features works anywhere in the world. Features that help employees to integrate their work and personal lives Shift replacements Employees have non-negotiable events pop up in their personal lives that will require time off. For example, a mandatory examination, or births and deaths in the family.  Business also have a non-negotiable requirement to open the doors and trade to survive, so when the two of these non-negotiable requirements clash it results in a lose-lose scenario. Shift swapping is about affording the flexibility to turn lose-lose scenarios into win-win, with the dual benefit of being able to instantly canvas the whole workforce for shift replacements.  Appropriate management controls ensure accountability in the selection of replacement staff. Custom events: highlight busy periods ahead of time Indicate busy times of year for your staff Custom events allows staff members to best plan their time off.  Informing them of peak times of year gives staff more certainty of the best periods to request for leave. And combined with the leave calendar and leave projections, this allows them to plan future time off effectively. Features that allow businesses to build their own workflows by adopting a platform approach The difference between being an off-the-shelf solution and a comprehensive workforce platform comes down to the ability to customise workflows. Build Tanda to fit the business, not change the business to fit Tanda. You know your business best. So we’ve invested in powerful customisation tools that allow unique use cases, and gives businesses the tools they need to turn Tanda into a solution for their unique problems. Custom permission levels: have more control on who’s in control A greater degree of flexibility in roles, especially surrounding who can view costs and provide approvals allows Tanda to fit existing internal controls.   Custom Fields: a new, powerful communication tool Custom Fields allows users to gather or communicate any information staff need to be successful in their job. This is done by creating text fields and apply them to shifts and employee profiles. Create fields to gather or communicate information Common use cases for the employee profile include: Details required by HR on the employee profile, e.g. date of last review Allergy information On the roster, fields could be put for specific tasks and assets such as: A specific truck that will be driven by a transport worker.   Addresses of clients assigned to disability support workers A list of tasks for a cleaner There is no limit to the potential uses cases. Coming Up Roster patterns (beta) Many awards, agreements and industry regulations stipulate arrangements for roster patterns. This is particularly prevalent in shift worker industries that have fatigue management considerations, such as firefighters and emergency workers. Our roster patterns beta builds on our existing work to make Tanda the most comprehensive workforce platform for shift worker industries like healthcare, mining, manufacturing and essential services. This is in its final stages of development and will be released very soon. If you made it to the end, well done! Takes a ton of commitment to read through a year’s worth of updates. And that’s only the major ones; our product team is always improving Tanda. If you’re not a current Tanda user and would like to learn more, head www.tanda.co to book in time with our team to chat.

Emerson Domingo

31 May 2019    |   

Have you ever changed numbers on Excel, and everything else changed too? How long did that take? I’m guessing less than the time it took to read this sentence. What takes seconds now took an entire day for an accountant or bookkeeper in the ‘60s. They had paper spreadsheets back then. So a small adjustment meant recalculating, erasing, and filling out all boxes affected by that number. Manually. So if businesses wanted to know how something affects the bottom line, they need to plan ahead. And pay a day’s wage for someone to work it out. This is just for one change. Accounting tools of the 60s. Groovy. Just because something is used a lot doesn’t mean it works. We’re living in the manual spreadsheets era of workforce management Even with current solutions, workforce management is still mostly manual. Checking timesheets, calling up staff to cover, staying on top of qualifications. What should take a couple of minutes can take hours. In short, more time spent in the back office. Less time spent leading staff, tackling business issues, hitting business goals. Less admin, more ambition You buy software to do everything faster. All Tanda research and development comes down to this: we want you to use us less. Less means the job gets done faster. Less timesheet reviews, less calling around, less communication blocks. More working on the frontline, more business goals, more rest and relaxation. Here are 5 new ways to use Tanda less. 1. Less time behind the desk with Live Feed Wherever you are, see who’s at work — and who’s not. Combined with key alerts and live insights, you can make snap decisions to keep your store, warehouse, or centre well-staffed throughout the day and night. Live Feed on the mobile app Previously, you’d have to get on My Tanda to see who’s clocked-in—which takes some time. Even then, it may not be possible, especially if you’re managing a remote workforce, or travel frequently. How it Works. Live feed lets you keep an eye on staff status on the mobile app. This works across teams and locations, depending on manager permissions. Read more: How key alerts and live insights lead to better customer service. 2. Less time figuring things out with the Training Centre Everything you need to get started with Tanda—from basics to breakthroughs—we’ve put it all in one place. Whether you’re just getting started or refreshing your knowledge, our video tutorials will guide you through in record speed. Tanda Training Centre How it Works. A series of videos that teach you everything from basic set-up to advanced rostering. Learn at your own pace. And if you ever get stuck, the chat button is always there. Access it on my.tanda.co/learn. 3. Less work approving timesheets with Associated Tags No need to assign higher duties tags manually on timesheets — which can be time consuming, especially if you have a large team. Associated tags automatically assigns this when certain staff work in different teams.  The associated tags field, located in the team profile. How it Works. Assign the higher duties tag in the team profile. If an employee with that higher duties tag works in that particular team, they’ll immediately receive the higher duties allowance. For more information, visit our help page. 4. Less uncertainty with new Rosters Overview validations Identify unsustainable patterns across time more easily, including overworked or underworked staff; how many staff are going on leave; and staffing levels across multiple weeks. Seeing these inefficient patterns early means you’re likely to avoid them on your next roster (e.g. over-rostering, concurrent leave). Validations on rosters overview. See the full list. How it Works. View as much as a month’s worth of rosters on Rosters Overview‘s easy-to-use interface. Now with all validations of the old weekly roster view. 5. Less clicking around with Qualification Expiry Emails Only see which qualifications need action, when they need to be actioned. You won’t need to go to each staff profile page to review this, which means time saved. This becomes more important as your business grows. An employee qualification email alert How it works. You’ll receive email alerts when staff qualifications are 1) expiring in one month; and 2) have expired. They’ll also be alerted and asked to update their qualifications, if necessary.   Tell us what features make you use Tanda less. The only thing we love more than helping you succeed is hearing success stories. We love your feedback. We listen to it all. Send me a direct email at emerson@tanda.co. Keep up to date with our latest updates on our full changelog.

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.

Monic Del Rosario

13 May 2019    |   

Tel Aviv, Israel — Tanda is proud to announce that Domino’s Israel will roll out its innovative workforce management software to 57 locations after a successful 3-month trial. The Tanda platform will be used to manage rostering, time and attendance, and wage reporting for over 1,500 staff across Israel. Following an introduction from Domino’s Pizza International, and a review of existing implementations in Europe and Australia, a pilot program was commissioned across 6 stores. Rory Broadbridge, Senior Enterprise Solutions Consultant at Tanda, said that this expansion into Israel marks a significant move forward for workforce management nationally, not just at an organisational level. “This news reaffirms our belief that Domino’s franchisors (and franchisees) across the globe are the leaders in technology adoption for the benefit of their workforces. In Israel, we will see Domino’s showcasing how an investment in software can optimise their processes and their bottom line,” Arie Elbaz, Domino’s Pizza Israel COO, said that with constant changes in labour costs, creating a good and stable crew is a major challenge for multi-unit businesses such as theirs. “Tanda is the best solution to give our supervisors and store managers the monitoring capabilities they need to manage their labour budget and drive operational efficiencies” An initial trial commenced in late 2018, with Tanda representatives working alongside store managers from 4 locations to understand the platform, integrate with existing systems and providing technical support. Following a successful start and quick realisation of wage cost savings, additional stores were added to the trial. Hebrew and Arabic translations of the software were developed for complete accessibility by all staff. In February 2019, the trial was a deemed a success; leading to the decision to introduce Tanda nationally throughout March. Tanda and Domino’s Israel will work together over the next few years to optimise operations nationally, develop new features, and support over 1,500 staff. Tanda is a market leader in workforce management software, eliminating paperwork with products such as the selfie time clock, intelligent rostering system, automatic award calculator, attendance-to-payroll integration, Shift Swapping, and more. Operating in Brisbane, London, Los Angeles, and Manila, Tanda is committed to raising the quality of work around the world — one shift at a time. To learn more, visit www.tanda.co. For media enquiries please contact: Dan Etiel  |  danetiel@tanda.co

Rosie Ramirez

24 April 2019    |   

“I’m passionate about developing extraordinary places to work because we spend a lot of time at work and in a number of organisations, managers just really don’t know how to design a culture,” says Amanda Lutvey, founder of Career Culture Lab. For the past twenty years, Amanda has worked with leaders and managers to transform their workplace cultures. With experience in a diverse range of industries, she specialises in providing solutions to a host of cultural issues. Whether it’s about communication, trust, or teamwork, she believes in focusing on people. But with so many things to consider, how do you get started on a people-focused workplace? For Amanda, every company has a culture whether they focus on it or not. That makes the difference between culture by default, and culture by design. “Culture by default is when you just let things happen,” explains Amanda. Often, there are unwritten ground rules that create cultural problems below the surface. These problems will eventually reach a tipping point, and by then it will require monumental resources to resolve. A way to avoid this is creating culture by design: a culture plan that integrates company vision and everyday life. Check out Amanda’s five tips to achieving culture by design below! 1. Go back to the company vision “Going back to the vision of the organisation is where it all starts. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.” When creating a plan for any company, Amanda doesn’t have to look far. “I’m very much about tailoring solutions to the vision of the organisation,” she says. Going back to the vision of the organisation is where it all starts. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Different challenges of organisations across industries require different solutions. And there are plenty of misconceptions out there. “A lot of people think it’s just about having a ping pong table, bean bags, an open plan office, or having a groovy work environment,” she remarks. “It’s a great environment, but you need to walk the talk.” For Amanda, walking the talk means asking tough questions. Why are we here? What are our values? Answering these questions allows leaders and managers to create a culture plan that embodies the vision. They can set clearer expectations on workplace interactions. And most importantly, they can shape individual actions to benefit the company as a whole. “It’s not just about the benefits and perks, it is about creating an environment where people want to contribute, where they understand how they can contribute to the greater good of the organisation,” she emphasizes. 2. Always hire for cultural fit Recruitment managers are always focused on hiring the best talent. However, the best talent in the world may not necessarily be the best talent for your organisation. Skills and experience are always a consideration, but personality is what determines if a hire will flourish in the long run. “Cultural fit is so important. I would rather hire on attitude and cultural fit,” she says. This is because company culture is made up of individual behaviours and how they influence others and the company as a whole. “You can teach skills. Generally speaking, you come in with a good attitude of willingness to learn and we can teach you the other stuff.” 3. Set everyone up for success before day one “It comes down to the whole employee life cycle: the recruitment, the onboarding, the way we treat people on their way out the door,” Amanda remarks. Contrary to popular belief, onboarding doesn’t begin on the first day of work. In fact, if you do this, then you’re already far too late. What you do right after a talent accepts your offer shapes their investment in your company and your ability to attract equally skilled individuals. It starts with the little things, like a personalised welcome email and a paperless document submission process. “It’s about making sure that from the minute they walk in the door they feel like part of the team. It’s making them feel like you want them there and giving them every opportunity for success,” she notes. Employee experience determines how well they will do and how long they will stay with the company. Each turnover represents lost investment. And HR is not solely responsible for making sure this doesn’t happen. “The team manager [also needs] to make sure that [effective onboarding] happens for their people.” Free eBook: Making the Onboarding Experience Work for your Business 4. Leverage tech in employee engagement “Technology plays a massive role in freeing our people up often to do what they’re actually employed to do to be able to focus on what’s really important.” Amanda also believes in empowering employees by eliminating tedious administrative tasks. “Technology plays a massive role in freeing our people up often to do what they’re actually employed to do to be able to focus on what’s really important,” she remarks. At the heart of every business is people, and technology can enable them to perform at their best. “I think we can’t lose sight of the fact that our team and our workplaces are made up of human beings,” she adds. Leaders and managers need to look at talents and strengths to see how employees can contribute. Then they need to be empowered to do just that. Amanda shares that she’s met talented young people in management roles who are constantly caught up in rostering and doing the payroll. “Their time, rather than being spent in the frontline with guests, is spent on all this administrative work. Approving timesheets, doing rosters, all this stuff that can be so simple if you implement technology.” Tanda, a workforce success platform, has a complete set of features that cuts down the time spent on administrative tasks. It rosters employees, manages leave requests, and interprets awards so employees can focus on what matters. Automation, far from being a threat, actually empowers people to grow the brand and deliver the best service. Read more: Team management should be an easy cruise, not a struggle for the surface 5. Evolve your definition of culture “Your culture is something that ebbs and flows. It is the sum of the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours of each and every one of your team members,” Amanda says. It has to be in line with the company vision, but at the same time, it cannot be disconnected from the larger picture. The people who make up the company ultimately define its culture. And it has to respond to needs, especially generational ones. For workplaces with four generations, technology can bridge the communication gap and help retain younger talent. Bringing technology into company culture is part of the evolution. Read more: 5 Ways a Work Chat App can Boost Productivity Amanda also cautions against having a vision only at face value. “A lot of the times what I’m seeing is organisations will have these beautiful values on the wall, but they don’t actually own them or live them. And the reality is the values is something that should evolve,” she emphasises. For Amanda and Career Culture Lab, the bottom line in achieving culture by design is making sure the values don’t stay on the wall. She concludes, “It’s about embodying it and living in it every day. These values need to be real. They are going to be something that we can all buy into and understand and we can clearly articulate for our people.” Amanda Lutvey is ready to tell you more about how to achieve culture by design at at the Workforce Success Conference 2019 on 26 July in Brisbane Australia. Get your tickets here!