Best Practices When Monitoring Work from Home Employees

Published on June 23, 2021July 26, 2021

Business

Although tracking work from home employees offers immense benefits, it may sometimes prove detrimental. Even with the best work from home monitoring software, overseeing remote workers may result in discomfort and work stress.

Before monitoring your employees, you must first inform them of your move to do so and offer them full details of how you will do so. Otherwise, your employees may perceive the work from home tracking as unjust surveillance.

Dive in for the top tips on how to track work from home employees.

Have Clearly Defined Productivity Standards

While some productivity goals are similar across your business, some may vary depending on the department concerned.

You may have ethics in place, like ensuring all emails get replied to within 24 hours or setting aside particular hours for video conferencing.

Although some may perceive productivity documentation as common sense, such practices can help you identify the areas that need attention.

Even employees who are okay with monitoring may have reservations about the safety of their private information.

Using work from home productivity tools that only track employees during working hours provide emotional relief. Work from home flexibility allows your employees to check their personal messages whenever necessary.

Observe Ethical Monitoring Procedures

To avoid employee displeasure and potential turnover, you should inform your employees about the tracking software while ensuring transparency throughout. Major concerns to address include;

What is the aim of tracking?
Which monitoring software do you want to use?
How you will handle the collected information
What the reports from the tracking implicate

It’s best to utilize an open forum to tend to employee questions and offer feedback about the remote monitoring process. Keeping a balance between employee metric acquisition and ethical application of the tracking software is essential.

Place Limits on What’s Tracked

The best monitoring solutions come with many features like cameras, monitoring hours, audio, and more. Despite being able to collect lots of information, you shouldn’t grab everything. Stick to capturing data that benefits your company.

Respect your team’s privacy by accruing information only during the periods they should work. Your monitoring software should not infringe on worker secrecy to maximize your productivity while maintaining your employees’ trust.

The software enables the real-time tracking of remote workers. You get access to information on busy times, screen activity, idle time, and more.

Such insights can then help you determine worker productivity for invoicing purposes. Some work from home tracking software goes as far as automatically calculating productivity to ease things for you.

Hackers are increasingly targeting remote workers, something that may see your business plummet. With the importance of cybersecurity, selecting the best software for work from home monitoring can help you quickly detect information breaches and keep your business safe.

Regularly Communicate With Your Remote Workforce

There is no defined frequency of linking up with your remote employees. Besides, the most successful one-on-one calls don’t only focus on tracking productivity. You can use the opportunity to keep your team involved and energized to push through the workload.

Regularly scheduled virtual meetings, be it daily or even once every fortnight, ensure your team moves in unison despite the locational differences.

Build Your Workforce With Remote Working Tips

Team members who understand the perks of working from home can share advice with their colleagues. You can collaborate with your team to identify which work from home tracking software is the most appropriate and what requirements should a remote office fulfill.

You can then organize the information into small videos, PDFs, or even informal text-and-reply sessions.

Some of the crucial tips you can share with your workforce include;

Effective time management
How to stay focused and organized
Infusing a healthy lifestyle as they work
Balancing their working and off-work hours

Select and Avail the Essential Working Tools

One of the pillars of effective management of remote employees is providing them with the tools they need to deliver work. To ease this, you and your team should gauge and determine what you require to make your work from home experience engaging and productive.

The best observing arrangements accompany numerous highlights like cameras, checking hours, sound, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Notwithstanding having the option to gather heaps of data, you shouldn’t snatch everything. Stick to catching information that benefits your organization.

Regard your group’s security by accumulating data just during the periods they should work. Your checking programming ought not encroach on specialist mystery to boost your efficiency while keeping up your representatives’ trust.

The product empowers the constant following of telecommuters. You gain admittance to data on active occasions, screen movement, inactive time, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Such bits of knowledge would then be able to assist you with deciding laborer usefulness for invoicing purposes. Some work from home following programming goes similar to consequently figuring usefulness to ease things for you.

Programmers are progressively focusing on telecommuters, something that may see your business plunge. With the significance of network safety, choosing the best programming for telecommute checking can assist you with distinguishing data breaks and guard your business.

Remote workers require the same things they typically use while working at the office. These necessities may include:

Policy manuals
Mail stationery and supplies
Presentation supplies and templates
Corporate credit cards
Software programs, and more

Conclusion

Superb work-from-home tracking software can help your company to adopt a long-term remote team properly. Using excellent software to monitor work from home employees enables you to encourage your team to strive for improved productivity.

There are multiple reasons to monitor employees, but the trick is identifying how to do so successfully while still showing respect to them. As you monitor work-from-home employees, practicing these top tips ensures you work effectively with your employees’ welfare a top priority.

How can you control your employees who work from home?

Published on May 13, 2021

Business

Nowadays, it’s hard to find a company that doesn’t monitor its employees’ Internet traffic, read their emails, and regularly take screenshots. This process’s legality has been repeatedly challenged in courts by employees who have been fired because their personal correspondence was found to contain something prohibited by the employer. However, the courts have taken the employer’s position each time. As long as it is a work computer, it is legal to read even personal correspondence, whether it is personal mail or on social media.

Many people now switched to working remotely from home. A person working on a company-provided laptop with preinstalled software, and there are no problems with control. And someone who’s working from their personal PC / laptop. This question may have possibly crossed your mind at some point. How can you know if your employer is spying on you, and how can they do so?

Why do they need to monitor employees?

Studies indicate that approximately 89 percent of the world’s companies have experienced insider information leaks, with 61 percent incurring serious losses as a result.

Suppose your SMM manager decides to pass time communicating with their friends on Facebook instead of implementing a social media marketing plan, or a developer prefers to play call of duty instead of coding. In that case, such an employee costs the company thousands of dollars per month on average.

WorkTime experts report that the Covid-19 pandemic changed the perspective of employee monitoring software and emphasized its importance. The majority of office workers transitioned to remote work, and keeping track of remote employees’ working hours became a major issue, prompting businesses to turn to employee monitoring programs as a solution.

Control options

Some businesses want to handle this in-house rather than using third-party apps. They gather regular reports in “task-time” format and make control calls to employees during the day. They can also involve system administrators, who track employees’ work through a shadow RDP connection to their desktops. However, the alternatives are flawed. The reports do not provide a complete picture of the day, and sysadmins can’t control several employees from a single PC simultaneously.

More resources are made available by programs that monitor and control working time. They record login and logout times and periods of employees’ actual activity on websites and applications. It also helps identify those idlers who turn on their PCs for a show and do their own stuff instead of working. This data is often not enough to assess the real productivity of employees. After all, even those who are constantly sitting in front of computers can either work on their tasks or spend half a day on YouTube or social networks.

DLP systems can perform an in-depth analysis of employee efficiency and provide remote work security.

Employers may also request that workers install special employee tracking software on their personal computers only with their permission. These tools record the idle time, the login\logout time, analyze the programs they use, and their Internet activity. Cheating these applications is extremely difficult.

How to check your computer?

Always keep your laptop protected. You should be the only person who can access your personal user account and password. Since Microsoft and Apple have long been aware of spyware applications, Windows and macOS systems detect and block any hidden tools without the need for any additional help. Spying software can be detected on your computer by various programs such as Bitdefender and others. You can easily find them on Google.

If you want to check your computer manually, open Task Manager on Windows (search for it in the taskbar) or Activity Monitor in macOS (find it in Spotlight through Cmd + Space) to view all active programs on your device. If you see something unfamiliar, any software you definitely haven’t installed, or something suspicious, look up the name of the app online to see what you’re dealing with.

You may also examine applications and processes that are running concurrently with your operating system. This list can be found in the Task Manager’s Launch tab in Windows and System Preferences in macOS. Then, pick Users and Groups, followed by Login Items. Just in case you’re unsure about an application, you can look it up on the Internet. If you’re concerned that someone is violating your personal space, you should perform a full Windows or macOS device reset. It will remove any hidden spying software from your computer. Remember to back up important files first.

How to check your accounts?

Unfortunately, technology allows people to easily intrude into someone’s private life. All they have to do is log into their online accounts and then into their personal computers.

You should begin by safeguarding your usernames and passwords. Be certain that they are known only to you, that they are difficult to guess, that they are not used in different accounts and that they are not written down anywhere. You can make use of a password manager. It generates random solid passwords that are unique to each of your accounts. Wherever possible, you should enable two-factor authentication.

To detect an unauthorized visitor to your Facebook account, open the social network settings page in your browser and press Security and Login to see all the devices on which your account is active (and to log out of the ones you don’t recognize). To check Gmail, open the Details tab in the lower right corner and look at the activity hours.

If someone else has accessed your account via email, they could have configured an automatic redirect to another account, which you should also review. For instance, open Gmail in your browser, click the settings icon, then open the full tab and look for POP/IMAP forwarding. Check the Sent emails folder to see if your messages have been forwarded elsewhere. Next, look at the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab for any unusual settings.

The easiest ways to keep unwanted guests out of your account are tracking behavior and changing your passwords regularly.

If you discover unfamiliar spying software on your home computer, you must immediately notify your boss and clarify the situation. Before installing any monitoring software on your personal computers, your management must always obtain your permission.

Another important thing to note is that software choice should not be so invasive that it captures your sensitive information. Speak to your employer about the monitoring software chosen to monitor work activities, how it works and what it’ll be monitoring.

10 Tips for Expanding Your Business

Published on April 19, 2021

Business

If you are a business owner, you will have to prepare for when your business is on the verge of expanding. After all, a growing business is a successful one, so you need to invest time and effort in building a highly profitable venture that lasts in the long term. However, the road towards expanding your business is paved with challenges and risks. Apart from uncertain economic climates, you should also consider the resources and talents you need to bring your enterprise to the next level.

You need to make the right decisions and come up with an effective growth strategy, especially if it’s your first time owning a business. Here are a few tips you might want to keep in mind as you transition to greener pastures.

1. Know why you are expanding

Firstly, it’s important that you have a good grasp of the things that nurture your business. Do you have a growing client base? Does your product or service penetrate untapped needs? How is your brand image structured? You need to look inwards and find out what pushes your business forward. Along the way, you may also find plans and processes that are better off being discarded. Knowing what works and what doesn’t should help you come up with a strategy that aligns with your goals for growth.

2. Look into new markets

Have you been in your niche way too long? Diversification goes hand-in-hand with expansion, so try to explore outside your market and see what you can offer other markets. If you are a cleaning business that has served residential clients, you always have the option of expanding towards cleaning commercial spaces such as offices and stores. Doing so allows you to spread your income sources and open up new possibilities for future expansion.

3. Finance your growth

How much are you willing to invest as your business transitions to the next level? Even with a positive cash flow, it still costs a lot to grow your business. Fortunately, there are ways you can finance your expansion without so much as putting the bottom line at risk. You can always take out a bank loan or acquire a small business grant, but there is also the option of getting other people to finance your goals. Look towards angel investors, venture capitalists, and crowdfunding. The trade-off is that you need to pay dividends to people who helped fuel your growth.

4. Hire and re-train the best talents

Growth isn’t just about finding new income-generating opportunities. It also involves building a highly professional and competent team. For this reason, you will need to prepare existing employees for promotions and hire skilled and trustworthy people who can take their place as they advance. It may take time, but having the right talents assume leadership roles makes it easier for you to manage your business as newer and more complicated challenges come up. You can have your employees sign up for online training programs and attend webinars to start.

5. Branch out to a new location

Expanding to a new location allows you to grow your client base across borders. This could become tricky since you need to scout for potential space and comply with the ordinances and requirements of the community you are expanding into. You can easily work around this challenge by researching the location. Does it offer a high amount of foot traffic? Does it provide faster internet coverage? Is it conducive for your line of business? How much are you willing to pay in terms of rent and utilities? In case you are planning to expand in Los Angeles and Orange County in California, you can always reach out to companies like the Jeff Tabor Group for help in finding the best commercial spaces for setting up shop.

6. Acquire new tools

Is your business using outdated equipment and basic software? There’s a lot you can achieve if your business is equipped with the latest platforms and tools. Apart from giving your establishment a much-needed renovation and a new coat of paint, you should also look into updating your PCs and the software your employees are using. From there, you can offer better products and services to your audience.

7. Come up with better marketing strategies

As your business expands, you also need to double down on your marketing campaign. If your business grew due to your social media presence, you might want to build an official website and incorporate email marketing to your strategy. On top of that, you should invest a greater amount in content marketing. A good mix of blogs and promotional videos should help you to widen your reach and engage more potential customers for your business.

8. Monitor the competition

Never let your defenses down, even if you’re sure about your success. It’s important that you check on the competition every now and then. Your growth strategy will stall if you get left behind, so make sure to track how your competitors are performing and see if there’s anything that could become a threat to your growing business. With this information, you can easily tweak your strategy and come out on top.

9. Expand your list of networks

You can never go wrong with a support system that consists of business partners and advocates. They can help your business unlock opportunities and pave the way for further expansion. You’ll need to scout for business owners, influencers, and loyal clients who could be valuable as part of your network.

10. Take part in industry-related events

Lastly, you will need to invest in your business’s reputation and grow your influence. For this, you need to attend conferences, webinars, and live events that allow you to meet others and bring your brand to a wider audience. This could also help with building your brand and nurturing a larger client base.

Is your business expanding soon? While growth can be intimidating, having the right approaches in mind makes it possible to find success as you take on more valuable opportunities.

What Is Compliance Management & Why It’s Important

Published on April 12, 2021May 7, 2021

Business

Compliance management is an essential part of business, and it is here to stay. If you are ready to take your business to the next level, compliance management is a must. But what is it, and why is it important? Find all the answers in today’s post.

A lack of workplace health and safety compliance can create a lot of unnecessary risk for both your employees and your business. If you own a business in Australia, then you need to be taking workplace health and safety compliance very seriously. And that is where compliance management comes in. Read on to discover what it is and why it is important.

What is Compliance Management?

Compliance Management is the process of identifying key regulations, legislation and policies that affect your organization and its actions. It’s the act of making sure you understand where your organization stands with respect to these rules and laws, as well as seeking out ways to ensure you are within compliance. In the Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) industry, compliance management is the process of ensuring that your WHS policies and procedures are in place and followed.

It is also the processes and systems in place to make sure that the policies are up-to-date, that they are properly communicated, and that they are enforced. In Australia, this practice seeks to ensure that all applicable laws, rules, and regulations are followed at every level of an organization, by everyone who works there.

Why is it important?

If you’re managing a company, you’re responsible for the health and safety of the people who work for you. You’re also responsible for the health and safety of your visitors and anyone who may be affected by your business. Workplace health and safety compliance management is important because it prevents the dangers that can come from a lack of compliance – it is important to maintain a safe working environment and reduce the risk of accidents.

Not only can the consequences of a lack of compliance be dire, but they can also be expensive. There are serious financial consequences that come from a lack of compliance. It’s important to make sure that you and your staff are always following all the relevant workplace health and safety regulations. If you don’t follow these regulations, you could face hefty fines.

Compliance Management will ensure that you are compliant with all relevant health and safety standards, legislation and regulations, and that you have adequate health and safety controls in place for your workplace. In summary: The most important thing about having proper workplace health and safety compliance management is that it helps prevent accidents and injuries. The second thing is that it helps you get ready for an audit. The last thing is that it helps you know what your next steps are after the audit.

Compliance Management – Here are a few things to keep in mind

Once you have developed your compliance policy, refer to the document as often as necessary to ensure that it is up to date and needs to be implemented in a timely manner.

The ultimate goal is to have accurate, up-to-date information on how your compliance is being tracked. For example, completing an incident survey on an annual basis or conducting case management to review WHS policies can help you monitor compliance. Here’s an interesting post on kirialign.com which has highlighted the benefits of an online compliance management system.

Effective communication is key. As a manager, it is your responsibility to keep the organization motivated to follow your compliance requirements. Remember, nobody is perfect, so always consider how you can improve them so that your employees will be more comfortable with them and to roll them out more easily.

How does a company know if WHS compliance is being followed?

There are many steps involved in making sure that a company is following the WHS standards. A lot of people are aware of them, but it is important to not only be aware of them, but also make sure you are following them.

Compliance Management Audits

Compliance management audits allow you to check the implementation of new or revised WHS policies and procedures and check how they are being used. Some examples of audit activities include: information gathering and providing feedback on how policies and procedures are being implemented, reviewing procedures prior to being implemented, cross-checking procedures with implemented policies or regulatory requirements, reviewing public documentation of already implemented procedures to confirm the efficacy of those procedures.

Legacy

Once changes to a WHS policy or procedure come into effect, you can check to see how they are being monitored to see if they are being followed. You can find out how other compliant companies are registering their changes to comply with new regulations, reviewing existing compliance documentation and reporting at the end of each compliance cycle to track your progress towards compliance.

Compare

You can also compare how your regulations apply to your business across a range of issues, for example demographics, cost of administration, or key performance indicators, to identify any inconsistencies with how WHS policies and procedures are being implemented. You can then use this information to check on any possible gaps in how policies and procedures are being met.

Conclusion:

The transformation within your business following compliance management practices can be significant. It can often pave the way to increased productivity, growth and competitiveness within your industry.

It’s important to understand that you don’t need to have the resources and expertise to effectively carry out compliance management. What you need is not a fancy compliance system — it’s just the right processes, systems and practices at the right place in time to deliver effective compliance to the regulated.

A WHS compliance program which is integrated, collaborative and results-driven will be the foundation of any successful turnaround.

How to Create a Pay Stub for your Employees?

Published on March 26, 2021

Business

Whether you are legally required to issue your employees a payroll that tracks their earnings on a monthly or weekly basis, do so. This is certainly a policy that all entrepreneurs should adhere to, because this has a lot of advantages for both employees and them. This way you keep records and have all payout companies in one place. So, your employees get paid for their hard work and deserve documents that are proof of their earnings. However, you equally deserve this because you always have proof of income with you.

However, this payroll must contain some important information. And in the first place is certainly the amount of the employee’s salary, where he works and which employer. This document is given to employees for a salary. If you are not sure how to get to it or where to start when creating, keep reading. Below we have explained the creation of a pay stub.

Advantages of pay stab

So, as an employer, you have an equal obligation to the state and employees. The pay stub is just the most reliable way to track revenue and the general circulation of finances. It is also used as legal evidence if all the information within it is one hundred percent valid and supported by law. On the other hand, the people who work for you need to have insight into the cash flow. If you provide them with a pay stub, they will have the opportunity to get a mortgage, car loan, and credit cards. Each type of loan is supported with it, because it is an insight into the complete financial history. Of course, provided it is not in question

What do I need to make a paystub?

Now that you’ve realized how important it is to use this method to keep records of employee earnings, it’s time to learn how to create it. You can choose between several ways, but first deal with mathematics. So, use some program in which you will make tables. For example, Excel or another program can help you take the first step. In this way, you will categorize finances and create templates that you will constantly use for each employee. Of course, you will always keep them as a record, so it will be a template for you as well. How to make pay stub? Once you have done the basic thing you can really start creating a pay stub for your employees.

How is an employee’s salary calculated?

When we tell you to focus on calculus first, I mean specifically the three basic processes you have to go through. In the first place, it is the gross salary. So this is the point from which it all begins. In order to do this successfully, you need to divide the entire annual salary of the employee by per diems in that period. Of course, sometimes it is necessary to deduct a certain amount of money and this happens in special cases, for example, it refers to unpaid free time, etc. We’ll talk more about that later. On the other hand, we have overtime work, which also counts, and that would mean the opposite. Then it is necessary to add a certain amount of money in accordance with the number of hours that the employee worked. Taxes and similar items are not included in the gross salary. Once you have calculated the total value you have a starting point for all other calculations.

What is a deduction?

Let’s explain this step in a little more detail. Of course, it is clear to you that this means subtracting from the total amount of money earned by the employee. However, this applies not only to unpaid days off but also to taxes. For example, we have social security taxes, state taxes, etc. These are all deductions. In addition, there is a pension fund, and the money intended for it is also considered a deduction. So, there are several factors that affect the total amount of money that should be deducted.

Keep in mind that this will not always be easy to do. One of the more common problems is a situation where a certain area does not charge a local tax. So check this item before you start calculating. Don’t forget this step, because without it you can’t finish what you started. The pay stub implies absolutely every deduction that must be precise. Trust us you don’t want fake pay stubs. They should stand separately, without a combination of taxes, etc.

How do I determine my net salary?

In the end, we come to the net salary, and that is the amount with which you close your account. After all the deductions and allowances you have had on an employee’s earnings stands this relationship. So it will be located as the final digit on the pay stub. It is this amount that your employees will take home and that is why it is important that you perform all the above steps correctly. Keep in mind that this is a big responsibility and that you can’t do everything yourself, but you don’t need an assistant.

What should I use of the tools?

When it comes to calculations, it is very easy to deal with the previously mentioned program and similar, but other tools are needed. You can always print the information on paper, but you won’t actually do that because it’s pointless. Today there are so many choices just as you wouldn’t have to do it and burden yourself with unnecessary work as an owner. On the other hand, none of the banks and other companies will accept this kind of work. Either way, you need an online pay stub maker like Paystubsnow.

Those tools will help you find fantastic templates and many other features. For example, you can fill them out and send them to your staff in digital format. You can also edit it later to customize them to your needs and more.

Conclusion:

Business checkbooks are a thing of the past, and traders and owners have found a new way to pay their employees properly. Don’t miss the opportunity to be one of them, because it is not difficult at all. This part of the business has evolved and today there are companies that can offer you fantastic services, and employees deserve to provide them with the exact amount of taxes and profits. In that case, the most important thing is the software. We hope we have helped you successfully complete this process.

Top 5 Steps to use QuickBooks as a Time Tracking App for your Remote Employees

Published on December 25, 2020December 29, 2020

Business

In these unprecedented times, it is ideal for working from home. And, it is common to hire remote employees- one, they are productive and have no need to commute, and require no workspace, which is the best option for a small scale business.

Further, it improves employee retention, cost cuts down and increases diversity. Despite these advantages, there is also a bigger challenge-employee time tracking.

An automated time tracking app does the job perfectly for you. QuickBooks time tracking app. works best for all Small to Medium Businesses (SMBs) that have a versatile presence in time tracking. Click here to know more about the most effective time tracking apps that offer seamless integration with Quickbooks.

Here are the steps you need to follow to maximize the effect of QuickBooks time tracking apps.

Onboarding

You must be investing time in ensuring that your employees understand the work culture and procedures correctly.

If your budget allows, you can bring them to your office for a day and clarify their department’s responsibilities.

Provide them with the personal security logins and permissions to access the company’s resources. This foundation will brief them to start their position quickly. It is also a good idea to hold a short training session to refresh your new hires’ memories about the way Quickbooks works.

Design a structure for work

As a team leader, your job doesn’t end with allocating the work to your remote employees. It is much more like conversing with them about whereabouts, inquiring about dependencies, and needing any resources.

This way, they feel accountable and gives them a sense of belonging to their workplace.

QuickBooks time tracking app facilitates a holistic, collaborative platform for all its users.

By which, you and your remote team can effectively manage the project, discuss the tasks, and share documents for reviewing but, more importantly, track the time on individual tasks.

You can use them to design a workflow to help your remote employees follow up with projects.

Agree on deadlines

Providing the freedom of work is the most extraordinary form of trust which your employees feel relieved about. This trust, while difficult to build initially, allows your resources to work with more creative freedom and leads to the building of a happier, more positive work environment.

Indeed, scheduling the meetings and setting a deadline for them with realistic expectations to move at their own pace enables them to deliver on time. This statement is at least true for the employees that have a sense of ownership.

However, this sense of ownership is built as a result of efforts initiated from both, the employee and the employer.

Suppose some of your employees finish the work before the deadline, then, while it may seem counterintuitive, it isn’t wise to allocate more work for them on the same day instead provide them rest.

As the rule of thumb of “productivity,”- working for more hours is not equal to being productive.

To support this, When I Work, a QuickBooks integrated time tracking app tracks overtime, vacation, and leave time automatically.

Handle time zone differences

It is difficult for you and your remote employees who are not working in the same time zone.

So, negotiating with them on the crossover working hours best for both, even during the onboarding session, is the smartest way to handle it.

After all, you cannot expect them to be available according to your convenience. Working with remote resources may be a necessity right now, but the trend is here to stay.

Such a scenario calls for proactive actions from the side of the employers. One such action would be to set up processes that enable resources and individuals from all across the globe to collaborate seamlessly, regardless of the time zone differences between them.

This is where an integration of Quickbooks and an employee time tracking app will prove beneficial.

In fact, you can even use Quickbooks time tracking app to set each member’s local time within the app.

Establish effective communication

Working remotely may give a sense of isolation to your employees. As previously said, engage them with the day to day happenings in your workplace.

Small gestures like emailing them the regular progress updates, scheduling video calls with all in-office team members will make them feel like a part of your team.

Build a team spirit by organizing gatherings at least a couple of times in the year so that they can socialize with you.

An integration of Quickbooks and time tracking will allow you to find out when your employees are lacking behind, or working alone on a project for an extended period of time. If that is the case, you can ensure that special attention is being paid to them to ensure they don’t feel left out and the sense of belongingness stays alive and well inside their mind.

Automate Payroll Processing

Payroll processing is a labour intensive and time-consuming task. Moreover, the monotonous nature of the task means that it is dreaded by most employees that have to do it. Then there is also the problem of a human error occurring, the likeliness of which is much higher when the person doing the work would rather be doing something else.

With Quickbooks and time tracking software integration, this process can be automated almost effortlessly. This will not just save your employees from doing monotonous work, it will also enable you to use your resources for more productive tasks. At the same time, since the entire process will be done by an algorithm, you can rest assured because automation will eliminate all likelihood of a human error occurring.

Conclusion

Managing a remote team needs a lot of motivation and commitment from both sides. By employing well-developed time tracking strategies, you can support your employees to achieve productivity. QuickBooks time tracking app tracks your business and sets you on the right path.

By automating the most monotonous processes and optimizing the productivity achieved by various processes, integration of Quickbooks with your time tracking app will prove beneficial to your business.

7 Simple Tips That Will Improve Your Workplace Communication

Published on December 11, 2020March 22, 2021

Business

Successful businesses are a direct result of good collaboration inside the company. It applies to both small family businesses and mega-corporations. If there are any communicational issues present at the workplace, your business is likely to be stagnant for a while.

Of course, identifying the problem is only the beginning. You’ll need to work hard to find adequate ways to improve workplace communication at your company.

As this can be a difficult task, in this article, we’ve decided to help you out by sharing some simple improvement tips!

So, without further ado, let’s get to the bottom of it!

1. Talk to your employees

There’s nobody better to help you resolve issues at your company than your average employee. They’re the ones who experience the faults of the communication system every single day. They’ve certainly noticed these issues way before anyone else did, so it’s only natural to seek their assistance when trying to resolve these problems.

So, make sure to talk to them and try brainstorming some solutions together. They’ll be happy to oblige, as their jobs will become easier once the issue is fixed, and you’ll get the increase in productivity, so it’s a win-win situation.

2. Team-building exercises

Sometimes, the issue isn’t in the system itself, but it rather lies in the collaborative capabilities of your team. Not everyone is a born team-player, but anyone can become one if pushed in the right direction. That’s why many companies practice holding a variety of team-building exercises, helping their employees in learning how to collaborate better. Knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses is what’s crucial for better teamwork and higher productivity levels.

So, think of some fun and practical exercises that could help your employees work as a team. It may seem like a waste of time in the beginning, but you’ll soon notice the results.

3. Give feedback and clear information

As the company’s leader, you’re the person who sets the most important goals and objectives. So, you’ll have to convey these strategies to everyone at your company. There’s nothing more frustrating than being confused about what you’re supposed to do on your job. This is why you have to be as clear as possible when giving out tasks. Everyone should understand what their tasks for the day are.

Other than that, make sure you provide your employees with a lot of feedback. Make sure to share these observations in a constructive way, and never berate the employees for their mistakes. If they’re too afraid to ask for your advice, they won’t be able to perform well. You shouldn’t micromanage, but you have to be involved in the daily operations of your business.

So, break those communication barriers, and make your office a place where your employees feel free to share their thoughts and ideas.

4. Go digital

Investing in digital tools might be the best way to deal with communication issues in the workplace. For example, instead of holding meetings non-stop and keeping long e-mail correspondences just to get a task done, you should invest in digital signage software such as Indigo Workplace.

With this type of software, you’ll be able to make small and big announcements to all of your employees without having to hold a single meeting! Also, you’ll be able to provide your employees with constant training and educational materials.

The best part of it is that you’ll be able to do it all remotely and in no time whatsoever!

Alternatively, you can also get a VoIP system in your business for cloud-based communication. Let’s say your business is based in Vancouver. Find a local provider around Vancouver like B1 Communications to install a VoIP system into your workplace. With VoIP, you can reach out to clients and coworkers from far away countries. Pretty convenient for companies that have plenty of remote employees.

Of course, other than just digital signage, you can use many other types of software to your advantage: employee management apps, communicational platforms, and task management software!

5. Improve the HR department

Your HR department is there to resolve conflict and keep everyone comfortable in the workspace. If your employees aren’t able to trust your HR, you’ll certainly have a lot of communication problems.

Make sure to check on your HR from time to time, and keep them updated on the company policies. If you fail to do this, your employees will probably feel unsatisfied at their job. Employee morale is one of the most crucial things when it comes to company productivity. So, ensure your HR is a place where they’ll be comfortable sharing their issues and resolving internal conflicts. Your HR representatives have to be trustworthy, patient, and well-trained on the relevant corporate policies.

6. Reach out to your shy employees

Some people are simply too shy to share their ideas during company meetings. You can’t improve your company’s communication if you don’t include everyone, so keep an eye on those introverted employees.

You should engage them in a 1-1 conversation when they feel comfortable. Every single employee is a valuable asset to your company, so remember to approach everyone differently.

Your ultimate goal should be to create a comfortable, engaging work environment where everyone is able to showcase their talents and communicate their needs and goals. Once everyone’s on the same page, your entire company will begin to flourish.

7. Attend conferences together

If only the CEO and the upper management attend important business conferences, you’ll be missing an opportunity to improve your workplace communication! The more your employees know, the more they’ll be able to utilize for their daily tasks. In addition, attending conferences as a team can be a great way to open up communication and get to know each other. Learning more about the industry you’re all in creates space for new ideas and business development.

The bottom line

Internal communication is a crucial factor in running a successful business. Improving communication in the workplace is a lasting process: it can’t be done overnight, and there’s always room for progress.

Still, implementing digital solutions and creating a comfortable working environment for everyone is a good place to start. Your goal is to make everyone work as a team, so make sure to listen to their suggestions and ideas. A strong HR department and frequent team-building exercises can be your best assets in achieving productive business surroundings.

Why Should Companies Consider Re-screening Their Current Employees?

Published on September 10, 2020

Business

HR managers are familiar with the shocking statistics that over half of all applications contain false information, and about 30% of business failures can be attributed to employee dishonesty. As a result, over 95 % of employers carry out, at least, one form of background on potential hires, and about 86% of employers carry out criminal history checks in particular.

However, many employers assume that once a person is hired, they’re good to go for years, even decades. This explains why only 39% of employees conduct secondary background checks on current employees. This is when re-screening employees come into play and is a very crucial decision in any organization.

The problem with this approach is that a pre-employment background check is only valid up to the point it was obtained. If an employee commits a crime, losses work authorization, or has their license revoked, the employer may never find out. This opens up a company for serious legal liabilities in the case of an accident, harassment, or worse. In countries like Australia, fines for employing an illegal worker that does not have adequate work-rights exceed $400,000. Workplaces avoid this fine by conducting a vevo check to see if the worker has adequate work rights in Australia, even after the person has been employed.

That’s why we’re going to explore the top four reasons companies should consider re-screening their current employees:

1. Ensuring a Safe Work Environment

It’s every employers’ responsibility to maintain a safe workplace at all times. A person with a clean record at the point of hiring might have since incurred serious criminal convictions. It may be due to a personal issue the employee is going through. However, if violence erupts in the workplace, the employer will be held responsible for failing to carry out best practices in terms of workplace safety. By re-screening employees, employers can take note of staff members that pose new risks to the work environment.

2. Protecting Client Safety

Without re-screening current employees, it’s possible for employers to unknowingly trust their business assets to individuals with a serious criminal record. In today’s digital age, business assets are usually in the form of digital data. In order to avoid security breaches and database hacks, sensitive information must be protected by the most trustworthy individual.

3. Discovering Employees that Skidded through the cracks

Sometimes, job candidates do get away with the lies they tell, maybe it’s about their education, experience, or criminal record. Without re-screening employees, there’s no way to catch such dishonest individuals. Imagine a scenario where a person lies about having a degree when they don’t and then rises to a prominent position within the company years down the line. If such information becomes public, it can tarnish the reputation of the organization. This also means that violent individuals and sex offenders may be part of the workforce.

4. Theft Prevention

Criminal history checks through a government accredited service like Australian National Character Check and credit history checks are part of the routine for job roles in the financial sphere. Imagine a candidate passes those checks at the point of entry but two years down the line is at the brink of bankruptcy either due to a vicious divorce or medical emergency. With such immense financial pressure, such an individual might succumb to theft. However, by re-screening employees, employers can get a sense of major changes in the lives of their employees and how it will affect their ability to effectively and honestly fulfil their roles.

5. Keeping updated with changes in the employee’s lives

An employee may be free of any criminal records when they were first hired. But it is not uncommon for people’s lives and situations to change. Therefore, some employers may re-screen their employee to check if their criminal history checks are free of any criminal records. Some organizations also have the policy to check their certificates or licenses on a regular basis. Other records they may want to see are the credit card report, driving records, drug testing, financial management such as gambling risk or sanction lists specific to an industry which is subjected to changes over time.

6. Inspect someone with new responsibilities

With new responsibilities comes new challenges. Employees should be considered for re-screening when they are transferred to a different department, are promoted or are appointed to new duties and responsibilities. The main reason is as their responsibilities change, it is of vital importance to check their suitability towards that job. It could be that the employee you are planning to promote or provide extra responsibilities with is not a perfect fit for that position.

7. Employee transfer

Some companies have business setups outside their country or region and need employee transfer to those branches. It is preferable to get a screening check done when an employee is moving out of the state or country for business purposes. Sometimes, an international screening needs to be done for the other country and the initial checks are not relevant. It is also common for businesses when they merge and the standards are changed.

Not only the temporary staff require a re-screening check, but there are companies which frequently re-screen their board members too as per the rule of the organization. This is done to meet the high-security standards of the company to not only recognize the internal threats associated but it is also an opportunity to identify the employees and their history. This should be made as a part of the company policy.

Conclusion

Although many employees may find this offensive and some might not even be willing to undergo one, there are explanations to support this decision. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. All companies should incorporate a robust re-screening practice into their HR policy. Current employees should be screened, at least, once every two years. Moreover, if an employee gets promoted or changes their job role, they should be screened to ensure that they meet the requirement for their new position. A decision as small as this can make a big difference in the company as this will ensure the employees potential to perform their duties.