Tag: Employee time tracking

10 Ways Managers Can Help Solve Employee Time Management Issues

Employee time management issues are so common that every member of the workforce suffers from them at least once in their work life. 

One study found that employees can free up at least 20 percent of their week by applying more discipline to their time management. That isn’t very surprising because the average employee faces a lot of distractions every day. Corporate executives receive over 200 emails a day while meeting can easily take up 35 percent of the workweek. 

In this article, we’re going to discuss ten ways managers can help solve employee time management issues. So without any further ado, let’s just jump into it. 

Top Ways to Resolve Employee Time Management Issues

Evaluate Employee Performance

If you don’t even know about the problem then how will you be able to solve it? Use meaningful metrics to evaluate employee performance. You can start by observing if your employees are:

    • Not completing their tasks on time
    • Stressed, unmotivated or burnt out
    • Frequently absent at the workplace

Once you get to the bottom of the problem, you’ll be able to come up with a good solution. 

Highlight the Problem Areas

Once you’ve made sure that poor time management does exist in your workplace, the next step should be to find out the reason(s) behind it. Are your employees getting complacent? Or are they wasting their time visiting irrelevant websites in the workplace? However, don’t be quick to lay the blame on your employees. Sometimes, it just might be the fault of poor management. 

Decrease Distractions

Distractions have become the bane of employee productivity. Open-plan offices are very popular these days but they have a major downside: little to no privacy. In this type of environment, even the most diligent employees can lose their focus. Plus, the internet and social media also take up a lot of our time every day. Taking all of this into account, is it any wonder that employees are facing time management issues?

You can’t do much about the layout of the building but you can ban irrelevant websites and restrict the use of mobile phones at your workplace. 

Urge Employees to Set Goals

Reducing distractions will be of no use if your employees don’t have timely goals. But don’t be hasty here. Goal-setting is a characteristic that they should learn first before trying to apply it in the workplace. 

Instruct your employees to set daily, weekly, and monthly goals based on a task or project’s duration. 

Utilize Project Management Software

Setting goals and timelines may sound easy but in reality, it isn’t. Your employees will need all the help they can get. This is where project management apps come into play. Managers can use these apps to map out each team member’s workflow. Even reports and delivery times can be planned. And their biggest advantage is that they will let you make necessary adjustments along the way.

Train Employees on How to Prioritize

Project management software can only streamline your workflow. They can’t teach your employees the art of prioritizing. Only you can do that and even that to an extent. Employees need to learn how to prioritize urgent or important tasks in order to increase their productivity. 

In the end, employees need to decide which tasks to complete first. You can only notify and help them with the more urgent tasks. Also, make sure your employees have the proper resources to finish these tasks. 

Give Employees More Freedom

Every employee has their own way of doing work. Some tackle the hardest tasks first and then move on to the easier ones. Others operate in the opposite way. If they’re completing tasks on time then leave them to their preferred pattern. You’ll get good results as long as you give your employees the appropriate freedom. 

Being too rigid won’t do you any good so try not to micromanage all the time as it will create a stifling workplace environment. 

Allow Flexible Schedules

The current generation’s mindset is very different from the previous generation’s. Today’s workers value freedom above all else. They don’t like the rigid 9-5 system and consider it somewhat soul-crushing. 

Some employees might be sharper and more organized in the early morning while others only get started around noon. This is why you should consider implementing flexible work schedules. Let your employees try different work schedules so that they decide which one works best for them. 

Flexible schedules have the potential to:

  • Increase efficiency
  • Relieve stress
  • Make performance better

Carefully Delegate Tasks and Duties

It’s possible for even employees with the right goals and priorities to lag behind in their tasks. A lot of the times they have too much on their plates and get overwhelmed by all the workload. In these cases, it’s better to delegate their tasks to their colleagues. But make sure that you assign these tasks to the people who know the employees previously working on the tasks. 

Supervise Accordingly

Giving employees freedom doesn’t mean leaving them to their own devices. Some type of supervision is still necessary. For example, you can install an employee time tracking software, like Staff Timer, to track attendance, breaks, and work hours. 

Employee Monitoring Software: How it Benefits Data Privacy

Nowadays, data is considered as a more valuable resource than oil. In this new digital economy, data and what you extract from it is very similar to oil a century or so ago. It represents a huge untapped asset that – depending on how you extract and use it – can bring lots of benefits. When trying to extract value from raw material, you need to first refine it into a commodity. For data, the value is in the knowledge extracted. 

Now that we have established the importance of data, those who are in possession of it need to guard it well. There have been lots of data breaches over the years. Unsurprisingly, one of the leading causes behind these breaches has been insider threats. According to Insider Threat Report 2018, almost 90% of companies are vulnerable to insider attacks. 

So what should companies do? One way to increase data privacy and decrease insider threats is by monitoring your employees. It’s not the most attractive idea but it gets the job done. In this article, we’re going to discuss how employers can use employee monitoring and some other methods to increase data privacy. 

Employee Monitoring

Employee monitoring is getting increasingly important in this day and age. Why you may ask? Well, it mostly has to do with our decreasing attention spans. 

It’s very easy for us to get distracted. The average human span is now just eight seconds. Mobile phones and social media apps are one of our main distractions. That’s not exactly surprising. We are always getting the urge to check on our mobile phones. This is quickly becoming a major problem for employers as employee productivity is decreasing day-by-day. 

Recent surveys by staffing firms have been able to back this point. Those surveys have found that employees spend at least 56 minutes per day on their phones, using it for personal business. That’s nearly an hour of work wasted! Daily!

To increase productivity, employers are considering employee monitoring apps. Some of the ways through which employees can be held accountable for their work: 

    • Defining clear policies. Business owners need to write down their office policies. They should explain these policies in a clear and precise manner. Include them in a handbook or guide and make sure that all the employees have carefully read through them. If an employee doesn’t follow your rules then you need to immediately take disciplinary action. Also, avoid favoritism and ensure that these policies are being equally implemented on all employees. 
    • Choosing an employee time tracking software. Make a list of features that you would like in an employee monitoring software and then search the market. Look into apps, like  Staff Timer app, that can improve business operations by providing real-time monitoring and automatic time capture. These apps can keep track of daily employee progression and increase transparency and productivity.  
    • Blocking unproductive websites. The internet is a huge space filled with sites, like Facebook and Twitter, that can easily distract even the most productive of employees. Block these websites. If your employees tend to visit pages that have nothing to do with their job, gently remind them that they are on company hours.
    • Use video surveillance. Video cameras are usually placed in the office in order to discourage or detect theft. But that’s not their only use at the workplace. Companies can also use them to monitor their employees and observe how productive they are throughout the day.

Data Privacy 

No matter the size of a company, they can’t afford to ignore data privacy. Even huge companies like Facebook and Quora have been targets of data breaches in recent years. This means that small and mid-sized companies aren’t safe as well. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, almost 60% of small businesses collapse within six months after a cyber attack. 

Some of the most effective strategies regarding data privacy include: 

    • Identifying information flow. Businesses that know where their data is arriving from and where it’s headed to can identify vulnerable points. This lets them come up with informed decisions with regards to data privacy measures and policies.
    • Banning mobile devices at work. This may upset some employees but is proven to increase productivity. Since mobile phones are small and not very noticeable, hostile insiders can easily use them to rob or launch attacks on sensitive data. 
    • Allowing only company laptops. Just like mobile devices, hostile insiders can also use their own laptops to rob or launch attacks on sensitive data. To guard against this threat, companies should ban personal laptops in workplaces. 
    • Applying encryption. Companies need to use encryption in every bit of data, end to end. From USBs to data transfer, encryption is a must for all businesses that are serious about data privacy.
    • Use strong passwords for company laptops. Weak and short passwords are no good. Experienced hackers can easily break them. To protect your data, passwords should have at least 8 characters, 1 upper case, 1 lower case, 1 number, 1 special character, and contain no portion of the user name.
    • Regularly update your operating systems and browsers. Hackers are always leveling up and learning to break into various software. Tech companies update their software to get rid of the weak spots that these hackers have found. So fill these holes in security by constantly updating your system. 

 

How Entrepreneurs Can Stay Ahead of the Curve

As an entrepreneur, one of the most significant things you can accomplish for yourself is to set up a viable work-life balance.

When most people begin their business, they eat, sleep, and breathe work. From their life experience, they know the true value of hustle and diligence. Their whole focus is on creating something successful. In pursuit of success, they can let work consume their whole life.  

This will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on one’s health. Personal relationships become strained. The mind becomes restless and distracted. Many only seem to realize what their business needs have done to their health when it’s too late.

Balancing the needs of your business with your daily life is crucial to you and your business’s well-being. In this article, we are going to discuss four tips that can help entrepreneurs efficiently maintain a work-life balance.  

Plan Ahead

Protect your schedules and give importance to your time. It’s important to attentively plan meetings with clients and potential customers. Explain your need to give them your complete consideration and support. After that, offer suitable windows of time in which a meeting can take place.

Clients may assume that you don’t have other customers or commitments because your calendar is open for them—and so they may ask for rescheduling at the last minute or arrive late to meetings. If you don’t handle these matters delicately then they have the potential to affect your family time.

Take Time Off

It’s important to understand that enjoying your time away from work can help you remain focused while you’re at the workplace. It’s not about the number of hours you sit at your desk, it’s about the number of quality hours you spend at a task with your complete focus.

It takes numerous attempts to understand and acknowledge that getting some enjoyment out of your time off is useful for your mental well-being. Also, what’s good about running a successful business if you can’t take some time off and enjoy life?

Hire the Right People

Hire smart individuals who can efficiently maintain your business in your absence. It will allow you to take some days off and spend more time with your family. This is the reason why employing the right individuals is essential. Or else, you will end up sacrificing your own time to keep the business alive and eventually wear yourself out.

Structuring your work culture around a genuine faith in work-life balance will be tremendously beneficial in the long-run. 

Take advantage of tools

Tons of business-related services and tools are available online. Instead of trying to manually complete your tasks, look into apps that can help you automate and streamline your business. This saves time and money in the long-run. 

Make a list that includes all the must-have features that you would like from a tool. Carefully search the market once you’ve made the list. Look into apps that fit your budget. Make sure that they tick all or most of your boxes. 

To maintain a work-life balance, entrepreneurs need to cleverly utilize their time. Use time management apps, like Stafftimer, to keep track of employees and tasks.  

Stay Healthy

It’s hard to inspire and motivate others when you aren’t healthy. No matter what kinds of sales you’re bringing in, if you’re not taking care of your body, it won’t be sustainable. Put self-care at the top of your list. Exercise, get on a healthy diet and sleep 6-7 hours per day. 

These are just some ways with which entrepreneurs can balance their personal and professional life. In the end, it all depends on the individual. If a person doesn’t give importance to his/her personal relationships then there is no reason for him/her to maintain a work-life balance.

How Machine Learning is Predicting Buying Behavior

Being able to understand or predict consumer’s behavior has always been a crucial process for marketers. Everyone wants this kind of prediction, for obvious reasons. Today every marketer wants to target the right audience for his product. The infamous artificial intelligence has made this job much easier, specifically, the deep learning emergence process has helped a lot.

Deep learning is a subset of AI, that has the potential to modify the future of marketing by predicting consumer behavior for businesses. It is basically a machine learning method that uses neural networks, close to those found in human brains. This network is very useful when it comes to voice recognition, employee time tracking software, language translation and perceiving objects.   

A well-known example of deep learning using to predict human behavior lies in self-driving vehicles. Many renowned universities like Cornell and Standford developed “Brain4Cars” programs, which consist of cameras, wearable devices, and sensors. These devices will continuously monitor traffic. This system will alert the driver when he is on the fast track and can even predict accidents. The system can apprehend the driver’s behaviors 3.5 seconds faster. 

Unwrapping new customer & prediction

A deep learning mechanism is able to find patterns inside of patterns within huge data to help retailers find the perfect audience they want. Deep learning has opened a doorway to hyper-personalization of marketing, by taking the intent of customer experience and interaction history. A university in China found that when deep learning was fed with information like consumer’s work conditions and hobbies, the system was able to predict automobile purchase intent and also the preferences of various groups of consumers.  

  • With Ai, marketers can rely on more authentic and data-driven insights, rather than making assumptions. 
  • CEO of Black Swan Data explained working of AI, and said Marketers can take social data, like customers sentiment data gathered by social media listening tools, to identify patterns that can help them forecast consumer behaviors months in advance.”
  • The research suggested that by 2023, almost every business will be using AI-tools to target the perfect audience

The prediction of what customers want, and perceive it right is like heaven on earth for marketers.

A dramatic increase in investment of deep learning tech

Today many corporations are already using advance AI tools to convey a personalized experience to their consumers, and predict what they will be needing afterward. 

Let’s take an example of the most famous streaming app today, Netflix. And also the infamous e-commerce site Amazon is also taking from AI. 

  • Their AI-driven recommendation is 85% more accurate.
  • Netflix is able to save up to $1 billion annually with the help of machine learning algorithms.
  • Amazon is using AI algorithms to speed up their deliveries, by stocking products close to favorable buyers. To reduce delivery time. 

Speaking of deep learning apps, how can one forget Google and Facebook. Google is using this for Google cloud, where Facebook is not far behind. With its development of DeepFace helping to recognize people in pictures with near to perfect accuracy. This social media giant is now up to create a unified deep learning framework, which will be accessible to their developer’s community. 

In the world of remote employment, many tools are being developed to ease employer. Helping them to provide insight into employee engagement activities. With the help of intelligent worksheets measuring your employee’s productivity is not that difficult today. 

However, deep learning is still in its early days, but it won’t take long to grow, keeping in mind the rapid growth of technology. Machine learning has already changed marketing tricks and tactics, and not keeping pace with the change would be a drawback for any new or old marketer.