Month: September 2017

Nothing like a little Q and A session to kick off a blog post…

Does your industry sector experience seasonal demand fluctuations?

Do you often call on temporary or agency staff in order to satisfy demand in peak periods?

Are your employees regularly working overtime?

On the flip side, do quieter periods lead to stock surpluses, costly machine downtimes or employee workload deficits?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, Annualised Hours could be the ideal solution for your organisation!

Traditionally utilised within industries incorporating a profusion of shift work such as the manufacturing or healthcare sectors; Annualised Hours provides organisations with an invaluable flexibility to ensure that the right staff are on hand at the right time. Throughout this post we’ll be taking a closer at Annualised Hours, exploring how the process works before touching upon the key benefits for businesses.

Annualised Hours

When organisations adopt an Annualised Hours system, employees commit to working a designated number of hours over the course of one year. Typically, workers are allocated core shift patterns (AKA ‘Regular’ Hours) with the remaining ‘Reserve’ hours assigned on a ‘when required’ basis.

The Annualised Hours approach has fluctuated in and out of fashion over the years due largely to popular misconceptions over the perceived complexities and substantial administrative workloads involved along with a reluctance to change.

In order to reap the many rewards of Annualised Hours, organisations must take into account three core components. Firstly, a sufficient IT infrastructure should be in place to manage the process effectively. This combined with an abundance of planning and regular communication with employees should lead to following benefits:

Greater Control – First and foremost, Annualised Hours enables organisations to align working patterns with the demands of the industry sector within which they operate. A balanced flow of production is maintained throughout the year which ensures that the considerable workload of peak periods is catered for and stock surpluses are avoided when demand wanes. Furthermore, in the event of any unforeseen demand spikes, employers are able to dip into the pool of ‘Reserve’ hours and call in staff at relatively short notice.

Cost Effectiveness – For many companies, the increasing of manpower in order to cope with seasonal upsurges in demand can be particularly costly. Through the implementation of an Annualised Hours system, costs such as overtime premiums or the recruitment and training of temporary staff are eradicated.

Enhanced Organisational Productivity & Employee Morale – When the required level of output decreases, organisations can often find themselves in a situation where there is not enough work to go around. To simply fill their time at work, many workers perform menial, non-value adding tasks which are not only unproductive, they can also be demoralising for skilled employees. An Annualised Hours approach tends to boost staff morale considerably through increased basic salaries (compensating for the removal of overtime) and an improved work-life balance.

Is your organisation ready to harness the considerable powers of Annualised Hours?

Developed by ELF Productivity, Ceequel® Time and Attendance Software is an award-winning workforce management solution, possessing an unparalleled functionality to handle any company-specific working patterns, no matter how complex or unique.

For more information, please contact industry-leading Time and Attendance providers ELF Productivity.

Alternatively, click here for a range of downloadable brochures, detailing the outstanding features of Ceequel® Software Suite; including our feature-rich Shop Floor Data Capture module.

Our latest infographic focuses on employee absenteeism; a considerable threat to the productivity and profitability of any organisation which costs the UK economy billions of pounds every year! We also introduce some of the outstanding features of Ceequel® Time and Attendance Software, the ultimate weapon in the fight against absenteeism.

We hope that you enjoy our infographic and please feel free to share with your friends on social media.

If you would like to learn more about Ceequel® Time and Attendance, please contact ELF Productivity.

When it comes to the most in demand workplace perks, 2017 is undoubtedly the year of flexible working. More and more employees are determined to strike a healthy work-life balance and as a result, policies such as Flexitime and Time off in Lieu (TOIL) are high on the agenda for many companies throughout the UK; despite reservations over a seemingly inevitable ‘can of worms’ anticipated in the aftermath!

Is flexible working the key to the retention of a highly motivated and productive workforce or is it ultimately, too much toil and trouble?

Throughout this post, we’ll be taking a closer look at Flexitime and Time Off in Lieu (TOIL), exploring the benefits for employees and employers alike. We will also touch upon some common fears with regard to managing flexible working policies before introducing the dynamic functionality of Ceequel® Time and Attendance Software.

Flexitime

An alternative to the traditional ‘9 to 5’ working day, Flexitime is a flexible working scheme designed to provide employees with more leeway to satisfy any ‘outside of work’ needs or responsibilities. Typically, start and finish times are adapted around a set of ‘core hours’ which employees spend at work, the outstanding contract hours must then be satisfied by the employee during pre-defined ‘Flexitime’ periods.

The Benefits of Flexitime – Whilst we’re all aware of the benefits for employees, avoiding the dreaded daily commute, greater freedom to carry out caring responsibilities or increased opportunity to enjoy hobbies etc; what’s in it for employers? Companies providing flexible working schemes often enjoy considerable improvements in workplace morale and productivity, along with reduced employee absenteeism and staff turnover rates. In addition, allowing employees to work from home, outside of normal ‘office hours’ could also lead to greater organisational cost-effectiveness and higher customer satisfaction.

Recruitment activities also receive a major boost with Flexitime proving to be an invaluable ‘USP’ when competing for top talent. According to a recent survey conducted by a leading UK recruitment site, not only is Flexitime the most desired workplace incentive; over 70% of respondents stated that a benefits package plays ‘a crucial role’ in their decision-making process to either accept or decline a job offer. However, despite the much publicised demand for Flexitime, an investigation carried out by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) revealed that only one in 10 job adverts actually mention flexible working opportunities!

Time Off in Lieu (TOIL)

Time off in Lieu (often aptly abbreviated to TOIL) is a work arrangement that sees employees receive paid holiday time rather than overtime pay in return for extra hours worked.

The Benefits of TOIL – Similar to Flexitime, the benefits of TOIL for employees is all about work-life balance. Those who are financially secure and therefore less concerned with receiving overtime pay, may like to enjoy a few long weekends throughout the year. For employers, TOIL presents a more economical alternative to paying overtime premiums, providing that adequate cover is available for staff.

Managing Flexitime and Time Off in Lieu

Unfortunately, the very mention of Flexitime and Time Off in Lieu can strike terror into the hearts of many an organisation, due largely to fears over: the sheer volume of administrative work involved, the complexities of collating data, susceptibility to human error and the threat posed by abusers of the system…

Are you having trouble with Flexitime or Time Off in Lieu?

Developed by award-winning Time and Attendance specialists ELF Productivity, Ceequel® is the ideal solution to manage flexible working schemes effectively. Not only is all employee attendance data collated in real-time and processed to the highest degree of accuracy; a multitude of clocking options are available for employees working off-site including: internet and email clocking, smart phone apps, dedicated landlines, USB clocking and GPS clocking. Ceequel® Time and Attendance also possesses the dynamic functionality to handle all employee holiday allocations, flexi-balances and any other company-specific rules or calculations.

If you would like to learn more about Ceequel® Time and Attendance Software, please contact ELF Productivity. Alternatively, a range of Ceequel® Software Suite brochures are available to download from our website. Please click here to view our downloads section.

Imagine a world where you arrive at work and everything runs smoothly until it’s time to mosey on back home. Picture this, an entire workforce in perfect harmony…

Right, that’s enough of that, everybody back to reality! Despite your best efforts to ever so Britishly, keep calm and carry on; workplaces are often filled with numerous nuisances lurking around the corner, seemingly hell-bent on throwing you off your groove.

Fortunately, here at ELF Productivity, we don’t have any of these problems, every day is like a walk in the park; a very PRODUCTIVE, SUCCESSFUL and ultimately FULFILLING walk in the park I might add! However, for many organisations, this sadly isn’t the case. In fact, hundreds of UK companies were recently surveyed to uncover the most irritating things about work from an employee’s perspective.

I bet the suspense is killing you; well here they are, the top seven insufferable irritants of the workplace for UK employees:

The Commute – What better way to start than with our old friend the daily commute? You have to admit, it takes a special kind of irritant to put you in a bad mood both before you actually arrive at work and also during the much-anticipated journey home. Whether you’re at the mercy of traffic, train times or the weather, the daily commute has been the nemesis of many an employee throughout the ages.

Mickey Takers – In second place, those rascals constantly getting away with late starts and regularly pulling ‘sickies’. The quelling of employee absenteeism is a must for all organisations as profitability, productivity and workforce morale all bear the brunt of high absenteeism rates. After all, who’ll be expected to pick up the slack?

The ‘I’m So Busy’ Brigade – You know the ones; people who are so rushed off their feet that they literally only have time to tell you how busy they are! The real problem here is that they like to inform you around fifty times per day, EVERY DAY! There’s an old saying, don’t be busy, BE PRODUCTIVE!

Office Climate Change – It would appear that numerous workplaces throughout the UK are subjected to aggressive climate change, with temperatures fluctuating anywhere between the surface of the Sun and the Antarctic!

Too Few Holidays – A healthy work-life balance is key to developing and retaining a happy and motivated workforce. If employees are disillusioned with their holiday quota, they could soon seek pastures new!

Last Minute Phone Calls or Tasks – Just a few minutes to go until home time, you’re almost there. All of a sudden, the phone rings or someone walks in and says ‘before you go, could you just…’. NIGHTMARE!

The Theft of One’s Favourite Mug – Truly a cardinal sin, nothing more needs to be said here!

ELF Productivity is an award-winning provider of dynamic Time and Attendance Solutions specifically designed to enhance the profitability and productivity of any organisation, regardless of size or industry sector. Our industry-leading Ceequel® Time and Attendance Software delivers: streamlined clocking to payroll processes, robust absence management solutions, comprehensive labour planning and shift rostering features and an unparalleled functionality to manage Flexitime, Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) or any bespoke, company specific rules.

To learn more about Ceequel® Time and Attendance Software, please contact ELF Productivity. Alternatively, a range of Ceequel® Software Suite brochures can be found here.