Posts Tagged ‘staff’

Workforce Management Tips – Time and Attendance

October 23rd, 2011

Getting your workforce to work effectively is the job of any good manager. Here what you are doing is taking a group of people who have been thrown together and then transforming them into a well oiled machine that can pump out the maximum amount of work with the highest efficiency thereby getting you more output for the same amount of money and making your clients happy as possible as their products and services are completed to a good standard and in record time.

One aspect of your workforce management that will have a particularly large impact on the effectiveness of your team and the money that your company earns is your time and attendance system. You need to implement some method in order to make sure that your staff attend your premises when you have agreed, that they are efficient in arriving on time, and that they get paid for the hours that they do. How you do this will effect how much money you get from them and will effect their satisfaction also.

The main way to do this is with some kind of time clock. In the old days this worked by punching the time onto a small card that could be counted up at the end of the day, but technology has come on since then. By using digital time clocks it is possible to use a swipe card, PIN number or even biometric data (such as retinal scans or fingerprints) in order to identify workers when they arrive and then add their time to the system. This then is added up automatically which is the great news as it means that you are not paying anyone to count up lots of work times and as it means that you won’t make any mistakes.

When you are choosing time clocks it is a good idea to choose biometric time clocks as they will ensure that your staff don’t try and pull a fast one by getting anyone else to sign them in. You can also improve honesty and make sure that the machines are used as intended by employing CCTV around the premises. While you won’t often look this back, if ever there is a dispute as to the time someone signed in then you can use these records. Furthermore it will deter most people from trying to lie. At the same time it is a good idea to keep some kind of online element that allows your staff to log in from home. This is important as it allows them to signify that they have worked for you from home or from a business trip and this will ensure that they still get paid for that work without making your system more complicated.

Using some kind of flexible hours that allow your staff to work from home is a great option that will help to improve your time and attendance. As people can earn time at home or organize it, they will feel less inclined to call in sick or fake their attendance. This also helps to improve their work satisfaction as flexi time allows them to fit work around their lives.

For every growing business they have to be mindful of their workforce management skills. When staff numbers are growing, you also need to have a good time and attendance procedure.

Posted in Business Management

5 Tips for Effective Team Management

September 19th, 2011

Have you ever been on a team building day or management development training session where you’ve thought “this bears no relation to my work?” You’re not alone. Team building exercises are, in general, conceptual, designed to bond your team and make everyone enjoy working together productively. They don’t tend to be tailored to specific work goals.

So how do you build a team that works together effectively on a day-to-day basis and achieves what you want? These 5 tips should help you maintain the right mindset to build any group into a functioning team.

1. Accept and appreciate diversity. This does not just refer to obvious differences, such as people needing flexibility for parenting, but to differences in personality, strengths, experience and views. If you appreciate and support these different traits, your team will be more sympathetic and celebratory of each other’s differences too. This will lead to a more supportive and open team environment in which staff are not afraid to express opinions or ask for help.

2. Create standards and ensure people are treated equally. Maybe it will seem as if this is contrary to appreciating diversity, but it doesn’t have to be. While people might need different types of support, as long as everyone knows they are entitled to the same levels of support, you are creating an equal environment.

3. Be open to new ideas. Never become closed-minded and never value tried and tested processes more than innovation.

4. Never forget how important tried and tested processes are. Again, contradictory, but a manager who is focussed entirely on new ideas but does not maintain processes and standards is useless, as their team will become confused and undisciplined. Similarly, a manager who cares only for maintaining the current processes will be too rigid, and the team will never progress under such a restrictive environment. Strike a balance and your team will follow the rules and processes but their creativity and enthusiasm won’t be crushed.

5. Define success, both in terms of individuals and the team. The latter of these is often forgotten, but if the team knows what its collective function is and can form an idea of how to get there they will feel more united. Don’t be scared to include them in discussions on these areas and gather their opinions on what they consider success as a team to be. It might be a common business goal, but it might also be successes around communication or co-operation on certain tasks. You can’t dictate to them how they should go about becoming a team or force your views on them, it needs to be collaborative.

The tips above do not offer an exhaustive route to effective team management though they do offer a platform from which to develop your own team management style. Ultimately, it is a crucial part of management development training that can sometimes be tricky due to the massive variations in teams in terms of size, purpose, personalities.

Posted in Team Management