Over 60 per cent of Canadians find their work stressful and over 40 per cent of them points out that malfunctioning technology is simply driving them crazy! The stress levels among employees (especially white collar ones) have always been high, but slow programmes, jammed printers and frozen PCs are putting more stress on workers than ever before.

According to the survey conducted by Toshiba of Canada, over half of the 1,000 respondents believe that dealing with malfunctioning office technology takes away from other work responsibilities. 25 per cent have also said they missed a deadline due to a technology failure.

Since the technology should make your life easier, it is most frustrating when it causes your personal productivity to go down the hill and your stress levels to skyrocket.

What can be done?

Tackling workplace stress is an important element of any employee absence management strategy, but it’s not just about reducing the time that workers take off sick.  There’s also more to it than being a considerate employer who cares about the wellbeing of staff.  Employers must encourage staff to communicate concerns to supervisors so management can pro-actively deal with the issues.

When workers are under stress, their work performance can be negatively impacted. Chartered business psychologist Beverley Stone points out that stress can also affect decision making in the workplace, and not in a good way.

“If people [..] feel anxious then their decision making becomes less acute,” she explains. “Often they imagine that they are making great decisions and making them faster, when actually everyone around them knows that they are making pretty slow and bad decisions.”

Although not all of the decisions made in the workplace are the best ones, they are often the best that are possible when other influences like time and money are factored in.  Employees understand that.

If management acknowledges employees’ complaints about malfunctioning technology, workers do not feel so stressed.  They understand everything possible is being done to address and resolve technological issues and they don’t feel so helpless.

Everyone works as a team and it is a win-win for all!

For many Canadian companies, long gone are the days when employees would go an extra mile to exceed their employer’s expectations. Being innovative and propelling employer’s success was replaced with working just “good enough”.

Brad Hams, author of the best-selling book “Ownership Thinking”, argues in his recent article published by Financial Post that many Canadian employees have lost a feeling of being driven to contribute to their company’s success.

According to Hams, the problem lies in a common sense of entitlement which was observed in the workplace after the Second World War. He believes that this was the time when the people started to perceive employment as their inherent right rather than a performance-based privilege.

However, the author feels that it’s not the employees who should be blamed for this situation.

The problem lays in the workforce management techniques. Many chief executives did not push their employees to perform to the best of their ability, thereby leaving them disengaged and unmotivated.

In turn, Hams believes “they lost the connection between their work and the company’s overall financial success and from there, human nature took hold“. The thinking behind it was: “If I still receive a paycheque regardless of my performance why should I break a sweat helping my employer grow?”

The problem is that nowadays what business owners really want from their staff is the same level of passion, the same motivation and the same strength of commitment which they feel when it comes to thinking about their company’s growth.

Hard to achieve?

Not if you plan it well.

Brad suggests empowering employees to think, feel and act like the owners of the business by making them feel important, linking a portion of their compensation to the company’s performance, and educating them on how to interpret key financial indicators. That way they will feel much more connected and informed, and thereby driven to higher involvement.

It all starts at the recruitment process; therefore, employers need to be sure that they are surrounded with the right type of workers. Commercially-orientated can–doers should be their first (and only!) choice.

What does have an impact on employees’ productivity is their engagement in all levels of the organization, their feeling of importance to the business, and their personal hunger for success – be it promotion or financial rewards.

To paraphrase Mr Hams words: “If you make your employers feel, think and act like owners – you will all be the winners!”

Looking for tips on how to increase employees’ productivity?

Here is a quick one for you – cut down on the number of meetings your employees attend!

Ray Williams decided to cover the subject in the recent issue of the Financial Post.  Executives and managers with whom he works confessed that they spend 40-50% of their working time during meetings.

In his article Williams comments: “Meeting activities expand to fill the time available. Ergo, more time, more activities. If you set an hour for the meeting people will use the hour, regardless of what is on the agenda. “

He then goes on to quote Al Pittampalli, a former Ernst & Young executive and author of Read This Before Our Next Meeting, who argued that most meetings are mediocre and not necessary, [and are] “not about co-ordination but about a bureaucratic excuse-making and the kabuki dance of company politics. We’re now addicted to meetings that insulate us from the work we ought to be doing.”

So, how much time is actually wasted?

According to a survey conducted by Microsoft:

• There are 11 million formal meetings per day in the United States. That’s more than 3 billion meetings per year
• 63% of these meetings do not have agendas prepared
• 71% of people based in the USA think that meetings aren’t productive
• 90% of all employees are daydreaming at some point during any given meeting
• Globally people spend an average of 5.6h a week in meetings – which Mark Horton  compared in his blog to “giving each employee 12 additional days of paid vacation per year”.
• Group Vision estimated that Fortune 500 companies waste around $75 million per year in meetings!

What to do to reduce time spend in meetings?

There are many ways of making sure that the time spent during meetings is reduced to absolute minimum.

Some of the specialists in the subject suggest always starting and finishing meetings on time, inviting fewer people, preparing an agenda with no more than 3 action points and organizing the meetings only to announce an already made decision.

Also mentioned were:  not allowing individuals to hijack the meeting, turning off laptops and cell phones during the meeting, and stating the desired outcome at the early stages of the meeting.

We, as time and attendance solutions specialists, suggest that companies start to monitor the time each employee spends in meetings.

Our solution has a built-in, powerful tool allowing time allocation to various projects either in a timesheet format or a PC-connected clocking-in machine.

That way senior management can quickly run a report showing a breakdown of the time their employees spend performing certain activities such as meetings, administration tasks, paid work etc.

As they say ’If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it!’ Put your hand on your employees’ working time pulse and you will soon discover areas/departments where you could increase productivity!

Want to find out more about our systems? Go to www.mitrefinch.ca today!

If you have observed lateness, early leaving or excessive cell phone/internet usage amongst your employees you’d better learn how much does it cost your business!

An interesting article published by Detroit Business Law reveals the true cost of employee time theft.

The article’s author gives the following example:

• An employee who robs you of 5 minutes per day 5 days per week (25min per week) is stealing the equivalent of approximately 2.8 days per year assuming an 8 hour work day ((25min per week x 52 weeks)/60min/8h)
• If you pay him/her $15 an hour and he/she is stealing 2.8 days per year, it’s costing you $396 per year (including payroll taxes and employee fringe benefits)
• If he/she steals an hour a day 5 days per week that cost simply rises to 33 days per year and $4,680 (including payroll taxes and employee fringe benefits).

What can you do to minimize employee time theft at your workplace?

1. Your Personnel Policy should include information on workplace regulations regarding working hours, cell phones and internet usage, making personal phone calls as well as policy relating to tardiness.
2. Your employees should be aware of how much you are willing to tolerate—you can disallow personal phone calls except emergency cases or restrict the internet usage. Make it clear what consequences can follow the breach of this agreement.
3. You may wish to set up a rule in your time and attendance system which would exclude from employees salary the hours lost by lateness and early leaving.
4. Installing a biometric clocking in device will also eliminate ‘buddy punching’ – a situation where anyone can clock in a person who is running late. Combined with software, a modern time and attendance system gives you much more insight into the occurring attendance issues than just a clocking in machine.

The attendance management system can make it easy to track attendance patterns, trends and costs helping you discover problem areas early on – before absences get out of control. Armed with that information you can discuss it with an individual and find out if there are ways to make positive changes – especially if there is an underlying reason for their poor attendance record.

Our clients have noticed that just knowing automated employee absence management systems are in place was enough to deter staff members from taking unnecessary leave.

To find out more about time and attendance systems go to www.mitrefinch.ca

*Source: http://www.detroitbusinesslaw.com/2010/01/29/employee-time-theft-you-cant-afford-to-ignore-it/

With the rising figures of employees’ absence, an increasing number of companies consider implementing absence management solutions.

The managers from the city of Guelph services joined the group of supporters of these solutions.

They have had enough of resultless battling with workers absenteeism and wanted to use a more effective method – they will be trying to persuade their bosses to purchase attendance management software.

The human resources annual report prepared by the City managers reveals that the sickness absence and the grievance rate are “areas of concern.”

City employees on average took 10.2 sickness days last year.

This compares to an average of 8.9 and 8.4 days reported by the Human Resources Benchmarking Network and Conference Board of Canada, respectively.

Last year employee absence cost the city nearly $1.5 million; up from $920,000 in 2008.

Mark Amorosi, executive director of corporate and HR comments: “Corrective action is required as absence creates costs to the organization in terms of lost productivity, overtime, morale and employee engagement,”

Amorosi is seeking permission to use approximately $150,000 from the city’s salary gapping reserve, which was established “to be used in circumstances or matters related to compensation,” he wrote.

What gives you an attendance management system?

Computerized attendance management solution makes it much easier to track attendance patterns and discover problem areas early on – before absences get out of control.

This can give you the chance to discuss the situation with an individual and find out if there are ways to make positive changes – especially if there is an underlying reason for their poor attendance record.

In many cases, just knowing that automated employee absence management systems are in place is enough to deter staff members from taking unnecessary leave.

Want to learn more about attendance management systems?

Visit our website now! www.mitrefinch.ca

Let me tell you a short story…

Struggling with employees’ absence?

If you think that work hazards are to blame for employees missing work you might be wrong!

A new research conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA) identified factors that can influence employee absenteeism.

Interestingly, the research revealed that an employee’s perception of danger on the job and peer pressure were both negligible in determining absenteeism compared to the influence of the employee’s supervisor.

According to the results the supervisor can keep employees in certain hazardous jobs from being absent even when co-workers think it’s all right to miss work.

Michal Biron, the lead author of the research believes that: “The findings provide useful guidance for companies and organizations that are dealing with a counterproductive employee subculture that condones missing work”.

“Leadership will do well to provide front-line supervisors with training and resources so that they can be supportive of their employees who deal with tough work environments.” – Mr Biron added.

The study was conducted amongst over 500 workers with the transportation authority of a large municipality based in United States that closely monitors employee attendance and enforces a strict absence policy.

Randomly selected staff responded to a series of questions about their job hazards such as electrocution, dangerous chemicals, continuous loud noise, extreme temperatures or humidity and verbal or physical assaults by customers or co-workers.

The entire sample was asked to respond to questions asking how they felt about their co-workers and the degree to which their co-workers viewed 20 possible reasons for absence as “justifiable.” Reasons ranged from the individual’s own illness symptoms to personal situations such as parental illness or an important event at a child’s school.

The participants were also asked to rate their supervisor’s supportiveness by indicating how often during the past month their supervisor assisted them in various ways

The study’s co-author Peter Bamberger commented on the findings: “An employee culture that approves of missing work might result in higher employee absenteeism when coupled with aversive work conditions, but it seems to have no effect at all when employees feel their supervisor is supportive”. This may be because employees want to reciprocate positive treatment and avoid causing any problems due to their absenteeism that could negatively impact their supervisors.”

Modern time and attendance systems bring you tools to tackle this issue effectively.

A computerized time and attendance management solution gives you much more insight into the issue than just a simple clocking in machine.

The data collected either via biometric/swipe card/proximity card readers, mobile and landline phones, PCs, PDAs is delivered to managers in an easy to understand highly customizable form.

The reports can include information on general absence rates, absence trends and costs, reoccurring absenteeism, lateness rates etc.

Added to that a built in tool which allows you to calculate how big impact each of the short-term absences has on your business (in comparison to long-term absence) – and you can finally start identifying trends and who might be ‘pulling sickies’!

An attendance management system such us the one developed by Mitrefinch can make it easy to track attendance patterns and discover problem areas early on – before absences get out of control.

This can give you the chance to discuss the situation with an individual and find out if there are ways to make positive changes – especially if there is an underlying reason for their poor attendance record.

In many cases, just knowing that automated employee absence management systems are in place is enough to deter staff members from taking unnecessary leave.

Want to learn more about employee management systems? Visit our website www.mitrefinch.ca

Supervisors responsible for employee management should be aware of what factors cause lower productivity periods among their staff so they can take steps to maximize workforce efficiency.

Canada Life Group Insurance has conducted a research which revealed that performance of staff is being impacted by work, health, relationship and financial pressures.

One in six workers said that that they were now unable to keep on top of personal tasks – such as paying bills – outside of working hours.

The ability to work flexible hours was pointed out by the majority of the respondents as a solution to manage their work and personal lives more effectively.

Over 80% of 1,000 employees who took part in the survey said that lifestyle factors or personal worries affect their productivity at work.

The researched also revealed that:

1. The most common reason for impaired productivity was lack of sleep ( 68% employees admitted )

2. Problems in personal lives had prevented 40% of employees from performing to the best of their abilities.

3. One fourth of surveyed stated that financial worries such as debts or unexpected demand on their income had led to poor concentration levels at work.

4. Employees were working harder and longer, with 30 per cent neglecting to take a lunch break and instead opting to eat at their desk while continuing to work.

Commenting on the results the Insurance group representative Paul Avis said that it is important for employers to tackle the root of employee stress before it would turn into long term absence.

“The increased pressure on employees may eventually limit the productivity and efficiency of the business [but] there are ways of helping employees deal with personal problems –  possibly something as simple as offering flexibility around working hours to help them through a difficult time.” added Avis.

How could a time and attendance system help?

Time and attendance systems provide management tools which, if properly used, can have an impact on increasing employees’ productivity.

When implemented and utilised in a recommended way, they are not perceived as a Big Brother’s toy to monitor every minute of your employees working time – rather to identify and avoid issues which, when approached appropriately, can increase your company’s efficiency.

Information is provided by the systems in a quick and easily accessible manner, allowing HR / Payroll to not only calculate employee wages correctly, but to stay in compliance with working time regulations.  But most importantly – it helps identify potential employee management issues.

These issues can be caused by personal problems, inability to cope with increased workload , stress, lack of necessary tools/skills/experience for the job, and finally, the employee’s lack of motivation and refusal to seek help.  Bad line management and unrealistic deadlines can also result in increased amount of hours required to finish a task.

Any of these issues should prompt leadership intervention to provide health and financial advice, training, assistance, mentoring, discipline, and/or motivation.

Time and attendance data can help identify anomalies in employee working time and trigger a conversation to find a solution suitable for both the employer and the employee.

For example, unskilled employees may need more training to perform certain tasks faster and therefore finish the given task quicker, while those needing more time to deal with their personal issues could get the opportunity to work flexible hours.

Nowadays, it’s all about working smarter.

Let the available technology help your company achieve that!

For more information about Mitrefinch Time and Attendance Systems got to www.mitrefinch.ca

Struggling to assess whether you comply with the provincial employment regulations?

It’s much easier nowadays!

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has unveiled a new tool designed to provide employers with information on the rules about hours of work and overtime under the Employment Standards Act (ESA).

It helps employers confirm and comply with specific regulations concerning employees’ working hours by featuring tutorials and calculators on topics including overtime and time off in lieu, daily rest and breaks between shifts.

“It’s the most comprehensive online tool we’ve developed to date,” said Minister of Labour Linda Jeffrey. “By allowing employers to confirm compliance and employees to understand their entitlements, it will mean less confrontation and fewer claims.”

According to the ministry, the tool serves as an introduction and link to the online forms required for requesting excess hours and overtime averaging.

Ministry of Labour website is packed with other online tools to help employers and employees understand and comply with the ESA, including a severance tool, a termination tool and a public holiday calculator.

Ian Howcroft, vice-president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, Ontario believes that “[The tool] will help small and medium sized employers by providing important management information in a clear and concise format. Compliance tools and assistance such as these are critical to helping reduce the regulatory burden on employers, making them more agile and competitive in the process.”

The tool is available at: http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/tools/hours/index.php.

Want to avoid a non-compliance claim?

Join many companies who are using Mitrefinch time and attendance system (TMS) to record and monitor their employees working time.

TMS compiles reports of working hours and calculates the average working hours within the required reference period. It provides employers with a snapshot of the working hours of employees in real time and allows reports to be run off in any timeframe desired. The system is also designed to flag those individuals who are likely to exceed the given statutory limit so it can be addressed immediately.

Want to find out more? Visit our website www.mitrefinch.ca

Over one-fifth of Canadians aged 19 to 64 work irregular shifts.

It has been proven that, if not properly managed, this can have a negative impact on their productivity and wellbeing.

The online journal PLoS Medicine, published by the Public Library of Science in San Francisco revealed results of their study which show a strong correlation between shift work in nurses and the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

A greater risk of obesity has also been observed among shift workers. This is due to the fact that irregular working patterns disrupt circadian rhythms and metabolism, interfere with the quality and quantity of sleep, and have a negative effect on diet and exercise.

A combination of shift working, poor diet and lack of exercise can trigger a greater risk of developing heart disease, angina, stroke, high blood pressure, insomnia and digestive problems, according to Rachael Goodmurphy, a public health dietician at KFL&A Public Health in Kingston, Ont.

“We can probably speculate that, as the economy regresses and companies and industries are looking for ways to maximize their efficiency, we may see the growth of shift work,” said a Toronto-based editor of PLoS Medicine, Jocalyn Clark.

Managers responsible for workforce scheduling should also be promoting the health and safety of their staff including support for healthy eating.   Clark is convinced that if a workplace has a cafeteria, it should be open for staff working any shift – day or night. Goodmurphy added that the food being offered should focus on whole foods while limiting processed foods high in calories, fat and sodium.

Employers should not only be concerned about the negative health effects of poor eating, but also about the impact it has on work performance. If employees are eating unhealthy foods, they will experience fluctuations in blood sugars, which cause periods of extreme tiredness, irritability and light-headedness, said Candace Chartier, COO of the 2,000-employee company based in Peterborough, Ont.

She also added that offering healthier food options to employees, especially shift workers, will significantly decrease burnout and sick time, improve productivity, and improve a company’s costs due to overtime hours and benefits usage (which can get out of control with an unhealthy staff).