HR Management Archives - Page 4 of 7

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Working as a team is the best way to reach a goal productively in a minimal stipulated time frame.

However, team manager plays the key role of effectively handling the team and bringing the best out of the team members.

Each member of the team might be having a unique working and communication style and bringing all of them on the same table might be more complicated than you think.

Not everyone can be a good leader and he has to be rich with a range of skills which makes a notable impact on the final outcome.

More than just a good attitude, these important skills are to be possessed by a leader for effective team management.

1. Effective communication

It is a key stone of proper team management which is needed to create a proper link among the team members.

A good leader has to clearly communicate the short term and long term goals, priorities, gratitude as well as the changing strategies on the right time with the team.

2. Team motivation

There will be ups and downs for every members of a team.

Instead of making complaints about the failure, a true leader should motivate them and enhance their spirit to bounce back and work better the next time.

You can even include success and motivation stories during your team meetings to help them come out of their laziness and contribute their best.

3. Proper vision

Having a proper vision about the goals to achieve matters a lot to be a good team leader.

Meet with the top management once in a while to get the correct understanding of the big picture goals and make a plan to work towards it.

Also assessing the goals on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis helps to make better strategies.

4. Employee development

Each team member might be at different stages of their career and will be having diverse outlooks and abilities.

It is the role of the team manager to develop them as a team and help them to bring the best out of their abilities for the success of the project.

Once they start to deliver better at what they do, you are marking your first step towards your long term success as a manger.

5. Think strategically

Strategic planning is important for the successful execution of a project and a good leader should be able to do strategic thinking with changing needs of the project.

Building good strategies as a team and connecting ideas together can help to manage the deadlines of the project and handle tricky situations.

6. Problem solving skills

These are one of the inevitable skills to be possessed by a team leader to meet the deadlines.

Being stuck up with the problem kills time and it affects the smooth flow of the project.

One should be able to handle the problems effectively using critical thinking and negotiation abilities. Identifying problems before they fester is also important for saving time and efforts.

7. Willingness to learn

Be humble enough to consider the opinions of your team members.

Willingness to learn from your team members make them feel more comfortable being in the team and they would be pleased to come up with innovative ideas that can make the results even better.

8. Fairness

To achieve success as a team, each member of the team must be given a considerable working space.

The feeling of being equal and getting the deserved recognition can trigger the spirit of the team to work hard towards the goal.

9. Discipline management

This may not be always related to their work but it is very important for every team member to be disciplined.

Sometimes, the managers even need to play the role of personal groomers where they have to oversee their habits that might affect the project success.

Also making sure that they follow the policies of the company is also important.

10. Trustworthiness

The successful leaders have displayed virtues like honesty, integrity, and respect which is indispensable when it comes to effective team management.

Being trustworthy in fact motivates them to work hard towards their goals as they get a feeling that their work would be noticed and appreciated.

And the team members would be ready to open up about their problems at work and leaders can correct it at the right time for better results.

11. Proper delegation

Delegating the right task to the right people is a very important.

Analyze the goals to achieve and the total allotted time along with the experience and abilities of your team members to rightly assign the best suitable role for each member.

12. Innovate and inspire

The ability to innovate and inspire is also among the important skill set needed for effective team management.

Always bring in novel ideas to improve the way team works. This can inspire your team to come up with new ways of improving their efficiency.

13. Good organization

Being well organized is another important skill to be possessed by a successful leader.

This not only helps you to save the valuable time but do things in a more systematic fashion and to convey the execution elements such as project timelines in a better way.

Items such as charts; excel sheets and even management software should be among the working tools of a good manager.

14. Time management

This is one of the foremost skills to be maintained for effective team management as every minute counts during crucial projects.

The manager has to manage his own time as well as properly schedule the available time among team members by keeping the deliverables and constraints in mind.

That is why time management is rated as an art and not just a skill.

15. Respect for others

Mutual respect is an important criterion for the success of a team and the leader should have a look at the same.

Don’t expect the team members to nod their head for all your decisions but accept their disagreement at times and take effort to make joint decisions in tricky situations.

16. Team Orientation

It is not advisable to show the power of a leader but to think like a team member when handling the team.

The team should be the first priority and you should develop a mindset to keep your interests and preferences aside when managing a team.

Don’t ever make an impression that you are superior than your team members. Make sure to work as a team member while indirectly managing the team.

17. Being approachable

It is important for a team manager to be always approachable and available whenever your team needs you.

Even if you might not be physically around always, make necessary alternatives to handle your absence so that the project works smoothly.

Moreover, openness and approach ability improves the trust and confidence within the team.

18. Confidence

All the members of the team will have a sharp look at the leader and so it is important for the leader to be confident about getting things done.

Confidence simply means to use your strength in the right mix in the path of success.

Be open about your weakness with your team mates to create the personal bond with the them.

19. Good adaptability

Situations will keep on changing during the different phases of a project. It is not advisable to just stick on to the first plan every time.

A good leader should be able to adapt to the change in situations and make changes in the strategy to get things done.

Always be open-minded and optimistic about the new ways of doing things.

20. Lead by example

One of the most important qualities of a good team manager is to lead by deeds than by words.

Rather than imposing the guidelines on the team members, it is better to lead by being an example which inspires them to follow your path.

Being a team manager might look as the role of a credit stealer when the rest of the team does the job. But in reality it is more challenging role than what one thinks.

You might be a top performer based on your individual performance but being a leader needs a different skill set.

Moreover, making the right combination of team, prioritizing the tasks to be completed and sometimes thinking out of the box is all needed to win as a team.

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Communication is an inevitable element for building and maintaining a positive and working place.

Of course, ineffective communication brings in just the opposite results.

Assuring proper work place communication is not just the role of team managers or leaders but a joint effort from the whole team.

However, the leaders should take initiatives to bring in inevitable changes in the whole work place scenario that paves the way for a better working environment.

Applying some strategies can help team managers to improve the communication at work place and thus enjoy the following success. Let us have a look at some of the key strategies that might help you.

1. Giving undivided attention

Whether you are in the one to one conversation or group meeting, giving undivided attention is the key to a quality conversation. Diverting the attention to something else kills the flow of communication and people easily tune away.

Keeping focused to what you are discussing and maintaining eye contact makes the conversation live. It prompts everyone to stay with you.

2. Mastering body language

Non-verbal work place communication adds a lot of value, especially for team managers. Your body language can make a noticeable impact on how the people around perceive your words.

Make sure that your gestures are open and approachable.

Ensure a positive physical presence. See that you keep up an upright posture throughout the conversation.

3. Creating communication-friendly space

In addition to the quality content of your meeting, delivering it in a communication friendly space is equally important.

The team members should be able to express freely without a second thought.

Make the conversation live by asking questions and challenging ideas. Also encourage social interactions to build good relations with colleagues.

4. Taking time to listen

Monopolizing the conversation has to be avoided at any cost. You may even take a halt just to check for understanding and ask for questions.

This makes everyone in the meeting a part of the conversation and they stay more focused.

Communication is always a two way process in which you pass your message but at the same time listen the other side.

Also Read: How to Build a Better Company Culture

9. Arranging open forum meetings

Communication should not be just limited to weekly or monthly closed room meetings.

Take initiatives to set up open forum meetings where employees get a chance to share their worries, ideas and concerns freely.

Also make provision for post-it notes where employees can ask questions and share the challenges they are facing anonymously in case they are shy to talk in public.

10. Following up with writing notes

It is quite difficult for the meeting participants to remember each and every point you discussed during the meeting. So following up the conversation with notes is very important to make the communication complete.

A bulleted point email will be a wise move .

11. Being authentic while conversing

More authentic conversations at work place can make a notable impact.

Don’t ever try to dominate the listener during a conversation and impose what you are saying thinking it as ultimate truth.

The best thing to do is to talk freely without a preconception and let the listener express his thoughts. Give them the freedom to express their views openly on what you say.

12. Asking for employee feedbacks

Work place communication is always complete if it is two way.

Give them a chance to give their feed backs about you as a manager on a regular basis so that you can improve on it and they get a sense of belonging.

Also let everyone communicate their thoughts while sending company wide emails announcing some changes or setting new goals.

13. Inform and inspire

A better communication should always be the right mix of information and inspiration.

Take some time before the meeting or conversation to see that the content of your meet not only educates them but inspires them too.

See that your ideas are explained and clarified in a tactful way where the employees get inspired for a better show at work than just listening to what you are saying.

14. Incorporating team building games

Some employees will always take a step back when communication is made an optional element.

However, having team building games once in a while will help them to come out of such barriers and they would be encouraged to speak up.

Communicating with the people you know becomes more comfortable.

15. Setting up weekly or monthly 1:1s

Some people would prefer to open up about their ideas or concerns only in a private set up.

That is why it is important to arrange a weekly or monthly 1:1s where they can express themselves without a barrier.

This is the best time to analyze if the resources and time is enough. You can also discuss on current priorities, upcoming goals & change in strategies.

16. Having outside office get together

See that you take some time out of your busy schedule for outside the office get together.

This is the time to build relationships.

Let it be a team lunch or dinner or a one day outing where you keep away all your work and just relax and enjoy with your colleagues.

You can celebrate achievements or milestones of your colleagues through a small party.

17. Including face to face work place communication

With the advancement in technology, workplace is hugely dependent on tools like slack and email for communication.

Even when you use these tools for easy communication remotely, it cannot replace the significance of face to face communication.

Make sure that you arrange personal communication at least once in a month or in worst case a quarter for better connectivity.

For freelancers who are working remotely, at least arrange a video call conversation rather than just normal calls which doubles the impact.

Moreover, you have to build up a foundation first where employees feel free to talk to you with trust and avoid making quick assumptions.

If you are working with a small team, learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses can help you to make better conversations.

The role of a manager even includes setting tone for the meetings to offering constructive feedback in a thoughtful way.

Good communication at work place keeps the work flow transparent and each member of the team feels their importance which apparently results in better results.

Posted on November 30, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Every team member holds a great deal of knowledge, skills, and energy. And motivation boosts those traits to allow your team to maximize their performance.

So, how to motivate your team members for better performance?! This article has some great ideas regarding that.

1. Compare employee’s worth when deciding the salary

Your team members will not indulge with their whole capacity if they don’t get paid the right price.

Underpaid employees are more likely to under perform or leave your team.

Even a small increase of 5% becomes enough to switch a job. Hence, you can’t risk a highly valuable team member because they don’t get paid a little extra.

Of course, you can’t keep increasing salaries for no reason. But a thorough assessment is important. Recognize the efforts of your valuable team members and motivate your team members by offering a salary they deserve. At the same time, make sure you provide geography-specific and industry-specific salaries for your employees.

Remember that money is a big factor in the life of a working professional.

2. Organize brainstorming sessions

All your team members sitting together thinking of unique ideas for an upcoming project. Such an exercise cultivates creativity and innovation in each individual.

Brainstorming sessions provide team building opportunities for your employees. Every person tackles the same objectives and fights the same problems to come up with unique solutions.

You can make this process more fun for everyone by making it a game. Introduce a scoreboard and allow two teams to have a brainstorm competition. When there is a rival team, your team will become more unified in their decisions.

3. Organize family days

Once or twice a year, you can organize a family get-together in the office. Members of your team can become more than just colleagues with each other. But that requires knowing the person beyond a 9 to 5 job.

With family days, you can solidify bonding in your team and motivate your team to work for each other.

4. Utilize agile approach of working

The agile approach is one of the most successful project management strategy applied in the world of technology and other product development. Agile approach focuses on giving importance to each individual in a team. At the same time, each team member can switch work and coordinate with each other, depending on the project scenarios.

Agile approach also allows every team to have a motivational leader who bears knowledge of the project and also knows how to maximize the productivity of every team member.

5. Build an intimate communication approach

If all team members send emails to each other only, they will never work as a unified group. And higher productivity is possible only if they work for collective growth.

For that, you will require more intimate ways of communication among team members. Make sure each team member directly communicates with other members. Create scenarios when all members can come together and talk to each other.

For instance, you can organize daily morning meetings and allow every team member to interact and engage in communication.

These meetings don’t have to be formal or too long. Simple 5 to 15 minutes are enough to communicate daily goals and challenges. Also, provide a communication friendly space for team members. These steps will help in increasing the productivity.

6. Provide self-development opportunities

Your team members want to achieve organizational goals. At the same time, they want to win as a team. But the ultimate goal for every professional is to find self-development opportunities.

If your company can’t offer that, you can’t expect individuals to give their best to the work.

As a motivator for higher performance, you can also utilize highlighting development opportunities in your company. Showcase how each individual in your team can attain new places and higher positions.

At the same time, you can offer a reward plan for your team. Allow each individual a chance to achieve certain targets and gain incentives.

Similarly, you can offer team dinners, sports matches, team holiday and other social activities to motivate your team members. But make sure you fulfill your promise, otherwise, it will backfire in future.

7. Assign work with respect to interest

To motivate your team members, you need to know them. Their personalities, passion, skills, interests, and ideas matter when you are assigning work.

Right person for the right job can make a huge difference in terms of productivity. So, all you need to do is find the interests of your team members and delegate accordingly.

This approach is applicable when you are hiring your team members. Also, you can apply the same approach when assigning tasks for a project among your team members.

Make sure each individual is interested in the given task. The interest comes if the task falls within the boundary of strengths, passions, personal and career goals of a professional.

8. Conduct exercises for skill-sharing

Every member of your team has unique capabilities. You can see that as a leader. But your team members need to realize the importance of others in the team as well. For that, they need to experience and understand the skills of other team members.

If your team has individuals with diverse skill-set, you can conduct skill-sharing exercises. Such exercises are organized to allow team members to teach and learn new skills from each other.

So, in a software company, a developer can learn effective code testing from a tester, while a tester can learn quality coding from the same developer.

This way, each team member performs as a student and as a teacher during such sessions. It builds a humble sense of confidence in personal growth and team spirit. Ultimately, the overall productivity of your team grows.

9. Provide a productive and motivating workspace

The workspace also impacts the productivity of team members. You have to provide a well-planned office space.

Soothing lighting, comfortable temperature, convenient seating arrangement, and eye-pleasing colors. These are some of the basics of a working space to boost productivity.

Apart from the office structure, you can also work on the office culture by allowing co-working opportunities. Professionals with the same passions and interests come together in co-working space to attain their goals.

Turning your office into a co-working space will allow more flexibility in your team members. They will learn to adjust and think about the benefit of everyone on the team.

You can also construct fun and entertainment areas in your workspace. Using bean bags, unique décor and providing a gaming room are a few great ways to boost productivity.

These small elements allow employees a stress-free working environment, which leads to higher team spirit and productivity.

10. Teach the value of time

Higher productivity is directly related to the use of time during office hours. So, teaching your employees about the value of time can help in increasing productivity. However, this teaching will require some unique methods.

For instance, you can utilize time tracking technologies in your office. Ask team members to keep a log of their use of time in office and present reports. Also, ask them to analyze how their own time management skills increase or decrease on a monthly basis.

Also Read : Why Employee Engagement Matters?

11. Remove unnecessary tasks

Your team members will feel demotivated if you keep filling their time with unnecessary workload. A systematic approach to work shouldn’t put pressure on a team.

And it is your responsibility to showcase that you think about your team members. If a task in unnecessary and the team already has enough work, try postponing or eliminating that extra work altogether.

This approach is important if you want to increase efficiency and productivity during a huge project. A little trimming of tasks can motivate your team members to effectively work and give you better results.

12. Lead by setting an example

If you aren’t productive in your work, don’t expect your team members to take you seriously when you talk about productivity.

You have to reach the peak of your productivity game in order to set an amazing example for your team. Don’t just stay a senior, become a role model for your team members.

13. Listen to every team member’s point of view

No team member should feel inferior in the team. Even an intern should be able to talk to the team leader with confidence.

Productivity on projects is possible when there is no confusion. And that is possible with open communication between every team member and the team leader.

At the same time, this approach makes every team member feel important in the team.

They perform with all their abilities and think more aggressively when faced with a challenge. So, allow this freedom of communication in your team to boost productivity.

So, that’ a wrap on this topic. Now, you need to apply all the ideas in your work approach to motivate your team members for better performance.

Posted on November 28, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Human Resources takes care of the most valuable asset of your company – its people.From employee hiring to employee exit, there are many responsibilities that HR managers must carry out smoothly. Similarly the challenges faced by HR managers are plenty.

Unlike machines and financial resources, human resource is ever-changing and dynamic. In this blog we will discuss the 10 most common challenges faced by HR managers and how you can tackle them.

1. Employee Engagement

A motivated workforce is what separates a great companies from the average ones. According to Aon, current employee engagement levels were 65% in 2017.

Thanks to growing focus on employee engagement, the number is only growing every year. In an era when each company is outdoing others in employee initiatives, you cannot be left behind.

How to Tackle Low Employee Engagement

Employee engagement activities like events, contests, competitions and outbound activities are good ways. However this is not a sustainable way towards employee engagement.

What happens when the employee comes back to his day to day job from a vacation? The key is to make sure you hire right people for the right job. People are engaged in tasks that are challenging and require learning.

They like jobs that give them a sense of achievement and worthwhile results. Matching the job responsibilities and authority with each individual’s potential is the best way to ensure employee engagement in your organisation.

2. Employee Attrition

Unlike the baby boomers, millennials easily switch from one job to another in their career.

There are plenty of opportunities in the market for employees looking for a shift. In fact more than 80% of workers are either actively looking for a new job or are open to one (Ajilon).

Loss of star performers and successful team leaders is one of the biggest challenges faced by HR managers. They not only have to deal with the the loss but look for a replacement and train the new hires.

Sometimes the cost of replacement can be as high as the annual CTC of the position. Therefore, its best to retain your employees.

How to tackle employee attrition?

There are many tools and strategies to control attrition. Measures like, identifying employees with risk of quitting, open discussions, grievance redressal, regular and just appraisal are some of the ways to decrease your attrition.

Use data analytics to identify attrition trends and patterns in your organisation. This will give you a list of high- risk employees you should focus on.

3. Leadership Training

According to Udemy, nearly half of employees said they have quit a job because of bad manager and 60% think managers need managerial training. Poor managerial skills is closely linked to attrition and poor culture.

How to improve Leadership?

Leadership training is the obvious answer here. Another way is to launch a mentor-ship program for your managers so that they can learn it from the best in your organisation.

Also Read : Why Is Organizational Planning Important For Your Business?

4. Change Management

Change has always been a part of business no matter what your industry is. With the digitalization of all processes the rate of change has become rapid.

Agile companies adapt to this change quickly and become market leaders. For many companies driving change among its employees becomes a challenge. Humans are naturally resistant to change and do not want to let go of their old ways.

Breaking the mould and getting employees and management out of their comfort zone is one of the humongous challenges faced by HR mangers.

How to drive change?

One of the way to make change easier for everyone is to show them what’s in it for them. Identify the early adopters in your organisation and drive the change through them.

Once others see the success for these employees, they would want to adopt it too.

5. Productivity Tracking

How do you track employee productivity without breaching privacy? After all, your business outcomes are ultimately dependent on employee productivity.

How to track employee productivity?

There are plenty tools available for tracking employee work and impact. Work scheduler tools, GPS tracking and productivity summary sheets are some tools you can implement to track efficiency of your employees.

6. Attendance Tracking

Old attendance tracking applications have pitfalls and make accurate attendance a challenge for HR. There are many problems like buddy punching, proxy attendance and incomplete attendance data that HR have to tackle.

How to track attendance accurately?

Wi-Fi enabled attendance tracking systems can solve the problem here. These apps operate only within the company premise and also allow attendance for complete day to be tracked.

Always choose an app that integrates well with your other softwares like payroll, appraisal and leave management etc.

Check out WiFi attendance app and it’s features.

7. Grievances

Employee grievances must be given due attention at the right time.

Not doing so often leads to attrition, office politics or even legal cases. These are tricky situations for HR and can poison the healthy culture of the company.

How to handle grievances?

Establish a grievance cell in your company that looks at employee complaints and feedback in a neutral manner. Encourage employees to route their grievances through this method.

This gives issues a formal channel and keeps situation under check.

8. Employee queries

Every executive level HR manager knows the number of daily queries that come from employees.

These could be regarding leave management, appraisal, employee portals, employee policies etc. Answering them takes up a lot of time and leaves little time for core HR activities.

How to tackle employee queries?

If you segregate the queries based on topic you will see that most of the queries are repetitive.

HR manager can remove the need for queries by giving clear instruction beforehand in portals or mails. Many companies are also using chatbots to answer these repetitive questions.

9. Training Need Assessment

Learning and career advancement are important for the millennial workforce. A survey by Bridge found out that offering career training and development would keep 86% of millennials from leaving their current position.

Here the challenges faced by HR managers, is to know which training to give to which employee and implement proper learning cycles.

How to assess training assessment need?

The best way to find out is to ask the employees and their managers where they think they can use some training. There are also tests and tools available to identify training requirement of each employee.

10. Trade or Employee Unions

Perhaps the most stressful part of HR manager’s job is to deal with trade of employee unions. Not all industries will have these.

But where they exist, negotiating work and compensation terms with these unions can be very tough.

How to deal with employee unions?

Maintain good relation with union leaders. There is no easy way to deal with this situation. Managing relation with trade unions is a matter of maintaining delicate balance or power.

HRM is a major responsibility as it involves dealing with the dynamics of company resources. Human resource is the most complex as there is no one size fits all approach that works with it.

There will be resilience pertaining to company policies and usual dilemmas and conflicts involving leadership unions.

Meeting business goals will be a lot more easier once you catch up with the challenges of employment and leadership.

Posted on November 21, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

In the ever-changing business climate, the success of your business depends on how easily you adjust and adapt to those changes. But those adjustments become difficult if your employees resist policies during the implementation.

Such resistance can turn into huge financial and reputation costs many times.

Companies constantly look for new ways to become more efficient, productive and profitable.

This search leads to new policies. But the real success lies in successfully implementing those policies at workplace.

This guide is all about improving policy implementation on an ongoing basis in your company.

So, here is what you need to do:

Must Read:

5 Different Ways A WiFi Attendance App Helps The HR Manager

1. Develop policies after a thorough consultation

To diminish any chances of resistance in the first place, you can involve all stakeholders and employees in policy development.

The process of policy development is for the benefit of the whole company. This is why you should involve all relevant individuals during this process including your company stakeholders, contractors, employees, safety and health representatives.

They all have their own point of views regarding your policies. It is your responsibility to listen to all those points.

Listening to the point of views of all stakeholders and employees, you will find a balanced approach to build a policy.

At the same time, you can highlight the importance of a policy, which are not visible to certain stakeholders.

While you look at a broad impact of a policy, an employee or a team leader might have a narrow point of view. Consultation allows you to improve the understanding of the employees and remove the chances of resistance.

2. Customize policies for your business and workplace

The problem with policy makers is that they become too generic. Simply picking industry standard policies and forcing them in the company doesn’t help the business.

At the same time, a generic policy makes it difficult for policy makers to advocate the benefits during the implementation process. Lack of usability of a policy increases the force of employee resistance, which ruins implementation.

Of course, you can pick the idea of a policy from other sources in your industry. But it is critically important to customize those policies with respect to your workplace environment.

This will make implementation convenient.

3. Include clear obligations and actionable steps in your policy

No matter how big a change a policy will bring, make sure you document it in a simple-to-understand language. Plain language is important, in which, you have to describe clear obligations and actionable steps.

The policy should be like a list of actions for concerned people in your company. This will ensure that every employee understands what he or she needs to do to adopt the new policy.

Easy explanations don’t put pressure on employees.

You make policies easy to adapt and your employees resist less and try to accept the obligations. It is all about how you represent information.

If a policy looks like a huge document of oppressive changes, employees are more likely to resist. But if you choose a lighter tone and clarify each action, the implementation of policies becomes way easier.

4. Think about the implementation challenges in advance

There is no point in building a policy if you have no ground level preparation. Many business leaders feel happy just because they build a policy. But they forget about the ground level implementation and potential challenges.

Being realistic with your policy making approach is critically important.

You can’t waste your time building a policy, which is not possible for your business. Hence, an assessment of implementation challenges becomes a necessity.

This assessment should include resources, time and personnel required for policy implementation.

What if you have no time to implement?! Or, what about the lack of resources in your company. All these factors are important if you don’t want to waste your time and resources.

5. Publicize before implementing

A sudden implementation of a policy seems more like a hit in the face. And just like a sudden hit, it triggers a sense of hitting back, which leads to resistance.

So, can you do anything about it?!

Yes, you can publicize your policy and allow employees to understand what it is all about. If possible, create one single manual including a simple language and clear explanation of obligations.

Then, make sure that every employee and stakeholder is able to get a copy of the manual.

This approach will work as a promotion and allow concerned employees to clarify their confusions.

6. Give your training assistance to employees for new policies

It is your responsibility to inform, instruct supervise and train your company employees for the presented policy.

Existing and new employees and other stakeholders should get trained accordingly. So, you have to work in designing a training approach if the policy implementation requires one.

At the same time, it would be wise to keep discussing the benefits of the guidelines with your staff. This will remind employees why those policies exist in the first place.

Make sure you get a signed agreement from your contractors, employees and other stakeholders for the policy. Also, keep reports of training sessions along with the attendance records and content used in the training. This way, you can fight future resistance from an employee with evidence.

7. Become strict and consistent with policy implementation

You need to appoint managers and supervisors who will monitor and ensure complete compliance. Appointing supervisors will ensure consistency in the implementation process.

Make sure that every failure to comply with the policy is addressed immediately. Every employee should become aware of the consequences of deliberately breaching the terms. This will make them serious about the policy.

At the same time, your managers and supervisors should strictly follow the policies too. They have to lead by setting a strong example. In case, a manager fails to follow the policy, there should be a list of disciplinary actions.

The extent of consequence should be decided by the intent behind breaching the policy. This will require some critical thinking from time to time.

8. Develop a policy review cycle

Just like any other rule or law, policies also become outdated from time to time. New changes bring new scenarios, which can reduce the impact of a policy. Hence, your policy implementation approach should contain a review cycle.

For example, if your business starts a new product line, or purchases a new equipment, it might require a change in the policy. Similarly, there can be a hundred other scenarios when your policies will require auditing and modifications.

But you can’t conduct a policy review after every new thing happening in your business. Which is why a review cycle is important. A review cycle is a set time period after which your company policies are reviewed and passed again.

This review cycle offers a chance to remove outdated policies or modify them according to the current company scenarios.

When you make changes in the policy, ensure that every concerned employee and stakeholders become familiar with the changes.

9. Enforce and support after policy implementation

When you successfully implement a policy, it presents two more responsibilities.

You have to support employees who follow and accept the policies.

At the same time, you need to enforce policies to employees who present resistance.

The process of enforcement and support are all about choosing a simple system and rewarding employees.

Also, address organizational and individual benefits to allow all employees to understand and accept the implemented policy.

Benefits of organized implementation process

If you follow the given approach to policy implementation, it will improve the chances of achieving goals you have in mind.

Mostly, you will successfully attain a positive response from your employees and stakeholders during the policy implementation.

More people will accept and comply, which will reduce the chances of implementation failure.

Your support and help will motivate existing employees, which will bring new talents to your company due to word-of-mouth. Your employees will recommend your company as a workplace for others. You will receive talented candidates for new positions.

All in all, policy implementation is more critical than policy-making. You have to have a realistic approach to ensure the success of policies in your business.

Focus on the resources, ultimate benefits and the approach you choose to represent your policies to your employees. Combine critical thinking, technical knowledge, and consistent support. That’s how you can improve policy implementation in your workspace.

Hopefully, this guide will help you at every step of policy-making and implementation in your company.

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Employee retention is one of the key concerns for HR in every company. While some percentage of attrition is unavoidable and even healthy, nobody wants to lose high performers. After all it can cost upto 200% of annual salary to replace a high skilled employee.

Average attrition rates differ from industry to industry. Government organizations typically have low attrition rate whereas industries like staffing and hospitality can have attrition as high as 300%. Attrition also changes along the hierarchy. Positions at lower end typically have higher attrition than mid and top-level management positions.

Here are some ideas to consider if you want to keep attrition at your company under control.

Frequent Appraisals

According to Glassdoor, 35% of employees surveyed said they would look for a job if they did not receive a raise within the next year.

We all know that the months post appraisal, are when employees are most likely to leave. If they think that appraisals do not match their expectation they had, they will start looking for jobs in the market. For this reason it is important that managers and HR manage expectations throughout the year and not just during appraisal month.

Hold regular performance discussions so that there are no unwanted surprises at the end of appraisal cycle. Quantify as many KRA as possible. Employees are less likely to be disappointed when their numbers have been discussed with them regularly.

If your company policy permits, its also a good idea to have appraisals semi-annually or quarterly. This keeps employees motivated and they are less likely to leave.

Team Building Activities

People are less likely to leave if they are having fun at work and feel attached to their co-workers. Everyone loves to work with in a close knit team and would not want to give up friendships they have built in office.

Outbound trips, employee engagement activities and corporate events are good ways to forge friendships at workplace. Games, dance events and competitions infuse fun in your culture and improve employee engagement.

Stock Options

This is a good way to retain employees if your company is in start-up or growth phase. ESOP or employee stock options give employees a sense of ownership and belongingness. They are the engines driving your growth so it is also a just compensation for small and mid-size businesses that cannot afford big paychecks.

Stock option of company with growth potential will retain employees. They are more likely to stick around till the company has made it big and their stock is worth a significant amount.

Work Environment

Company culture is another factor that affects retention. Although most people think of Google offices when it comes to good culture not every company can allow pets and bean bags at office.

The idea here is not to copy the cultures of other companies but to have a strong culture of your own. By strong we mean that the environment is positive and your core values are clearly reflected in everything that you do.

Some values that contribute to positivity at workplace are transparency, safety of workers, credibility and integrity. There is no ‘culture formula’ that fits all companies but one should avoid culture that lead to office politics, inefficiency, jealousy, harassment.

A toxic environment is the quickest way to send away your best employees.

Referral System

Referral system is a great way to encourage employee bonding and maintain your company culture. Because your employees know the culture of the company they are likely to invite only those friends who fit within your organizational culture. What’s more is, the person hired is more likely to stay because he is now working with his friend.

Job Role Change

Another reason why people quit their job is monotony. Doing the same job for years together, can get boring and uninspiring. People tend to think of career or role change in such a scenario.

What if you could give them this opportunity within the organization? Start an internal job postings portal for employees looking for a change. Not only will you stop employee attrition but you will also fill another position without having to spend on recruitment, training and orientation.

Some companies also have a policy of job rotation every few years. This keeps the work fresh for employees and brings in new ideas into each department.

Learning & Development

According to Udemy, 46% of employees said that learning & development is the most important benefit when deciding where to work. People want to get better and learn more skills in order to advance their career. In-fact self-actualization is the highest of needs in Maslow’s pyramid of human needs. So once you have taken care of financial and belonging needs of your workforce this is the next obvious step.

Employees are more likely to stick around if your company takes care of learning and development by regularly investing in people. This lets the employees know that you care for them and are committed to keeping skilled people in the organization.

Managerial Training

Nearly half of employees said they’ve quit a job because of a bad manager, 56% think managers are promoted prematurely and 60% think managers need managerial training (Udemy).

Managers are the face of the company for your employees. They are the ones who interact with them day to day and have to get the work done. Incompetent managers increase stress for everyone and struggle at motivating their team.

Incompatibility with managers is one of the common reasons for employees to leave their job. Every team member requires a different kind of approach by managers and you must invest in training your manager if exiting employees are citing their reporting manager as a reason for resignation.

Flexible Work Options

Expectations about work-life balance are changing as younger generation enters the workforce. 86% of employees between the ages 18-34 said they’d sooner sign a contract with remote work options.

There are plenty of freelancing opportunities and digital business options now available. People do not see the need to go to an office for a strict 9 to 5 job. Incidentally, this is profitable even for companies as it cuts office premise cost and conveyance time.

You must work on flexible work options if you are to remain competitive in market today. Work from home, flexible working hours and remote working are soon going to be a norm in many industries.

Feedback Loops

Nobody wants to leave their well paying job if there was a way to work around problems of a job. Many companies don’t have any feedback mechanism and loose employees because they have no way to resolve their issue.

By collecting regular feedback on employee engagement you can avoid the employee drain that is coming in the future. Give you employees a change to voice their concerns so that they do not have to take the extreme step of quitting their job.

Establishment of employee redressal cell, anonymous feedback, harassment cells helps to solve problems early and retain your best performers

Conclusion

Employee retention is getting increasingly difficult in today’s competitive market. Employee retention and engagement is an important department within HR for this very reason. Based on your industry, size of company and workplace culture, you may pick up the most suitable ideas from the mentioned.

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Employee engagement is driven by instincts of care and passion. It is important to mould your employees to believe in a cause that you are striving for.

When they develop a sense of responsibility towards the cause it organically fosters willful projection of efforts in the direction that truly matters. A complete process of engagement does demand acknowledgement of small achievements.

Here are a few statistics to help understand the ultimate significance of Employee engagement.

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

A team manager in a software firm leads a team of software developers, involving himself/herself in the functions of hiring, training and managing staff in addition to overseeing project budgets.

He/she is also responsible to prepare progress reports informing the top management about the software project that is assigned to him/her. Since a team manager has to effectively handle and lead a team of software developers, he/she would be in the need of implements to ease the job.

This blog enlists 10 tools that assist a team manager to perform his duties with maximum efficiency. For your convenience, this blog has been divided into three sections, which are the prime responsibilities of a Team Manager.

Tools That Support Team Managers with Their Day-To-Day Tasks and Projects

1. WiFi Attendance

This tool helps managers have a comprehensive knowledge about the details of every team member. The platform integrates crucial data points like attendance, leaves, task management, and live chat at one place.

It is must have not just for the manager but even the HR Executive to keep themselves updated about the performance quotient of all the employees.

2. Asana

Asana is an awesome tool which can be take on the tag of a ‘to-do list’. This tool assists team managers with organizing, managing and planning activities linked to the project that the team is working on.

Team managers can rely on this tool to ensure that every member is on track to achieve the objectives of the team. Asana allows managers to assign tasks to other team mates, in addition to closely monitoring the project deadlines.

3. ProofHub

This is a platform that permits a perfect coordination between teams and their communications. This tool assists team managers to cut down the delivery time of the project while allowing them to organize files and closely monitor projects.

All those team managers looking to build accountable teams can rely on this tool so as to eventually enjoy a higher degree of work satisfaction. A striking feature of this tool is that it comes with an in-built online proofing tool that reviews and approves the files of team members.

4. Wimi

Wimi helps team managers better organize teams and tasks. In addition to paving the way for efficient communication between team members, this tool provides all the pertinent information under a single roof.

This tool helps managers to share calendars and files between teammates. This is achieved by creating what are called as ‘Unified Workspaces’. Team managers like you can also avail the features of the Wimi Drive, a file syncing software based on Cloud technology.

Tools That Help Team Managers Communicate With Their Teams

You will agree with the fact that communication is the key to an effective and collaborative team. Team members need to constantly communicate with each other either through text messages or video conferencing tools apart from partaking in one-to-one team meetings.

To ensure a free flow of communication within a team, a team manager can rely on some of these below-described tools.

5. GoToMeeting

True to its tagline which reads ‘Online Meetings Made Easy’ the GoToMeeting tool is a boon to team managers to conduct video conferencing meetings. This tool allows team managers to schedule meetings and to share screens with team members.

6. Slack

Another user-friendly tool that comes handy to team managers is Slack. Through this tool, managers can create Slack communities of members working on a particular project.

Once these user communities are created, Slack permits managers to communicate with the teammates through group or direct messages. It makes room for swift and private conversations between the manager and team members.

7. Flowdock

Flowdock is another chatting platform that allows managers to engage in private or group chats with team members. This tool comes with an add-on called the Team Inbox which collates all the notifications from other communication channels like Asana and Twitter.

Collaborating Tools for a Team Manager

8. Quip

It is all about making things happen in an organization with fewer exchanges of emails and meetings. It is in this context that Quip which comes with a checklist comes across as a new collaborating tool.

This tool which is extremely handy for team managers helps teams to import different file types while making real-time changes to them.

9. CodingTeam

Tagged as an innovative and free tool, CodingTeam is another promising option for a team manager to bring about a synergy of efforts between different team mates. Through this tool, team managers can oversee collective coding activities of various team members.

10. Google Docs

Google Docs is not new to you. This is another collaborative tool that has Docs and Google Sheets that can be edited by various team members simultaneously.

You can also save all the changes that are made by your team members on a particular Google Sheet that is shared with your entire team.

11. Igloo

Last on the list of tools that aid a team manager deliver his/her responsibilities with due diligence is Igloo. Tagged as a company intranet, Igloo enables team members to communicate with each other to attain the common team objective.

It can also serve the purpose of a platform that permits team mates to share and implement the ideas of other team mates.

Conclusion

Given the multiple options that team managers have at their disposal in delivering their responsibilities, it pays to pick and choose a comprehensive tool. A tool that not only offers multiple features but also comes across as an easy-to-use alternative can be a perfect bet.

A word of caution is to look closely into the privacy options of these tools as IT firms usually work on projects that revolve around sensitive and confidential information. A tip here would be pick cloud-based tools that allow team managers to see the activity regarding recent edits and updates to a file or code.

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Tracking time during a project is probably the most important aspect of project management. Time aligns productivity, efficiency, and quality of your project.

If you have been confused about the importance of time tracking in project management, this article will resolve those confusions for good.

Here are all the reasons you should utilize time tracking in your project management.

1. Differentiation of essential and non-essential tasks

During a project, time becomes a limited asset. You need to track and plan a systematic expense of time to ensure the desired productivity. It will help you differentiate essential and non-essential tasks.

2. Successful goal achievement

Tracking time keeps you aware of the deadlines of a project. You can increase the pace from time to time and ensure the successful achievement of desired goals.

At the same time, you can re-define your estimated time of completion in accordance with the desired goals. In many situations, goals are modified to match the project’s time frame. It all helps in balancing a project to its maximum success.

3. Estimation of upcoming tasks

Tracked time reports become a collection of insights for future work. A project manager can use the time-related reports from the previous task to estimate a suitable completion time for an upcoming task. Constant practice improves the efficiency of the team members, and they promise and deliver their work on time.

4. Smooth daily routines

Without time tracking, every day starts with confusions. Team members begin each day, trying to figure out how to start their work and what goals to achieve. This also presents the issues of procrastination in the team members.

On the other hand, time tracking helps in designing set routines. The project manager doesn’t have to communicate the tasks every day, Team members know what to do and know in how much time they have to do it. Hence, no chances of procrastination occur in your team.

5. Making projects profitable for the company

Some companies charge for whole projects, while others charge with hourly basis. For both types, tracking the time is extremely important to ensure profits.

If a team works on an hourly basis, time tracking helps in adjusting the rate of work. This way, your team can ensure fair payments for the quality and amount of work delivered.

At the same time, complete project completion also requires time tracking. If you get paid for the whole project, time tracking helps in deciding the overall profitable time period of project completion.

You can compare the payments given to employees for a particular time period with the payments received for the project. Hence, you can track time to ensure the profitability at the end of the project.

6. To obtain help when necessary

Time tracking data helps in presenting evidence that you require more resources. If the project seems to require more resources, the project manager can show the tracked time data and ask for help.

This way, business leaders see the challenges and become compelled to increase the resources as per the requirement.

7. Client satisfaction

In any industry or business model, client satisfaction matters the most. And your client feels satisfied when you deliver quality product without delaying the delivery time.

Tracking your time keeps your delivery dates and product quality in check. You can change the pace of work and get more resources to match the delivery deadlines and required quality. Hence, your clients feel satisfied with the results you offer.

8. Ability to appreciate the performance of team members

Time tracking offers a great benefit of acknowledging the performance offered by employees. A project manager can identify the talents and working capacities of team members.

With that insight, the project manager can advocate a raise for deserving employees. Plus, the manager also knows which team members are suitable for upcoming tasks.

9. Convenient reporting

Project management reports become more compelling and useful with time tracking metrics. Company leaders get to see the growth of a project with time and its on-time completion.

Daily, weekly and monthly time tracking statistics also help in predicting the success rate of a project. At the same time, higher authorities become aware of the time frames required to complete a project. With that, they can promise suitable project completion time period to clients in future.

Thanks to advanced time tracking software and tools, project management has become extremely simple. All smart managers are utilizing time tracking software systems in project management.

Hopefully, these reasons have made time tracking importance clear to you. Find a reliable tool with effective features.

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Wifi Attendance Super Admin

Employees are the most valuable asset for any company. The productivity of your workforce decides how successful your business will be.

Your employee’s attendance is closely linked to their productivity. Lets see how the two are connected and what you can do to improve employee attendance.

Why is punctuality important at workplace?

Arriving and leaving on time is closely related to productivity of your workforce. Punctuality is not just the punch- in and punch-out time but also showing up on time for meetings and honoring promised timelines.

Punctuality is a value that must be present in the very culture of your company. Without time – management all your projects will miss the mark because of following problems

1. Quality of Work

You may have noticed the effect an early day has on your productivity. When you start your day on time, you get ample time to prepare your mind, set an agenda for the day and finish tasks on your list.

On the other hand, late arrival at office leads to piled up work, hasty meetings and unfinished tasks. Quality of work suffers when employees are not punctual.

2. Teamwork

Teamwork and collaborative projects suffer when some members are not punctual. Making a team of people work together to achieve common goals is not an easy task.

There is lot of coordination required and dependency on each member when it comes to collaborative projects between different teams. The team needs to work on a common timeline and all actions must be performed like clockwork for projects to succeed. Without punctuality teamwork is hard to achieve.

3. Employee Morale

Punctuality and absenteeism are indicators of employee engagement and employee morale. Late arrival of employees to office or meetings signals lack of motivation in their jobs.

This low morale spreads to other employees as well and can be toxic for your company culture. Your workforce productivity can plummet in such an environment, if appropriate action is not take to address absenteeism.

Ways to improve attendance at work place

So what can you do to improve attendance and lower absenteeism in your office? It is upto to the employer to encourage punctuality and create an environment of discipline.

You also need employee engagement activities to encourage higher attendance.Here are some concrete measures that you can take:

1. Have a Attendance Policy in Place

First and foremost you must have a written attendance policy for the employees. This should be a part of induction of all new joinees and must be made easily available to everyone as an internal resource.

The idea is to make sure that everybody is aware of minimum and maximum attendance expected from employees and the consequences of not meeting it.

Remember to also have policies against overtime and unnecessary late hours. These habits are usually a sign of inefficiency and different times for different teams can create a feeling of injustice. Its best to encourage employees to arrive and leave on time although this does not apply to some industries.

Give a serious thought to the freedom of working hours you want to give in your company. Some companies find it beneficial to give flexible working hours and work from home option to their employees. This will again vary from industry to industry.

Your attendance policy must detail attendance requirement of employees, leave system, leave encashment, absenteeism and disciplinary action for defaulters.

Similarly a formal leave approval system should also be in place. Employees must submit their leave request in advance (except sick leave) and get an approval from their reporting managers.

2. Track Attendance Accurately

An accurate attendance tracking system is important to maintain employee attendance records. This lets the employees know that their attendance is being counted and taken seriously.

There are many technologies available today for attendance tracking. There are biometric systems, web portals, mobile applications with GPS tracking and WiFi attendance tracking to choose from.

A good application will also give attendance reports and integrated leave management system.

With a good attendance tracking system you can get concrete data on employee absenteeism, frequent days of absence, unaccounted leaves, etc.

Advanced technologies like WiFi also allows HR to track exact location in the premise. This means productive hours spent on desk can also be recorded.

Employees with poor attendance record or absenteeism must be dealt with according to the attendance policy.

3. Team Bonding

People are not motivated to come to office just for work. Their projects, bonding with teammates and relation with reporting manager are strong motivators too.

It is the people and environment that give meaning to jobs, so strengthening relations is one of the best ways to improve attendance in your office. People are ready to go the extra mile when their colleagues are also their friends.

Employee bonding can be achieved with team competitions, office trips, team building activities and office parties. You should also make sure that the overall environment of your office is conducive to building friendships.

Things like seating arrangements, hierarchical structure and company policies shape the interactions of a company.

4. Rewards & Recognition

Letting your employees know that you appreciate their timeliness will encourage them to be punctual. You can show this appreciation by giving awards at annual functions or quarterly titles for the most punctual employee.

You may also want to consider giving incentives for meeting deadlines and timely project deliveries if that fits in your compensation program.

Employee Attendance Improvement Plan

If a particular employee’s attendance is in poor shape you should consider implementing an employee attendance improvement plan. This is nothing but an intervention plan to help employees to correct their course and get their attendance up to the mark again.

Any plan must start with a detailed discussion with the employee and understanding their reasons for absenteeism or unaccounted leaves.

Sometimes employees have a genuine problem like a sick spouse, addictions or single parenthood. In this case flexible working options or part- time schedule can be worked out.

Once the problem is known a 30-day plan can be made to evaluate employee productivity and punctuality.Counseling sessions, scheduling assistant and supervisory observation is an important part of employee attendance improvement program.

Read More : 11 Software Tools Every Team Manager Needs