Tanda Blog

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.

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.

Monic Del Rosario

3 September 2019    |   

Looking for talented and culture-fit employees is hard enough on its own, but the real challenge for any manager is when the onboarding process kicks in. Is onboarding really important? Onboarding new employees is essential in making sure they know specific details about the company, knowing who they’ll be working with, and setting expectations at work. It’s an important step in the employment process that affects retention in the long-run, and contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have to be complicated nor expensive. Here are three easy steps to onboard your new hire: Step 1: Introduce them to the company Anybody who’s gone through their first day at a new job knows what it’s like — excited to get to work but also quite nervous in the new environment. Making new hires feel welcome is one of the first steps in helping them get settled quickly, and there are several ways to do this. For one, you can send a welcome email a week before they even start working. And once they do start, take them around the workplace as soon as possible, and introduce them to their new colleagues. And this doesn’t just mean making them shake hands with staff from every department. Introduction of a new hire to your company is more than just remembering names and titles — it’s also about letting them in on the values, culture, and overall standards that the organisation has. Providing them with this information will make them feel involved in the business’ overall success right from the start. Free e-book: Making the Onboarding Experience Work for your Business Step 2: Collect essential staff information Here comes the nitty-gritty part: Collecting the important employee details for HR and operational purposes. Some of these include their personal information (birthday, residential address, bank account details), tax declaration form, and a signed acknowledgment of workplace policies. Traditionally, this was being done through paper, where staff would need to fill up and submit forms on their first day. Thanks to technology however, this part of the onboarding process can now only take minutes to complete. Some workforce management platform now offer paperless onboarding, allowing managers to collect data, upload files, and sync bank details with their current payroll software. Not only does this free up time for the managers themselves, but it also allows new employees to finish administrative tasks quickly and get straight to work. Read more: The Employer’s Onboarding Checklist Step 3: Communicate goals and expectations Set a one-on-one chat with your new hire as soon as all the operational stuff are out of the way. Often, employees turn dissatisfied at work because their managers fail to communicate clear goals and expectations for their job, which then leads to the staff underperforming or worse, leaving the company. Make sure to give them specific, measurable, and realistic goals that are tied down with your team’s, and ultimately, your company’s mission. Some employees will also expect training and traveling opportunities, which can be clarified upon onboarding. Being able to sit down with your new employee only takes minutes, but could greatly affect their future at work. In summary, onboarding new employees requires time and effort to execute properly. There’s a lot to take care of, but if you prepare ahead of time and use the right tools, you can pull it off swiftly and empower your workforce towards success. Ready for a smooth onboarding process? Try Tanda’s Paperless Onboarding feature for 14 days, no credit card required.

Phil Johnson

13 August 2019    |   

Providing an easy-to-access Time Clock device at all times is one of the most essential ingredients of implementing a successful attendance policy. For fixed location businesses, the Tanda Time Clock App installed on a tablet device is the best method to ensure that employees always remember to clock in and out of their shifts. Over 100,000 staff clock-in each day with their app installed on a dedicated tablet. Using a tablet is cost-effective and frictionless compared to other methods, e.g. a point of sale terminal, a PC, or old school attendance devices like fingerprint scanners. Here are a few of the many benefits of using a tablet: 1. A tablet is a dedicated device Providing a dedicated device means less excuses. Placing the Tanda Time Clock tablet in a location where employees congregate prior to their shift commencement is the best way to ensure employees remember to clock in for their shift. Unlike a PC or POS system, there is no room for excuse that someone else was using the device. Clocking in takes just a few seconds per employee, and unlike other software that runs exclusively on employee mobile phones, there is less room for unfortunate incidents that hinder employees from logging their attendance, such as losing their personal mobile device. Service interruption is also a possibility for other systems; since a PC or POS system also serve multiple functions, it can also become distracting for employees to actually remember to clock in from time to time. For an effective attendance policy, you want to ensure there is no confusion when it comes to legitimate reasons for not clocking in, such as someone else actively using your attendance device for purposes aside from clocking in and out. A dedicated device makes enforcing the attendance policy fair and transparent, and makes it easy for anyone in your team to log in their hours. 2. Tablets are cost-effective The global popularity of the tablet device has slashed prices worldwide. The first tablet to hit the market at a global scale, the original iPad, retailed for around $800.  Today, consumers can get its competitor brand, Samsung, for around $160 a tablet. It’s now a lot more accessible for all business managers of any business size to acquire a device. Traditional workforce software vendors supply their own expensive branded devices, which they make money from, and strategically only their device will work with their software. Time and attendance software like Tanda makes no money from providing hardware, and gives clients the flexibility to select their own devices without hindering them from managing their workforce. 3. Tablets unlock additional functionality compared to old devices And because Tanda doesn’t limit employers the way they would maximise their device, there are also additional functionalities that can better help solve workforce management problems beyond recording attendance. For one, Shift Questions can record the reasons employees deviate from their roster, helping management identify the source of variances on timesheets. One such example might be when employees clock out later than their rostered finish time. It’s useful for the approving manager to know if that employee was directed to stay back, or had clocked off later for a different reason. With the Tanda Time Clock App, employees can be asked exactly this question, among many others, when clocking out later than scheduled. Another feature is Instant Onboarding, which allows a new employee to be rapidly deployed into Tanda by a manager using the Time Clock App, ensuring that new employees aren’t forced to hold parallel records until they are entered into the system. By getting rid of paperwork for the new staff, they’re able to get to work faster. Multi-breaks allows employees to easily nominate when they are taking breaks.  This is especially useful to businesses where employees might take more than one break. Team picker allows employees to accurately record when they change team or department using the Tanda Time Clock. This keeps cost reports accurate, and ensures employees who receive different rates for different roles have their payroll calculated with the highest degree of accuracy. In terms of security, the Facial Recognition Auto-approval is an optional measure to save time and add security to the timesheet approval process. Tanda leverages facial recognition technology to build a profile of the employee, ensuring that clock-in photos are given an additional layer of verification. Ready to take advantage of Tanda and its features on tablet?  Start your 14-day free trial today, no credit card required.

Charlton Groves

17 September 2019    |   

Here’s why, what, and when it will happen. So why the upgrade? Building rosters is the cornerstone of staff management. Since Tanda started in 2012, our customers have created more than 59 million shifts, almost 550,000 rosters, and more than 7.5 million timesheet exports. That’s a lot of mileage for seven-year-old technology. And it’s done a lot of good for our more than 7000 customers.  And, because you trust us to build cutting-edge workforce software, we aren’t resting on our laurels. We want to keep bringing you the best, most advanced rostering solution in the world. New Rosters: re-engineered for the future of work Introducing faster, more powerful, and even more reliable rosters. We’ve rebuilt completely from the ground up, which means: Changes with you. Laced with the most advanced software engineering technologies, this is the most flexible product we’ve ever made. Features and improvements will be released faster than ever before. That means, with our customer-first mantra, your feedback will be actioned rapidly. More views. New technologies enable us to build wide-ranging fortnightly and monthly rosters that weren’t possible with the old technology used in Classic Rosters. More performance. When you log-in, everything is snappier, faster, and more responsive. When is it happening? Today, 18 September 2019, there won’t be any changes on your account. The rollout will start from next month. On 18 October 2019, your account will default to New Rosters. Default means clicking on Rosters goes to New Rosters instead of the current view (Classic Rosters). However, this won’t be a sudden change. We know that, at the end of the day, customers prefer the familiar — which is completely understandable. So you can still use the old version of rosters, which we are now calling Classic Rosters. Access it by hovering over Rosters and selecting it from the drop down. We will also keep supporting Classic Rosters. That means if you are using it and have a question, our expert Support Team is happy to help out. The new and powerful. Easy-to-use, advanced features being added to New Rosters. Limitless Rostering. Roster for more than one week, two weeks, or three weeks in the same view. You can even roster for 18 months on one screen if that’s how your business works. Custom Fields: So every employee has all the information they need. Create fields to communicate reminders, addresses, and other details for each shift.  View Options. Customise how your rosters look based on your unique business needs/style. Organise it by teams, by hourly rate, by the number of rostered hours rostered, and more. Instant Information. See detailed shift, staff, and costing information at a glance. Re-engineered. With brand-new technologies under the hood, New Rosters now loads much faster for organisations of any size. Roster Patterns. For 24/7 industries need round-the-clock rostering. What’s not changing? From creating shifts to assigning teams to seeing roster costs and building templates, you can still accomplish the major tasks you’ve always done in Classic Rosters. New Rosters just helps you do more.  We’ll be there every step of the way We realise this is a massive step up. But change can sometimes be difficult — it can certainly be in this case. So we will give you everything you need to transition into the faster, more powerful future of Tanda Rostering: Help articles that detail how it all works Product Tours when you visit New Rosters for the first time. They will take you through how to use it — after which, you can try it yourself Expert Support Team if you have questions specific to your account Software is a two-way conversation. Let us know how you go. It’s not just us talking at you and telling you what to use. We want you to tell us what you think as well. What are you finding useful? What doesn’t quite make sense? Let us know by answering these quick questions.  

Emerson Domingo

4 September 2019    |   

Communication leads to perfection. SMS, calls, FaceTime, face-to-face, WhatsApp, and time and attendance (T&A) all have one thing in common. They are used to send and receive messages. The communication gets especially more complex with T&A. Whenever you log in, you build and publish rosters. You ask for staff details during onboarding. You receive leave requests from the team. There are a multitude of moving parts in any given shift. That’s why your T&A needs to act like a communication service. According to a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, poor communication drastically impacts morale, sales, and goals. Some losses have even been in the hundreds of thousands. And, just as managers need to adapt to each employee’s communication style, they also need to know which tool to use in each situation. Key Points: Three major releases this month Bespoke information workflows with The Platform A record of contract hours with Regular Hours of Work Complete staff inductions with employment contracts in onboarding More often than not, T&A software is a 2-step information exchange. Step 1: Tell staff their start and end times. Step 2: Staff prove they followed those times by clocking in and out. But it can also be a complex process. To run the perfect shift, some teams need extensive information such as addresses, vehicle numbers, access codes, preferred hours, staff on leave. And don’t forget onboarding contracts, managing leave requests, performance review dates. The list goes on. Every feature we release is working towards one goal: empowering you to run the perfect shift. And correct, comprehensive communication is a massive part of this. So this month, we released 3 major features to help strengthen those lines of communication. 1. Communicate bespoke information with The Platform Custom fields on rosters (L) and the Tanda App (R) If you’ve ever needed to send information to your team before a shift starts, there’s a high chance it’s done outside of Tanda. Things like alarm codes, reminders, or client details. Anything your team needs to be able to complete the perfect shift. But what if you could do it all inside Tanda? Store client addresses. Send unique reminders. Keep track of performance review dates. Even create an entire database of your customers. Welcome to The Platform. It’s a brand-new way of workforce management. The Platform is made up of Custom Fields and Custom Objects. Between these two, you can create your own fields and forms, and turn Tanda into a bespoke, powerful data management tool.  We believe it’s the future of workforce management. See how it works. 2. Keep a record of contract hours with Regular Hours of Work Set Regular Hours of Work for your staff. Choose break lengths, teams, and how shifts are split. The fact is, as your business grows, so do the administrative requirements. The brute force solution for this is to hire more and more staff to handle the paperwork — but that might blow your bottom line wide open. For permanent staff (especially part-time), contract hours are a staple. Using Regular Hours of Work, you can keep track of it all in Tanda. This cuts on back and forth between different systems because, hey, rostering and leave is just on the next tab over. Recording Regular Hours of Work is just the beginning. In the next few months, you can create both rosters and leave requests from Regular Hours of Work. Whether you’re building out your rosters or processing massive amounts of leave, Regular Working Hours automates the most time-consuming part of that process. If you have Admin, General Manager, and Payroll Officer permissions, start recording your team’s Regular Hours of Work now. For team managers, ask your supervisor to do this for you. 3. Better onboarding with 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. You can now upload their contracts when you send onboarding invitations (and include a nice welcome message, too). This means they can sign it with a click of a button. Note: Please double-check if this is sufficient to count as a signature.

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.

Jessica Genio-Ignacio

24 June 2019    |   

Artisan beauty goods company HideAWAY Handmade knows what it means for products to be made with love. Named for Hideaway Bay in Queensland where founders Wendy Campbell and Bruce Arms became engaged, the popular online brand crafts artisan personal care products such as whipped soaps, bar soaps, body custards, scrubs, and other bath time treats—all done through traditional means. The brand’s big draw? All-natural, locally-sourced ingredients, with a process designed to be as sustainable as possible. HideAWAY Handmade is a fully online store, enabling the brand to focus less on managing a physical storefront and more on putting great care into the products they make, especially with a small team. Regardless of location, though, the need to manage their on-site employees in the most effective way possible is a constant. Enter Tanda’s mobile application and rostering software. A Mobile Workforce Amber is part of the Production team, creating soaps, body custards, and other bath products such as bath bombs. She speaks glowingly of the mobile version of Tanda’s software, which the team uses for time clock and online roster features. The portability of the mobile app also gives them the added bonus of having the option to check their rosters and manage availability without needing to head to the office. “I use everything through the mobile app unless I’m clocking in at work. And it’s really good. So then if I’m at home and I’m trying to book a holiday I can also write in my unavailability for a holiday. And then it can get approved in real time. Even if it’s on the weekend as well. So I find that really handy,” Amber says. The clean user interface and live wage tracker also makes it easier for workers to budget their own personal expenses accordingly. “I like that it tells you in the top corner how many hours you’re doing and then also how much you estimate to make for the week. So that makes it easier for me to budget through my week as well.” Whipping Up Smooth Operations In the product manufacturing business, having a user-friendly online roster interface is a big concern for companies like HideAWAY when switching from manual rostering or legacy systems. When loads can be unpredictable and one week can be insanely busy while the next could be quiet, schedules could get messy very quickly without the right software. For HideAWAY’s workforce, the auto-fill option in Tanda’s predictive rostering feature addresses this need. “Let’s say that the week beforehand was quiet. We can pull it over and the shift filling feature helps fill it all in, to maximise our roster and prepare for a big week ahead,” posits Dan, the brand’s Operations Manager. Overall, he emphasizes that Tanda has made the process of creating an online roster for employees easier and more streamlined. It also takes much less time than before. The presence of in-app messaging options are a big benefit, too. “Tanda has been a game changer for us with rostering and being able to contact our staff quick and easy with the text message and the call feature,” he says. No more need for unintuitive software that may not be built for scheduling either. “I guess before we were using Tanda we were just rostering through, I think it was a Google Sheet or Microsoft XO. Super basic and it took hours to do that.” Now, HideAWAY uses a single app for creating and managing staff schedules—connecting them more closely with their wages, with each other, and with their work.   Ready to find out what Tanda can do for your business? Try it for free today.  

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