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.

Jana Dee Reserva

11 November 2019    |   

Finally, the perfect candidate just accepted the offer for a vacancy that was challenging to fill. But that’s just only half of the battle won. The other half is just about to ensue, and it begins with a very critical employee touchpoint: The onboarding process.  Onboarding new employees go way beyond the orientation and filling out of forms. It should involve a series of carefully curated steps to integrate a new member into the role, the ins and outs of your organisation, and overall company culture.  However, effective onboarding appears to be a challenge for most companies. Only 12% of employees strongly agree that their company is doing a great job of onboarding new team members, according to a Gallup study. Why Employee Onboarding Matters Depending on how good the onboarding process is, it can provide tremendous value for the organisation or can lead to disengaged staff. Here are five reasons why you should pay more attention to this step. 1. It’s cost-effective. Hiring an employee involves a lot of effort, from putting out that job ad, screening applicants, interviewing candidates, coordinating schedules to negotiating the salary and crafting the job offer. And the costs associated with all of that can be hefty.  In the US, the average cost-per-hire is around $4,129, according to a report by SHRM. While it will vary depending on position and role, cost-per-hire involves all expenses incurred to get a new employee–from HR staff rates to job advertisement fees.  A good employee onboarding process ensures that all that hard work and resources won’t go to waste.  One of the ways to minimise cost and save time is to go for paperless onboarding. It eliminates time spent on tedious steps, such as capturing employee data and filling out forms. It can also be used to send essential documents to a new hire ahead of time and allow them to submit requirements in just a few clicks. Ultimately, this helps your new employee to get going right away instead of overwhelming them with too much information and paperwork on their first day.  Read more: Onboarding: The Employer’s Checklist 2. It improves retention. Onboarding a new employee is very similar to establishing a good impression. Sure, online searches about your company can give them a glimpse of what it’s like to work for you, but the onboarding process can either exceed, meet, or worse, fall short of those expectations.  A strong onboarding process can help improve new hire retention by 82%, according to a study by the Brandon Hall Group.  Good onboarding is never a one-day affair. It goes beyond the team introductions and the welcome email. It’s a crucial phase where expectations are set, concerns are clarified, directions are given, and culture is instilled. It’s ongoing communication between the manager and the new hire to ensure that nothing important falls through the cracks. If you are unable to create this safe environment, you can be at risk of losing an employee before they can significantly contribute to your goals. In Australia, six in ten managers experience losing an employee within the probation period because of poor onboarding process. You can avoid being on of those six by re-evaluating your current system and finding ways to make it more efficient for yourself and the new staff. 3. It creates brand champions. Think about a product that you love. From the moment you tried it to the time that you wholeheartedly believe in it are all parts of your journey as a customer. You can say that the brand nurtured you in every step if you recommend the product to people within your scope of influence, like family and friends. In essence, you became an ambassador for the brand.  This cycle is similar to attracting potential employees who can be advocates for your business. In this case, you aim for a new member who will genuinely believe in your purpose and embrace your DNA as a company. Onboarding done right can make that happen. ‘Purpose’ is one of the six essential elements that define a thriving workplace culture, according to the 2020 Global Report by O.C. Tanner. It states that employees will feel more passionate about their work if they see a direct link between their individual roles and the organisation’s purpose as a whole. They need to see how their task fold into the bigger picture. When onboarding a new employee, clearly state what you stand for as an organisation and explain how the new hire can contribute to that. Provide an experience that will set the right tone early on, so you can eventually turn new members into firm believers of your brand. It will give them a far greater motivation that goes beyond getting a paycheck. Read more: Making the Onboarding Experience Work for your Business 4. It builds good reputation. An employee’s experience during onboarding, whether good or bad, can easily creep its way to review websites and social media networks, and this can affect how job seekers and clients alike perceive your organisation.  A survey from CareerArc found that 55% of job seekers stopped pursuing an application to a company after reading a negative review about the employer.  More than feeling welcome and being excited to work, a well-thought onboarding process can foster a strong feeling of pride in your new employee. When employees are proud of where they work and what they do, it can easily translate to organic and positive testimonials that strengthens your employer branding and reputation.  5. It boosts productivity. New employees tend to get overwhelmed during onboarding, especially when they try to digest a lot of information in one go, potentially affecting productivity down the road.   A good onboarding process includes a clear structure that helps new hires ease into the role and responsibilities. Managers or leads should share details only at the stages where they are essential as opposed to providing them all on day one. Doing so allows a new employee to learn faster and remember information better.  Regular check-ins also help in tracking a new employee’s progress. They help nip issues in the bud and identify areas where they need assistance or clarifications. Set the tone of transparency and helps establish open channels of communication, which are all essential to working more effectively.  Read more: Below average staff performance? Time to look at your onboarding process Employee onboarding is more than just communicating company policies, setting up workstations, and office introductions. It is a process that starts even before the first official working day of a new employee and goes on until they are fully equipped to begin contributing to your organisation’s goals.  Start improving your employee onboarding process before it’s too late. Streamline the repetitive and tedious steps like requirement submissions, filling out forms, capturing employee details, and distribution of essential company documents.  Let new hires submit all pre-employment documents and details in just a few clicks with Tanda. Save time from these manual tasks and focus on creating and optimising how you integrate new employees in your organisation and gear them up for success.  See how our paperless onboarding works and book a demo today.

Monic Del Rosario

25 October 2019    |   

When most managers think of a roster system, it’s usually just about letting staff know of hours they’re expected to work. Paul on the night shift, Sally on the morning shift, John on the weekends — how difficult is it to even make the perfect roster? Turns out, it’s extremely difficult. Why build the perfect roster in the first place? A ‘perfect roster’ can mean differently for various businesses. There is just no one size fits all when it comes to workforce schedules. Every business aims to increase their effective profit margin. More profit means more choices, more take home pay, and less ongoing risk. And the easiest way to increase profit is to reduce the largest yet most controllable expense in a company: staff wages. The roster, being a primary source of wage costs, is often overlooked as the single biggest opportunity to increase profit. Cross-industry research shows that rosters are under-optimised most of the time, making a massive difference to the bottom-line of a company. Without realising it, businesses are losing money due to poor shift planning everyday. One day of inefficient rostering can set a budget off-balance, which managers only discover when the pay period rolls in. How can managers improve their rostering system? More than setting the hours, those who oversee staff are also responsible for optimising wages. The problem is that a lot of managers are either too busy to do so, or are not equipped with the right tools to do it. We work with thousands of managers from different industries and have summarised some of the most common problems they encounter when it comes to rostering. Read more about these blockers and our tips for success. Problem #1: Manual rostering is extremely time consuming Manually writing down the hours staff are rostered is easy for a business with just three people. You put in the hours they need to show up and paste the sheet on the office bulletin board, and that’s it. Job well done, roster’s finished. But for bigger companies with hundreds and thousands of staff? Not the most ideal way to schedule employees. Scheduling will take weeks, if not months to do. The band-aid solution is to create a spreadsheet of everyone who needs to be rostered — usually via Excel or Google Sheets. Yes, this cuts down time compared to paper-based rostering, however it’s still not the most efficient way to do so. In essence, your timesheets are still being done manually this way, which makes it prone to human error and time theft. The solution: Cloud-based processes, from rostering to attendance tracking An efficient rostering software can help managers cut down the task from a couple of hours to just a few minutes. Templates have also become an efficient way to copy and paste staff’s schedules, because why do the same thing over and over again, every time? While rostering is half of the job, attendance tracking can now be automated as well. With photo- and location-verified time tracking apps, managers are saved from the guesswork of who’s worked when. Not only does this make timesheet approvals a seamless process, it also prevents time and wage theft on a bigger scale. Problem #2: It’s tricky to communicate with staff regarding their roster You’ve created the perfect roster; now you need to tell your staff. But what’s the best avenue to do so? Through face-to-face interaction? Mass messaging? Printing it out? Not only does choosing a platform become potentially exhausting, it can also become confusing for staff to keep up with where to really check their schedules. One missed message and an entire team’s schedule could go downhill, lowering productivity and service quality for the day. The solution: Communication tools readily available within the rostering system While a good rostering software is still seen as a tool that communicates only start and end times, managers can actually use it as a messaging tool for everything to do with shifts — not just when to start and when to end. Communication or the lack thereof can cause a lot of missed shifts and misunderstandings at work. By having built-in tools in your rostering system, letting people know when they’re expected to work becomes a natural next step than anything. It’s a lot easier for managers and staff alike to have a messaging feature within their scheduling app, directly asking one another about rosters in real-time. Some apps such as Workplace by Facebook also started integrating workforce management tools within their system. Problem #3: Rostering becomes complex when industry awards come into play With the recent high profile cases of underpayments such as George Calombaris and Subway Australia, fear of penalties in following labour regulations have become universal across many businesses. While this seems to be happening more often than usual, most cases are probably unintentional. The tension here lies in the difficulty of keeping up with requirements as managers roster their staff. It’s a risky game to play when you’re never 100% sure you’re still compliant when rostering employees. This complexity heavily applies for overtime, weekends, and public holidays. Of course, calculations become a bit more of a puzzle when the type of employment is taken into account, as well as respective qualifications for every shift worked. And with specific pay rates being regularly updated by the government, employers need to take extra care ensuring that the rules they’re implementing are still relevant. The solution: Automated pay rule updates and direct-to-payroll calculations Managers shouldn’t have to sit down and read through legal jargon just to roster staff. A software that automatically updates pay rates based on industry updates (or even custom EBAs, depending on the business) is the most helpful and effortless solution. It saves managers from the complexity of computing rates per employee, and avoiding legal apprehension in the long run. When everything is automated, you can focus on creating the perfect roster without having to worry about the compliance side of things.   In conclusion, the best way to optimise your rostering process is to leave it to a trusted software to take care of everything. With workforce management software such as Tanda, rostering becomes a breeze, and everything else — attendance, timesheets, unavailability, shift swapping, and payroll processing — all happens in one place. To make rostering an effortless task, try Tanda for free today.

Charlton Groves

17 September 2019    |   

What is happening and when? Starting on 18 October 2019, we will roll out New Rosters to selected accounts. We’re starting with customers who we know will benefit from Fortnightly View — based on the way their rosters are structured. You are part of the initial rollout if… …you receive an email from us about New Rosters anytime after October 21st. If you do not receive an email, that means your organisation is slated for a future stage. Get early access—we’re sure you’ll love it. If your organisation wants early access to simpler, efficient, and even more reliable Rosters, ask your admin to email our Rosters Product Manager at jess@tanda.co. She will turn on New Rosters for your entire organisation. 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.    What defaulting to New Rosters looks like.   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. What are the benefits? 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. If you want to find out more, head to the rosters web page or watch our expert tutorials. The new and powerful features. 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. New Rosters just helps you do more.  You can still use the old version of rosters, which we are now calling Classic Rosters. How to access Classic Rosters. Classic Rosters will still be supported. That means if you are using it and have a question, our expert Support Team is happy to help out. We’ll be there every step of the way We realise this is a massive step up. 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 Tutorial Videos that show you exactly how to use it 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

22 November 2019    |   

What do you do when the roster system you’ve been using isn’t improving productivity as much as you thought? Inala Primary Care has found a solution. The independent, not-for-profit General Practice operates in Queensland, where it serves the general public and acts as a charity for marginalised members of the local community. Their approach to workforce management and improving productivity is to check back on their core values: “We will change, learn, and grow.” From 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM each day, everyone working at Inala experiences “lots of people, lots of joyous moments, and lots of hard moments, because we’re dealing with people and their lives and helping them be the best they can be every day,” as CEO Tracey Johnson puts it. The key to keeping spirits up, maintaining a joyous atmosphere, and delivering the best possible care to patients is an interplay of culture and systems that Inala Primary Care has honed well in its 13-year history. We caught up with Tracey for a conversation about how it all comes together. Blending Culture and Systems for Better Patient Care One reason Inala Primary Care is so well-regarded is that patients trust them to invest in innovation and efficient systems continuously. A culture of systematisation is key to delivering quality care—and by utilising software which improves processes for the workforce, that enables them to tend to patients even better than before. The practice attempts to provide what patients need most, adhering closely to what medical evidence dictates.  “It means that our whole focus is around being proactive, data-driven, and doing excellent care,” Tracey says. Tanda’s roster system is one such investment they use to stay accountable for their own time. By automating schedules and time clock use, staff in the practice can maximise the time they spend doing tasks at the core of their role. It also frees practice managers from needing to chase employees down inquiring about timesheets. When employees work within their function rather than being bogged down by miscellaneous administrative tasks, the practice becomes a happier, more supportive place to work. Doing More, Spending Less As an organisation operating in Queensland’s poorest suburb, Tracey says software like Tanda is integral in keeping a balanced budget: “Funding is limited and the government is expecting general practices to do more with the Medicare dollars we can access. So one of the things that we’re really sensitive to is trying to grow our capacity to care without necessarily growing expenses in the same proportion.” Tanda’s staff roster system doesn’t just neatly organise who works where at what time. Timesheets and the live wage tracker work alongside the roster software to provide a clear picture at any moment about estimated wage costs for each shift. It keeps payroll accurate, too. Many in their workforce are in tightly regulated industries like nursing, which have strict pay and award rules. “Our intent is always to do the right thing, which is why we use so many systems to try and make sure that we’re on task and on track.” Time and Opportunities for Growth The combination of purposeful company culture and good software systems has paid off: Staff are staying long-term. Most of the team have been with the practice for more than five years, many for more than a decade. People are progressing in their careers, growing into senior leadership roles, and the practice keeps on getting better at what they’re doing. “Why would I say go and use Tanda? I think a lot of businesses spend their time working in the business. You’ve got lots of practice managers spending hours and hours and hours and hours and hours doing payroll, rostering, and all these very tedious, repetitive tasks. Thankfully we’re just using systems to do this stuff, which then frees up time for them to really work on the business. And by working on the business, you can generate more revenue, you can generate more staff satisfaction and generate the next great idea or the next change that’s going to improve the organisation and help us live our purpose.” With all this in mind, what’s next for Inala Primary Care? Growth and expansion. “We’re certainly going to become multi-site. So we’re exploring other places where that vision and concept can become real.” Ready to find out how you can cut down timesheet work to just 15 minutes? Try Tanda for 14 days for free, no credit card required.

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.