Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
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.
How To Tell If Your Human Resources System Is Outdated
One of the most dangerous maxims in business is, “But that’s the way we’ve always done it.” What this essentially means is that there’s a fairly good chance that you’re following a human resource principle that may be outdated. If you’re still working in an obsolete HR system, you could be wasting time, talent and money, while propagating a broken system that’s holding you back from true success. As the world of free enterprise becomes increasingly regulated and scrutinized, adopting today’s best practices and cutting-edge solutions that can withstand the test of time means you must always think of the future of HR, today.
Is your current human resources system static and one-sided, or strategic, dynamic and interactive? The more one-dimensional your current system is, the less effective it will be in attracting, training, deploying and retaining the industry’s best talent. If not, this is a sure sign that your organization is at risk of being outdated and out of touch.
Does your current human resources system focus solely on the needs of the bottom line or does it zero in on all areas, from the smallest employee to the largest department? The less comprehensive your focus is, the higher the chance is that you’ll wind up letting something important slip through the cracks or escape notice.
How easy is it integrating your HR systems solution with other key operational aspects of your business? The more difficult integration is, the more difficult achieving the right research and results will be. Make integration and transparency the key to your far-reaching success.
Does your current human resources system foster collaboration, or does it leave departments isolated from or in competition with one another? The easier collaboration and teamwork are within your organization, the easier it is to streamline and replicate achievements both up and down the corporate ladder.
The danger of being outdated isn’t just behind in the times. It means that every day you put your company in jeopardy of being obsolete and disconnected from the needs of the market.
Mobile Technology Workforce Management Ideas
Smartphones are becoming more and more ubiquitous, but how can mobile technology be integrated into workforce management solutions? Chances are, anyone with a Smartphone is already using it to check work emails and communicate about daily work-related matters. Current mobile technology is in a position to revolutionize the world of workforce management.
Mobile devices will be used as tools by regional managers, store managers, and sales-floor personnel alike to speed the accomplishment of a wide selection of daily tasks. Responsibilities like training and scheduling, including filling open slots, will take place entirely or almost entirely through mobile devices. Overtime and other unique payroll functions will also be handled by such portable technology.
Mobile technology is ideal for more than personal emails and instant messages on the go. Company employees will be expected to produce visible, measurable outcomes relating to task management using mobile devices. Staff will no longer have to be tethered to the desktop or laptop computer to search for breaking information or important communications. Employees will be able to increase store sales by checking other branches for necessary merchandise, keep track of their own store’s inventory, and retrieve information about product specifications and other data.
The list of functions mobile technology can streamline is by no means exhausted. Mobile devices can be used to bid for specific shifts, schedule performance reviews, and request vacation days or sick leave. As mobile technology continues to develop, so will its applications in the workforce management arena.
As with any new technology, using mobile devices has its drawbacks. Smartphones or other devices might get stolen, lost, hacked, or broken while in use. On the other hand, mobile technology is ideal for improving internal communication and customer service, as well as saving money. Despite its possible risks, the potential workforce management benefits of mobile technology are far too great to ignore.
Companies throughout the world are taking advantage of the time and cost-saving capabilities of mobile technology. Valiant offers a wide range of solutions for companies looking to incorporate mobile technology into the workplace, including a fully PDA-accessible Web Clock.
Defining “The Cloud” : WHITEPAPER
Understanding Cloud Computing: What's Best For Your Enterprise? WHITEPAPER
This white paper by Jay Ethridge and Joe Jezior of Technology & Business Solutions (TBS) will help you understand what cloud computing is and what it can do for your company. It’s the first in a series of TBS whitepapers on cloud computing that will define the cloud and discuss its benefits, why companies of all sizes, including Google, Microsoft and the Federal Government, are embracing it, and how you can leverage this new technology at your firm. Continue Reading…
Is Your Background Check Release Form Still Relevant?
Have you taken a look at your background check release lately and wondered if the form that was created for you 10 years ago is still working for your organization? Read this helpful Back to Basics article and then decide.
Violence in the Workplace
Each year over two million incidents of workplace violence occur in the United States, costing businesses $70 billion annually. Yet over 70 percent of U.S. companies have no policy or program to address this growing problem. “Violence in the Workplace” offers a road map to identify the warning signs of a potential threat and to diffuse problems before they escalate.
Authors
- Adam Stark
- Albert P. Corvigno
- Alex Passantino
- Bob Hayes
- Bob Perry
- Cameron Hamilton
- Carolyn D. Richmond
- Dana Wright
- Gary Levy
- Jay Ethridge and Joe Jezior
- Jim Pirraglia
- John Bauer
- John McHugh
- Jon Levin
- 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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