Employer Solutions Blog | Sage HRMS

For businesses in today’s economy, there are more payroll processing options than ever before, and deciding what method will work best for your company can be daunting. If you’re thinking about switching how your payroll is processed or are curious about what is currently available, taking action on the following steps is a good place to start.

Making the First Step
If you are a seasoned business and are considering a change to your payroll processing system, before you make any decisions or put a plan in motion, you must first begin the evaluation process. At this stage in the game, the more questions you ask, the better. What compensation structure works best for your employees? Monthly? Bimonthly? How do you track employee hours? What about overtime? Paid time off? Health plans? Income taxes? Payroll taxes?

You’ll want to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your current workforce and identify the best person or team most capable of facilitating the switch. If you cannot identify a suitable person, consider hiring an experienced payroll processing professional as an independent contractor to help you make the transition. Payroll administration requires a high commitment to detail and accuracy and regardless of which route you take; any efforts must be comprehensive and dedicated.

It’s also in the best interest of the company to assess the timing of your payroll change, paying close attention to current economic conditions and growth trajectory of the firm. For example, a recent and robust expansion in business may make it a good time to reconsider your payroll processing—especially if there are plans to boost hiring significantly to maintain your growth.

What may have worked for you with just 50 employees begins to be strained by the demands of 200+ employees. In addition to this consideration, many common mistakes and errors in payroll processing become more visible and potentially dangerous to operations when you increase the number of employees.

Functionality a Determining Factor
Upon sketching a rough outline of what business factors will influence what payroll processing options to pursue, it’s then time to transition to the subject of functionality. After all, payroll processing doesn’t just need to work for the company, it needs to work—period.

Many companies that choose payroll processing software often do so without accounting for the range of capabilities and features a solution must possess in order to improve the business and save it time and money. Before you approach a vendor, determine what functions you’ll need or desire to be included in the processing software.

Again, asking yourself questions on what is needed from a solution is the best path to reaching an optimal selection: How frequent are tax updates sent through? What security checks are in place? Can we integrate existing data into the new platform? What payment options exist? How does it prevent fraud?

Besides ensuring a solution effectively addresses and takes care of standard compliance issues, it’s good practice to investigate what other added value such a service can provide. For example, many payroll processing software vendors offer deduction and earning codes, shortcuts that enable automatic and accurate deductions from employee paychecks regarding health insurance or child care. If your company’s pay structure is more complex, you’ll want to pursue vendors that can allow you to customize your own codes. Other features to look for include direct deposit, employee garnishments, and piecework pay codes that assign and track employee pay based on work completed.

It’s also worth examining the basic features of payroll processing, like electronic tax filing, which is paramount in any payroll software. This feature allows you to fill out and submit tax forms electronically and eliminates the need for printing out forms, organizing them, and mailing them out to the appropriate office—which can result in huge time savings!

It’s also crucial that employees have sufficient access and interaction with the system. Opting for a solution that can seamlessly allow for employees to view documents and pay stubs is important both to HR compliance and employee engagement.

Making a Choice and Implementing the System
After pegging down what payroll processing solution your business needs and what features and accommodations it should have, it’s time to research the market. Spend time closely evaluating all vendors, and consider their reputations and relationships with past clients. Pay close attention to how vendors service clients, price their solutions, and ensure their networks are secure.

Finally, once all has been said and done and a solution has been decided upon for implementation, you’ll need to ready your operations for the change. The most important function when readying the business is making sure you have the hardware needed for installation. It may also behoove the organization to solicit the services of an implementation team. But that’s only the half of it. Once in place, businesses must still conduct routine check-ups into how the solution has performed and what benefits it has provided or how it has streamlined operations.

After determining who can help facilitate the change, when the ideal time is to switch, and what functions your business needs out of payroll processing software. Evaluate which vendors most closely align with your values, budget, and business needs. Then it’s easy. Make the switch and reap the rewards!

Need more information about changing payroll processing? Visit our library of Human Resources Best Practices and Tools to download white papers like “The 15 Factors to Consider When Changing How You Process Payroll” or “Stay In Control: The Benefits of In-House Payroll Software.”

Today’s job market is almost unrecognizable compared to what it was just a few years ago. The Great Recession came and went and took with it millions of jobs and left the labor market in dire straits.

Fast forward to 2013. On the back of a sustained economic recovery and steady job creation, businesses are engaging in more recruiting and hiring initiatives to spur growth and shore up human capital lost in the throes of the economic collapse.

However, despite the much improved business conditions and labor market, firms are still often perplexed and frustrated when recruiting for jobs. The number-one gripe many have with the current state of recruiting? Talent scarcity.

In a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 66 percent of HR respondents said recruiting was challenging for them, up from the 52 percent who said the same in 2011. The talent gap was the prime culprit behind the difficulty: 48 percent said recruiting was hard because applicants did not have the right skills, while 40 percent cited a lack of job experience.

However, in trying recruiting times, the answer to the vexing talent management question is not simply throwing money at the problem, a tactic some companies might resort to.

A study conducted by consulting firm Mercer found 60 percent of organizations polled in the report said they have increased their investments in talent, yet only 24 percent believe their plans are effective and helping the company meet long-term human capital needs.

Suffice it to say, businesses in the United States have the positions that need filling but cannot find qualified enough applicants to hire. Yet that doesn’t mean such employees aren’t out there somewhere. Recruiting is not only more challenging for firms at present, but also competitive; considering the essentiality of workforce talent management, firms need to develop a solid recruiting strategy. Now that might be easier said than done, but here are three tips to help you on your way to solidifying a superior recruiting program in today’s job market:

Leave No Stone Unturned
Recruiting isn’t so much a science as it is an experience. There’s no one measure or equation that indicates this candidate is the best for the job or this other one shouldn’t be considered.

That’s why it’s important that recruiters don’t get lazy when vetting and analyzing job applicants. Shutting the book on an applicant based on a resumé or job history before he or she even gets a chance to interview—and perhaps demonstrate personality characteristics the business values or make a particular skill known that was not documented on his CV—is a losing strategy for everyone.

Salary history won’t convey what intangibles a candidate possesses, nor will a lousy attitude make up for exemplary resumé credentials. Talent in today’s job market is diverse, spread out, and often hiding in the places recruiters would least expect it.

Use Social Media
Social media isn’t solely used for posting cat pictures and live-tweeting a high school prom. As social media matures, so too does its application to business processes, especially recruiting. The research done on candidates has transitioned into the socialsphere, and platforms like Facebook and Twitter have proved to be valuable tools for recruiters.

It’s not just the big two in the social arena that recruiters are using. Increasingly, professional social networking sites like LinkedIn have become a recruiter’s best friend.

Indeed, LinkedIn recently relaunched an offering that caters to social media-savvy recruiters, reinforcing the sentiment that technology—like HR software—is providing recruiters with modern solutions for modern recruiting problems.

Clearly Communicate With a Target
Recruiting is a two-way street, and the interactions between the recruiter and the recruited are crucial elements of the entire process. The object of recruiting people is persuading them, and without an incentive or sufficient information, those being recruited are unlikely to derive much value from the situation.

That’s why it’s important for recruiters to communicate what they are looking for in an individual, what skills they prize, what the job will require—not just in terms of duties and obligations, but time commitment and other personal considerations—and what a candidate can expect if he is hired.

It’s also becoming increasingly more important in today’s world of recruiting that the process isn’t so cut and dry, rigid, and uberprofessional with little room for maneuvering or honest communication. The recruiting itself needs to be done in an environment that encourages gainful interaction and conversation that helps each side understand the other better.

“I don’t know what I need to know.”

It’s a funny little sentence, but it’s amazing how often I hear it. Especially with the proliferation of business intelligence (BI) software solutions, today’s workers have greater and greater abilities to analyze their data – if only they knew what they were looking for.

Being in the BI business myself, I am often asked questions such as “what are some of the key things that people want to monitor in their HRMS systems?”. Having some standard answers such as “employee absenteeism”, “certifications that are about to expire”, and “changes to an employee’s benefits” are helpful – but only to a certain degree. What an HRMS staffer really wants to ask me is “what are the key things within our particular HR organization that we should be monitoring for?”.

But of course since I don’t know the detailed workings of their HR organization and its underlying processes, that’s a question that never gets asked of me.

But it should.

Because I can answer it.

Despite the fact that I may never have stepped foot (or even a “virtual foot”) into any one specific HR organization, I can help any HR organization’s staff identify what kinds of critical activities they need to monitor for and respond to. And that’s because I’m able to identify the key words and phrases that get used by an organization’s HR staffers when they’re looking for “what they need to know.”

There are, in fact, eight “types” of critically important HR-related business conditions that reveal themselves in the everyday conversations that you hear around your office. These eight “types” of HR-related business conditions have very specific words that accompany them, and if you train yourself to listen for these words, you’ll have an immediate jump on identifying what it is “you need to know.”

The eight conditions – and the corresponding words you need to listen for – are:

Date-Sensitive Conditions.  You’ll hear words such as “upcoming”, “today”, “tomorrow”, “next week”, “ends”, “expiring”, and “missed”. (E.g., benefit enrollment period ends this Friday)

Approaching Thresholds.  Typically expressed using “nearing”, “more than”, “less than”, “above”, “below”, “close to”, and “over”. (E.g., an employee who is nearing 24 hours of absenteeism this month)

Inactivity.  Almost always is heard using the phrase “has not” or “is not” and indicates something that should have happened but hasn’t. (E.g., a staffer who has not taken any training in the last 12 months)

Exceptions to Normal Business.  You’ll hear the words “over” or “under” as well as the word “too” as in “too many”, “too few”, “too much”, or “too little”. (E.g., an employee who has failed too many drug tests)

“Bad Data” Conditions.  Most commonly identified by the words “missing”, “erroneous”, “invalid”, “duplicate”, or “incomplete”. (E.g., an employee record which is missing their home phone number)

Trend Analysis.  Usually this occurs in phrases such as “compared with”, “is increasing”, “is decreasing”, or “has stopped”. (E.g., monthly overtime hours is increasing)

Inconsistent Data.  Often heard in phrases such as “doesn’t make sense” or “doesn’t go together”, and in the statement “that’s not right”. (E.g., an employee signed-up for two training classes at the same time)

Changes to Sensitive Data.  This condition is often identified by the initial words “We need to know when  someone changes . . . “. (E.g., a change made to an employee’s 401k contributions)

So . . . before you decide to evaluate any reporting, business intelligence, or data monitoring & response solutions, take a few minutes to think back on your daily HR business activities and to the conversations that you’ve had with your HR colleagues and management. Or – just start listening to those conversations a little more carefully and take note of when the above words and phrases appear.

After all, once you identify what HR conditions and activities you need to know about, you can better identify the prospective software solutions that will keep you “in the know”.

If you’re interested in learning about how you can more effectively monitor your HR data, visit the Sage HRMS Alerts and Workflow by Vineyardsoft webpage. While you’re there don’t forget to register for the webcast The Data Driven HR Organization: How to Achieve It and How to Benefit From It.

Social media platforms have become increasingly popular among businesses for hiring purposes. Widely used social networks have also contributed to companies’ revising their privacy policies to include guidelines for professional use of these networking sites in employee handbooks and company rules and guidelines. As human resource managers, businesses, and recruiters continue to utilize virtual recruitment strategies to find talent and maintain a presence online, it may be a good idea to add a Twitter account to the list of sites organizations use to attract new talent and engage employees.

Establishing Twitter as a Business Tool
Businesses are more open to using Facebook and LinkedIn to promote themselves and network with other industry professionals. Meanwhile, most organizations view Twitter as a personal social media platform rather than a professional one. However, Twitter is a great way to find potential job candidates, and company accounts can easily gain followers from employees, who may already be using this site, to help build a strong Twitter presence right away. Twitter helps companies connect with other industry leaders to promote and educate followers about hot topics and news updates and to spread the word about what your particular business or company mission is.

Creating a Twitter Account
It’s actually very simple to create and maintain a Twitter account—first things first, you have to remember that Twitter only allows users to “tweet” messages up to 140 characters in length. Secondly, building a presence on Twitter requires a daily commitment to post, search, and respond to followers. To create your business Twitter account, follow these steps:

1. Go to www.twitter.com
2. Create a username and password
3. Upload a photo that best represents your brand or business
4. Connect!

Yep, four easy steps will get you going on Twitter. At the initial sign up, Twitter allows the creator to import established email and other social contacts directly from your computer. This is a great way to build an immediate contact list with business partners, employees, industry leaders, and company clients.

After the initial account setup, it’s also imperative to create a biography for the organization. The biography should include, but is not limited to, what your business does, what your company wants to talk about, and searchable keywords you want your account to be associated with, advised the source.

What Do @ and # Mean?

To build a following you’ll need to understand what all of the symbols on Twitter mean.

Account names are preceded by the @ sign. Whenever this symbol is used on Twitter followed by a username it’s called a ‘mention’ and the user that is mentioned will be notified. This symbol is used to communicate with other users. A common misunderstanding on Twitter is using the @ sign to begin a tweet. If that happens, the only people that will see that mention are those that are following the sender and the user mentioned. This is why users send tweets that start with ‘.@’, so everyone following the sender will see it.  

The other frequently used symbol users will run into on Twitter is the # sign, also known as a hashtag symbol. Twitter users incorporate the # sign and words, phrases, topics of interests, and so on to discuss their interests, news, and ideas. This is a great search tool for companies to utilize in order to start conversations on Twitter with users who share the same interests as their organization. Tweeting #hashtags also allows others to see what your company is interested in. If they like the same things you do, you can potentially gain a lot of followers.

How Can Twitter Benefit Companies
Aside from marketing your business or brand name, Twitter has many benefits for HR professionals and recruiters. Establishing a company Twitter account is a great way to promote employee engagement. Companies can assign one or two workers to completely manage the account, making them responsible for starting discussions and finding business contacts and potential job candidates. If the account is better managed by HR or another manager, employees can still contribute to business conversations on Twitter to help bring in third-party contacts for the organization.

Finally, the benefits of having a Twitter account can help recruiters search and connect with high-caliber candidates for job vacancies. These connections may occur by following other industry contacts, employees, and business leaders. Social Hire blogger Marcie Taylor suggests the following recruitment strategies for leveraging twitter as a recruitment tool:

1. Use #hashtags that include keywords associated with job openings
2. Maintain industry connections by actively participating in chat sessions
3. Search for topics you know potential candidates are interested in

It’s also a good idea to tweet pictures of the office, employees (with their permission), and business events to attract job prospects. Most candidates will appreciate and respond to positive employer cultures. Twitter is a marketing opportunity to showcase why your company is a great place to work.

You won’t truly know how beneficial Twitter can be as a social networking and marketing tool until your organization gets plugged in. If your company is seriously thinking about creating and maintaining a Twitter account for business purposes such as engagement and virtual recruitment, it’s best to take the time to explore all of the site’s features.

For more HR and social media news, join the conversation by following @SageHRMS or me, @JoeyBaird, on Twitter!

According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers are responsible for collecting and maintaining accurate records regarding the number of hours each employee works. Many states also require employers to document worked time, break time and leave time. Establishing a reliable timekeeping system also helps HR manage employees, track performance management, and stay on top of payroll compliance! Time management systems come in many forms including: time clocks, handwritten time cards, employee badge readers, and electronic workforce management solutions. Employers who rely on automated systems find they can save time and money while increasing processing efficiency! Some of the benefits of automation are:

Improved Accuracy: Handwritten time records are often difficult to read and include calculation mistakes. Handwritten records also pose the risk for record abuse whether from simple mistakes or actual intent to falsify hours worked as this system heavily relies on an employee honor system. Electronic records eliminate error and ensure calculation policies are applied correctly and consistently across all employees.

Increased Productivity: Businesses that use payroll tracking technology report an increase in productivity among workers. Instead of wasting time hand recording hours and payroll exemptions, data is automatically tracked and recorded. The timekeeping system then transfers this data to the HR/Payroll system electronically further reducing errors and allowing Managers to spend time working instead of chasing paper.

Greater Employee Engagement: Timekeeping systems also allow for managers, HR and business owners to track and measure employee performance. Often, automated punch systems can be programmed to alert HR if an employee clocks in early/late or if he or she clocks out before or after hours. A few minutes here or there should not affect payroll compliance but if it’s a common occurrence, HR can use the data system to pinpoint the issue, making it faster and easier to get the problem under control. Employees also have greater insight into their own performance and can better meet expectations.

Stronger Compliance: The use of an automated system is especially helpful should the company be audited by the IRS. Timekeeping systems store employee hourly data, which makes it easier to comply with labor regulations. Having this stored data makes it easy for human resources to provide documentation for attendance and to review time punches. Having these records on hand makes an audit run smoother and is considered one of the top business utilization tools. Even if the business is not under a legal audit by the FLSA, HR managers can use it to periodically audit themselves to ensure payroll is in compliance with the law and that employees are being accurately compensated for their work.

Regardless of the system used, businesses should have written policies detailing their timekeeping practices and should require all employees to sign a statement acknowledging their understanding and acceptance of these policies. The policies should include information regarding what happens when a discrepancy occurs and what disciplinary action may result from intentional violation. Payroll/HR managers should make use of occasional audits to ensure their employees remain in compliance with the organization’s policies.

For more information about automated electronic workforce management solutions, please visit the Sage Time and Attendance website.

Considering the current climate that companies and consumers are climbing out of in terms of employment continuity, many candidates have been looking for a while and may feel jaded about the process. Positions they’re applying for now that they may be extremely qualified for were unavailable or incredibly scarce over the past few years. But now that employment opportunities are increasing, once applicants are past the interview it lies in the hands of HR staff to make the call about employing them or not.

Quite literally, it needs to be a phone call.

In a modern age where people are using the internet and Facebook to communicate more than anything else, there are some forms of business etiquette that cannot be overlooked in order to make the perfect job offer. Especially with the job market turning fiercely competitive over the last six months, the best candidates may soon be hard to find once again.

One of the biggest mistakes that HR personnel make when extending a job offer is doing it via email. While it may seem more time effective to employees, a potential candidate will see it as a slight or a sign that the organization doesn’t really care about that position. It is one of the best ways of driving away top talent and creating an aversion for other similar candidates in the future.

It’s imperative that companies move fast to snatch up the strongest talent, as they won’t stay on the market long. Chances are, with the job market becoming so competitive again, the best personnel are already hired somewhere, and those that are still available will once again become scarce. With that in mind, keeping turnover short between interviews and job offers is a good way of showing potential hires that businesses really care about that person’s time and what he or she has to offer.

Making Offers Great With Perks Besides Money

Another factor to consider besides speed and personalization are the kinds of compensation that a company is willing to offer someone. The modern working world is not one solely fixated on the dollar, especially with companies trying to cut costs while still attracting and retaining the best workforce. Sometimes what a business can offer staff members in the form of perks can make one placement more appealing than another, even with lower salary.

Your company can couple stock options or 401(k) vestments early in the employment process. Full medical benefits are also desirable, but wellness initiatives are seeing a new push in the workplace. There are also many organizations looking into educational opportunities, both in sending employees to nearby colleges or providing them with online training programs to further their skills and make them more valuable as individuals, as well as to the businesses they work for. These kinds of programs show that companies are interested not just in the person right now, but what he or she will still be able to offer in a few years’ time.

With the economy rebounding and employment for the best talent becoming easier to find, such candidates are looking for more than just a business that will hire them right now. Potential hires want to know they will have a long-standing relationship with an organization, and that in turn requires seeing the company as one prepared to meet future financial and global obligations. Presenting a corporation in this light also requires that businesses stay on top of modern trends like mobile device deployments, cloud computing and basic online analytics. If a corporation isn’t up to speed with the rest of the world, that in and of itself could sabotage even the best job offers.

Dashboards are to software applications what Starbucks™ is to coffee – omnipresent. In the same way it’s hard to drive into any North American town and not see one or two Starbucks (and usually across the street from one another!), it’s hard to purchase any business software application – including HR applications – and not be told about, showed about, and confused about the plethora of “dashboards” that come with it.

But – to continue the Starbucks analogy – sometimes you’re just not in the mood for coffee. Maybe what you need is a nice cold beer. Or maybe just plain water. The fact is that application dashboards have been (and continue to be) so popular that we get sold on the concept of dashboards without taking the time to identify how we want to use them – not to mention when we want to use them, and who should be using them. There’s no denying that dashboards are useful; but like a cup of hot coffee on a hot day in the summer, there are times when a traditional dashboard isn’t the best solution.

And that’s what we’re here to discuss.

Your typical dashboard is a graphic display of business information. Perhaps the most common image of a dashboard is one that shows sales trends; a line chart that goes up and down over a period of time showing the overall growth or decrease in an organization’s business. Valuable? Absolutely.

Bar and pie chart dashboards are also eagerly advertised in software applications. Sales by product, region, or salesperson are good examples of where these kinds of dashboards shine.

The preceding examples have one obvious thing in common: sales. The sales department is by far the part of an organization that most benefits from dashboards that show trends and KPIs (key performance indicators). Human resources, on the other hand, doesn’t deal with the same kind of business information as sales, and thus the need for graphically-illustrated data is substantially less.

But just because there’s not the need for graphically-illustrated data in HR, that doesn’t mean there’s not the same need for dashboards. There is. It’s just that HR typically needs a different kind of dashboard – a non-graphic one.

Think about it – a dashboard is a dynamically-updated display of critical business data; how that data is displayed is up to you. So – whereas a graphic display showing how many hours of vacation time each employee has accrued might not be all that useful, a textual display of which employees are scheduled to be out of the office this week definitely has value. Similarly, whereas a line chart that shows how many employee certifications are due to expire over the next three months has dubious benefits, a dynamic listing of those certifications – along with their expire date, cost, and employee name – would be more than a little useful.

Generally speaking, graphic dashboards are more heavily used by executives who need to be kept aware of trends and who need to look at the “big-picture” of business activities. It’s the folks beneath the executives – departmental managers and their individual employees – who are tasked with keeping on top of the day-to-day business activities. And there’s no better way to empower these people than to provide them with “in-your-face”, dynamically-updated lists of critical business activities and tasks.

So – don’t let yourself get swept away by the “eye-candy” that is all-too-often presented to you as graphic application dashboards. They do look cool, and they do have their use. But in the HR world, it’s more often the details that spell the difference between success and failure. Make sure that you can get those details to the staff who need them – and do so in a dynamic dashboard format.

After all, the right information presented in the wrong format is about as useful as a cup of iced coffee in the middle of the winter . . .

There are many roadblocks on the path to employee engagement that never fail to impede most HR personnel the first time around. As the process is refined, though, there is also the risk of staff members becoming complacent. Assuming that existing systems work now because they did in the past and failure to review these processes could be just as vital a mistake as not upgrading HRMS utilities.

With changes in technology come differences in how people work, but inherently they as individuals remain the same. It is important to use devices, alternatives in working situations and other advantages that have come to light in the human resources field to encourage more fun in the workplace while still cutting costs. There are a number of applicable solutions for businesses willing and interested in employing them.

Bring-Your-Own-Device and Work From Home

Remote working has become a major draw for corporations that both want to save money and are interested in raising employee engagement. One of the leading reasons why this strategy works so well is because consumers already own the tablets and smartphones they prefer; meaning mobile devices are a ripe resource for companies that know how to use them.

Allowing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs can present some IT hiccups, but it also increases the amount of flexibility and productivity of each worker. Using these tools properly can turn them into learning centers, information resources and mobile workhorses, putting electronic filing capabilities into the hands of individuals so they can take care of tasks immediately instead of waiting to get back to a computer.

For companies that have the option, allowing people to work from home is also an appealing possibility. This creates a reduction in overall maintenance costs, lets the person spend less on commuting and eating out, and builds a sense of loyalty between the employee and the company. Such innovative tools may create a physical distance, but the closeness a person feels to their employer may actually increase because of it.

Recognize and Elevate

Paying people more to do a good job does not promote the same sense of value or employee engagement that other methods might. It also does nothing to save the company money, either in payroll or increased output.

Creating programs that focus on recognizing excellence and linking it to performance have a much greater impact. Top businesses strive to build employee loyalty by encouraging feedback from them as well as customers, thereby understanding worker culture and its connection to the corporate equivalent, while simultaneously gauging how well these ideals are being communicated to consumers. In the end, many companies see drastic increases in employee engagement, customer satisfaction and overall strength of corporate identity thanks to the consideration and recognition it gives its workers in exchange for superior customer service.

It is important to understand that more than just formal recognition needs to be delivered. Having an ad hoc way of bringing top achievements to light can be more endearing through its spontaneity, and since this method does not incur any additional costs, it is as financially-friendly for businesses as it gets. An informal solution can be as simple as rewarding employees who have finished their daily assignments with an early leave, or extra remote working time for workers that are far ahead of schedule. Such incentives encourage more productivity while promoting the idea that, the better job a person does, the more rewards they can hope to receive.

Actually Having Fun

A lot of businesses say, “We want to be a place where our people enjoy coming to work and have fun doing their jobs.” But what are they actually doing to make that a reality? If there is no plan in place to realize this ambition, it will never happen.

Leading innovators like Google encourage employees to play games, relax and get tasks done in an environment that is as much work as it is fun. When a company says it wants its people to have fun but provides no outlet for this to happen, chances are it never will.

“Anything that gets people out of their usual headspace and routine can help,” said Ryan Tate, author and HR expert. His book, ‘The 20% Doctrine: How Tinkering, Goofing Off and Breaking Rules at Work Drive Success in Business,’ coaches managers and HR personnel to allow one-fifth of their daily routine to be free-form. In other words, split up work so that every day has some playtime. Assigned duties will still get done, but the output will be of far higher quality, and employees will actually have fun at work.

What ways does your company promote fun at work?

Monitoring the progress of individuals within the corporate structure in order to reach desired outcomes is standard practice within many organizations. However, the reasoning behind HR analytics is not consolidated – some businesses see them as a tool to expedite future growth, while others see them as a way of looking back at the progress they have made. It depends how the company that owns the data wants to use it, and who is interpreting the information at that time.

The value of human resource analytics lies in flexibility. Robust analytics can produce rich reports detailing performance of individuals, teams, departments or businesses as a whole. They also provide a way of seeing where people are in relation to intended goals. This in turn can help human resources managers provide assistance where it is needed most, ensuring that everyone within the organization is cared for equally. HR analytics help with crafting engagement strategies and are the basis for calculations focused on return on employee investment.

Understanding Analytics
Some human resources personnel may still stop and think, “What exactly are analytics, anyway?” Simply put, they are the mix of business data with human input. It’s a way of collating progress in every department, every task and every aspect of the business, thereby allowing HR and other staff members to monitor performance and make necessary adjustments.

To successfully run a business these types of insights are needed. Companies should look within and use tools to research the data they already own. To take it the next level they can then compare their data with other performance indicators to formulate action plans. Additionally, using HR analytics a business can store business performance data and later use it to compare against historical figures.

What to Look For
It’s also essential that, when scanning internal and external information channels, the right indicators are being monitored. Simply looking at the broad expanse of corporate and consumer information can be overwhelming, but targeting specific behaviors and people can be useful. Leaders should be a primary focus, as isolating effective traits in these individuals can help steer others in management positions toward the same qualities. It’s also necessary to present incentives and gestures of appreciation to personnel in order to maintain their loyalty, and assessing these transactions can help businesses target the kind of feedback employees want most.

Gaining From Data
Creating these assets is one thing, but figuring out how to implement them could be challenging for companies that just started their analytics usage. Once entities understand what these tools are and how to make use of them, there are a plethora of resources available waiting to be tapped, both within the business structure and in the public sphere, which present opportunities to gain insight into hidden patterns and market indicators.

Outlets like social media and online communication are a wealth of analytics data, because these sources represent a massive channel of rapidly changing trends and information. Picking out the common themes amidst the chaos ensures a business that its strategies based on this massive volume of supporting data will be sound ones. What results is a product that can almost detect future movements within the corporate structure, taking previous performance indicators and other landmarks in both human and technology assets, providing a better business forecast for those within the organization. As Dashboard Insight wrote, “When HR uses fact-based decision making – instead of intuition or best guesses – the group becomes a more credible partner to the business it serves.”

If difficulties arise in the human resources management process or other roadblocks leap up to prevent progress, HR analytics are the ace up your sleeve in defraying the chaos and making sense of the situation. Finding solutions for difficult HR problems is as simply finding the facts and presenting solutions that alleviate these negative conditions, and triangulating the source of these issues is easier with quality data analytics.

The biggest asset a company has at its disposal is the staff it employs. Employees are the face of corporate culture, the first line of interaction a customer usually has with the business and the spokespeople for the organization outside the office as well. Keeping the best talent on-staff can increase employee loyalty and promote a positive office environment, but it might be difficult for some companies to hold on to these desirable workers.

Understanding what makes some organizations successful can help human resources management identify problems and implement new strategies for developing the best workforce possible.

Connecting With Technology

There is a vast amount of information being created every day in the corporate world, and businesses are constantly finding new ways to interact, analyze and store it. Not all these devices and interfaces will be familiar to users, and upgrading existing systems can be costly, but these initiatives are at the heart of the push to keep businesses progressive and competitive, both as entities and in the eyes of potential hires.

Adding new employee self service portals, for example, can help provide workers with a way of monitoring their payroll, checking for internal announcements and connecting with other people in the organization. Businesses need to be aware, though, that training may be necessary to keep existing employees engaged, as being presented with change can be detrimental to workplace sentiment in some cases. While younger users in the Generation Y and Millennial age groups will take strongly to technology, these sections only make up half of the available workforce.

Workers Go Mobile

It’s important to be open and communicative with employees to make sure they have the tools they need, understand how to use them and feel comfortable doing so. Extra opportunities for education should be available to those who aren’t having as much success as others with human resources software and other services, as these are integral to the progress and emerging mobility of the workplace.

The implementation of bring-your-own-device programs and mobile networks in everyday practice are sometimes easier when integrated into new infrastructure. For instance, a self-service program with employee schedule tracking and payroll information may be alien to some users, but by making it accessible on a smartphone, workers will be more willing to navigate through software and experiment with new digital experiences. Nearly half of all American workers prefer using smartphones as a primary work tool, while one-fifth would like to use a tablet computer in lieu of traditional computers.

Social Success Strategy

Another tactic tapping into the mobile deployment universe helps those already using social networking and other online sharing sites by helping them communicate achievements. These tools also help employees in connecting with others in the same company, similar fields and with like interests. Networks like Facebook help advertise corporate brand identity, while getting a job on LinkedIn is becoming more commonplace for corporations and consumers.

The use of services like email and text messages are still popular and widely-used in the corporate world, but making employees familiar and comfortable with advances in business technology will quickly establish it as a leader and forward-thinker in its industry. This makes it appealing to job seekers, and backing up that positive corporate image with loyal employee statements on social networks will boost the volume on that message.