Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Continuous Delivery. The process that will change everything.
Typically, news about a company implementing new software development processes might seem pretty dull-in the extreme!
But we at Valiant are about to transform our business and revolutionize the relationships we have with our clients by re-thinking our entire software development process. And that is anything but dull!
Valiant’s Performance Review Can Help You Combat Workplace Gossip.
What is it about office gossip? No matter how many workplaces I’ve been in, both as an employee and as a visitor, I inevitably come across this phenomenon. Whether it’s about who did what to whom, who’s dating who, who’s not working as hard as they should, gossip is everywhere.
The New DC Startup Scene Focused on Military Tech: Interview with BTS
SECURITY OF A HIGHER LEVEL – UNPARALLED SECURITY AND COMPLIANCE WITH THE ENTERPRISE CLOUD
PUBLIC CLOUD COMPUTING: TRUE COST REDUCTION, NOT JUST COST TRANSFER
Applicant Tracking System Eliminates Paper Applications, Streamlines Processes
Implementing an applicant tracking system at its company-owned restaurants has helped Burger King Corporation (BKC) address a variety of challenges it had faced with its previous hiring process.
Challenges to Tackle
The national fast-food chain used to accept paper job applications from walk-ins, but that process was proving to be too cumbersome. The overwhelming majority of applicants were walk-ins, and most stopped into a restaurant during the midday rush—between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., says Jose Tomas, executive vice president and chief human resources and communications officer, Burger King Corporation (www.bk.com). At that time, managers are “busy making WHOPPER® sandwiches and taking care of guests.”
Sometimes, managers could interview an applicant on the spot. But if they were too busy Continue Reading…
Customization Versus Configuration: Which Is Better?
Is it better to customize or configure? Any good workforce performance management system needs to have elements that can be adjusted to best serve a company’s needs. Deciding between customization and configuration is crucial in selecting a workforce performance management system that works best for your organization. However, in order to do that, you need to know exactly what the difference is between the two.
Customizing an application entails changing its core programming to better suit a company’s needs. Companies that customize a program Continue Reading…
Monitoring Productivity With a Mobile Enterprise Management Platform
Chances are everyone in your workplace owns a cell phone. In fact, you might even provide your employees with work cell phones if they move around on the job. Cell phones are just one of many mobile devices, including systems and networks, which can play a huge role in company work performance. If your company relies on mobile devices during the course of the workday, it could probably benefit from a mobile enterprise management platform, or MEMP.
A MEMP helps you keep track of your mobile workforce by managing all of its mobile devices, systems, and networks. Whether you have a small number of employees using mobile technology or a vast network, it’s important to be able to regulate the mobile aspect of your business.
A quality MEMP should easily collect data from all mobile devices your company uses and store it in a place where you can access it in real time. This can get tricky when the mobile enterprise isn’t uniform – different manufacturers produce mobile devices with different capabilities, applications, and plans. And that isn’t all – various mobile network operators can have their own compatibility issues.
A MEMP lets you monitor a rich variety of details about your company’s mobile enterprise. MEMP clients can be integrated with a mobile application to monitor tasks in real time. Phone calls, texts, and any other mobile device function can be timed, analyzed, and adjusted. Information pertaining to device performance, data connections, network speed, synchronization speed, downtime, and even battery life can be crucial to the success of an organization relying heavily on mobile performance. These details need to be monitored and analyzed so that equipment adjustments can be made if necessary.
When would equipment need to be adjusted or replaced, and how would you know? If battery life is an issue, a MEMP will provide information as to what mobile device’s battery lasts the longest. A good MEMP tells you when memory leaks are occurring, and in which mobile device. MEMPs can even track information related to the quality of a mobile device’s technical support.
Technology Tips For Encouraging High Performance And Strategic Talent Management
Recruiting talented employees and managing them strategically to meet organization goals and objectives is crucial to the success of your business. Technological solutions are emerging that provide easy ways to store information about employee skills and productivity, as well as motivation for higher performance.
First of all, define what skills are needed to ensure the growth of the business, whether they are experiential, educational, technical, or analytical. Discover who possesses what talents within the business, and which employees are the top performers. Use the results to develop and maintain a company-wide skills inventory, accessible by appropriate managers and supervisors. Such a record allows managers and other supervisors to assess the natural abilities, skills, and experience of employees, as well as keep track of any training received or necessary. These factors can be used during an employee’s entire lifespan with the company, beginning with recruitment and ending with retirement. A skills inventory also allows supervisors and business owners to compare the talent capital of the organization with the skills required to run it effectively – are there any gaps or overloads?
Ensure that employees’ individual goals are aligned with the strategy of your business. A pay-for-performance program is a perfect way to motivate employees to work hard and report their progress. Managers can then use the information gathered, including performance notes, reviews, and goal alignment metrics, to keep an in-depth skills inventory and make crucial talent management decisions. Pay-for-performance tracking technology enables 360-degree feedback to stream in from all areas of the organization as often as you desire. Using this technology also allows you give a weightier rank to particular aspects of an assessment, such as ‘customer service.’ A pay-for-performance initiative can provide the information to identify talent gaps and weak points within the business.
Technological initiatives to strategically manage talent within the organization benefit employees and employers alike. Employees who are accurately assessed and paid for their efforts have higher job satisfaction and tend to stay with the company longer. Employers reap the benefits of a successful business that uses talent to grow strategically in areas of concern.
How To Eliminate Pirated Time
Pirated time is the bane of countless workplaces. Employees who clock in early may think they’re doing the business a favor by working extra time, but in reality, they are throwing off payroll amounts and potentially putting the organization in a financial quandary. Employees who get co-workers to punch in for them but actually arrive later than the scheduled time are bilking the organization of service and money. Luckily, it’s possible to prevent pirated time.
The first step in eliminating pirated time is to restrict time clock punches with a workforce management system that compares the punched time to the appropriate schedule. Workforce management systems automatically integrate the time clock and employee schedules, saving your business valuable manual evaluation time. This way, employees cannot receive extra pay by clocking in to work when they are not scheduled.
It may seem counterintuitive, but you should allow managers to permit time clock overrides, or provide associates with a way to override the time clock. There are a host of reasons why an employee may have a real need to clock in later or earlier than usual, including covering for a sick co-worker or coming in early to complete a project. This way, payroll errors are reduced, odd times are easier to report, and the entire process is streamlined. When employers are given the capability to override time clock restrictions, the business saves even more time. In this scenario, the employee doesn’t have to waste time finding the manager, and the manager doesn’t have to put off doing more important work at hand to deal with the issue.
Along with permitting time clock overrides, you should devise exception reports to track the reasons behind them. Managers and employees alike should be given a list of acceptable reasons for time clock overrides that they can use to swiftly, accurately report all instances. This allows you to see how many overrides there are in which sections of the company, and the reasons behind them. The exception reports will alert you to any problems associated with time clock override frequency or rationale.
Authors
- Adam Stark
- Albert P. Corvigno
- Alex Passantino
- Bob Hayes
- Bob Perry
- Cameron Hamilton
- Carolyn D. Richmond
- Cherie Fuzzell
- Gary Levy
- Jay Ethridge and Joe Jezior
- Jim Pirraglia
- John Bauer
- John McHugh
- Karen Bucks
- Kathy Phillips
- Katie Meeker
- Lisa Brauner
- Matthew Gilley
- Michael Busch
- Mike Lehner
- Natalie Runyon
- Nick Fishman
- Rich Wilkinson
- Robert Munao
- Stephanie O'Rourk
- Steve Amitay
- Valiant
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