Tanda Blog: Industry Insights

Bryn Tardent-Powell

16 November 2020    |   

This guide explains how to lodge a tax declaration form, to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) online without having to print, type, or scan a thing.  Firstly we describe the traditional method using the ATO business portal. Then, a new, faster, and easier method using ATO compliant digital onboarding software.    Option 1 – The traditional method of lodging a tax declaration form via the ATO Business Portal An option to lodge the tax file number (TFN) Declaration form online via the ATO business portal has existed for some time.  While many employers still distribute paper forms to new employees, the ATO will now accept a digitally signed form which is a welcome advancement. You can find the Tax file number declaration form supplied by the Australian Taxation Office here. From there, simply complete the form either digitally or by printing onto A4 paper and filling it out by hand. This method of lodging through the ATO business portal still has major limitations not yet addressed by the tax office: ❌There are no digital “checks” available to reduce errors in the ATO digital form. ❌Paper forms are prone to manual entry errors. ❌Duplication of work is required to enter this data again into accounting or payroll software. ❌The ATO form is more complex than other methods available. To lodge directly through the ATO website you will need to have an ATO business portal account. Copies of the process and the digital version of the TFN Declaration form are located here.   Option 2 – The more efficient method using the ATO-compliant Tanda Onboarding tool This faster option to lodge a tax declaration form forms uses Tanda’s software which meets ATO compliance requirements and lodges forms directly.  Not only is this option faster, but it solves the major limitations of the traditional TFN Declaration form. The form is compliant with ATO ‘SBR’ requirements, meaning Tanda collects all the required information but using an easier format. The benefits of using Tanda Onboarding include: ✔️Inbuilt logic to pick up incorrect TFN numbers, and assist to catch common mistakes before they happen. ✔️The fastest method available by eliminating the need to double enter form responses. ✔️Automatically create the employee in MYOB or Xero Payroll systems to eliminate errors and save time. ✔️Tanda Onboarding is the simplest method available to collect the required information.    How it works: Send a link to Tanda Onboarding directly to the employee by email or text message  Instantly collect the receipt of the tax declaration form on completion by the employee Allow you to lodge the tax declaration form directly to the ATO with no data entry required Send the employee automatically to MYOB or Xero    Automate more than just the tax declaration form Tanda Onboarding also partners with accounting systems MYOB & Xero to provide automatic transfer of the details filled out in Tanda Onboarding to your new employee in your payroll file. Tanda Onboarding will still work and lodge the TFN Declaration with all other systems. This means you can not only collect all the required payroll documentation but also automatically create the new employee in MYOB or Xero with no manual entry required. Looking to get started with Tanda Onboarding? Sign up for a free Tanda trial account, and follow the guide to experience all the platform has to offer.

Bryn Tardent-Powell

11 November 2020    |   

When managers come to work the last thing they want to do is to get caught up in tedious and avoidable problems related to running the centre. The health and learning of children come first, and time spent devoted to unnecessary administrative or operational tasks only serves to take away from that. So you can get back to doing what you do best, I’ll be going over the three most common problems managers are facing in child care and what you can do to solve them.  Problem #1: High staff turnover High staff turnover is a problem that is all too common in the Australian child care industry. A nationwide survey found one-in-five child care workers intended to leave their job in the next 12 months. High turnover can lead to an overall less qualified workforce, which in turn erodes the quality of child care being provided. A high number of staff exits can also affect children’s ability to form trusting attachments.  The child care industry has been fighting an uphill battle to secure higher rates of pay, one of the contributing factors of high staff turnover. Additional factors behind this trend include adverse working conditions and difficulties in career development.  The solutions: Reducing employee turnover can be a challenge for even the most competent managers. If you want to retain your most valuable employees you’ll need to provide competitive compensation and benefits that exceed the prescribed award. Providing staff with recognition and encouragement when they develop their skills is essential in making employees feel valued and respected in their position, employees who feel they are making a valuable contribution to the business are far more inclined to stay long term, than their less satisfied counterparts. Finally, child care is a uniquely challenging industry to work in, and managers will need to go the extra mile when it comes to retaining great staff, prioritising employee happiness is a key factor in reducing burnout in an industry where is it all too common.   Problem #2: Too much time-consuming admin As the business grows, so does the paperwork. When it comes to managing one or even several child care businesses you’ll find almost the exact same sources of administrative burden across the entire industry. Managing enrollments, staffing levels, rosters, timesheets and payroll are among the largest contributors to the administrative burden, and the one thing they all share in common is that they aren’t value-adding tasks.  The solutions: By automating the above tasks, managers free up time and resources to focus on tasks that add value to the business, such as improving the quality of care provided and marketing to improve enrollments. Cloud-based processes have quickly become the industry standard,  from rostering to attendance tracking and qualification management, the systems that run your business play a huge part in reducing paperwork. For example, an efficient rostering software can help managers cut down this task from a couple of hours to just a few minutes. Automatic rostering has become an efficient way to manage staff, because why do the same thing over and over again, every time? While rostering is a large source of administrative burden for managers, time and attendance tracking is the other side of the coin. Software can also be used to overcome this problem, with a digital clock in system, managers are saved from the guesswork of who’s worked and when. Not only does this make timesheet approvals a seamless process, it also prevents time and wage theft on a bigger scale. Problem #3: Growing revenue and increasing profitability Increasing revenue can be a challenge for any business. The child care industry has been hit relatively hard by the pandemic, as parents look to cut costs in their household budget. Juggling revenue and profit while trying to maintain a quality service and enrollment is the single biggest challenge child care managers are facing right now.  The solutions: The simplest thing you can do to adapt to COVID’s financial impacts is to reassess your budgeting. Redefining your budget will give you a clear overview of your centre’s cash flow and aid you in making better-informed decisions on where you allocate your spending. Once you’ve redefined your budget and have a clear idea of your current financial position, child care businesses need to leverage all available grants and subsidies. The government has provided a number of additional subsidies during COVID that can aid profitability.  Finally, investing in a great CCMS and staff management platform is proven to reduce costs as well as administrative burden. By investing in CCMS and staff management systems you can easily manage compliance requirements such as educator-to -child ratios, qualification management and wage compliance.  Tanda helps hundreds of child care centres across the country manage their staffing requirements and award compliance, put our system to the test with a 14-day free trial.

Bryn Tardent-Powell

29 September 2020    |   

Following the continued slew of high profile underpayment cases and sweeping changes to industrial relations laws, including the criminalisation of ‘wage theft’ in Victoria and Queensland, it’s clear that underpayments are a widespread problem amongst Australian businesses.  With so many high profile organisations being caught off guard, many industry leaders are left wondering how they can protect their own organisations from underpayments.  What’s causing underpayment Issues to rise to the surface? Wage miscalculations have always been an issue, with the Australian Payroll Association finding 33% of businesses admit to making on every single pay run.  However, over the last two to three years, and especially in the last 12 months, Australia has seen a large escalation in the amount of media coverage into underpayment scandals. This creates a snowball effect whereby increased media coverage prompts regulators such as the Fair Work Commission to increase enforcement. Increased public scrutiny also prompts state and federal governments to spotlight the issue and take action in the form of changes to industrial relations law, such as the criminalisation of wage theft. How do you detect an underpayment in the workplace? How to check for underpayments manually  Traditionally, employers would be required to manually calculate a paycheque using fair work’s comprehensive award rules, inclusive of all entitlements and allowances an employee would incur. They would then extrapolate this across a year and make a comparison with their salary or enterprise agreement.  This process is not just time-consuming but prone to human error due to the growing complexity of rules found in modern awards as well as ambiguity found in the interpretation of those rules.   How to check for underpayments automatically Tanda is proud to announce the beta of our latest compliance tool Wage Compare. This tool leverages the power of our existing award engine, allowing employers to directly compare the salary or enterprise agreement of an employee against the award and all its rules.  Within Tanda, simply set up an employee with both an award classification and an annual salary. Timesheets are then run through Tanda’s market-leading payroll calculator to determine how much the employee would have been paid under the award vs their agreement.  Employers can then run a report on staff to identify which employees are being paid safely on or above the award, and which employees are potentially being underpaid on their agreements.  The Wage Compare Beta is now Live in Tanda, To put our award engine to the test sign up for a free trial of the system. 

Bryn Tardent-Powell

31 August 2020    |   

With new jail sentences in Victoria and changes to Modern Awards rushed through, COVID-19 is set to shake up industrial relations and employment laws. Despite industrial relations being federalised over 10 years ago, Victoria has legislated their own jail penalties for business owners and directors. Individuals who are convicted under the new Victorian Wage Theft Act 2020, which criminalises underpayments, face a maximum of 10 years imprisonment the federal government has also indicated intentions to criminalise wage theft. This move parallels some of the most rapid industrial relations reforms in Australia’s history seeing changes to Awards rushed in a matter of days. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to overhaul Australia’s Industrial Relations system at a federal level, in a move to prioritise getting Australian’s back to work. The COVID-19 pandemic has already left permanent marks on Australia’s employment laws, proving significant changes to modern awards can be rushed. Not only has the cost of non-compliance increased, but the ever-shifting goalposts for employers have created a higher level of uncertainty in the rules. Case Study The Fair Work Ombudsman v Priority Matters Pty Ltd & Anor case decided that Directors who displayed wilful blindness were found to be personally liable for unpaid wages. This landmark court decision sets a new precedent for further fines to be handed down against directors of non-compliant operators. The Victorian Parliament passed the Wage Theft Act 2020, which criminalises underpayments with a maximum of 10 years imprisonment.2 With Victoria making the first step, it is expected that other states will follow suit as these types of larger reforms often make their way across the country through harmonisation. State-based labour-hire legislation is a suitable example where legislation written by the State Government in Queensland was adopted in a similar form by the Victorian and South Australian governments shortly after. Federally, the Attorney-General Christian Porter has indicated the federal government will be taking a strong stance on wage theft as well. What’s next? With the entitlements of modern awards becoming increasingly complex and goal posts shifting at an unprecedented rate, many Australian businesses have found themselves unable to keep up.  Pay calculators and award compliance software have become the new industry standard.  Within Tanda, our award engine automatically adds compliant pay rates to your rosters and timesheets, including base rates, overtime, allowances, and higher duties. All managed awards, including the hospitality award, have built-in base rates that sync with payroll and update when Fair Work mandates change. This means that award rates are updated in accordance with all future Fair Work changes and birthdate rollovers for employees, keeping businesses compliant without constantly monitoring Fair Work’s site for updates to complex rule sets. To put our award engine to the test sign up for a free trial of the system. 

Tasmin Trezise

15 July 2020    |   

Most people never have to worry about the payroll compliance process required to get someone paid. It’s not a hugely riveting subject; staff go to work, they work, they get paid. However, as Fair Work’s list of big names failing to pay minimum entitlements continues to grow, we’re often left wondering why it is so hard to pay employees correctly.  What most don’t realise is that behind every pay run is a series of legal interpretations with varying degrees of complexity and ambiguity. Australia is routinely identified as one of the most complex countries to run payroll in, with workforce administration, payroll compliance requirements, and regulations identified as the major complicating factors. With each new wage rate transgression, I’m reminded of an old industry saying, “a good payroll officer is somebody nobody knows.” An understanding that attention is only paid to your payroll when there are errors, under-payments, or the pay is late. Far from magic, the time and expertise required to calculate pay could convince any seasoned mathematician to hang up their wand. In total, Australia has 122 Modern Awards with the average Award having between 180-200 individual rules. These rules specify pay rates for overtime hours during the week and weekend, overtime for RDO, public holidays, late-night shifts and employee classification, just to name a few. With so many complex rules, it’s easy to see why some of the best and most experienced in the business have found themselves out of the good graces of the Fair Work Commission.  It’s become increasingly clear over the last 12 months that meeting Fair Work’s requirements is becoming less and less feasible for your average Australian. If big business, backed by payroll teams with decades of experience can be caught out, what chance does your average Australian small business stand? For the past seven years, Tanda has made it their business to know the intricacies of payroll, building software that automates the increasingly complex entitlements put in place by the Fair Work Commission. Our award engine reduces the administrative burden of paying your staff correctly by managing the various rates and entitlements for you. Being smarter and more innovative is the only way to control labour spend in the productive, high-wage workplaces of the future. It’s time to use wage compliance management as a competitive edge. To put our award engine to the test sign up for a free trial of the system. 

Andrew Stirling

28 May 2020    |   

The Federal Court decided, for the second time in two years, that an employee of Workpac was entitled to paid leave even though Workpac had classified the employee as a casual. The case doesn’t mean that all casual employees are automatically entitled to the same leave benefits as permanent employees. However, you do need to understand the decision to avoid the same traps as Workpac. What does the Fair Work Act say? Under the Fair Work Act, casual employees aren’t entitled to some benefits of permanent full-time or part-time employment (e.g. annual leave, sick leave, carer’s leave). The problem is that the Act doesn’t define when someone will be a casual employee. In the recent Workpac decision, the Federal Court had to interpret what the Act means by the term “casual employee”. Hasn’t the Fair Work Commission decided this already? Under virtually all modern awards, and many enterprise agreements, a casual employee is anyone “engaged and paid as such,” or some similar phrase. This expression has resulted in many employers reasonably thinking that an employee is a casual, and so not entitled to paid leave, if they are paid a casual loading and clearly engaged as a casual worker. However, the Federal Court had already decided in an earlier case involving Workpac that an employee was not a casual employee under the Act just because they are a casual employee under a modern award or enterprise agreement. When is someone a casual employee under the Act then? This is still pretty murky, just like the distinction between independent contractors and employees.  The Federal Court set out a list of imprecise factors that they use to help guide their decision. The closest a judge came to a definition of casual employee under the Act is “an employee who has no firm advance commitment from her or his employer to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work”. In the Workpac case, the employee was not a casual employee under the Act because: his contracts said he was a casual employee, but also guaranteed (for both his and Workpac’s benefit) that he would turn up to work 38 hours per week. The description of his employment as “casual” in the contract was overtaken by other clauses that pointed to him being a permanent employee; and practically speaking, he had a regular roster pattern in the mining industry that was set well in advance. What should I be looking for? Casual employment usually has most or all of the following characteristics: no employer promise (e.g. in the employment contract) to engage and pay the employee; likewise, no employee promise to perform work if that is offered by the employer; engagements of the casual employee that are irregular, unpredictable, uncertain, discontinuous and intermittent; employment “by the hour” (e.g. paid an hourly rate, with the employment terminable on an hour’s notice). Employers use Tanda to help identify these key considerations. Its compliance features confirm how far in advance each shift was rostered, how consistent an employee’s earnings have been, and how regular their working patterns are. Get started with a free 14-day trial account.

Team Tanda

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.

Team Tanda

6 May 2019    |   

Think back to the last in-store purchase you made. Were you promptly welcomed or was the store too busy for you to get their attention? Did staff assist you while you were looking for items, and given advice on deals or discounts? Was the cashier polite or uncommunicative? These small interactions with frontline employees often shape their opinion of a brand, regardless of how good the product is. They perform all kinds of customer service roles. This includes answering phone inquiries, assisting clients who visit a store, performing consultancy work, and fulfilling installation or maintenance jobs. At the end of the day, clients remember the experience that staff create. Frontline workers are vital to any business. But as the face of your organisation, they face high levels of pressure and stress. They juggle time pressure and quality of work to deliver the customer promise. If frontline employees are highly motivated, they are able to provide great customer experience, increase customer retention, elevate the brand, and grow the business. That’s why at this year’s Workforce Success Conference, we are inviting students to propose ways to motivate frontline employees. Read on to know more about why frontline employees matter and sign up for the student cup today! Providing Great Customer Experience Making sure the customer experience is stellar should guide all business decisions and methods regardless of industry or size. When businesses, especially large ones, go out of their way for customers, it doesn’t go unnoticed. Businesses need to leverage their ability to deliver the customer promise and surprise the customer with extra care and support. In fact, consumers are willing to pay up to 16% more for better customer experience. This underscores the fact that customer experience isn’t just a small part of the sales process, it’s a genuine gamechanger. Conversely, PwC suggests that globally, 60% of consumers would stop doing business with a company due to unfriendly service. Many consumers (46%) also would not patronise a company with poorly trained employees. Due to this, companies are increasingly relying on chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) to answer customer concerns. But the same survey suggests that a balance between human interaction and automation is what customers actually desire. It seems the verdict is in: consumers still value the human element, perhaps because great customer care is hinged on empathy — something AI cannot emulate. Read more: Keeping up with the Customers: Why feedback matters for every business Elevating the Brand According to a survey by PwC, 65% of respondents find great customer service more influential than great advertising. Getting customer service right is actually a better investment than spending millions on ads, because it becomes an advertisement in itself. In the age of social media, interactions with sales staff, cashiers, customer support, and other frontline staff make their way onto posts, stories, and tweets. This becomes even clearer when we consider that 84% of millennial consumers do not trust advertisements anymore, especially when making an online purchase. Instead, they seek third-party validation, whether through reviews left in the comments or through mentions on social media. Unsurprisingly, many comments left on websites are not about the product, but about the company’s customer service. When reviews about customer service are positive, they can create advocates out of customers. At this stage of the customer journey, they are already a valuable ally in maintaining the popularity of the brand. When negative, however, it can result in boycotts and massive losses in profits. Consider the United Airlines incident, where musician Dave Carroll saw baggage handlers damage his custom-made guitar from his airplane window. His band made a song about it which went viral, and reportedly cost the airline $180 million (10% of share value) in 2009. Social media has given consumers the power to be heard instantly around the globe. Harnessing it makes a successful modern business; failure to do so means losing out to more tech-savvy companies. Free download: Empowering Frontline Staff with Modern Technology Increasing Customer Retention “The most important customers are those that come back consistently and invite their friends,” says Michael Barnard, Workforce Success Champion and General Manager of consultancy firm Customology. Customer retention, or the ability of a company to retain its customers over a period of time, is impacted by how many new customers are acquired, and how many existing customers churn. It is important because it costs 10 times as much to obtain a new customer as it does to retain an existing customer. According to a survey by PwC, 73% of global respondents say that a positive experience is among the key drivers that influence their brand loyalties. The phenomenon is intuitive — why would you go back to a company that didn’t treat you with urgency, empathy, and importance? That’s why businesses need to invest just as many resources in retaining existing customers as in selling to new customers. A big part of this is making sure that frontline staff is empowered to deliver the best services so that customers feel they are a priority. Putting customers first through excellent customer service allows brands to make a lasting connection with them. Read more: Michael Barnard’s Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Customers for Life Expanding the Business Frontline staff have access to a wealth of information when it comes to understanding your customers and how the business is really doing. Owners and managers don’t always make time to converse with frontline workers, but they should. Being the first point of contact, they have unique insights that can improve how business is done, whether it’s about the product or the way stores are constructed. Keeping the lines of information open is not something all businesses currently do. According to a Gallup study, only 17% of workers strongly agree that they are able to freely voice their concerns and suggestions. Leveraging the knowledge, experience, and skills of frontline staff are key to expanding businesses. Without them, managers will not have a real pulse on the clients and what they want. The impact frontline workers have on customer experience, business branding, and customer retention cannot be understated. They can make or break your reputation. Managers on the frontline are also allies in growing the business and training new staff members in the company’s values and goals. When frontline workers cater to customers’ interests, they are contributing to the success of the overall business for years to come. Ready to forge the workforce of the future by motivating frontline employees? Form a team of 3-5 students and sign up today. A cash prize and internship awaits!

Team Tanda

10 December 2018    |   

Workplace automation, including the use of artificial intelligence and robotics, is expected to surge in the next three years, according to multinational insurance broker Willis Towers Watson. This development is unsurprising, as automating HR can lead to significant cost savings for your organisation, especially when implemented in managing attendance, eradicating benefit errors, and automating compliance. With the growing demand for advanced technology use, automating HR processes is not an eventuality, it’s a necessity. But streamlining processes and lowering administrative costs is only one side of the coin. Yes, owners, employers, and managers stand to gain a lot from ensuring that the business is ready for the future. But employees, too, are benefiting from workforce technology platforms that not only ensure wages are paid accurately and on time, but also introduce flexibility and increase transparency in the workplace. Employees love Tanda’s workforce success software because it empowers them in more ways than one. Read about how Tanda is making a difference in workplaces around the world. Error-free Timesheets and Pay Runs The first and most obvious benefit of workforce technology platforms is error-free timesheets and accurate pay runs. Companies that still use manual methods for timekeeping and pay calculation can cause employees to second guess if they’re really getting paid the right amount every time the payslip arrives. In fact, Australia recently had a spate of wage theft accusations, leaving in its wake damaged reputations and millions in back wages. Owners and managers commonly cite a lack of understanding of Australia’s complex award system as the reason it happens. Read more: Taking Back Time: Solving the enduring wage theft problem in Australia Switching to the Tanda employee time clock app ensures staff that their shifts are recorded accurately throughout the pay period. Timesheets are processed with Tanda’s award interpreter, to account for modern awards of Fair Work Australia as well as other enterprise award agreements. This is then exported in a format compatible with a host of payroll integrations, making pay runs quick and reliable. This increases the level of trust and transparency between employers and employees, which in turn increase productivity and engagement in the long run. Better Work-Life Balance When employees have a healthy work-life balance, they become more fulfilled with their work, and more invested in the future of the company. There are a number of ways flexibility can be introduced into a company without hurting the bottom line. For instance, Tanda’s unavailability calendar feature lets employees tell their managers whenever they might not be open for shifts. This helps the company create rosters around each person’s unavailability. Another feature, leave management, optimises the leave request process and lets staff file requests via the web browser or employee app. For some companies, more novel solutions like shift swapping are providing employees with more options to achieve better work-life balance. It allows shift workers to trade shifts with one another when the need arises. This lets shift workers strike a balance between their personal commitments and work responsibilities. Tanda’s shift swapping feature that integrates into its time and attendance web and mobile apps. It lets staff request to drop or cover a shift right from their mobile phone, making it easy for them to start the swapping process. Read more: Achieving Workforce Success: Shift Swapping for Managers Reliable Rostering and Communication Employees need to know their schedule well ahead of time so that they can plan their upcoming week. Tanda’s web-based rostering software cuts down the time companies spend making the weekly roster. Cognitive Rosters® can be connected to your existing roster templates for the predictive suggestion of staffing requirements. Once approved, Tanda sends the roster to staff via SMS, email, or employee app. Employees can then inform their manager of any leave requests or else apply for a swap, dramatically reducing the chances of unfilled shifts throughout the week. Proper rostering is extremely important because overstretched employees aren’t productive. Too few staff on a given shift affects how they engage customers and respond to demands. Tanda’s Predictive Workforce feature uses sales data from the business’ Point-of-Sale (POS) to give an accurate forecast on how many people are needed on any given shift. During the day, Live Insights can be used to make key decisions on whether to call more people in, ensuring that the high quality of operation is sustained and uninterrupted. Read more: Introducing Live Insights: Using real-time staffing to secure your business Transparent and Engaging Workplace According to a survey done by Interaction Associates, 86% of employees say that they are more productive if they trust their employers. A separate study by advocacy group Trust Across America found that trustworthy companies outperform companies in the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index. Building that kind of game-changing trust starts with transparency within the organisation. Employees must know that their company is working in the interests of all and they are open about the information that matters to them. With a world-class workforce success software like Tanda, employees have access to a portal that lets them know their time and attendance records, time off allowances, and upcoming shift schedules. It also increases employee engagement in other ways, like clocking in by taking a selfie on the Tanda Time Clock. Starting the workday with a smile can change the employee’s whole perspective, which can lead to a better rapport with customers and fellow coworkers. And with Tanda doing most of the admin work, employees have more time to do the things that matter to them. Read more: Crafting Workforce Success at Windsor Alehouse Why Workforce Software Matters For the modern employee to do their best at work, they need to feel that the company is supporting them and is willing to adjust to their needs from time to time. They need to know that the company they’re working for pays them correctly, supports their life commitments, and effectively communicates with them at all times. Companies can make all this happen by moving on from outdated processes that bogs down human resource management. By using workforce management software, employees are more motivated to work, empowered by a platform that allows companies to drive trust, engagement, and the ultimate employee experience. Ready to find out what Tanda can do for your business? Book a demo today.

Phil Johnson

6 December 2018    |   

You have a choice: you’re looking at a high-end blender putting out 900 Watts of power for $119 or and identical blender putting out slightly more power (1000W) for $179. Would you be willing to pay an additional 50% for a minimal 11% gain in power? Probably not – this doesn’t sound like it stacks up value wise. That’s not the only issue though, $119 is a pretty expensive blender. There are cheaper ones in other brands. You scroll further and notice there’s a third identical blender available, only it puts out 600W for the same price as the 900W option. Now after seeing the new option, the 900 sounds like a pretty good deal, it represents a 50% increase in power compared to the 600 for no extra cost. Given that the only relationship between price and model is power output, it’s a fair call to say more power is better when it comes to home blenders. That raises the question: who buys the clearly inferior 600W model? Make no mistake, they’re in the business of selling you a 900W blender. Here are some of the tactics employed: Price Anchoring They say the best way to sell a $2000 watch is to put it next to a $15000 watch. Nothing is either expensive or cheap on its own, the price is always judged relatively. Another good example of a price anchor is Steve Jobs announcing that the price of the iPad is “not $999, but instead only $499”. With no comparison available if he just said $499 would that be expensive or not? The anchor price here is the 1000W model, which for all purposes is the same in form and function as the 900W model yet 50% more expensive. Decoy Pricing If you were going to design a line of blenders varying only by power output you could logically assume that price would be set relative to power, and you would make evenly spaced steps in power. Perhaps: Small, Medium, Large? The intentional asymmetry in price and power leaves you thinking the middle choice is 1) relatively cheap and 2) it represents good “bang for the buck” on power output: Options 600 or 900: Identical price, large power difference Options 900 or 1000: Large price difference, small power difference Without the comparison models, one inferior in each dimension, the 900 model would just be an expensive blender on a website. Why I’m explaining the psychological concepts of B.S. While I don’t sell blenders, I do sell software to businesses that employ shift-workers. These people are industrious, straight shooters (“do-ers”) who are able to smell B.S. pricing from a mile away. The same psychological pricing tactics applied in selling blenders are applied on near every subscription-based software pricing page, only software is usually harder to compare than the power of a blender. I think complex pricing pages full of decoys give explanations of why silicon valley hasn’t yet figured out this segment of the market, and why we make world-beating workforce software (with one price) out of Australia (almost all silicon valley software is made for white collar workers). …at very least, next time a friend says they bought a Nutribullet, ask them: “did you get the 900 series?” Originally posted on LinkedIn