Tanda Blog: Industry Insights

Rosie Ramirez

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!

Rosie Ramirez

30 April 2019    |   

Successful workforces always have an effective HR team at the helm. They are responsible for everything from recruitment to training and development. This entails many processes and paperwork that can be too much to keep up with. In fact, creating and tracking documents is difficult without templates. Templates let you save valuable time so you can focus on more important tasks. Tanda’s free HR templates for workforce planning cover a variety of tasks and situations across industries. They provide a basic framework that you can customise them to your needs. Check out the list below to learn more about free templates for workplace planning! Position Descriptions Hiring the right candidate starts with a position description. You can use it to establish expectations and screen applications. Recruiters often underestimate how important the position description is. If the description is too abstract, both employer and applicant may have a hard time assessing it. If it’s too specific, qualified applicants may be discouraged from applying because they lack one or two requirements. Use our free HR templates as a baseline and edit them for your organisation. We have templates for several occupations like retail store manager and public relations coordinator. You can pool the best candidates faster with a great position description. Then you can offer them roles that best fit their personality. Read: 5 Restaurant Hiring Mistakes You Should NEVER Make Interview Kits Conducting an interview is crucial to finding the best talent for a position. CVs only tell you a part of the story. Ultimately, personality and culture fit will determine a candidate’s success in their role. Asking the right questions during an interview will help avoid wrong decisions in the hiring process. The position description, along with the candidate’s CV, will provide the context you need. But whether you’re hiring for a telesales agent or a hotel manager, you need an interview pack that will guide you through the interview process. A successful interview is a two-way conversation between the employer and candidate. Structure your interview so that each has a chance to learn from the other. Read more: 5 Rules for Hiring “Perfect Fit” Employees Employee Handbook Content An employee handbook is typically given to a new employee during the onboarding process. It contains employment information like working hours and leave policy, duties and performance reviews, and dismissal and resignation procedures. The handbook, along with the rest of the onboarding process, has a great impact on how the new hire will approach their role. It helps ensure retention and productivity not just for individuals but also for entire teams. The employee handbook is something the employee can keep going back to, so it’s important to make sure that it contains the right information. Read more: Onboarding: The Employer’s Checklist Employee Performance After the employee is welcomed to the organisation, it is the manager’s job to make sure that the right mechanisms are in place to monitor performance. Part of the onboarding process is involving the new hire in setting their own short- and long-term goals. Goal setting in the workplace is an important part of individual, departmental, and company-wide success.  Make sure that the goals are easy to measure, set against specific tasks, and aligned with personal aspirations. Continuously monitoring employee performance helps ensure that every employee is empowered to contribute to the organisation. Read more: Giving Employee Feedback: 7 Ways to Constructively Deliver Bad News Employee Letters Finally, there are many documents used throughout the work week in any organisation. Any warnings or changes in the nature of someone’s employment must be officially communicated. This is to protect both the employer and employee from any liabilities down the line. However, crafting letters for these situations can become tedious. You can use our late attendance warning letter to address tardiness or absenteeism. You can also send notices of promotions or changes to working hours as the case arises. For shift workers, use the shift swapping form to adjust rosters according to the availability of your employees. Read more: Should you approve shift swaps at work? Unlock more HR Tools with Tanda Free HR templates are a good way to streamline your HR processes. However, they have proven unsustainable for growing companies. The more employees you have, the more administrative work it takes to keep up. Besides, free HR templates cannot provide the data you need to optimise your workforce.  Many companies today invest in workforce automation to free up their managers’ time to focus on more important tasks. Whether it’s onboarding, rostering, or payroll integration, automation does all the work and more at a fraction of the cost. The right workforce automation software takes you one step closer to increasing profits and growing into new markets. Ready to discover how to take the work out of running your growing workforce? Start your free trial today!

Rosie Ramirez

10 April 2019    |   

It’s a good start for Australia’s manufacturing sector. According to Australian Industry Group’s (Ai Group’s) Chief Executive Innes Willox, Australia’s manufacturing sector strengthened in February 2019. It faltered at the end of 2018 but indicators for production, sales, exports, and employment all improved this year. Currently, the industry accounts for 6% of Australia’s economy. While manufacturing’s share of the economy has gone down in recent years, its prospects are very optimistic. Technology is changing the game for Australia’s manufacturers, and here’s how you can take advantage of the trend. Automating labour management Labour costs can account for up to 50% of total business costs. For manufacturers, labour costs should remain closer to 30% to remain profitable. But wages are growing at a faster pace than selling prices. Last year, wage growth hit the highest level in 3 years when the minimum wage increased by 3.5%. Even so, businesses should prepare for more labour cost increases. Calls to change the minimum wage into a “living wage” will be a defining issue in the upcoming elections. Profit margins will remain tight as higher costs will be difficult to pass on to customers. That’s where tech in labour management comes in. Read more: Achieving Workforce Success: Becoming a Data-driven Workforce Using tech to manage your rosters and wage costs can result in significant cost savings for your company. Old methods of rostering, whether on paper or Excel, will not yield the insights that modern software can. With workforce software, you can control your wage spend by setting targets for labour costs. You can also use existing roster templates to predict your staffing requirements. Throughout the week, you can even see wage costs in real-time and adjust staffing levels to drive profitability. Managers can have access to all this data on one seamless platform. Transitioning to a workforce management platform can be intimidating. But there is no better way for manufacturing companies to take advantage of growth than investing in the right software. In fact, it would be hard to succeed without it. Across all industries the automation of administrative tasks, especially in labour management, is best practice. It gives you unprecedented oversight no matter where you are. It also frees up your time for more important tasks like training staff and being on top of wage costs. And all this at a fraction of the time you used to spend in the back office. Read more: Crafting Workforce Success at Windsor Alehouse Investing in the next generation According to the Ai Group, “[Manufacturing] businesses in all states remain very concerned about growing skill shortages for experienced, technical and specialist tasks.” Millennials and Gen Zs aren’t necessarily lining up for jobs in manufacturing. In fact, many younger employees want to work for industries like technology and healthcare. And with the manufacturing industry’s aeging worker population, there could be a real shortfall in employees in the near future. Businesses should attract the next generation by hiring apprentices or trainees. Encouraging the youth to join manufacturing through apprenticeships or traineeships can ensure that there is no shortage of skilled employees. But businesses need to do more to attract them to the industry. One clear way of doing this is by incorporating tech into everyday operations. Younger employees expect that tech is integrated into work. They want to see accessibility, paperless communication, and instant feedback. Explore automated rostering, employee apps with GPS clock-in, and work chat apps to cater to the next generation. Read more: GPS Clock-in: Changing the way you track your mobile workforce Seizing today’s tech opportunities The manufacturing industry is undergoing many changes. It has gotten back on track after a dip in productivity and great opportunities lie ahead. However, rising wage costs and a skills shortage can threaten the gains and possibly the survival of the industry itself. It is now up to business owners to strategize for the future. Controlling labour costs is a major hurdle but easy to get right by using tech to set limits and adjust staffing levels. In the same way, tech can be used to attract the next generation to pursue a career in the field. Investing in tech today can increase the chances of a successful place in the manufacturing industry.

Monic Del Rosario

4 April 2019    |   

Whenever business owners come to the point of growing their company, they naturally begin to think about managing people during shifts they can’t be physically present. One of the first puzzles managers solve is tracking employees’ time and attendance. From the get-go, this is the most basic yet the trickiest administrative task to keep up with. Probably because every business operates differently (various employee types, industry rules, pay rates, etc.) but mostly because a lot of the existing ‘solutions’ available do not always work as expected. One of the most common ways businesses track time and attendance is through a fingerprint scanner. It has some nifty benefits for employers: it’s a fool-proof way to prevent time theft, it ensures that you’re paying the right staff, and that you’re paying them exactly for the hours that they declared they worked. But just the same, there are also some disadvantages in using biometrics to log staff attendance at work, specifically regarding privacy. Last year, a scuffle over biometric attendance tracking was reported by the Fair Work Commission, where a sawmill worker in Queensland refused to use their employer’s fingerprint scanner to log their shifts at work. Superior Woods of Imbil, Sunshine Coast opted to require employees to clock in and out with a biometric device in order to avoid time theft. However, as personal data collected from these devices are being allegedly stored in servers off-site, Lee refused to comply to the company’s policy, stating that, “I am unwilling to consent to have my fingerprints scanned because I regard my biometric data as personal and private.” A little while afterwards, Lee was sacked from his job, despite never missing a shift in more than three years of working at Superior Woods. He then filed an unfair dismissal claim to the Fair Work Commission. “My biometric data is inherently mine and inseparable from me,” Lee said. “My employer can’t demand it or sack me for refusing to give it. It’s not about this particular employer. Ownership to me means that I can refuse consent without being sacked.” The Fair Work Commission’s ruling stated that it is a legal ground to dismiss employees who refuse to hand over biometric information. They also stated that this was a breach on privacy grounds. They found that the company had a site-attendance policy that was not automatically rendered as unlawful, regardless of whether or not Superior Woods was breaching privacy laws through their biometric fingerprint scanners. Read more: Facial Recognition vs. Fingerprint Scanners for Time and Attendance Fingerprints and other biometric signatures might seem like an easy way to solve this time theft, but in reality, there have been claims that hackers are still able to access such type of data or their representation in a system where they’re stored. With the case of Jeremy Lee, important legal rights are already a hot topic of debate that has since been unresolved. Even after the rejection of Lee’s unfair dismissal claim, the commision has mentioned that upon review, the legality of firing a worker for not providing biometric data hasn’t really been thoroughly examined within the Australian legal landscape just yet. “The policy itself is not unlawful, simply the manner in which the employer went about trying to obtain consent may have constituted a breach of the Privacy Act,” they said. In this day and age where businesses are heading towards becoming fully digital in their operations, many are still struggling to even get administrative tasks out of the way, with time and attendance being one of them. Tablets and smartphones are practically the norm, which makes it easier for any employee to use. Compared to fingerprint scanners, smart devices are now being utilised for admin work in operations that have multiple shifts, different types of staff, and 24/7 operations. Some software like Tanda’s Time Clock App make use of these devices to avoid time theft in the workplace, verifying the employee’s identity with a unique passcode and a selfie-verified clock-in/out system. Read more: How to Eliminate Time Theft Business environments are moving towards automation and digitalisation at a startling rate. Software and apps are indispensable to everyday life, the workplace included. To remain competitive, businesses need to invest in software that will help them remain compliant without sacrificing the trust they build with their staff, especially ones that bring about legal discussions. Doing so will allow managers to not be bogged down by unnecessary tasks such as having to negotiate with workers for attendance policies, and instead focus on successfully navigating daily operations of their business.

Joel Jensen

21 February 2019    |   

The last 10 years have been an exciting time for businesses. The growth and adoption of cloud technology have presented huge opportunities for business optimisation and increased profits. One of the most popular categories has been the adoption of Workforce Software. This type of software has been used to manage shifts, monitor staff, and ensure timely, accurate pay. This makes sense when we think about it. Employees are your most valuable business assets, but are also one of, if not your largest, cost centres. Naturally, businesses have attempted to optimise this cost by adding oversight and controls to their wage spending. But there are still lots of businesses who use paper to handle their rostering, timesheets and award interpretation. This was always to be expected as many businesses are hesitant to change what they know. Perhaps more surprising, however, is the persistence of old technology. They predate cloud technology and bearing many downsides that continue to hurt businesses. About a year and a half ago we wrote an article about why fingerprint scanners don’t work for time and attendance, and we preferred to use employee timeclocks. It turned out to be one of our most popular articles, presumably due to the number of people still using old technology and experiencing the frustrations that come with it. This week we released our completely new, rebuilt Time Clock App. It has a bunch of cool new features like facial detection, facial recognition, multiple breaks, predictive shift status, and more. We thought it might be worth an update on the downsides of fingerprint scanners and how using modern technology solves these problems. Check out the three biggest problems with fingerprint scanners below. Tanda uses facial recognition technology to ensure accurate clock ins and outs They’re expensive The issue is that fingerprint scanners are expensive pieces of hardware. Just one reliable fingerprint sensor can set you back by several hundreds of dollars. Imagine what that means for those managing hundreds of staff across multiple locations. Installation is also costly and allows little flexibility. Because of these large upfront costs, and the fact that they do little else than record fingerprints, these scanners have become an impractical investment.  Conversely, Tanda’s Time Clock app can run on any tablet device. Most of our clients run the app on a tablet worth less than $200. They’re unreliable As anyone who has used one knows, even the best fingerprint scanners don’t work 100% of the time. To solve this problem, businesses usually keep a paper timesheet below the scanner. This is fine at face value, but what employers quickly realise is that if it doesn’t work 100% of the time, it doesn’t work at all. It becomes far too easy for an employee to be running 5 minutes late, use the paper timesheet, and say “sorry, the fingerprint scanner wasn’t working”. Using a time clock means 100% of clock ins are recorded, even if your internet is down and it goes offline. It will store all data and send it as soon as you get back online. Maintenance is difficult/costly Due to the nature of the hardware, it requires a trained technician whenever there is an issue. Often, it works out cheaper to replace than repair. This presents a new problem because the devices aren’t always readily available. Compare this to a timeclock which can be ‘repaired’ more easily, at no cost, and remotely, because you’re working with cloud software. When the hardware needs replacing, it’s cheap, easily accessible, and requires no downtime. There’s something wrong when you spend more time fixing, maintaining or administering the workforce software you bought instead of working on improving the business you bought it for. Using a modern solution like a timeclock solves the problems presented by legacy software. It’s less costly, more reliable, and far more efficient. It lets your managers spend less time on admin, and more time on the frontline, training staff and engaging customers. Empower your workforce and increase your chances of business success by shifting to cloud-based workforce software today.

Tom Dowling

8 February 2019    |   

“Instead of just learning something at school and getting thrown off the deep end sort of thing, you get that chance to really be immersed in your field and learn everything from the bottom to the top.” – Colin Wilson, Certificate III in Hospitality (Commercial Cookery) Apprenticeships and traineeships in Australia are employment arrangements which combine training and working in a real occupation for real income. Anyone who is older than 14 years and 9 months of age can undertake it. This can lead to a nationally recognised qualification held in high regard in Australia and in many countries overseas. Employers who hire apprentices can benefit from incentive payments under the Australian Apprentices Incentives Program. Apprentice vs. Trainee: What’s the difference? “I just turned 17 and starting next year I’ll be fully qualified vet nurse, which has been an awesome achievement for myself, the TAFE school, and everyone involved.” – Jessica Pendlebury, Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing “Apprentices” and “trainees” are industry-specific terms. On one hand, apprentices train in skilled work industries. They can belong to a wide range of occupations and trades. This can include plumbing, electrical work, carpentry, bricklaying, and so on. In order to become a qualified tradesperson, one must first complete an apprenticeship. An apprenticeship takes approximately 3-4 years to complete. On the other hand, “trainee” refers to individuals who complete their certification in a vocational field. They work toward certificate level qualifications in industries such as hospitality, retail, or administration. These take approximately 1-2 years to complete. Apprentices and trainees retain many of the rights of a regular employee. This includes right to leave types like annual leave, sick leave, holiday pay. They can also receive wage increases and join a union. More information on apprentice entitlements can be found here. Read more: The Step-by-Step Guide to Hiring an Apprentice or Trainee in Australia Bringing in the next generation “Doing apprenticeship is rewarding, or beyond rewarding, for anyone thinking about doing it, if they’re ready to commit. The rewards at the end are overwhelming.” – Ross Ingham, Certificate III in Plumbing Apprenticeships and traineeships can bring significant benefits to any business. These programs can help develop multi-skilled employees, and allow them to work across the organisation. They offer professional and career development opportunities to attract the next generation. And they also empower new staff to deliver quality services. The role of the next generation in ensuring the sustainability of businesses cannot be understated. Apprentices and trainees contribute practical skills learned throughout their training. They also bring in new perspectives that can enhance systems, processes, and relationships in the workplace. Honing talent and training future industry leaders starts with hiring the right apprentices and trainees.

Liam Hukins

17 January 2019    |   

There has been a lot of speculation on why we are losing retailers so fast. An interesting research piece from the US presented an alternative hypothesis that generalises the issue down to rostering for profit rather than rostering to control costs. For context – If you were given the choice of increasing revenue by 5% or reducing costs by 5% in order to create the most profitable outcome, what would choose? A “back of the hand” calculation would show that reducing costs increases profit more than the equivalent uptick in revenue. Accordingly, most retailers choose option two. This makes sense if you assume the two scenarios are independent of each other, but what if the cost was your employees? This is where the problems arise. For industries like retail, where staff have a direct impact on sales, it’s not as simple of a question as cutting costs to increase profit. In a study led by Professor Marshall Fisher from Wharton, he and his research team constructed a conceptual model from historical data to identify stores within a US-based retail chain that had the highest potential to benefit from increased labour spend. Importantly, the strategy was actually implemented at 168 retail sites over a 26-week period to validate the model, with the retailer electing to implement the strategy further. The result: A near $8.9 million increase in profit of the stores included. The labour cost challenge The challenge in allocating labour budgets lies in the tradeoff between the known immediate payroll cost and the less certain increase in sales that could be achieved with more staff on hand. The researchers point out that retail managers have a tendency to overweigh the decision to reduce the known payroll cost than the less certain increase in sales which could be achieved by allocating additional labour spend. The labour budget death spiral The study highlights the limitation of the most common retail strategy — setting labour budgets as a portion of sales. Fisher points out that this approach creates a circular problem by failing to take into account how store labour spend can positively impact sales, with the worst case leading to a spiraling effect of reduced sales forecasts reducing labour spend which reduces sales further and so on. Quantifying the impact of labour spend on revenue Creating labour budgets that are designed to maximise profit requires retailers to know on a store-by-store basis the correlation between labour-spend and sales. One way to do this is by looking at times when staffing levels deviate from the original schedule. If ten staff were scheduled on a particular day, but on that day only eight turned up, did sales also decrease by the same portion? If not, by how much? If the answer to the above is that sales didn’t decrease at all, the store is likely overstaffed. If there is a measurable impact, the inverse scenario is likely true and the store may be losing sales by being understaffed. This is the same approach used in the study, which found the relationship between random staffing deviations and impacts on sales was statistically significant. Results showed an increase in labour spend pointed to increased sales at varying degrees, depending on known store attributes. Implementing the strategy for profit The study identified stores in a US retail chain which had the highest market potential, making them good candidates for an increased labour spend. The market potential factored in attributes like average basket value and proximity to competitors, which would create scenarios that allow workers to have the highest impact on converting sales. In the study, 168 stores were selected this way, then allocated a 10% increased labour budget over a 26-week period, of which 75% of the increase was actually consumed in practice by the stores. The outcome was a 4.5% increase in revenue at the impacted stores and resulting in a near $8.9 million profit increase. Learning from the strategy The study shows empirically why the common practice of setting labour budgets as a fixed proportion of forecasted revenue is often self-defeating when applied in a retail setting. An opportunity exists to all retailers to leverage this same profit-centric model for defining labour budgets. The data required is available to all retailers however, it may just be a matter of leveraging that information with the right systems. An integrated forecasting strategy that integrates foot traffic, sales, and employee scheduling data is a practical opportunity afforded to retailers of any size to optimise their labour resource allocations. The interesting part is, Fisher’s research is readily available to all retailers who are looking to drift away from the traditional method of fixing labor budget rosters. The next step is to get this method of labour resource allocation battle tested in the Australian markets. Stay tuned. Up next: What is the Contingent Workforce and how can you leverage it in your business?

Monic Del Rosario

4 January 2019    |   

The ability to quickly identify and verify individuals has been a crucial skill in human society, since the start of civilisation. Where previously face-to-face recognition would have sufficed in tribes and small villages, thanks to today’s rapidly growing global population we require more tools to quickly identify who someone is. In the workplace, the need to identify individuals is particularly important, as it’s often tied to staff attendance, payroll, and workplace security. Throughout the years, various solutions have been used to verify staff attendance from paper time sheets, to the Bundy Clock, to fingerprint and biometric scanners. Despite the best efforts of some die-hard fans, the fingerprint scanner has reached its limit, being surpassed by the electronic time clock. With so many other solutions available at our fingertips, why are some people so desperately clinging to their fingerprint scanner? Surely we’ve all seen enough spy movies to know fingerprint scanners aren’t foolproof, let alone feasible in today’s day and age where most of the fun comes from trying to fool the system. And yet, it’s something that we still occasionally hear, “why don’t you have fingerprint scanners?” So to put the debate to rest once and for all, here are three reasons why fingerprint scanners don’t work. And before you start saying, ‘but what about this…” here are three great reasons why the electronic time clock has surpassed the fingerprint scanner. 3 reasons why fingerprint scanners don’t work to track staff attendance They’re expensive. No matter which way you look at it, fingerprint scanners are expensive equipment. Despite the fact that the technology has been around for years, the cost of the device still remains relatively high, potentially setting you back a few thousand dollars. In addition to the device, the cost of the integration between the scanner and the corresponding system can be expensive to build. The scanners are delicate and aren’t always built to handle the hundreds of fingerprints pressed onto them throughout their lifetime. Which brings me to my next point… They’re unreliable. Unlike your favourite FBI crime-show encryption-grade biometric scanners, workplace fingerprint scanners are notoriously unreliable. In order to correctly identify and record an individual, fingerprint scanners require a clear image or impression of your fingerprint. Fingers that are dirty, greasy, cold or wet for example, often don’t register on the scanner, making it hard to both clock out and verify the individual. Employers who prefer to use fingerprint scanners, do so because they think it’s easier than remembering a passcode. However should the fingerprint scanner fail to register the scan, some systems will request a passcode. Not only is this an additional hassle to staff who are trying simply to clock in or out, but it also opens the window to time theft through buddy clocking. Maintenance is a pain. As previously mentioned, fingerprint scanners are not cheap. They’re a costly purchase and are even more expensive to repair or replace when they wear out. Repairing a broken scanner requires a specialised technician and often costly parts. On the occasion that it is easier to replace than repair, users often run into more problems as they are not readily available at your local JB Hi-Fi or electronics outlet. On top of this, users often experience issues around the device’s durability, which lead to additional maintenance costs and ultimately a new device down the track. Introducing the 21st Century solution Electronic time clocks are the most robust, user-friendly, and affordable solution to record staff attendance. According to Statista, 38.59 million British people were expected to own a tablet device back in 2017. In 2018, an average of 80% of UK’s population already owns smart devices. Leveraging this statistic, a tablet-based time clock like Tanda can provide an effective and consistent solution to time theft, streamlining your entire payroll process. 3 reasons why electronic time clocks are the market leading solution: Affordability. Tablets in their various forms have started to become more commonplace in businesses of all sizes. This is thanks to more core business functions such as POS, inventory, and payment processing, becoming available on tablet devices. This technology is providing business owners with greater mobility to engage with customers, as well as streamlining core business activities in one device. Time Clock tablets are easily accessible, affordable and present a number of additional benefits to a business looking to improve their customer offering. Robust and reliable. Thanks to the prevalence of tablet usage, most people are familiar with how to use a tablet and how they should be treated. Tablets are touch-screen based and as such built to handle lots of little fingers pushing and tapping the screen. Tanda’s Time Clock verifies staff attendance through photos and PIN code verification. Which means that unlike a fingerprint scanner, it doesn’t matter if staff have dirty or wet fingers, they’ll still be able to clock out the first time around. The timestamp and photo verification also make it quick and easy for managers and business owners to quickly check that the right person has clocked in and out for the correct shift. Cloud-based for more options. Using a cloud-based Time Clock solution like Tanda provides users with more options, which enable rather than restrict the user. Software maintenance and upgrades are not required, as they’re done automatically in the system. Devices are easy to replace and interchangeable, and should the system connection be disrupted, all clock in data is stored locally and uploaded to the cloud later. In addition to this, as a backup, users can access the Time Clock app through a browser on a desktop. Using a cloud solution to track staff attendance provides unparalleled opportunities to streamline additional business administration tasks, as well as providing greater insight into labour costs, staff punctuality, and staff engagement. Workplaces are busy places, and managers have much better things to spend their time on than trying to get the fingerprint scanner to work. Using electronic Time Clocks to track employee attendance allows staff to clock in quickly and efficiently, so that they can get out of the backroom and working in your business. Because at the end of the day, you need a system that is affordable, reliable, and accessible, so that you can get on with paying staff and focusing on your business.   Curious to know more about a Cloud-based device that can help you track time and attendance better? Book your FREE demo with Tanda today.

Phil Johnson

2 January 2019    |   

In the pursuit of workforce success, business owners and head office level decision makers are the chief scientists, they are tasked with deciding what things can and can’t mix, and prescribing the optimal ratios for profit. The chemists of profit though sit on the front-line of the business, they’re the staff who mix the ingredients and decide if the ingredients fizzle, or create explosive profit. You can prescribe success for many things from the top down in business: “Here’s how you assemble a burger for best eating” “Here’s how you salt the fries for perfect coverage” “Here’s how you order the stock to reduce waste” The one that eludes most businesses is how to pass down the line “Here’s how you create a successful workforce” Here’s the science in practice. The best salesperson I ever worked with was the franchisee of a large electrical retail store. I’ve never heard someone talk with so much passion and authority about the merits of extending the warranty on a toaster. For him, good customer service and the subsequent numbers on the board had a different meaning to other staff. It was obvious for him that the scorecard of numbers on the board spelt life or death of the business. This reflected in his diligence and dedication to customer success. The challenge for him and all other business leaders is how to scale that urgency down to create action on a during shift basis at the front-line. Creating action through scarcity. If the result of selling an extended warranty, coffee or banana bread to each customer was the difference between being ahead of, or behind the curve of success at any given time throughout the day, these seemingly transactional tasks gain new importance. When you track progress during the shift, it becomes more real how scarce and difficult it is to materialise profit, cementing the importance of decisions made on shift. But scarcity besides being a reality of business is what motivates humanity – it’s why you’ve probably visited more landmarks on a short vacation than you’ve ever visited in your own town. The cumulative impact of these daily, during shift actions, is end of period profit. Prescribing Success. Bringing KPI’s into real-time scales the end goal of profit down to daily decision making, prescribing the formula for success. From a day of operations perspective, it’s about scarcity and urgency. Placing importance on the little things that add up to big profit by allowing teams to measure the outcomes of their decision in real time. In this scenario, getting the team out on time or ahead of time for example, no longer just incrementally affects an end of month report. It decides whether you finish your shift ahead of the prescribed success curve or behind – literally. The goal is to let anyone of any level of business knowledge understand how they’re going, and what they can do to improve it at any given time. The road to success is paved with action, and live KPI’s are the precursor to action.   For more details on the Tanda Live Wage Tracker™ visit Tanda.

Monic Del Rosario

28 December 2018    |   

Another year of business has come and gone. The ever-changing landscape is continuously breeding innovations. FW penalty rates are rolling out and turnovers are still unstable. Need help gauging your business plan for the coming year? Here’s a quick look at the major factors in the Australian economy: Awards, Penalty Rates, and Wages • Changes in penalty rates for the retail industry were announced last month. Changes will roll out over the coming years, mostly affecting casual employees and weekend shifts. Other industries’ awards continued to roll out this year, some of which were hospitality, pharmacy, and fast food. • The Fair Work Ombudsman apprehended and/or penalised businesses for improper payroll processing and/or treatment of staff, resulting in underpayment of employees. This year’s reports amounted to over $10 million for probing into multiple businesses nationwide. • When it came to labour issues, five industries had the most number of issues. The industries are: fast food, restaurant, hospitality, transportation, or manufacturing.  Read more: Australian Penalty Rates: Retail Industry Update (Nov. 2018) Wage Growth and Employment Rates • Slow wage growth has continuously been affecting businesses and staff alike in 2018. Managers need to change this in order to reduce low-wage, low-quality jobs, and joblessness. The OECD Employment Outlook reports that the overall worsening of the wages in Australia is associated with decreased earnings of staff, which resulted in the rise of involuntary part-time unemployment. • The OECD also reported that 67% of Australia’s workforce is between the ages of 15-74. They indicated that the employment rate is expected to rise in the coming year. This counters the country’s 5.5% unemployment rate of 2018. • The DJSB conducted a study that suggests businesses use a digital and data ecosystem for streamlined operations. This is from seeking staff, to onboarding, and down to paying them. Several sources stated that incorrectly paying staff is one of the most common reasons why employees seek jobs elsewhere. • In terms of employee turnover, AI Group reports that Hospitality is still the industry with the most people changing jobs. Around 16% of the industry’s workforce changed employers/business in a span of 12 months; while Retail and Manufacturing reported a 7% turnover rate, and Healthcare at 5%. • Australia’s labour market remains diverse, with another study by the DJSB stating that the 3 largest-employing industries are Healthcare (13.4%), Retail (10.3%), and Construction (9.4%). Read more: Wage theft is on a roll: Sushi as a symbol of unpaid wages Automating Businesses in the Digital Economy • The Treasury recently published a discussion paper about the digitalised economy of Australia. Their report estimated that the GDP per person in Australia is around $5,000 higher, thanks to the digital economy. • The same report also mentioned The G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project. They focused on improving tax frameworks by digitalising solutions. They also aim to increase ‘the capacity of businesses to have a significant market presence without being liable to taxation.’ • In an effort to kick off the BEPS project and to lessen breaches in wage laws, the Australian Taxation Office implemented last July the Single Touch Payroll, where businesses were required to use software that can send tax and super information directly to the ATO. • ASBFEO suggests that businesses move to using software for better management, especially when it comes to data, finance, and human resource management. Companies that use digital services to operate ‘save an average of around 10 hours a week’. They ‘subsequently increase annual revenue by almost a third’. Read more: Introducing Live Insights: Using real-time staffing to secure your business Digitalisation is becoming a part of economic policies. We can definitely expect a lot more trends and solutions to come up in the coming years. Technology has started to become an indispensable part of running a business and working out the never-ending wage and staffing problem are already being solved with specialised software as we speak. What other innovations do you predict will come this 2019?   Curious to know more about a workforce management system that can help your business get better this 2019? Book your FREE demo today.