Tag: Processes

Accurate Time and Attendance: Never Experience A Problem Again

Recording your individual employees accurate working hours on a day to day basis is often a difficult task. The information recorded has to be precise in order to avoid paying your employees the wrong amount. A simplistic way to record this data is through the implementation of a time and attendance system.

Paying workers for their time on the clock is a tradition that’s gone on for generations. While the system is fine in theory, there have always been problems presented by the time clock. Perhaps the biggest is creating a simple system that everyone can use, and which doesn’t take five minutes for the previous shift to clock out, and another five minutes for the next shift to clock in.

In order to make sure every worker gets paid for their time accurately, Elf Productivity Ltd. created a better system.

The Future of Time and Attendance

What Elf Productivity Ltd. did was create a digital time clock that every employee can access with ease from any device that’s signed into your company’s network. There’s no need to stand in a back hallway in a single file line, because everyone can sign in using their employee identification numbers and passwords. Everyone can do it at 9 on the dot if that’s when the shift starts, and work can get started immediately.

Even better, if there are mistakes in the amount of time someone worked (say that they forgot to clock out, or had computer issues and couldn’t clock in), then those mistakes can be fixed with a few strokes of a keyboard. There’s no need to get a new paper time card and re-punch it, or to make a mark with a pen showing the time you really clocked in or out. As far as your business is concerned actual, physical time cards should be as relevant to your day-to-day operations as stone tablets thanks to Elf Productivity Ltd.

For more information on how our fully integrated software suite can help make your business more efficient, simply contact us today!

The Access Control of the Future

Choosing the right method to keep your information secure can be a difficult task for any organisation and with so many to choose from the task can often seem like an impossible one. Not securing your data however is out of the question as unsecured data can be accessed by anyone, thus increasing the risk of sensitive information landing in the wrong hands.

Access control is one of the oldest business practices known to mankind. The earliest developments involved guards and bars, but as technology advanced we invented everything from lock boxes to secret panels. In today’s digital world, we have access to more methods of access control than ever before, but the sheer variety of options can sometimes seem like a burden. After all, how do you choose the right lock to keep your business safe?

Flexible Digital Access Control

This is a question that Elf Productivity Ltd. has pondered over quite a bit, and the answer it created is both simple, and elegant. That answer is a software suite that integrates every function a business needs to get through the day, but which is simple enough that even those who don’t consider themselves tech savvy can use with little instruction.

So what does it do? Well, a little of everything. This particular software suite has an integrated time clock, for example, and it also provides different levels of accessibility depending on an individual’s clearance. A standard employee can sign into his or her account, clock in, and access all of the programs needed to do the day’s work. Employees can even access their personal information, changing it as needed in the event that they have a name change, move, or make any other alterations. At the same time, though, the system makes sure that only people with clearance can access employee write-ups, look at work history, or gain access to financial data.

In short, the software provides a flexible system that will handle anything your business can throw at it, while at the same time making sure you can lock any digital doors you need to. For more information on this software suite, and how it can help your business, simply contact us today!

3 Tips for a Successful Time and Attendance Policy

Creating a successful time and attendance policy is crucial for any organisation. Without having one in place employees are able to do as they please. As a business it is important to know if any of your employees are breaching your company policies. A simplistic way of doing this is by implementing a system which will record each of your employees time and attendance data.

Reliability and timeliness is one of the most important qualities that can make up any employee. Employers need to know that the employees who are running their business plan to show up on time and are ready to work when they arrive. For this reason, setting up a Time and Attendance policy is crucial. Here are three tips that will help any business create the best policy possible.

Expectations

The best thing that you can do when you are setting up guidelines for your employees is to communicate with them. For example, if you need to be certain that your staff will be in the office for a particular period of time each day, communicate this information with them. To determine this, look at the culture of your field of business. Seeing how other businesses in your field operate can help you determine what is acceptable.

Discipline: Stick With It

When you are creating your company handbook, the discipline policy will need to be included. This will ensure that employees are aware of the rules. You will also need to explain what the disciplinary procedures are if these rules are violated. Also, discipline should be consistent when the policy is broken.

Set an Example

Employees are more likely to follow a policy when they see the leaders in the company following the same policy. This means that leaders should always follow the same rules that they have in place for their employees in regards to time and attendance.

Setting up a system for your time and attendance policy is also an important process. Ensure that employees are able to clock in and out with ease by selecting a reliable system. Contact us to learn more about the benefits that we offer for your time and attendance needs.

How to make Human Resources Jobs Easier

Your Human Resource department is the centre of your organisation. It relays messages to every department and is key in making sure all company and employee data is tracked and up to date. Without a fully functioning HR department your business would run into turmoil.

Your HR department is the nervous system of your business. It routes messages from every other department, and ensures that everyone gets necessary information in order to keep things working smoothly. Whether it’s making sure that new employees have all their data in the system, or ensuring that transfers, promotions, etc. are all tracked, human resources is the department in charge.

So why make HR’s job any more difficult than it already is?

A Single, Unified Network to Make Human Resources Happy

Computer networks are the major tools businesses use to keep track of all their information. These networks store customer information, employee information, create time tables, keep track of order numbers, and handle all of the heavy lifting your company needs. If you’re using multiple networks, though, you’re driving your HR people crazy.

Imagine this scenario: you have two departments. Your employees report to the first department, and tell the Department-One people how many hours they’ve worked, the Department-One people write it down, walk across the hall, and hand their notes to the Department-Two people, the Department-Two people then take those notes, and input the hours worked into their own machines.

Why would you use such a convoluted system? Why not cut out the first department entirely, reducing the number of steps you’re taking and ensuring that fewer mistakes being made? The same questions would apply to using an outdated software suite, or attempting to use multiple suites that can’t talk to each other.

One Software, One Company

Elf Productivity Ltd. set out to create a unique software suite that would allow your business to do everything, without having to switch back and forth: it’s a time clock, a database, a communication network, and all the different sections can be password protected as you see fit.

If you want to see increased productivity, fewer headaches, and faster results in your business, then contact us today to see how our unique software solutions can help you.

Why Access Control is more Important (and difficult) than ever before

Access control within a business used to be a relatively simple process with all important documents being locked away in filling cabinets. The implementation of modern day technology however has now complicated the process with businesses storing important information from an employee’s personal details to credit card information on a computer network. Without the use of an electronic access control system all of this information is at risk of falling into the wrong hands.

In the past, access control in a business was relatively simple: if you had files that contained sensitive information, you put them in a filing cabinet in your office, and locked the drawer; when you went home for the day you locked your office, and you could rest assured that the information was safe behind barriers that only you had the key for.

As we all know though, the days of paper files (or at least exclusively paper files) are long behind us. Modern businesses run on computer networks that hold everything from credit card data and employee profiles, to bank account and social security numbers. While all of this information is necessary for conducting business, it is a little scary to think about what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands.

Electronic Access Control

That’s where Elf Productivity Ltd. comes into the picture. We know the worries businesses have to deal with, and it’s why we developed a unique software suite that ensures private information remains private.

Our software acts as an all-in-one solution to your business’s needs. It has a time clock for keeping track of which employees are working when, it offers employee self-service so that your HR department isn’t the only one capable of changing employee information, and most importantly it offers access control. You are in charge when it comes to who can see what information, and our software allows you to keep private files or documents out of the general network. So if some files are necessary for management but not your lower-level workers, we let you protect those. We also make sure that no outside forces get into your system, and make off with the data you’re trying so hard to keep safe.

For more information on how Elf Productivity Ltd. can help you keep your business locked up tight simply contact us today!

Time and Attendance: Elf Productivity Ltd offers the Time Clock of the Future!

Both businesses and employees recognise the benefits of having an accurate clocking system in place. Without one, employees are at risk of being incorrectly paid and employers can fall victim to time theft. Our time and attendance solution keeps track of every minute your workers spend on the clock each day.

For the hourly employee there is nothing more important than the time clock, because without it he or she doesn’t get paid. From the company’s perspective there’s nothing more important than an accurate time clock, so that there’s no time theft going on and employees can be paid for the work they performed. Technology has come a long way since the days of punch cards though, and today employers have access to a much more powerful solution for keeping track of every minute workers spend on the clock.

Time and Attendance Solutions With Elf Productivity Ltd.

Elf Productivity Ltd. knows full well how difficult it can be to keep track of all the details when you’re running a business. That’s why it sat down to design a software suite that operates like a Swiss army knife. On the one hand it provides access control so that a business can make sure important information is kept locked away where only those with the right clearance can find it. It also provides human resources access, allowing average workers the ability to modify their information so that HR doesn’t have to waste time processing simple name and address changes. This software suite is also a portable time clock. No matter what work station someone is at, whether it’s in the building or on the other side of the world, all they need to do is log in and get to work. It’s simple, easy, and there’s no leisurely walk from the time clock out onto the shop floor. Just sign in, put in your time, and sign out.

For more information about how Elf Productivity Ltd. can help your business be more efficient, simply contact us today!

Tips for Improving Human Resource Departments

The Human Resource department is the most vital part of any organisation. Making improvements to your HR department has the potential to improve every other part of your business. There are a number of ways in which you can improve your HR processes below is a list of a few.

The HR department has a challenging job; it is also a vital part of an organisation. Improving the HR department enhances the entire business, there are a number of things that will help improve your Human Resource department, here are a few tips to consider:

Engage

It is crucial to communicate and engage with all employees: being proactive and making an effort to speak with people is beneficial. HR workers should go out of their way to interact with employees in every department, consider creating a daily ritual of walking the building or floor looking for people to converse with.

Listen

Employees need to feel as if they are being heard, increase listening skills to achieve this. HR operatives must know when to talk and when to be quiet, educate the HR department on proper listening skills.

Avoid Micro-Managing

Employees need to feel that they are trusted, if you micro-manage them, they feel incompetent. You can observe them and give feedback without micro-managing everything, give employees some freedom and independence to perform their work on their own, this builds confidence and produces happier employees.

Team Work

Team work encourages employees to work together, building camaraderie and relationships among employees is powerful. Employees should feel as if they are a part of something larger than themselves, when they develop connections to each other, a healthier work environment is produced.

Budget

Ensure that your budget includes plenty of funds for development and training. Your employees’ education does not end when they begin working for your organisation, in order to keep up with technology and innovation, the staff should consistently go through development and training, this keeps your workforce up-to-date and ready for the future.

These are just a few tips you can implement to improve your human resources department. It is a complex job, and it is essential for any organisation. When the HR department performs at its best, the entire company performs at its best. Contact us for more information.

Shop Floor Data Capture is the Canary in the Coal Mine for modern Businesses

As a production company, making sure you stay on top of your produce and waste numbers is an essential process if you wish to remain in business. Any drop within your production numbers could become critical as less stock means less money. That is why it is crucial for any company who produces a product to implement a shop floor data capture system.

In the days before OSHA safety standards, coal miners would bring canaries down into the mines with them, the little yellow birds would tweet happily in their cages, raising the spirits of the miners as they toiled away beneath the mountains. The birds, being so tiny, would also die if exposed to dangerous, invisible gases, which gave miners a warning to get out before they met a similar fate.

Shop floor data capture is kind of like that, if it was for manufacturers.

Shop Floor Data Capture: A Better Canary?

Let’s say that you run a printing company, and you have your machines set to produce 500 magazines an hour in order to meet your client’s needs (it’s just an example, you could easily use this with any product on the market). What you don’t know is that your presses are only putting out 450 an hour because of an easy-to-fix problem that’s hard to detect. You don’t realise your production is falling behind until you’re almost at the deadline and your numbers aren’t adding up. Shop floor data capture is a way to prevent this sudden, last-minute realisation

How Does It Work?

Shop floor data capture is fairly simple: you attach sensors to your production machinery, and those sensors capture the raw numbers in real-time. Those numbers are then provided directly to you, and if there’s a deviation from what you need to have, you find out in minutes or hours instead of days or weeks. The system is smooth, and it uses wireless communication to make certain you know what’s going on at the shop floor level so you can side-step any nasty surprises.

Put another way, no metaphorical methane is going to sneak up on you and your workers while you’re toiling in the mine. For more information on shop floor data capture, and how it can help your business, simply contact us today!

The Importance of Access Control in the Digital Age

The idea behind access control is simple. If you don’t need access to certain information in order to complete a task then you won’t be given access. Access control within a business works in a similar way with company owners, managers and employees often having different levels of access. As technology changes access control becomes a necessity for all businesses.

Access Control is one of the oldest necessities in business. For example, while a store might have 50 employees, only the owner and a select few managers have the keys to the door and the code to the alarm system. That way, if the store gets robbed, and the perpetrator had both a key and the security code, it narrows the pool of possible suspects.

The idea behind access control is simple: if you don’t need access to something to do your job, then why should you have that access?

The Challenges of The Internet Age

As technology grows more advanced, access control becomes both more necessary, and more difficult. Most businesses today have a computerised network, and that network controls all of the activity in that business. Hourly employees use the network to clock in and out, and human resources uses it to keep track of employee information and to make changes when necessary. Management uses the network to evaluate job performance, to store notes on employee activity, and to keep track of customer information. That’s a lot of data, and a business has to make sure that employees only have access to the parts of it they need to for security purposes. That’s a big challenge to face, but it’s why Elf Productivity Ltd. designed software to make that job easy.

A Software Suite That Does It All

Our software was designed specifically with access control in mind, and we combined that with ease of use. If you want to make sure that only managers have access to certain files, our software can help you do that. If you want a digital time clock, and a software suite that allows employees to alter their own personal information for name or address changes, we can do that as well.

In short we’ve created a single tool that will help your business achieve more with less energy. For more information about how this software can keep you secure while letting you do more, simply contact us today!

Is Human Resources Necessary in The Age of Employee Self Service?

Over time labour specifications have evolved dramatically due to the advancement in society. Community’s were once made up of people who took care of themselves now each individual has a specialised ability n band together within bushiness to form departments of people who all work together.

One of the ways you can tell that a society is becoming more advanced is the specialisation of labour. That means that it goes from a community where everyone more or less takes care of themselves individually, to a place where everyone has a more specialised trade. So, instead of everyone doing a little bit of everything, you have a blacksmith, a farmer, a carpenter, etc. Businesses are like this too: at first, all of your employees have to be able to do a bit of everything, but over time you grow and develop into separate departments who all work together as part of a greater whole.

But what happens when technology renders a job no longer necessary? We don’t have milkmen or lantern lighters anymore, but what happens when this kind of obsolescence happens to a department in a company?

Will it happen to Human Resources? Employee Self Service: The Future of HR?

In the past, it was necessary to have an entire department dedicated to keeping track of employee information, Human Resources is what we usually call it. If you need to get your banking information changed, if you got married or divorced and need your name altered, or if you moved and needed your address updated you, would go to HR, fill out some paperwork, and wait for someone in the department to input your updates.

The technology that business runs on has shifted dramatically though, and most businesses operate on a single computer network. With integrated software, it’s possible to promote employee self-service. What that means is that if you have to do any of the things mentioned above, you simply log on with your company password, go to your profile, and change the information yourself. There’s no paperwork to fill out, no waiting on the change to be made, you simply log in, fix the issue yourself, and get back to work.

Changing The Way You Do Business

While there’s something to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way, employee self-service allows businesses to streamline their operations, and it cuts down on the amount of work and time that the HR department does have to do. The question that has yet to be answered is whether this self-service option is going to free up HR to tackle big problems, or if it’s going to render HR as a department obsolete.

If you’d like more information on employee self-service and on our integrated business software that lets you achieve more with less effort, simply contact us today!