Thursday, November 29, 2012

Using Attendance as a Yardstick for Staff’s Attributes


When all else failed, employees would always resort to fake MC. Word of advice to employer: Let the staff have their designated leaves, the commitment will eventually follow 
(or we could hope so) 
During my primary school years, I judged absent students. A part of it was jealousy; another was suspicion. It was the consequence of my mum disapproval on any of my attempt to skip school. Worse still, my school presented an award for a student who excelled in attendance. I had never received such award but there were some special students who were given extra vitamins by their parents and never missed school for the whole year, who did receive that coveted honor. And my mum wouldn’t fail to give me a snide remark to remind me the importance of attendance, “One thing you never got, an attendance reward. If only you were a bit stronger,” she used to say, much to my distaste.  She was right, as always, attendance does show a whole lot about yourself than you are ready to admit.

Not only was attendance a priority in school, later in life we learned that the priority on attendance has never shifted at the work place as well.

Why such priority is placed on attendance? It is apparently the fundamental performance indicator for every person or employee in a company. The logic is simple, what could be accomplished when an employee is out of work. Not much, isn’t it? Every employee is given a number of leave per year to indulge in their preferred activities so how could we explain the absenteeism and tardiness? Negative attributes, most definitely. And the fact that the employees are not motivated to be at work.

In contrast, attendance record could be used to gauge the positive attributes of employees.  The preferred trait a company could hope for from an employee is accountability. Without it, executing any plans either short or long term, could be a climb. And a success of any plan depends heavily on teamwork, which any one fails to turn up would cause the entire team’s instability; hence interrupt the entire schedule drawn up earlier.

One could argue that attendance is not as important as the capability of an employee. Some mediocre employee could be present 365 days throughout the year but not contributing much as well. But again, imagine what could be accomplished if a dedicated employee is always present and motivated to contribute for the company. A whole lot I would say. The fact that he/she puts effort to be present, the commitment level is there for the company.

Attendance also indicates self-control in an employee. It doesn’t matter how you might feel on a personal level but when work is concerned, you attend and be professional.

When I was in college in the 90s, I hated a few courses that were mandatory. My option was always to skip. Instead, I copied the notes from my friends who went. (Yes, you guessed it: my mum didn’t know about this) At the end of the semester I managed to obtain a B- but I could simply get at least an A- if I had cared enough to drag myself to class. See, attendance stresses the importance of learning. You can’t be absent and understand the learning process thoroughly. The point is, everyday is a learning process at work and absence takes away that part, which is an unappealing trait.  

After all is said and done, the bottom line of a business is revenue. When calls are not made as scheduled, when emails are not replied on time, when meetings are cancelled due to absenteeism, the company’s total revenue could suffer.

If you think attendance is not as important, think again. And when your company has a way to value attendance in dollars and cents, everything will make sense eventually. 

by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Crossing the "Cloud" When We Get to It




Very soon, we are about to step into into the unknown territory. We’re at the verge of venturing into the cloud platform of business where the priority has shifted from physical hardware to intangible products. And where intangibility is concerned, the quality service level must be second to none. Once a customer places an order online, delivery and support are of utmost importance. Everything happens in real-time and there’s very little margin for error. It’s absolutely different in terms of handling its operations.  It challenges your reaction time, and your capability as a company, as a brand, and as a team.

TimeTec Cloud business rides on a subscription-bases, where a customer signs up, purchases a subscription plan, and begins the subscription.  As simple as it sounds, to ensure the fluidity of its operation is the complete opposite. We have gone to hell and back to confirm that the flow is unflawed, making sure that our resellers are as excited as we are and that we’d be able to match the needs of our customers at anytime. Loopholes if any, are just too risky to not rectify immediately, and the cloud-centricity of the design must be prevalent to ensure the customer’s user-friendliness experience.

I’ve been in this business for more than 12 years dealing with hardware and software applications; to prepare the team for the cloud business platform is far from being a walk in the park. They need to grasp the understanding of a cloud business nature to be able to deliver customer’s expectancies. They have to be on their toes to handle instant customer’s enquiries/complaints/requests for support, and so on. The lead-time expected in any online business is almost instantaneous; the tolerance level of the customer’s close to zero.

Despite the concerns we have, the cloud computing technology gets us excited as it brings biometrics and attendance to another level. Cloud is the future; cloud is where we want to be. TimeTec Cloud redefines the possibilities in a workforce management software; it further emphasizes the advantages of biometrics system for SMEs.  Get round-the-clock consolidated data accessibility, accurate report analysis, and seamless integration with 3rd party application, all with your TimeTec scalable investment. 

Get started with a TimeTec Trial account and begin to understand the advantages and benefits of using a cloud-based workforce management for your company!

by Norana Johar, COO, FingerTec HQ