Running late for work? Slept through your alarm? Took a wrong turn? Not keeping well? These things are common and happen with all – even the best of employees.
But, if you add up the consequences of this faltering employee attendance system, it can result in large productivity losses. There may be an unexpected absence once a month but in aggregation, it can lead to big repercussions for your bottom line.
Most organizations today realize the importance of having an official employee attendance policy. A written employee attendance policy makes life easier and business more productive. Here are some tips that will help you understand where you must begin with formulating your attendance policy.
Essentials of an Employee Attendance Policy
1. Working Hours
Define the format for a day at work. Is there a start time? Does the day end at a specific time? Can the employees choose flexible hours of work – 10 to 6, 11 to 7, for instance?
Do they need to complete a set number of hours? List the answers to all such questions in writing. Specify the number of working hours an employee needs to complete.
In certain retail and food outlets, there are rotating shifts. Clarify when, how and where do employees need to report the shift timings. Also, mention the procedure to sign in/sign out so that all working hours are correctly marked.
2. Describe terms for late
When is an employee late? Is there a grace period before late is marked? After what time is the employee marked absent instead of late? How does an employee inform if he/she is getting late? Who needs to be informed?
What is the procedure – email, text, or call? Is it necessary to find a replacement for the absence? Having all these aspects mentioned in the employee attendance policy will ensure that you do not suffer from frequent absenteeism and tardiness.
3. Employee benefits
Define the policies for paid and unpaid leaves. How many paid leaves per month? What happens when the paid leaves lapse? Is there a way to accrue paid leaves? Employees must know how to request leave. Be sure to explain all policies related to vacation leaves, medical leaves, blackout periods, and more.
4. Vacation and annual leave
The employee attendance policy must cover all information pertaining to paid holidays and floating holidays. If some holidays or events are without pay, ensure that the employees are aware of the same. Be sure to mention religious leaves, maternity leaves, and wedding leaves policy.
5. FMLA leave
Some organizations fulfill FMLA leave policies. List the qualifications and processes for an employee to avail the same. Include military FMLA as well if your business meets the requirements.
While your employee attendance policy will have information about FMLA criterion, designate one person to take care of all FMLA-related queries.
6. State Laws
Some state and governments allow leaves for social welfare. These include volunteering or blood donation activities. Some local governments also consider attendance at school events as a permitted leave. Take a look at the laws of your state and write them down in the employee attendance policy.
7. Disciplinary action and consequences
Your employee attendance policy must end with the consequences of violating policies. If an employee does not adhere to a particular policy, what disciplinary action is he/she liable to face?
Mention each and every step so that no employee can question the action. Also, with steps and processes clearly mentioned, chances of claims of impartiality and favoritism are less.
While there are several other things that you would like to include in the employee attendance policy, these are the essentials you must start with. They place you on the right track to guide employees on their behaviour of absenteeism.
The millennial generally does not have a positive reputation. This is because people view them as lazy and unrestricted. But, if you actually think about it, they can be an asset to any company or organization. They have the skills important for a successful employee – passionate, entrepreneurial, independent thinking, and tech-savvy.
The future of any organization’s workforce is the millennial. According to Forbes, 75% of the workforce will be millennial by 2025. The struggle for most employers is no longer understanding whether there is a need to hire the millennial or not.
The challenge lies in ‘how to attract the millennial to your organization and how to retain them for longer?’ We’ve identified certain factors that the millennial look for when joining an organization. Take a look at them and understand how you can make a difference:
1. Millennials Need Meaningful Work
A lot of professionals today look for a higher or steady pay in return for work. They do not focus on their passion. The millennial, on the other hand, are different. They value meaningful and fulfilling work. They need something that drives them and excites them with passion and purpose.
Make sure that you communicate this to the millennial right from the recruiting phase. Highlight the company’s mission and how the candidate can contribute to the growth of the organization.
A company driven by purpose is able to entice purpose-driven people. Make employees understand the grander vision of your organization and show them that you’re ready to give them the platform they need to achieve bigger ambitions.
2. Be Flexible with Timings
The millennial need a balance between work and life. They prioritize time with family and friends and appreciate a schedule that gives them the opportunity to fulfill their responsibilities in other areas of life as well.
If you are flexible and allow employees to have control over their work and timings, you will be able to entice the younger generation. According to data derived from a study by The Office Club, job satisfaction begins to rise when employees have control and autonomy in their positions.
Some interesting ways to give employees control include flexible working hours (they must complete 8 hours, what time they enter and when they leave doesn’t matter); one day for work from home per week; one-hour waiver on two days of the month etc.
3. Allow Social Media
Many organizations ban the use of social media during office hours. This is because the medium is seen as a distraction. However, the truth of the matter is that the millennial can reconsider working with your company due to this restriction. The millennial need their freedom.
Use this requirement to your advantage. Encourage the millennial to use their social media for the purpose of your promotion. Make them the brand ambassadors. They have extensive knowledge of the medium and can help attract fans.
Build your brand awareness with the help of this tech-savvy and socially active generation. With the right guidance and leeway, social media can become a win-win for you and your employees.
4. Improve your Recruiting Process
The time for a one-size-fits-all interview is gone. Millennial candidates need more information and this must be made handy for them. Make your online job descriptions more detailed. Add information about company culture with job responsibilities.
Have a separate section on your website or blog with your policies, photos, and employee feedback. Let the millennials get a sneak-peek of your organization before stepping in.
The language of your human resource department may also need a revision. The millennial with their core competencies view things differently. Plan everything in a manner that can engage them. Identify what millennial employees are looking for and what your organization can offer to them.
A Final Thought
There are lots of millennial job seekers today. But attracting and hiring these independent thinkers is a difficult task. Make the suggested tweaks to your hiring process and this demographic will work to your benefit.
Have you ever come across a team that is self-motivated, inspiring, and joyful? A team that makes you love work and attend office every day, a team that encourages you to achieve all the goals you desire?
With such a team, you feel a great sense of belonging and know that you have others to back you during situations of crisis. This team ensures that work is fun and each day at the workplace is exciting.
On the contrary
Have you worked with a team that constantly has conflicts and disagreements? A team where you are not sure of whether you should share your opinions or not? People are afraid and don’t really bother about what you are doing or your happiness.
They work for themselves and there’s no sense of coordination. Work is painful and exhausting. You just wait to get on a vacation and take some time off the team.
Why is it that the environment of these two teams is so different?
We evaluated several work teams with different individuals. The behaviour of leaders affects the way a high-performance team functions. Here are 5 factors that can help build high-performance work teams and improve efficiency:
1. Team Leaders are an inspiration
Leaders play a significant role in creating the pull in high-performance teams. They keep the energy and enthusiasm high. As a result, team members remain inspired and motivated. They feel as though they are on a mission to achieve something and are doing something that is of great value.
2. Team Leaders maintain cooperation
Conflicts can cause major disagreements in a team. Leaders have the responsibility to instantly work on such conflicts and ensure cooperation persists.
A lot of times, leaders believe that members are mature adults and can manage conflicts themselves. But, that is not true. If adults were really mature, the number of divorces, separations, and wars would not have been this way.
High-performance teams address differences immediately. This requires immense involvement on the part of the team leader, bringing members to a level of maturity to handle the dispute.
In fact, when people realize that other members are trustworthy and have their back, they want to resolve conflicts at the earliest. Team leaders who place an emphasis on cooperation instead of competition are able to achieve outstanding performance.
3. Team Leaders focus on the extraordinary
Employees don’t like to do the usual. They don’t want to be just like any other team. Leaders who can set stretch goals and really motivate the team to achieve more than what they need to, build high-performance teams. They make employees accept their own capability and competence.
Achieving something extraordinary gives team members the opportunity to know that they are exceptional and can challenge themselves. They achieve a sense of satisfaction with their engagement and pride increasing to the next level.
4. Team Leaders with clear communication
Leaders of high-performance teams ensure that people remain on track. They frequently communicate the mission and vision so that no one gets distracted. Team members can get diverted with what’s happening around in the organization but it is the job of the team leader to ensure that members do not lose track of where they are heading.
High-performance leaders keep members informed of current achievements, expected achievements, and the approach for future goals
5. Team Leaders are trustworthy
A team leader must be trustworthy. If this is not the case, they will not be an inspiration for others. No one would want to involve them in conflicts. No one will believe in the goals set by them. Leaders must build relationships with their team members. When we like someone, we tend to establish a sense of trust.
Next, leaders must have the right knowledge or experience. They must be able to give the right guidance in times of a problem. Lastly, there must be consistency in the performance of a leader. If a leader has taken the responsibility to complete a particular task, it must be done. This way, the leader can set an example and be trusted for his word.
A Final Thought
Working with a high-performance team means growth for both the team member and the organization. Team leaders must exert and act in a manner that builds high-performance teams.
Work ethic is the belief of the employee on the appropriate behaviour at work. Every company has a behavioural expectation that is the norm and this is closely related to company culture. One of the major factors shaping company culture and work ethics is attendance.
Companies with positive work ethics have employees who come on time, are actively engaged in their work and are motivated. On the other hand absenteeism, frequent leaves, coming late and leaving early from office are all reflection of poor work ethics.
Rules on attendance and employee attendance affect company work ethic. To put it simply, low attendance, absenteeism and tardiness leads to poor work ethic in office.
Therefore, a company must ensure that healthy work ethic is maintained by managing good attendance. This has to be done by careful monitoring of employees and policies by top management.
Let us look at how this can be done effectively.
Monitoring Employee Attendance for Work Ethic
Employees with poor attendance are toxic for your office environment. Casual attitude of few employees can spread throughout the office to bring down everyone’s productivity. For this reason it is important to have employees with right work ethics in your company.
All efforts should be made to avoid hiring employees who are tardy and low on motivation in the first place. Background check on candidates is helpful for this. What is the reputation that they have in previous company? You want to hire candidates who add to your work ethics rather than pull it down.
It is more likely that a new hire will be influenced by your company culture rather than him changing your company. So make sure that all new hires are made aware of attendance policies and sign the policy. This gives a clear message that you are serious about attendance in office.
There should also be policies on absenteeism and tardiness. Many companies do not define these formally even though they are equally harmful to a full day leave. Coming late to office, taking undue long breaks, surfing the internet all count as absenteeism. These behaviours reflect insincerity and bad work ethics of employee.
Without monitoring attendance and work the HR has no way to know that low attendance and absenteeism is a ground reality in the company. Wifi attendance monitoring, productivity tracking and online work tracking are all effective ways to monitor employees and catch any problems in the nip.
Besides this managers and supervisors must also be trained to report attendance problem and tardiness immediately to HR.
Action by Management
Once low attendance is brought to notice, management must take swift action on it. Actions let employees that casual attitude and tardiness is not tolerated in this company and will be dealt with accordingly.
Consequences of poor attendance must be spelt out in the attendance policy and implemented in case of breach. Warnings and escalations usually work to change employee’s behaviour.
However, management should not shy away from taking decisive actions when required. People who are not productive should not be kept in the company. Such employees only cause resentment among productive workers and negatively affect new hires.
Removing an employee on attendance grounds might be a hard call but the management has to take it to preserve the company work ethics.
Final Thoughts
Attendance, company culture and work ethics are closely related to each other. Low attendance and tardiness by employees is reflection of poor culture in the company. Over time this leads to low morale and unproductive work ethics among employees.
To prevent work ethics from going bad, companies must hire wisely, have a formal attendance policy and take action when attendance is below par for an employee.
Frequent absenteeism has negative implications for any business organization. This is because absenteeism leads to lower productivity and replacement costs. If the right steps are not taken to manage absenteeism, regular offenders can also have an influence on those who do not indulge in such practices.
Here are 6 ways you can improve the attendance of your employees:
1. Share Your Expectations
Most employees are not aware of the attendance expectations. This leads to excessive absenteeism. Tell your employees what you expect from them and the outcome of their actions. Share with them the importance of their contribution and the value they add to the company’s productivity.
Set goals for attendance and performance. This way, employee motivation to attend work is high and they complete the goals defined for them. This information is essential and employees must be aware of the same since the induction. In fact, an employee handbook should help employees reinforce these policies from time to time.
2. Analyze Attendance Records
Attendance records help to understand patterns of absenteeism. For instance, if an employee is often absent on Mondays or Fridays or right after public holidays, the issue needs to be addressed. There is no law that allows you to confront employees following such a pattern but you may always discuss the same with them.
Organize special events or training courses on Fridays or the days after a public holiday so that employees are encouraged and motivated to attend.
3. Create a Policy
Some companies do not have clear attendance policies. These goals are important for employee growth. Employees must know what procedures they need to follow if they wish to take a leave. Some of the aspects of an attendance policy are as follows:
Employees must directly inform their immediate senior or another manager with the reason of their absence. Do not encourage the habit of just informing the receptionist or a team member. To talk to the manager or a person in authority, the employee must have a genuine reason.
Employees must inform before a certain time or a few days in advance in case of a planned leave.
A doctor’s certificate as evidence of the illness must be provided at the time of a medical leave. This may or may not be governed by the law of your country of operation. However, clearly state the evidence required for frequent absenteeism in your policy.
4. Share the Consequences
Make employees aware of the actions that will be taken in case they do not adhere to the attendance policies. Remember, these consequences must not make them uncomfortable and you must not question them too much on the truthfulness of their illness.
Only a doctor’s certificate must do that. Additionally, share the benefits that they can receive on account of good attendance records. Such personal goals motivate the employee to make efforts and attend office on a regular basis.
5. Have a Dialogue when they Return
Speak to the employees in an informal manner once they are back from their sick leave. Inquire about their wellbeing and how fit are they to resume to work. This establishes a relationship of trust between the two and employees feel that you are genuinely concerned. They feel connected to the organization and want to exert more in their roles and responsibilities.
6. Keep an Eye on Any Hidden Causes
Poor attendance is often characterized by certain hidden causes. Common illnesses may not always be the reasons for an employee missing work regularly. The reasons could be substance abuse, co-worker conflicts, family crisis, legal issues, or an imbalance between work and personal life.
Before you take any action, discuss the reasons with the offender. Try to identify the root cause. Give employees the comfort to share their problems with you. As an added benefit, include strategies and policies to address the situation.
Taking strict action against frequent offenders may not be a good idea since you do not want to lose out good employees. Try and bridge the gap and create an atmosphere where employees only take leaves when it is unavoidable.
Some business leaders like to maintain a work culture that is free from the rules of time. This is because they don’t want to be that person, who keeps a check on what time every employee enters the office.
Other business leaders ignore it when employees are being tardy or absent because they don’t wish to hamper their relationships with them. Whatever the reason, if employees are constantly late with frequent absenteeism, it is important to discuss this behaviour. Here’s why:
Other Employees Get Affected
If a team member is absent, others on the team have to make up for the missing employee’s work. This can become stressful since some employees have to constantly do more work than they need to.
Effect on Company Reputation
When employees are missing often, the team tends to fall behind. Deadlines are not met. In certain cases, you would end up losing an important contract. As a result, your company’s reputation will be at stake for not being able to deliver as promised.
Lowers Employees’ Morale
With time, employees tend to have resentment towards their employer. They notice that employee X is not facing any repercussions for the absenteeism while they are working harder than they need to. Bitterness among co-workers is also common leading to a lower morale.
In simple words, absenteeism can cause major obstacles to the success of a company. When you take into account the costs of lost productivity, temporary labor, and lowered morale, the price of absenteeism is quite substantial.
Absenteeism must be addressed at the earliest. However, certain business leaders still do not understand its enormity. They realize the impact of absenteeism only when it is too late.
They usually just discuss the issue with the offending employees and take their word for being regular from now.
But there’s no guarantee that they’ll stick to their word. And so there is a need to create a clear approach that can curb absenteeism.
Let’s take a look at 12 surefire ways to deal with employee attendance issues:
1. Have a policy
Prepare an employee handbook mentioning all the policies you wish to implement for absenteeism. Spell out the processes of reporting specifying what employees need to do if they are late or absent. Write down the disciplinary action that must be enforced in case of frequent absenteeism.
2. Collect information
When you sit down to have a dialogue with the employee, make sure all the data is ready with you. Have the dates and times written. Employees cannot deny their absence if you have the data in hand.
3. Address the problem casually
If you notice an employee coming late, discuss the issue with them casually. This is how you could start, “Hey, I know you got late to work a couple of times this month. It’s important that you focus on your timings and attend work as scheduled.
If it is getting tough, please report it as per our policies so that the issue can be looked into. Take a look into the employee handbook for better understanding.”
4. Tell them you’re concerned
Employees don’t appreciate supervisors that question with a doubt. They prefer employers that show some concern.
Once you’ve casually discussed the issue with first-time offenders, follow it up with a conversation like this: “As defined in our policy, we get concerned when we do not know why you didn’t come to work on a particular day. Please remember to always inform us.” This keeps the employees from getting defensive.
5. Start a discussion
Give your employees the chance to share their views and provide solutions. They could be facing an adverse challenge causing poor attendance. Ask them if everything is okay with them and if there’s anything you can help with.
6. Make accommodations, if possible
An employee could be getting late to work because of personal responsibilities. For instance, he/she may need to drop children to school. See if accommodations can be made to give them some relaxation.
If it works for your business and does not cause any inconvenience to the other employees, arrange for a more flexible schedule.
7. Formal counseling
If the behaviour is not rectified after casual conversations, take it up by a notch with formal counseling. This could be done with the immediate senior or the HR executive. Clearly specify the attendance management system and the consequences that employees will have to face if absenteeism is not taken care of.
8. Accountability
Create an accountability process at all levels. Employees should know who they need to turn to in particular situations of tardiness. Furthermore, conduct meetings with supervisors to discuss the implementation of policies and the different situations that require employee attendance management.
9. Give annual leave in Hours
When you manage absence in time, it gives employees better leave entitlements. They remain aligned with the needs of the business. For instance, if an executive needs a one hour off to visit the doctor, request for a full day would be a waste. Count the annual leave in terms of hours and offer your employees better flexibility to manage their work timings.
10. Tell them they’re important
Sometimes employees do not realize the impact of their absence to business progress. Show them how much time has been lost and mention what they could have done for the company during this time. Encourage them by showing how valuable their contribution is to the company.
11. Identify triggers of stress
Stress is also one of the common factors causing absenteeism. Find out if your employees are frequently absent because of work stress. Ask them what they would like to do to combat the stress. Organize weekly/monthly activities of interest that keep the employees motivated and give them a chance to relax in between busy work schedules.
12. Consult the advisors
HR professionals must take medical advice if an employee is frequently absent on account of medical emergencies. These situations need care and attention since violating employment laws can be troublesome.
These above-mentioned ways will help you curb the rates of absenteeism and ensure that your workforce is much happier.
An employment contract means that an employee and employer agree to work with each other. Employees expect compensation for their work. Employers have the basic expectation of a regular ongoing attendance from their employees. But poor attendance rate is one of the most challenging problems tackled by the HR departments today.
Absenteeism can be of several kinds. Some are statutory holidays, generally planned in advance and beneficial for the employer and employee. These are scheduled and their impact on work is lesser.
Others include reasons of illness, family-related issues, and weather changes. These are unavoidable and expected to a certain extent. There are some avoidable absences but employees are habitual to them leading to troubling patterns. These are unscheduled and cause a disruption in the work and output.
Absenteeism results in affecting the cost-effectiveness of an organization. It is, therefore, important for the HR team to manage this with knowledge of the various schemes applicable to employees.
These include contract laws, employment rights, workers’ compensation schemes, and much more. An employer may be satisfying the obligations of one but missing out on the other.
Here’s a list of 12 common attendance management problems with certain tips on how to fix them:
1. No Plan
Employers understand that introducing an absenteeism management program will lessen the chances of absences. It will significantly improve productivity and ensure management of related costs. Yet a lot of them forget to have a plan.
To begin with, employers must track the problems of absenteeism. Is it a major problem? What are the common reasons for absenteeism? With all the figures and facts in place, employers can identify the challenges and develop a plan that avoids all kinds of financial repercussions.
2. Lack of a Policy
Majority of employers do not have an attendance management policy. If they do, it is outdated. Ad-hoc decisions are not advisable in the absence of a policy as they result in inconsistency. An attendance management system needs to also comply with certain legal considerations based on the structure of the organization.
So, employers must develop a policy according to legal realities and the issues and objectives of the organization. Attendance management policies need alteration from time to time to ensure that they are consistent and updated.
3. Application of the Policy
A policy without application is just like notes on a piece of paper. Certain organizations outline attendance policies but do not enforce them correctly. If there are two employees in the same job category, the rules of absenteeism must also be the same for both. It must not be discriminatory.
4. Poor Tracking
It is the job of the supervisors to track employee attendance and their problems. They are responsible for managing their employees. But, a lot of supervisors are not trained and informed about this duty.
The task of managing employee attendance is critical to a company’s success. Ensure that supervisors receive training on attendance management. They must know how to document attendance and when to apply the rules of the policy.
5. Poor Administration
In certain organizations, supervisors are well-aware of their responsibilities of attendance tracking. However, they do not have the support tools to perform the important task.
It is important to introduce the frameworks and technologies that help with the attendance management process. These tools efficiently record the metrics and also gather all other information which may be necessary.
6. Inconsistent Capturing of Absences
It is vital to record every time an employee is absent, including information such as the date, the time, and the reason. This makes it possible for employers to understand where the problem lies.
If absenteeism is becoming a pattern, it is easier to detect the same with the recording of such information. These documents will provide all information that you require to take necessary action.
For instance, if you notice common absenteeism around holidays or several missed hours, disciplinary action is essential to avoid such troubling patterns. When employees realize that they are held accountable for their actions, they take responsibility for being more cautious.
7. Addressing Problems
If attendance records are not monitored, it can lead to further problems. With all the information documented, it is vital that you identify the problems and then have a conversation with the employee. A solution must be proposed to address the problem.
Take a note of all the incidents of absenteeism, the reason for each, and discuss steps of improvement with the employee. If the problem persists even after verbal counseling, a formal action may be vital.
8. Lack of Distinction between Absences
Most employers take an absence as an absence. They do not delve deep into understanding how the law distinguishes between different absences. There is an innocent absence and a culpable absence.
Innocent absences are the ones that are not under the control of employees. They may be due to a disability or due to a condition that does not let the employer attend to his duty.
Culpable absences are under the control of an employee. They are avoidable and do not have a reasonable excuse. Managers and supervisors must distinguish between the kinds of absences and accordingly develop policies for action.
9. Medical Verification
Many employers rely on the face value of that little doctor’s note. This is quite a practical problem. Employers have full right to get this document verified by their medical professionals but do not do so. This is either because of their laidback attitude or because they do not wish to spend more time on the issue of absenteeism.
Employers must take opinion from their medical advisors on the information they receive from employees. The type and amount of information that they can seek may vary. But they must not avoid the process of medical verification.
10. Dependence on Third Party Organizations
Sometimes the involvement of other organizations hampers the process of addressing attendance problems. This is because the workers’ compensation authorities or the insurers persuade the employers to rely on their decisions.
However, their input is not always true. Another organization may be dealing with a different set of policies and rules that do not comply with the standards of your organization. Reliance on such third party vendors must be reduced and a decision must be taken in-house.
11. No action
Certain supervisors have the habit of letting things go. They know that an employee has been taking frequent leaves but do not take action. This is because they are untrained, unwilling, too busy or too nice.
Employers must firmly take action on patterns of absenteeism. They must demand proper reason and enforce the rules of the attendance management policy.
12. Weak Accommodation Process
In certain cases, it is important to accommodate for the reason of absenteeism. These cases are protected under human rights legislation. But if the employer is not aware of the same, there are chances of granting leave requests too strictly or too leniently.
Employers must work on their accommodation process. They must know when and how to answer their employees’ demands.
There are several different tools for efficient attendance management. Employers may choose software based on their requirements and by implementing the same, they can improve the rates of absenteeism in their organization. Furthermore, employers can easily glance through the reasons for absenteeism and promptly address issues of importance.
Many small start-ups begin with minimal to no attendance tracking. It is understood when your employees are just four founders who are putting their heart and soul into the business.
However, as the company grows, tracking of attendance becomes necessary. Many companies realize this too late after paying for wasted man-hours. Lack of attendance tracking can lead to losses where employees are taking you for a ride.
Some companies do have an attendance tracking system in place but it is simply inefficient. To help you avoid losses we have put together the 10 most common attendance tracking mistakes we come across. Each point also includes a solution for you to avoid them.
Missing an Attendance Policy?
The power of written word cannot be understated. Having an attendance policy in place makes employees take attendance seriously and avoids casual attitude. Have a written attendance policy detailing:
Official working hours
Expected productive hours
Annual leaves
Process of leave approval
Provision for half
Definition of tardiness or abseentism
Consequence of breach of attendance policy
This policy should be available and signed off by every new employee. If it’s the first time you are introducing the attendance policy, then it should be shared with every employee in organisation.
Allowing for Proxy
No company wants to deal with proxy attendance but some systems can be manipulated by employees. An example could be a physical paper register or system log-in. In both the cases attendance can be marked by a colleague or friend of an employee.
A good attendance tracking system should verify the identity of the person. Biometric systems and wifi attendance system are examples of attendance systems which will not allow for proxy.
Not tracking the log out time
Another mistake is not noting the log-out time of employees. This means the system only captures the log-in time and counts the employee present for the whole day. This is dangerous because you will have no way to know if the employee marked the attendance and left in an hour.
This does not let you count the total hours worked and hence there is a possibility of manipulation. To avoid this always have a system that counts the total working hours with log-out time in the office.
Not Implementing Attendance policy
So you have an attendance policy clearly communicated to everyone in the company but are you monitoring its implementation? Expecting everyone to follow the rules with no supervision would be foolish. The HR must ensure that the policy is being followed by monitoring attendance.
Of course, it will be impossible for HR to monitor each and every employee. For this reason there must be software system that automatically raises a red flag every time attendance for an employee falls below standard.
Another important part of implementation of policy is support of managers. Every manager must be told that it is his/her responsibility to report low attendance, absenteeism, tardiness etc.
Confusing Leave Policy
Unclear rules or contradicting clauses can lead to confusion among employees. An example could be mention of 10 public holidays in the policy but only showing 8 in the leave management system. Make sure there are no discrepancies in the written word.
Sometimes confusion is caused simply by rumours and grapevine. As your company grows bigger you will find that this is a common problem.
This is why it is important for HR to have a formal channel of communication regarding attendance. This could be done via personalised mails detailing monthly leave report in addition to bulk mails to address any confusion.
Leave Application System
Leave application system informs employees of available leaves and maintain record of leaves availed. It also requires an approval by reporting manager and HR.
Today automated leave management systems (LMS) have made it easier for everyone to manage leaves. Many vendors even provide mobile app to make it convenient.
Make sure your LMS is integrated with payroll for easier processing.
Not counting Absenteeism or Tardiness
Absenteeism and tardiness are other ways work hours are made unproductive. This is a phenomenon where employees are absent without informing, coming in late, leaving early, taking undue long breaks or simply being unproductive by surfing shopping sites for hours.
These habits are equally bad if not worse to taking a full day leave. They increase your expense and spoil the atmosphere of the company. Absenteeism affects the culture slowly killing off motivation of other employees too.
Sometimes the reason for absenteeism is in the office. If there are only a handful of employees showing absenteeism then it’s definitely their lack of motivation. However, if this is a widespread norm in your company then your company culture needs a major correction.
Unfair Implementation
Implication of attendance rules must be equal for all employees. Having different rules for different departments or management levels can create resentment in employee’s mind. For example, working hours should be applicable to all levels of management.
It is unfair to expect an employee to come to office at 9 am when his manager turns up at 11 am every day.
Not Analyzing Attendance Data
There is a lot of data collected on attendance from attendance systems, leave management systems and employee monitoring. One of the mistakes companies make is to this data go waste.
There is so much that can be done to improve the attendance and office culture with this data. Leave patterns can tell you when employees are likely to take leave and plan accordingly. You can also calculate productivity hours of employees and link to their performance.
Most importantly you can know where you are in attendance and how you can improve by analyzing this data and experimenting with solution.
For example, if it is noticed that most employees take a leave on working Saturday you could experiment with declaring it a holiday anyways and checking for change in productivity from Monday to Friday.
Not integrating systems
Sometimes more than one system is required for employee monitoring to work smoothly. For example, it would be a good idea to install CCTV camera at punch-in points to catch proxy attendance. This is not required in case of live location tracking like in wifi attendance.
Your attendance tracking system also needs to work with other systems such as payroll, leave management and internal communication channels (chats, instant messaging etc.)
AI or Artificial Intelligence is a buzzword we hear everywhere along with words such as big data, internet of things and virtual reality. By June 2017, Amazon had sold more than 16.1 million Amazon Echos, Amazon’s AI powered speaker device.
You have already encountered AI in your life if you use Facebook or surf Amazon. Facebook Messenger itself has more than 100,000 chatbots that brands are using reach its 900 million users.
AI is also set to make its way from personal lives to workplace too. It’s just a matter of time before our offices are penetrated with various AI technologies.
In fact, a survey by Deloitte found that 41% of respondents have fully implemented or made significant progress in adopting AI technologies in the workforce. Yet only 15% of the 10,000 HR surveyed said they are prepared to manage a workforce “with people, robots, and AI working side by side.”
Many are apprehensive about the introduction of AI in workplaces. Some concerns are understandable whereas others are just a result of ignorance about the technology. Here are some myths about AI that give it a bad name.
Myths about AI
AI will cause mass unemployment
One of the biggest worries is that AI will replace humans to cause mass unemployment. Celebrities like Elon Musk have publicly voiced their concern over AI replacing human-force.
Just like replacing floor workers with machines during industrialization did not cause mass unemployment, AI will actually create more jobs. AI will take over the mundane and transactional work and leaving us to concentrate on ‘human worthy tasks’.
They will be like assistants that manage your meetings, prepares your reports, and send out your mails so that you can concentrate on coming up with new solutions and strategy to tackle problems. Besides we can look forward to having more jobs in machine learning, data analytics, cyber security, etc.
AI , Machine Learning and Data Mining are the same
All of these terms are related and it can get confusing for a layman. Artificial Intelligence is the ability of machines to understand mined data to take a decision that is considered smart by human standards.
Machine learning (ML) goes a step further and learns how to learn from data. ML is the vehicle that is driving AI and they work hand in hand to come up with solutions that sometimes smarter than a human.
AI Apocalypse is imminent
Many people also fear that AI will become so smart that it will take over the world. While we cannot rule out the likelihood absolutely there is no evidence to suggest that this will happen for sure. As with any other technology it is the human user who determines whether the technology is beneficial or threatening to humanity.
Take the case of nuclear power. It is possible to use it as a clean energy source or for destruction of communities. AI apocalypse is just a thought experiment at best right now.
Whether we are free from these myths or not AI technology is growing at an accelerated rate today. Business leaders have understood that they have to embrace AI if they want to remain competitive in the market.
Consider the following stats to know what’s on business leaders mind when it comes to AI:
Business leaders identify AI as fundamental to company success in future and 72% of them said AI is a business advantage (PwC)
47% of digitally mature organizations said that they have a defined AI strategy. (Adobe)
Consumers are not aware of the extent of AI penetration in their day to day lives. Only 33% percent said they used AI technology whereas the actual usage of AI powered service and device was 77% (Pega)
31% of enterprises said that AI is on their agenda for the next twelve months. (Adobe)
80% of executives believe that AI boosts productivity (The Motley Fool)
With AI market predicted to cross $5 billion by 2020, there is going to be tremendous change in the way we work, hire and do business at workplace. Let us look at the AI powered enterprise solutions market.
AI Powered Enterprise Applications Market
AI market is an exciting place to be today. It is a dynamic market with big names, new age Silicon Valley start ups and niche boutique companies all competing with each other.
According to Markets & Markets, Enterprise AI Market was valued at $845 million in 2017 and is set to grow to $6 billion by 2022. Application of AI in security, marketing, customer support, HR & Recruitment and process automation are expected to drive a growth rate of 48%.
Some of the big names in the industry are IBM, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Iris AI and Apple. All of these big players are investing heavily in the technology and acquiring promising start ups in the AI space.
Google is on a shopping spree for AI start ups and has acquired 12 AI start-ups in four years including DeepMind. Similarly, IBM and Apple have acquired three and four start-ups respectively.
A wave of AI start-ups working on niche AI solutions is emerging in Silicon Valley and across the globe. According to The New York Times there are 45 AI start-ups working on chips alone.
Companies showing potential are quickly acquired. According to CB Insights, 115 of 120 AI companies that exited the market in 2017 did so by acquisition.
So if you are looking for AI powered solution for your company, prepare to be overwhelmed by the number of vendors. There are a lot of questions that will crop up when you are searching for your AI partner. Here are some tips to make your search easier.
Tips to Choose the Right AI Enterprise Solution
> Be prepared for AI– AI is not a software that you can install and forget about. Introducing AI is a big change and your teams need to be prepared for it.
First of all, you need enough big data for AI investment to pay off. You also need staff skilled in AI and data for day to day operations. If collaborative teams are new to your company then you will also need to make changes in company hierarchy (this is discussed below in AI in HR section).
In short AI is an investment of time, effort, money and data and complete commitment from top management is essential in its implementation.
> Big vendor vs. Small start up– Both the options have their pros and cons. Big players are usually known for generic solutions that can work in all industries whereas small start ups specialize in industry (healthcare, education, manufacturing) or functionality (like HR, marketing, operations, etc.,).
Accordingly, some company want to avoid dealing with multiple small vendors and pick big players whereas others go for tailor-made solutions offered by small companies.
> Data Sensitivity – Choice of vendor will also depend on whether you are willing to share your data externally or not. Many big players offer MLaaS (Machine Learning as Service) and cloud computing option. If you are not comfortable sharing data then on premise solution would be a suitable option.
> Vendor Support – As mentioned AI implementation is a long term project. You must choose a vendor willing to offer great after sales support in terms of training your staff, handling roadblocks and managing change in your organization.
> Cost– Lastly cost will also be a major consideration especially in this market where the big players can bill you exorbitantly high. Fortunately small start-ups are coming with competitive pricing and driving the prices down.
This was the overview of the market on the whole. Let us now look at how AI is powering each of the functionality with our workplace.
Artificial Intelligence in HR
Imagine your surprise when you come to know that the HR you interacted with during your hiring process was actually an Artificially Intelligent agent. Yes, AI is taking over from the HR when it comes to hiring, recruiting, training and employee engagement.
For example, Textio uses augmented writing (application of AI on writing) to give HRs a fitting job description to attract right talent. It does this my analyzing data on similar job postings and the kind of candidates it attracted. Companies such as Apple and Twitter are using the technology to attract the best in class employees.
Another software, Veriato, analyses employee mails and messages for words that reflect employee emotions and feelings. It then scores each employee on positive and negative sentiments. This score can have application in measuring employee engagement, productivity or detecting company fraud and cyber attacks.
Similarly there are specialized software for HR processes like MontageTalent for interviewing, Talla for on-boarding and growBot for social recognition.
Changing HR Structure to accommodate AI colleagues
The Deloitte survey found that 56% of respondents are already redesigning their HR programs to leverage digital and mobile tools, and 33% are utilizing some form of AI technology to deliver HR functions.
Getting AI on board is more than just installing software. Successful integration will require a complete overhaul of who is hired and how we are related to each other in a company.
Who should be hired?
To start with AI will need a differently skilled taskforce that is adaptable and embraces change. This means that hiring by seniority and experience will give way to hiring by cultural fit and skills.
The question of who should I hire will likely change to what should I hire? A human , AI or a AI powered employee? In such a case ease of working with AI and complementing your skill with technology will be the desired quality.
How should the structure be?
The hierarchical structure of the company itself has to change to make the most of AI empowered tools. AI thrives on cross functional data which call for teams coming together to solve problems.
Also since AI has application on all functions all departments must work collaboratively with IT, data analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
You can also expect to see new roles in an organization as AI makes some redundant. For there is no need of an HR admin as AI takes care of all the mundane tasks and query handling. Instead you can expect to see roles like employee experience manager or AI skills trainer.
AI vs HR
AI will impact the employers before it impacts the employees. HR may be weary of the change and wonder if they are competing with AI for their jobs.
As stated above, implementation of AI will give birth to more job roles better suited for human. Change is inevitable and anyone unwilling to learn new skill sets should be worried. Therefore it is not really AI vs. HR but – AI with HR.
AI will also take on the mundane parts of a job that we hate doing anyway. Juergen Mueller, SAP’s chief innovation officer says “Recruiters spend 60% of their time reading CVs. Why should a person read 300 resumes if a machine can propose the top ten?”
Human qualities of empathy, creativity and inter-disciplinary skills will be much valued and irreplaceable by any bot.
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
Application of AI on marketing and sales seems most exciting as it has a direct relation to the company’s bottom line. AI promises to bring back what was lost in mass marketing- an intimate relation with the customer.
AI can help in all stages of conversion funnel that is awareness, lead generation and conversion. You can imagine AI tools qualifying leads based on demographics, browsing history and financial data of lead. This will free your sales agents from calling each lead and rather give them high quality leads.
Jaywing uses AI and data analytics to come up with innovative marketing campaigns for their clients such as Pepsi and Sky. For example, they used digital tracking system for Swinton Insurance to track online and offline customer interactions on multiple channels.
Using AI they can separate each customer journey from the rest, enabling brands to measure marketing ROI per person.
AI in E-commerce is another exciting area currently being explored by the likes of Amazon, Flowers.com and North Face. The Guardian reports that 59% of U.K. fashion retailers use some form of facial recognition.
Check out Domino’s Robotic Unit that delivers Pizza overcoming many obstacles just like a human.
AI technology also allows a one on one website personalization possible today. With data on each visitor a tailor-made website can be shown to each visitor. This one on one marketing strategy is not yet widespread though. According to the Trends in Personalization survey, algorithmic personalization and machine learning are used by just 20% of organizations surveyed.
Artificial Intelligence and Customer Support
Business leaders know that it is the customer experience that will set market leaders apart from the rest in future. Fortunately there is a lot that AI can do in this space where customers are largely dissatisfied. According to Kampyle, 87% of customers say brands need to put more effort into providing seamless experience across all channels.
Customers have multiple channel of communication available today. They may send a mail, contact on app or have chat on your website. AI technologies that can identify customers across all these channels are much in demand. This will reduce customer frustration and resolution time.
It makes sense to invest in existing customers considering the fact that new customer acquisition costs five times more than existing customer retention. Technology that provides seamless experience and assists support agents with meaningful data can make or break customer experience.
Data analytics has already changed customer’s expectation from support agents.
Customers want immediate resolution. NO matter the time of night or time zone of the customer, today’s customer is impatient and want quick solutions. AI can help by handling low complexity issues.
Human Touch for high stake issues- Customers prefer self-help for low impact issues but want a knowledgeable human agent for high stake issues. This means highly skilled staff with knowledge of customer background is the standard expected. There are already suites of AI powered software available that assist agents in real time to give a smooth customer experience.
Low tolerance on errors- Customers have plenty of options to shift to if they are not satisfied. AI can monitor post resolution behaviour and highlight customers at risk of abandoning businesses.
There are already AI solutions that address the all the above issues and are transforming customer experience successfully. IBM’s Watson is offering customer personality insights, tone analyzer and real time assistance to client support agents.
AI and Project Management
AI project management is a system that can run or administer a project without need for human input. This means processes like scheduling, work allocation, budgeting, performance tracking, etc., can be taken care by artificially intelligent systems.
Current generation of project management systems is already doing parts of project with the help of data inputs in project management tools. For example, Stratejos, an assistant for project teams, works on estimates, budgets and sprint management.
As AI technology advances systems will be able to provide wider project assistance. They will keep a track of tasks in a way which is not humanly possible. This data can be used for performance evaluation and workload distribution that is fair and even.
These are some of the functions where AI has already made its way in the workplace. There is no function which will remain untouched by AI. Many tasks in finance, sales, manufacturing, training and more can benefit from assistance by AI powered tools.
So where are we on the AI Journey today?
The idea of machines with human capabilities is not new. Ideas about machines with ability to think can be found in ancient Greek mythological beings such as Talos and Galatea. Aristotle is said to have described a formal and mechanical way to thinking back in 320 BC.
The invention of computers turned philosophy into reality in the nineteenth century. In 1950 Alan Turing devised the Turing Test – a test for machines to convince humans that they are humans. He predicted that artificial intelligence will be able to pass the test in 2000.
Fast forward 68 years and we are nowhere close to a machine that can convince us it is human. To understand this it is important to distinguish between two broad categories of AI:
1) Narrow AI– this is AI that focuses on narrow set of activities. It can surpass human abilities on specific tasks but cannot do any tasks outside it. An example could be Alexa shopping for you on Amazon but not able to play chess with you.
2) General AI – This is AI that can juggle between tasks like humans and understand different contexts. AI is far behind in this category and a human like intelligence essentially means that AI has to catch up here.
The trouble with achieving human like AI is that it is difficult to define ‘human intelligence’. We need to be able to understand how humans think, retrieve memory, weigh options and make decisions for this. And we are not even touching the multi-layered human mind and nature of consciousness here.
As for now it looks like AI is good for specialized tasks only and it will be many years before it can pass the Turing Test.
Future of AI
Ever increasing amount of Big Data and Machine Learning means that machines will progress fast in narrow AI. There expanding facets of life where AI will enter including our workplace.
But it is difficult to forecast when AI will progress in General AI and reach human like abilities. Once they can do this there is no turning back, as they can teach themselves to evolve into super-intelligent beings pretty quickly.
However, this could be 50 years or more years from now. We cannot know because we do not still understand what it means to be a ‘conscious human’ in the first place. Furthermore, there are many possible events like breakthrough in cognitive neuro-science, societal collapse, quantum computing, etc.,that could accelerate or decelerate this journey.
Challenges in AI Journey
It would be realistic to expect challenges in adopting AI at workplace. Here are some concerns that employees are voicing in anticipation.
Privacy
Many of the HR & Recruitment AI solutions discussed above promise to keep an eye on every employee on behalf of the HR. Although the intention is to increase productivity, not everyone is comfortable with AI taking screenshots of their desktops every hour.
These software track employee location, browsing patterns and sift through all their mails and messages to measure productivity and emotional states. This is very private information and people fear misuse and manipulation as a result of this.
Data theft incidents are common news today and companies like Uber and MyFitnessPal have been prey to hackers. This is not helping in soothing fears on privacy.
Data Misuse
Facebook’s misuse of 50 million data in Cambridge Analytica case has fueled the data misuse issue. Many have gone to extent of deleting their account fearing misuse of their whole story life which is available on Facebook. Usually companies keep a detailed account of their employees from work history to financial information.
Misuse by third parties, attacks by malicious persons or intentional/ unintentional breach by the company itself are all real possibilities. Companies must address these potential hazards before they bring AI onboard. A written AI and Data Policy must be in place to secure employees.
Lack of Human Touch
Is my boss going to be an Artificially Intelligent software? This is obviously an unsettling question. The idea of taking orders from a software may not go well with all. And this is a real possibility with AI powered solution for project management that distribute work for maximum efficiency.
Making friends and building lasting relationships is a big part of employee engagement and workplace satisfaction. Without sufficient human interaction the workplace will turn to a solitary confinement devoid of human touch.
Loss of Job
This is the biggest fear that is being hyped everywhere. It is true that AI will take over many jobs. However, people forget that it is also going to create more jobs. Employees must be educated on the change that is going to come since most of the fear is due to lack of knowledge.
It must be made clear which tasks are going to be performed by AI and which ones by humans. New job responsibilities and expectations must be shared with employees to avoid confusion. In any case taking over of tasks by AI is a big change and successful change management will be required for it to succeed.
Apart from employees companies also have to address many other points.
Integration
How will the new technology integrate with your current software? This is a question that must be addressed at the time of vendor selection.
Changing the whole CMS system to integrate AI support system is a big problem. This will involve data migration, additional cost and changing workflow for sales and marketing.
ROI
Since it is still early in AI solutions market it is not clear which solutions are actually worth the cost and which are not. Does HR need AI to capture location of the employee in IT industry?
And what is the benefit of it? As more AI companies enter the market, companies may be overwhelmed with AI features with no data on profitability to fall back on. Measuring Return on Investment for AI technology is going to be a challenge at least for the initial few years.
Ethics
AI is going to make leaders take tough decisions. With more power comes more responsibility and AI will give tremendous power in business leader’s hands. By allowing micro – monitoring and measuring parameters that were earlier not measurable it will give lot of actionable data to leaders. Some of the questions they may be faced with are:
Should keep and re-purpose a redundant workforce or let them go?
Should I collect personal information to better workplace productivity?
Should I trust my team’s experience and intuition or take action on AI’s suggested strategy?
Should I reveal the full extent of AI data monitoring to my employees?
These are tough questions to answer for someone who is accountable for company’s profitability. Only companies with strong ethical culture will be able to maintain transparency and employee trust.
Tying It All Together
From a philosophical thought to mainstream commercial use, AI has come a long way. However, the technology is still primitive compared to what it can become. Misconceptions and fears are many for AI technology which is not understood fully by the common man.
Business leaders know that embracing AI is their only option if they have to survive in the future. The challenge is to address employee apprehension and build a team of AI and humans that works with each other.
To do this leaders must address fears regarding job loss, AI as bosses, reducing decision making power, data privacy and business ethics.
Once employees understand that AI is here not to take their job but to enhance it, the possibilities in workplace productivity are endless. AI powered solutions are already on the offering for HR, Marketing, Operations, Customer Support and Project Management.
The market for these solutions is new and exciting with big players and boutique start-ups offering cutting -edge solutions for businesses in all industries.
It’s still early for AI in workplace though and the challenges for its adoption are many. Early adopter of AI technology must risk ROI and take a firm stand on ethics while they manage change in their company. However the competitive advantages of adopting AI early on are worth the risk and the cost.
We do not know when AI will surpass human intelligence as a whole but as far as performing in narrow tasks is concerned; AI is already ahead of us. The future of AI with humans in workplace will bring in a new era that we can only wait for with fascination and excitement.
In the twenty-first century, organizations depend on the energy, output, passion, and engagement of their employees. If employees are engaged, their determination to work is high; they are more productive, focused, and result-oriented.
Companies that indulge in activities of employee engagement tend to be more profitable and revenue generating.
While employee engagement is a buzzword in most organizations as employers strive to encourage their staff to deliver value to customers, identifying ways by which these employees can be engaged still remains a challenge.
Here are 10 competent steps that will help you to improve the level of employee engagement in your business enterprise:
Assign the Right Role
Every employee must be put in the right role based on their skills, abilities, and experience. They must enjoy what they do and must be able to achieve the right goals for the company.
This requires the involvement of the talent acquisition team who must know each employee well and must introduce retention strategies that focus on delivering maximum output.
Employee Training
A culture of trust and accountability cannot be developed until and unless the team is skilled for success. This means that managers and leaders must focus on the training and development of employees.
Employees must be asked what they would like to learn and appropriate training courses or skill enhancement sessions must be organized.
Give out Meaningful Work
Several organizations hire the best of talent but are not able to provide work accordingly. Only when employees do meaningful work and understand how their contribution affects the success and growth of the company, they feel engaged. Know why a person has been hired and give out right tasks to them.
Regular Feedback
Gone are the days when you wait for quarterly reviews to check progress and give feedback. Nowadays, workforce appreciates the regular feedback.
Indulge in formal and informal sessions wherein activities are evaluated and suggestions are accepted. This way, loopholes are identified faster and wastage is reduced.
Have Inspiring Leaders
The role of leaders is crucial for employee engagement. When managers and leaders take initiative in understanding the work of employees and their needs and aspirations, it helps to establish goodwill and ties of trust.
Offer Growth Opportunities
Employees feel disengaged when their skills are not optimally utilized. They may have experience in a particular field but the set-up of your business does not allow them to showcase their talent. This can be quite discouraging.
Therefore, give your employees the opportunity to highlight their skills and encourage them to stretch their skills with a focus on growth.
Recognize and Reward
Every employee’s efforts must be rewarded. This gives them the motivation to work harder. Thanking them for the contribution they have made shows that you recognize and appreciate what they have done. It also acts as a technique to boost their morale.
Understand your Employees
Every employee has a life beyond the organization they work for. Understanding the responsibilities your employees fulfill outside of the workplace helps to establish a bond with them.
Companies that believe that employees are their greatest asset remain an attractive place to work in. Provide initiatives to help your employees balance their work and personal life.
Team Work
Wherever possible, encourage employees to work with members of other teams. According to research, attachment with co-workers is beneficial for the growth of the organization. This is because the productivity is better when employees interact with other professionals.
Take Ideas for Engagement
Successful managers keep the communication with their employees transparent. They often discuss with their teams how engagement activities and solutions must be incorporated to improve the workforce culture.
These steps for increasing employee engagement are not at all complex. They are easy to adapt and some may already be a part of your organization.
Also, apart from these, there are several other techniques that you may use to engage your employees. The bottom line is to focus on employee engagement as engaged employees deliver faster and efficient results.
