TRENDS IN WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT WHITE PAPER

Transcription

1 TRENDS IN WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT WHITE PAPER

2 Introduction Traditionally workforce management and time and attendance systems were regarded as a tool to facilitate more efficient payroll processing. However there are a number of new trends that are changing the face of Workforce Management in Australia and extending the use of workforce analytics from being solely HR-centric to facilitating different departments across the entire organisation. In this White Paper we examine some of these advancements including; the emergence of biometrics for accurate time and attendance data capture, the growth of the mobile workforce, and improved business intelligence. Data Capture On average, 19 percent of employees admit that they have buddy punched at least once in the past year and 74 percent of all companies report that they have experienced a loss from buddy punching. - Lumidigm, 2013 According to the American Payroll Association, the practice of buddy punching can cost companies up to 7 percent in payroll costs annually, representing a significant loss for many organisations. Handwritten time cards and timesheets as well as the old Bundy Clocks and In and Out boards, which were a common sight around many manufacturing plants and factories not all that long ago, have been superseded by smarter data capture devices. These advancements in technology now enable us to manage and track employee time and attendance information with a higher degree of accuracy regardless of where that particular employee is physically located. The introduction of biometric imaging has been one of the most significant developments for data capture in recent times. No longer restricted to sci-fi Hollywood blockbusters, biometrics and are now commonplace, with devices that employ finger, hand, vascular (vein), and retina scan imaging technology readily available. Bundy Clocks and Time Cards

3 Biometrics can deliver a high degree of certainty about who a particular individual is at a level of convenience that is superior to a password or swipe card. From a HR and workforce management perspective, passwords and ID Cards are becoming less convenient and more costly for an organisation to administer, particularly in industries where a large casual workforce is employed. While traditional time and attendance technologies, such as barcode ID cards, proximity cards, PINs and Bundy clocks, are inexpensive short-term fixes, in the long run, they can be exploited and are susceptible to fraud. Biometrics can solve these issues by eliminating sharing, swapping, stealing and loss of PINs, passwords and ID cards. With biometric time and attendance applications, an organisation knows that a particular employee is at work, not just their swipe card. In addition you can enhance onsite security by ensuring that no one without the proper identity can gain access to controlled areas. Despite the obvious advantages of biometric technology it has come under criticism in the past when users can t enroll on standard fingerprint devices in less than ideal conditions or environments, which often leads to frustration, an increase in system costs, lower productivity and can breed resistance to universal biometric technology adoption. The latest multispectral imaging sensors side step these issues by gathering fingerprint information from beneath the surface of the skin. In simple terms this means that the collection of employee time data is not hampered by skin surface or environmental conditions such as dirt, dust, and moisture, or cold refrigerated areas. Another particular advantage of multispectral biometric imaging technology is its ability to capture a fingerprint image through a medical glove, which makes this type of fingerprint sensor appealing to healthcare organisations. Multi-spectral biometric imaging technology Biometrics, especially multispectral fingerprint biometrics, is fast becoming the preferred method of authenticating bank customers at ATMs and self-service kiosks. The need for stronger IDauthentication is now a priority: since cards can be easily lost or stolen and PINs may be inadvertently revealed. With biometrics, financial institutions are assured of who is transacting while customers are offered quick and secure access to their personal accounts. As an example, one of the largest private banks in Latin America recently rolled out 12,000 Lumidigm multispectral imaging sensors across their ATM network to combat growing concerns that multiple identities were being employed by some people within their banking system. The organisation needed a way to insure that each person had only one identity and provide all customers with secure access to their accounts biometrics provided them with this capability.

4 Mobile Workforce 71 percent of enterprises believe mobility is a top priority for their business and 63 percent believe it to be the greatest factor in helping their organisation gain a competitive advantage. - Citrix Mobility in Business Report 2013 Smart mobile phone, handheld devices, and the emergence of mobile apps can help organisations operate more flexibly at a lower cost. For employees, mobility can improve productivity, responsiveness and job satisfaction while employers can effectively manage a highly mobile workforce, eliminating common issues such as payment errors and time abuse. GPS tracking capabilities and links with Google Maps can record where the actual clockings were made providing extra peace of mind and an audit trail should a job or service call come under question down the track. For organisations with a highly-mobile workforce they could look at introducing a BYOD (bring your own device) initiative, whereby staff use their own phones, keeping operational costs down for the business, while employees get to use the devices that they are familiar with. The Citrix Mobility in Business Report polled a total of 1,700 senior IT decision-makers across 17 countries, and found that 51 percent of organisations are changing management processes to better manage those working on any device from anywhere. Mobile technology is revolutionising workforce management. Employees and contractors can clock in to work or assign their time to specific cost centers or projects, regardless of their physical location with a smart mobile device or via a SMS text message. This allows supervisors and managers to view and analyse project information in real-time. Self service functionality can also be rolled out via mobile devices, allowing employees to view entitlements and book leave without having to converse with the HR Department, while supervisors have the ability to address anomalies and accept or reject request for leave remotely. Sample Mobile Clocking via iphone

5 Business Intelligence - More than just Payroll In today s volatile economy, companies are looking for new ways to do more with less and seek out efficiencies from their existing processes. Traditionally information collected by workforce management systems served to assist the pay office in automating the payroll processing function. However accurate time and attendance data can be utilised to drive efficiencies across different areas of an organisation. Automated time and attendance produces live reports with accurate, real-time data and analytics that can provide management with a better insight into their workforce. With this information at their disposal they can identify potential problem areas and take immediate action to resolve them before they have an adverse affect on operations. Integration with other core business IT applications such as ERP, Outlook , Payroll, HR, and point of sale systems further extend the use of workforce management information and corporate investment in IT systems. Real-time Workforce Analytics Business areas where time and attendance information is proving to be particularly beneficial are job and labour costing, absence management, workplace health and safety and fatigue management. Job Costing The need for accurate and efficient tracking of labour time is critical in assessing overall job or project profitability. If accurate information is not available to make informed decisions, then projects risk running over budget. Labour is the single largest controllable expense for many businesses, yet time and attendance data is often overlooked, ultimately leading to hundreds of thousands of lost dollars each year. The collection of labour costing information is most easily done when working time is recorded, and is most accurate when done on the job rather than after the fact. Despite this reality, many companies still rely on manual time sheets and job costing practices, involving paper trails that intrinsically contain data inaccuracy and human error. Automated labour tracking and historical records of activity, allow project managers to incorporate realistic labour costs to the job costing function, producing competitive estimates when tendering for new projects.

6 Managers no longer need to wait until the end of the week or month to analyse project information, they can easily generate reports on Budgeted Hours versus Actual Hours worked, upto-the-minute shift and attendance stats, overtime or tardiness, contractor hours, as well as performance data in real-time via their mobile device. With this information readily available, they can ensure everything is on track and minimise potential overruns in their labour budget. Absence Management Human resources firm ihr estimate that absenteeism has cost the Australian economy about $28 billion a year in lost productivity in recent years Employee absence has a direct impact on the profitability of your business. - The Australian Newspaper Accurate time and attendance data enables managers to produce reports on a range of absence related matters from the overall absence rate of a particular team or department, sick leave, carer s leave, mid career absence, parental absence and overtime hours. Drill down and analyse what this information actually means for the business, for example increasing overtime or contractor hours may indicate a need to hire additional staff. Quickly identify attendance problems, such as someone always missing a Monday shift or if absence rates are unusually high within a particular team or department it may indicate in-house bullying or issues with a supervisor or team-leader. With the proper policies in place, employers can use this data to both discipline the employee and examine the organisation s current absence procedures. Workplace Health and Safety Fire and safety issues can threaten any organisation. In the unfortunate event that an emergency occurs, real-time time and attendance information can be used to quickly account for everyone in the building. Using a real-time record of everyone who is on site, fire, police, and other safety personnel won t have to take unnecessary risks to ensure that everyone is evacuated. In addition, most time and attendance systems enable HR to record specific skills against employees, Live Onsite Reports

7 allowing them to generate a snapshot of the particular skills available onsite at any given time. For example, if a First Aid Officer is required the manager or supervisor can quickly pull a report of all employees onsite that have a relevant first aid certification and contact them accordingly. For improved site security, time and attendance can be linked with access control. This ensures that employees and visitors can t enter or exit the facility without registering at a clocking terminal. Access can also be restricted in certain areas or at specific times. An automated time and attendance system can also facilitate compliance with current workplace legislation and modern awards, as well as any organisation-specific work rules. The system could also be customised to only allow employees who have satisfy all the associated rules to be permitted to work, providing peace of mind that they are alert to perform their duties safely and an audit trail should it be legally required down the track. Fatigue Management By managing or preventing the effects of sleep loss, employers will see a reduction in the likelihood of an accident occurring and an improvement in productivity... - Prof Ron Grunstein, Head of Sleep Research, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research Shift work patterns and extended working hours can impact on employees health and wellbeing, increasing the potential for workplace health and safety (WHS) issues. Ensuring that workers are given adequate time to rest between shifts, is key to managing fatigue successfully. In Australia, fatigue is a significant safety issue in the mining and resources sector. This is largely due to the nature of mining operations which generally include shift work, long or irregular work hours, night work, rotating shifts, and lengthy commutes (FIFO). Accurate time and attendance information enables organisations to monitor employee data, and carefully plan rosters and work schedules to help minimise the disruption to employees' body clocks caused by working outside normal waking hours and mitigate some of the health risks associated with shift work. Automatic alerts can be set to notify supervisors, managers or HR when a particular employee is approaching their work hour limit, enabling them to adjust rosters and shifts accordingly. Fatigue is especially prevalent in the mining and resources sector In the unfortunate event of an accident a complete audit trail of compliance can be quickly produced mitigating the risk of a costly lawsuit.

8 Conclusion More and more organisations are now realising the strategic value of real-time workforce information outside of the HR department and pay office. The emergence of improved biometric data capture devices and the rapid growth of smart mobile technologies have also extended the reach of workforce time and attendance tracking, enabling organisations to effectively monitor employee activity and performance data regardless of where their teams are physically located. No longer limited to payroll processing, this information is now being utilised to gain greater operational efficiencies, facilitate WHS and fatigue management initiatives, and plan production cycles and cost projects. About Mitrefinch Mitrefinch provide a range of intelligent Workforce Management solutions. It all begin with an idea back in the early 1980s, when our developers set about leveraging advancements in IT to automate the manual process of clocking in to record employee time and attendance. But we didn t stop there. We ve spent the last few decades developing a host of Workforce Management solutions and pushing the boundaries of what is possible with an automated time and attendance system. Along the way we have earned a string of awards, and more importantly built a large base of satisfied customers. Currently, employees in over to 4,000 organisations around the world clock on using a Mitrefinch system, from concrete fabricators in Toronto to Zoo Keepers in Hertfordshire, and from the First Minister of the Scottish Government to high-school students in Sydney. This means that we are speaking to hundreds of organisations every week who are looking to improve the way they manage their workforce s time data. We listen to concerns, take on board suggestions, make recommendations and answer questions. Sometimes these organisations are taking their first steps to replacing a manual system, while others are looking to replace an existing system that simply doesn t meet their reporting needs. This white paper is based on our vast experience in the HR and Payroll industry, as well as working with organisations across a range of market sectors. We re extremely passionate about Workforce Management and we hope you find our experience useful.

9 Appendices/Further Information Citrix Mobility in Business Report: Lumidigm Biometrics: Sick and tired, Rick Morton (The Australian) July #sthash.jUclZerI.dpuf Work fatigue concerning, Human Capital Australia October

10 Helping you manage your most valuable resource your people. Time and Attendance Mobile Workforce Management Biometric Devices Rostering Labour Costing Absence Management Employee Self Service HR Management Work Health and Safety Mitrefinch (Aust) Pty Ltd Unit Underwood Road Homebush NSW 2140 Sales: Support: Australia New Zealand Singapore United Kingdom Ireland Canada US