Tag: Time Management

How Human Resources can motivate Employees (without salary increases!)

Finding ways in which to motivate your employees can be a challenging task for many companies. Traditional methods such as raises and bonuses often put a strain on company budgets, meaning many organisations are now opting to use the numerous free methods available.

In this time of tight budgets, human resources can no longer simply give raises or bonuses to employees in exchange for excellent service. Luckily, motivating employees isn’t limited to monetary rewards, and some motivational techniques are free.

Thanking Employees

Everyone wants to know that their hard work is appreciated. A simple heartfelt thank you costs nothing, but instills a sense of purpose in an employee.

Public Recognition

From a simple email announcement to an employee of the month award, public recognition lets an employee know that they are valued and gives them a sense of pride and accomplishment. Most employees will want their co-workers aware of their hard work and there is no better way to show off an employees talents than publicly awarding them.

More Responsibility

Excellent employees want challenges and outstanding employees want to advance their careers. Putting an employee in charge of a project gives them managerial experience that they can point to when applying for managerial positions.

Professional Development

Allowing an employee to attend a professional development seminar benefits the employee and your organisation. The employee gets to network and list the training on their CV (therefore helping their career) while your company benefits from the cutting edge techniques your employee learns at the event.

Flexible Work Schedule

No one likes getting up early, getting dressed, and making a long commute to work. If you have an outstanding employee that can work independently, allowing them to work from home (at least part of the time) is a great incentive, plus, skipping commutes increases employee heath and satisfaction, creating a happier and more productive worker.

For more information about human resources, contact us.

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!

Capture of Data from the Shop Floor

Our Ceequel system works as one big database which monitors your employees performances by using information collected straight from the shop floor through the shop floor data capture system. Information about each individual employee’s time spent on each task is transferred in real time between both employee and manager.

The Ceequel system is a big data solution to the monitoring of employee performance using data captured directly from the shop floor. The system shares information about the time spent in each shop floor station between central management and each employee. The overview screen locates each employee’s current position in real-time and accumulates the data so that the sum of each employee’s activities can be plotted over time. All the information gathered is kept out of the influence of the employees and the managers. It is an all secure accounting record that will always reflect exact times and durations that have legal standing.

The software is based on Microsoft’s SQL Server technology, integrated with existing systems running in Windows. It can display a roster of information such as skills availability and manning levels summated in real-time for making shift change and absence planning decisions. This is a state-of-the-art development in the science of industrial management.

Exact performance information that feeds back directly to the employee has always been at the core of employee supervision. Many performance and absentee issues have always stemmed from what employees perceive as bias or inaccurate feedback from supervisors.

Surveys show that the vast majority (88%) of employee turnover issues stem from disagreements with supervisors or other matters of the work environment or culture. Nearly half (43%) of employees do not feel valued by their employers and most (71%) of employees describe themselves as “not engaged” or “disengaged” from their jobs.

Employees often cannot visualise their individual contributions to the goals of the company. Active real-time feedback can help employees confirm their contributions while giving supervisors more precise information about the effectiveness of each employee. Exact information can help managers make needed supervisory or training decisions. Big data solutions applied to employee record-keeping on the shop floor have vastly improved industrial processes in a wide range of applications.

Elf Productivity Limited owns and develops the Ceequel system code. We can help you by customising a system for your settings. Please contact us for more information.

Benefits to Time and Attendance Software

Managing employee time and attendance data is a hard job for any human resource department. Calculating payroll and holiday time as well as generating reports can take hours, costing your business money. Implementing an easy to use time and attendance system will reduce the number of hours spent on these kind of tasks as well as benefiting your business in numerous other ways.

Managing employees’ time and attendance sounds like hard work for any Human Resources department, even the smallest of companies spend an inordinate amount of time with reports, payroll, and holiday time calculations, the list can seem endless at times.

Many are unaware of the tremendous benefits afforded through the use of Time and Attendance software. Here are just a few:

The Time is Up for Clocks and Cards

If your company is still using a time clock, you are hemorrhaging a great deal of money out of your payroll department. On average, dispensing, collecting, calculating, and purchasing time cards costs roughly eighteen minutes per employee, per week. That’s around fifteen hours for each employee annually. Everyone knows, in business, time is money!

Help Those Who Help Themselves

Although it is simply “part of their job”, Payroll and HR collectively, or separately, spend hours over the course of a year looking up data for employees: vacation time due, verifying days or hours worked, scheduling questions, and many more inquires. Time and Attendance software allows employees to find this information out for themselves.

Absenteeism Adds Up

While some employers may feel that an absent employee is reducing payroll, it is actually costing companies more. According to CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel Development) research, 90% of businesses say that absenteeism is “a significant cost” for their company. Sickness generally accounts for eight lost working days per year for every staff member or around 3.5% of working time annually.

To save your company valuable time, money, and resources, please contact us to learn more about our Time and Attendance software today.

Shop Floor Data Capture Saves You Time And Money!

Modern day technology now makes it possible for businesses to record and transmit employee data in real time making it easier for managers to make accurate decisions quickly. A shop floor data system has the ability to do the above and much more.

One of the most important things business owners can have is information, and the fresher that information is, the better. Thanks to modern information technology it’s possible to record and transmit business data in real-time, which means that it’s possible for businesses to make decisions more quickly and accurately than they could before. This process is often referred to as shop floor data capture.

What Is Shop Floor Data Capture?

Shop floor data capture is, in short, the process of capturing data as projects and events are unfolding in real-time. Whether it’s recording the hours that employees spend on certain tasks, or compiling the number of units produced by a given machine, all of that information is recorded and transmitted instantly. It allows business owners to get a good look at what’s happening on the floor, and they can make decisions and implement policies quickly to make sure problems are swiftly corrected.

Examples often work best to explain how this process works, so let’s take a hypothetical situation: there’s a manufacturer with five machines that all make wire ties. In the past the numbers would be tallied at the end of the day, compiled in a computer, and then printed out at the end of the week. So if there was an error in the third machine that was subtle, and which could only be detected in its slightly reduced output (which has become a largely reduced output by the end of a week) then it will take up to seven days to notice it. A shop floor data capture program would point out those numbers quickly though, and the problem could be brought to management’s attention by the end of the first day. This saves time, and more importantly money that would have been lost due to wasted energy and a depleted product.

Just One More Feature Elf Productivity Ltd. Offers

At Elf Productivity Ltd. it’s out goal to give businesses the best possible tools to get the job done. Our software suites are designed to be simple, organic, easy-to-learn, and to provide clients with all of the features they need to keep productivity up, waste down, and to serve their customers better. We offer shop floor data capture, but we also provide features like employee self-service, automated time clocks, and dozens of other helpful tools that will make sure your business never misses a step.

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

Why Digital Access Control is so Important

How secure your organisation is can often be the make or break of any new business deal. If clients believe their data is likely to become compromised they will almost always pick a competitor over you. In order to stop this from happening, businesses have been implementing access control systems which allow them to limit what data certain employees have access to.

Security is one of the biggest keys to earning client trust and running a successful business. Clients need to know their information is safe, and one of the best ways to keep it safe is to make sure only employees who need access are the ones that get it. That way if there is a leak or something similar, the number of people who could be responsible is a smaller pool than “everyone in the office”. Not only is the suspect-base smaller, but when there are fewer people who have access to sensitive data there is a smaller chance of that data getting out and falling into the hands of people who shouldn’t have it (e.g. identity thieves, con men, etc.).

Using The Proper Access Control Software

One of the best ways to make sure that data stays safe and secure is to use access control software. This software can be thought of as a digital lock, and only employees who have the key can get through to the other side. The key typically takes the form of a management account and password, thus ensuring that employees who need access to higher-level information can get it easily, but those who don’t need that data to do their jobs simply can’t open the electronic door.

Keeping Things On A Need-To-Know Basis With Elf Productivity Ltd.

Elf Productivity Ltd. knows how difficult it is to make sure all employees have enough information to properly do their jobs, but still keeping sensitive data locked away from the general worker’s pool. That’s why we produce high-quality software that offers access control solutions along with dozens of other features that will help businesses achieve more with less effort.

What other features does the software boast? Well, it offers security and access control solutions, but it also operates as an electronic time clock to keep accurate track of employee hours. This software also allows more employees to do more, allowing anyone to change basic information so there’s no need to go through HR in order to alter an address or change a name to reflect what’s on a driver’s license.

For more information on how our software suites can help you keep sensitive data locked away where it belongs simply contact us today!

Cut through Red Tape with Employee Self Service

Filling out forms to request a change of information on the system can be a time consuming task for employees. This information can then take weeks to be updated due to the number of high priority tasks human resource departments need to complete. Employee self service systems cut out the middle man meaning your employees can update their own data in real time.

Every business has bureaucracy: maybe you need to fill out three forms to have Human Resources change your name in the computer, alternatively you might have to put in a request for a change of address and wait for weeks before the system gets updated; all this red tape is seen as a necessary evil, after all, how else is all this information going to get updated?

By letting the employees do it themselves.

Employee Self Service

Employee Self Service is the idea that all employees are capable of doing simple tasks, such as changing their names, addresses, and other personal information. Instead of giving this power only to the Human Resources department, a business utilises software that allows every employee to access and alter his or her own basic profile. This means that employees can make necessary changes more quickly, and the Human Resources department is freed up to handle different assignments.

Elf Productivity Ltd. Can Help

Efficiency is the name of the game, and Elf Productivity Ltd. can give your business the tools it needs to play in the big leagues. The software suites produced by this company are easy to learn, and they provide more access for more employees. At the same time, though these systems don’t sacrifice security, making absolutely certain that employees only have the amount of access they need to get the job done.
You can go in and change your name and address easily enough, but information like personnel records, evaluations, etc. can only be accessed by those with authority to do so.

What Else Does This Software Do?

Elf Productivity Ltd. wanted to create a single solution for all of a business’s needs, which is why their software balances access control, employee self service, and record keeping. It’s flexible and functional with features that even allow it to be used as a time clock so hourly employees can make sure management knows how long they’ve worked. The suite eliminates redundancy, and provides simple, elegant solutions for fixing the problems every business has to deal with.

For more information on what Elf Productivity Ltd. can do for you and your business simply contact us today!

Keeping Track of Time and Attendance Minimises On-The-Clock Problems

Time clocks are often the biggest loopholes within a business as they can often be subjected to abuse by employees who choose to fraud time in order to be paid more money by their employers. False attendances are sometimes a problem within organisations as employees choose to clock in as another employee despite them not being in attendance.

Paying employees by the hour is common practice in many fields, and it’s one of the most common methods of compensating workers. That said, a time clock is subject to abuse and problems if there are loopholes in how it works.

What Sort of Problems Must A Time and Attendance Program Overcome?

There are numerous issues that a time and attendance record-keeping program needs to overcome. Perhaps the most common is time theft, which is where workers will punch in a few minutes early or out a few minutes late, adding an extra hour or two to the clock by the time pay day rolls around. Another issue is false attendance, where someone else clocks in an employee even though he or she isn’t currently on the floor. There are numerous other issues, but they all stem from the abuse of the time clock.

A smart time and attendance program will overcome these issues, which is where Elf Productivity Ltd. comes into the picture.

How Our Time And Attendance Program Is Different

Rather than just being a time clock, our software creates a tool that is easy to use properly and difficult to use improperly. It’s simple to log yourself in, and easy to log yourself out. In fact putting in corrections to your hours is also so simple it doesn’t even require involving human resources.

In addition to being a powerful hours tracking suite though, the software also provides rigid access control. So while it’s easy to use in the ways it was intended to be used, this software cuts down on a lot of issues like those mentioned above. No one wants the time clock to be gamed, since it makes the employees look bad and it costs the management money, time, and effort to police. So instead of looking over every individual employee’s shoulder, why not simply upgrade to a system that takes care of security for you every time someone clocks in to work?

For more information on how our software can help your business operate more smoothly and with fewer time clock related issues simply contact us today!

Avoid Productivity “Speed Bumps” with Employee Self Service Software

When it comes to increasing employee productivity there are a number of things to consider. Do you increase your employees working hours or perhaps even provide them with more tasks, or do you simply motivate them to use their working hours in a better way. Removing distractions from human resources is one of the simplest ways in which you can improve your employees productivity levels.

What factors are involved in increasing productivity? The number of hours an employee works is a factor, but the way those hours are used is a bigger one. Distractions from getting the job done cause productivity speed bumps, and sometimes those distractions come in the form of completely ordinary, completely necessary, administrative tasks.

Common Speed Bumps

Many ordinary employee requests or needs require a brief conversation with a manager or HR person. If the employee can connect with the right person quickly, there is minimal impact to the workday. But sometimes a busy manager is hard to connect with. Many workers have had the experience of checking in at someone’s office several times during the day before they finally make that connection; constantly trying and failing to find someone creates a productivity speed bump.

Email is a more efficient way to handle some issues, but it doesn’t solve all problems. A misunderstanding in email can take several back-and-forth messages to sort out, worse, the volume of email some workers receive makes it too easy for an email to slip through the cracks.

Speed Bumps Send Productivity Off Track

Small speed bumps can turn into big problems. Imagine an employee needs to update their employment record because they have a new mobile phone number, they give the number to their supervisor or an HR person, but the note or email goes astray. The employee doesn’t think to check back with their supervisor to make sure their record is updated. A few weeks later, there’s an urgent need for someone to fill in a shift. The supervisor tries to contact the employee, but is unable to reach them because of their outdated employment record, all of a sudden, a minor oversight in record-keeping has become a big problem: not only is the company short-staffed for that shift, but the supervisor must spend more time trying to find someone to fill in. Future shifts may also be affected because of a backlog of work. The supervisor may need to postpone important tasks in order to handle the staffing issue.

Smooth the Way With Employee Self Service Software

HR software with an Employee Self Service component can eliminate many speed bumps. Requests for holidays or time off can be submitted via the system without needing to personally contact a manager. There is no chance of email or other messages being lost or misfiled. When an employee needs to update a piece of personal information, they are able to do it directly and immediately, which means employee data is always kept up to date.

Preventing speed bumps makes a big difference to productivity in the long term. Contact us today for more information about how our software can remove speed bumps for your business.

Time and Motion Studies for the 21st Century

Originally, time and motion studies were carried out by an observer who would watch someone complete their work whilst timing the process and making notes. However, as you can imagine not many people like being watched as it often leads to serious stress and tension between management and staff. Unions are also often likely to pressure monitors into changing their data, meaning the accuracy of the study is poor.

Traditional time and motion studies were greatly beneficial to streamline manufacturing across many industries. The methods by which such time and motion studies are conducted have inherent problems, however, which modern technology can help to alleviate.

Costly Procedures

The original method of conducting a time and motion study was dictated by the technology available at the time. An observer watches someone do their work, timing their actions with a stopwatch, and making notes.

With a careful observer and a well-designed study, accurate data capture is possible with this system. Even so, the potential problems are not difficult to identify. Few people enjoy being watched closely on the job, and this can have a real impact on performance. Having monitors on the shop floor with stopwatches and clipboards can lead to serious tensions between workers and management. Influence from unions can pressure monitors to change their data, reducing the overall accuracy of the study.

Even in instances where a traditional time and motion study doesn’t result in extra tensions on the shop floor, it still requires personnel to observe and measure actions, personnel who need to be paid for their efforts. The study must also be designed in advance so the monitors know what to watch. The high cost of such a study can push companies away from engaging in them, which means inefficiencies in the manufacturing process go undiscovered. Also, a badly-designed study can waste large amounts of time, effort, and resources.

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