Onboarding is a popular term these days and refers to the process of hiring new employees for the organization. It sets off before the employee’s start-date and can extend to about six months or even a year.
Being an overwhelming process by itself, the end result and the impact may depend on the techniques that you use and the length of the process.
There are many tools that you can use today, each of which promises you the best engagement results and retention rates.
In this context, we are going to draw out a checklist that would help you to hire the right employees. Such a hiring process is seen to enhance employee performance and commitment to the organization.
1. Get to know the local laws.
It is important to know the local laws relating to a maximum number of weekly hours of work, maternity leave, annual leave, notice of termination, public holidays, etc.
2. Start the hiring process.
This requires that you assess your organization’s current as well as future needs and define the roles for which you would need people.
At this stage, you can also deliberate as to whether hiring is the best option or you have better alternatives. If you decide to hire, you would clearly want to know what you need from the individual.
3. Create a suitable job description.
This stage requires that you know the skills/qualifications the person requires and the amount that you are willing to compensate the employee with.
In this context, remember that it is important to maintain a record of every candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, interview notes, expectations, etc. You would have to refer to these throughout the onboarding process.
4. Attract the right candidates.
The next step is to advertise the vacant positions. Suitable candidates should hear about the opportunity and match it with their skills, salary expectations and experience.
The manner in which you advertise may depend on the industry that you are in. Social media, online job portals, newspapers, recruitment agencies, etc., are some options that you may consider.
5. Get on with the recruiting.
This involves a whole gamut of activities including communication with prospects, interviews and screening, etc. You have to determine as to who will do the recruiting.
Activities as described in the previous step and this one is sometimes more efficiently done by someone in the team or an outsourced recruiter.
6. Get your employees started up properly.
This is the orientation period and is the most important phase of the onboarding process. Ensure that you do not overlook this process. This is the time period when your employees align with the culture and vision of your organization.
A tour of the work premises is absolutely essential during the induction program. They also have to be provided with an overview of the business that your organization is involved in.
This is the time when the employee is educated about the roles and responsibilities at the workplace, prevalent dress codes, safety protocols, evacuation procedures, operating hours, payroll, etc.
7. Complete all the paperwork.
It is time for the employee to sign up for various benefit programs, insurance coverage documents and retirement plan documents. The new employee will at this time also complete all the payroll forms.
8. Set company expectations.
The employee is informed about the probationary period and the times when the performance appraisals would take place.
9. Start training program.
The new employee is trained on all aspects of the job, from the simple to the complex. The duration of the training program is also notified to the employee.
Final Thoughts
It is a good idea to standardize the onboarding process with a checklist as listed above. This is because taking optimum time to onboard the employees is the key to increase the productivity of the new hires. The absence of a checklist-based onboarding process is seen to result in higher manpower turnover rates.
Do you have an automated employee attendance tracking system at your office? Many startups begin with minimal to no attendance tracking. 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 10 most common attendance tracking mistakes in the form of an infographic. Each point also includes a solution for you to avoid them.
Today, time is considered to be money, but somewhere down the line the responsibilities thrown upon one’s shoulders can be intense and take a toll on their personal lives.
It is one of the most important reasons as to why people often struggle with a proper work-life balance, especially if they are regular employees of performing organizations.
Lack of work life balance can take a toll on the body and at the same time also hamper personal life. In the long run, emotional health tends to deplete massively and thus brings forth days of despair.
A healthy work-life balance can ensure that the person has time for his profession as well as the family. It helps to build the morale and promotes a healthy lifestyle.
For the people willing to lead a healthy lifestyle and follow up with their family while keeping their work deadlines under control, these 15 work balance tips can come in handy.
1. Identify one’s strength and going by it
In the professional field, people ought to have their very own set of strength and weaknesses. It is crucial that they play along with their power and avoid going by their shortcomings.
The person needs to avoid taking up jobs that do not fit their work spectrum, and if it is necessary, then they can also take the proposition of outsourcing the work into account.
2. Prioritizing the work
Prioritizing the work helps to gain a lot of time and save effort. A person can prioritize his/her work based on either difficulty standards or emergency levels.
If you have time in your hand, then you can surely get the more straightforward tasks completed ahead of the difficult ones. It will allow you to concentrate on the functions which are more difficult at the later stage.
3. Understanding your comfort zone
Every individual has their very own comfort zone. There are hours of the day where you can work to your best, and you should assign the most crucial tasks to such hours.
It will help you concentrate better and get the work done with relative ease. Thus, you can spare time for other jobs later.
4. Do not let the work seep into your personal life
A regular 9 to 5 job does not leave much of a personal life because the working hours can stretch even further. You should try to complete your office work there only so that at the end of the day you can have some “me time” left with you. You can try to spend the time with your family and friends while avoiding any stress of work.
5. Sticking to your work hours
What people fail to do often is set dedicated work hours and stick to them. As a part of your professionalism, it is essential for you to hold to your dedicated work hours.
It will help you get your tasks done within the stipulated period so that later on you can spare some quality time for your loved ones. If you are unable to do so, then you might be well into working late hours.
6. Long-term management
When you have a series of events coming your way, it is best to prepare yourself for them. The best way to do so would be to manage your time ahead of schedule.
Plan your days and have the events sorted out in such a manner so that it does not hamper your work. In this way, you will be able to maintain an optimum work-life balance.
7. Make the workspace ergonomic
Your workspace ergonomics are going to make things easier for you. Try investing in equipment and machinery which will help make the task easier. You can also design your workspace to make it comfortable for you so that you can relate to the work at your hand.
It will help you gain more interest in your profession and thus contribute to complete the task faster.
8. Stay away from performing extra
There is no point in overstressing yourself with work. You do not need to push yourself to the limits, especially if you are good at the job.
Try completing the task at your hand with all dedication and when you have some time left from the deadline, revise the work or perhaps take a chill.
9. Make the most of your holidays
Holidays come as a blessing for people into their professional careers. When you do get holidays, try spending it with your family and friends.
Do not waste it entirely in sleeping or planning future work. The moments with your loved ones are going to help you forge a tremendous and memorable life ahead.
10. Set your own rules
If you have problems playing by the rules, then try setting your very own ones. Beyond regulations, these would be statements and milestones set to help you accomplish.
Finish work according to your solid credentials such that you can assess your skill levels. Challenge your professionalism to get the job done ahead of time, and you will never miss out on your family.
11. Reach office on time
If you want to leave the office on time, then you need to be at your office on time. Punctuality is a great way to get the optimum work-life balance. It will make your boss happy and provide you with personal moments to cherish after a long yet fruitful day at work.
12. Break the silence
Everybody isn’t a professional at every task. If there is anything that you cannot do or are not comfortable with them, you need to speak up.
Let them know your limitations so that they make secondary arrangements for you. Taking up impossible tasks will only make you compromise on your work-life balance.
13. Try aiming for success and not just figures
If you are an entrepreneur, then you must be counting data for your business. All you need to do is stop overdoing yourself, especially in the pursuit of higher profits.
Aim for success and indulge in limited but useful work. Complete the work in the designated period and spare the necessary time for yourself. Work can wait, but the family needs to be your priority.
14. Hire a consolidated and professional workforce
Having a professional workforce can help you get the task completed within a short period. The professionalism with the work also helps to enhance the quality of the output.
This activity ensures that you have to spare minimum effort into assessing the work during its stages of implementation.
15. Set the deadlines accordingly
It is always not necessary to go by the rules of the client. As a professional, you will have the best idea with regards to the requisite time needed for the work.
Communicate with your clients and set the deadline accordingly so that you are not stressed out with the job. It will help you to maintain professionalism and complete the task without hampering your personal life.
Takeaway
These 15 ways can help you consolidate the struggle between work and personal life. Following those as mentioned earlier will ensure your professionalism and help promote your well-being amidst the social circle.
Employee absenteeism, payroll calculation and fake attendance are problems that take away lot of time from an HR’s work day. Time spent on tallying attendance, checking for proxy and matching leave with payroll can be saved by a good attendance tracking system for your employees.
But what is a good attendance tracking system. Does your current system have any faults that are causing problems?
Let’s look at the features a good attendance tracking system should have. This will help you to upgrade your current system or get a new one.
What should a Good Attendance Tracking System Have?
Minimum Hardware Requirement
A good attendance tracking system should have minimum hardware requirement. With cloud solutions and a smartphone in every employee’s hand there is no need to spend money on expensive biometric trackers and other equipment.
Attendance trackers also need maintenance and have failure someday despite it. Having an attendance tracking software that runs with employee smartphone and on cloud is the solution you should look for.
This will need no investment and also reduce wait time in front of RFID machines as each employee has his own tracker now.
Ability to Track Productivity Time Accurately
It is difficult to track working hours where the trackers only marks punch-in time. There is no way to know whether the employee left right after punching in.
Even if punch-out time is tracked, things like forgetting to mark attendance, leaving without punching make it difficult to record the productive hours spent by employee. Cases of absenteeism can increase in such a scenario.
For this reason an ideal attendance system should track the actual time spent by an employee in the office. This is possible today and wifi attendance system uses the office wifi to track hours spent in office along with employee location.
Prohibit Buddy Punching
Buddy punching is a practice that is very harmful for your business as well as your work culture. It is very easy for employees to mark attendance for their colleagues with RFID tags or manual desktop log-ins.
Biometric prevents this problem but has its own set of limitations. With a wifi technology this is taken care of as attendance can only be marked in area which has office wifi.
Work with your HRMS
A professional attendance tracking system should integrate with your HRMS. Without this payroll calculation, leave management, productivity tracking as become a frustrating task.
You want system that automatically feeds in this data into HRMS so that you don’t have to do it manually. Also check that data formats are compatible.
A lot of tasks can be automated today and HR should take full advantage to technology so that they can concentrate on strategic work.
Customized Alerts
You may need customised alerts or reports according to your business and teams. This could customise alerts for late arrivals to team supervisors. Sales and on- site workers may also need customization.
You may want to customize your attendance tracking as your business operation and employee count grows. Attendance tracking system should be able to scale with your business and change according to your needs. Some systems also support web API that allow you to customize your attendance systems.
Error Free Functioning
Errors in attendance tracking can interfere with so many other HR activities. Downtime of attendance tracking means regularisation of attendance, changes in leave management and errors in payroll calculation.
Make sure you choose a professional vendor with reputation of minimal errors.
Final Thoughts
Good attendance tracking system is essential for maximizing employee productivity. Without it your company can face problems of absenteeism, low productivity and insincere employees affecting the culture of your company.
Thanks to wifi attendance technology you can now install an attendance system that requires minimal hardware investment, tracks location and prevents proxy marking.
When choosing a system always make sure that it integrates well with your current HRMS, can grow with your business and functions error free.
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.
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.
