Author: dayoff

  • Employee Appreciation Event: How to Run a Successful One?

    Employee Appreciation Event: How to Run a Successful One?

    Employee appreciation event is the time for which employees wait for the entire year. It is an event where the great work of employees is recognized and celebrated, and many organizations take it quite seriously. The event is an excellent way to show employees that the chief and HR management section of the organization actually cares for their employees. This also lessens the amount of leave taken by the employees as they feel appreciated. In fact, several organizations witnessed higher employee retention and workers’ engagement by conducting the event.

    There is no good time than the appreciation event to begin putting ideas for the entire year recognition into practice. The employees are less likely to forget the appreciation event when all their efforts are provided with reward points or when they get a thank you from their HR managers.

    On this event, employers across the globe make the needed extra effort to appreciate the dedication of the employees, and numerous companies have embraced the occasion to recognize the contributions of their employees. The workers are provided special gifts and surprises at the event. Here you will know the reason this event is so important and the ways the employee appreciation event can be celebrated successfully.

    Why is it Important to Celebrate Employee Appreciation Event?

    Most of the workweeks concentrate on business goals, management decisions, or customer issues. On the other hand, an employee appreciation event is a special day where the teams are focused on who makes everything happen on a daily basis. Even a small recognition can make a huge impact on the motivation of employees. They take very few days off, and their engagement improves. You can view this through the day off app available these days. In particular, the recognition stimulates oxytocin levels, and these chemicals get created when people bond socially.

    Several research studies show that employee recognition also leads to a better customer experience. Studies represent that leaves are taken much less when seen in the PTO tracker after conducting employee appreciation events. But for making a successful appreciation event, you will need several ways in which you can celebrate employees’ work.

    Different ways for celebrating the Employee Appreciation Event

    1. Reward with experiences and gift cards

    Cards are quite popular for a reason. These cards provide the employees the capability to select rewards that they find meaningful. If you want to reward all the employees who have taken less free time by viewing the free time off tracker, you can provide them an exceptional experience by taking them to a theme park or a day trip. You can also take them to favorite restaurants or spas where they can enjoy their day.

    2. Playing games and socialize

    Organizations can engage in proper team games such as pub quiz, scavenger hunt, or office Olympics. It can be a great opportunity for teams to know everyone well in a fun setting and introduce healthy competition to innovative thinking. There are chances that you can see coworkers in a different light. Having fun together also brings colleagues closer, and this lessens the leave taken numbers when analyzed through the employee leave tracker app.

    3. Get creative

    Research shows that creative outlets other than work help in boosting job performance and reduce absenteeism when viewed from PTO tracking software. Introduce employees to take part in fun activities like painting, flower arrangement, cooking, origami, or crocheting. For making sure that all employees participate in those activities, propose several options and allow everyone to sign up in their preferred activity. It increases brain thinking and helps to take the masterpiece to their homes.

    4. Take employees on a field trip

    You can organize one field trip to the botanical garden, local museum, or park. There are also other options like visiting a factory or a picnic. Use the employee appreciation event as an opportunity to know your organization better. This will create a memorable day for the employees where they will have fun and learn something new. When you take the employees on field trips, they are less likely to take a lot of vacation leaves. Through a free vacation tracker, you can know how many leaves employees took for their vacation. 

    5. Bring some treats

    Desserts like cupcakes, candy, and donuts are some common appreciation tokens but take a step further and keep track of the favorites of employees. Instead of a chocolate box, bring in some cookies. After viewing the employee time off tracker, you can slip some questions about their favorable sweets in their free time and bring some delightful sweets to the employee appreciation event.

    6. Beautify their workspace

    In the employee appreciation event, one of the best things to do is to provide some greenery to the employees for their office desk. This will make them feel nice, and they will feel less stuck inside. The greenery will bring a fresh mindset, and the vacation leaves will reduce when you see it from the vacation tracker as the employees will enjoy their everyday. 

    7. Send letters or postcards

    Letters, postcards, or any other form of mail are a kind of special joy for employees when they receive it in the pandemic. Write an appreciation letter for all the employees, and this letter may be something which they can pin in their workspace. Also, remember to provide a special letter of appreciation to those employees who put in a lot of effort and took fewer leaves. For this, you can make a decision by looking at the leave tracker apps.

    8. Film a video clip

    You can ask your employees to participate in a short selfie video and thank the leadership teams for their support and care. This can be a full-fledged appreciation video. It is quite a meaningful way to portray your appreciation.

    9. Provide dedicated time off

    When it comes to time, it is something that cannot be taken back. When you see the time off app, you will get to know that even the employees who love their work always like a little free time. There are several time-based ways for rewarding the employees for putting in such hard work. Provide the employees some rest time to recharge again and get productive. Announcing such dedicated time off will be the biggest gift to employees at the employee appreciation event.

    Conclusion

    While it is great to have a successful employee appreciation event, organizations should not forget that employees need to be appreciated and organized every day. The more they get appreciated, the better they will get motivated.

  • Vacation Tracker App: 5 Best Practices and How to Use Them

    Vacation Tracker App: 5 Best Practices and How to Use Them

    It iIt is a fact that navigating the leave management task without a well-designed and professional vacation tracker app can be a very challenging task. Well, when you are equipped with the traditional tools, such as excel sheets, emails, or paper forms, your chances of enjoying accurate leave management are pretty low. You should always remember that a small mistake can lead to severe disasters, for example, legal complications, payroll processing errors, resource crunch, and more. However, all these things can be avoided just by using a leave management tool or a leave tracking system.

    Why is leave management crucial for every business?

    Even though some HR managers want to keep their employees at work for as many days as possible, they really need a fair share of leave to recuperate. Your overworked employees can be unproductive. Through leave management, you can manage the time-off requests of the employees in an efficient, accurate, and fairway. And for this, you can always use the vacation tracker app. Some other benefits that you can enjoy by using this are:

    • Better admin operations.
    • Real-time information.
    • Effective vacation management.
    • Reduced paperwork.
    • Better communication.
    • Improved compliance and more.

    Now, let’s talk about some effective ways to use the tool for best results.

    Some best ways to use your vacation tracker app

    1.     Creating leave policies exactly like how your company want

    You all know that all organizations are not the same when it comes to creating their policies. In fact, within the same organization, the holiday calendar or leave policy may change based on the location of the office and the team. So, it is crucial for HR managers to create leave policies based on location.

    When you have the best PTO tracker, such as Day off app, you can easily configure all the leave or holiday rules, covering balance proration, accrual calculation, work-week, leave encashment policies, and more. All these things can be specific to the organization while complying with the central as well as state regulations. So, go on and use a Free vacation tracker now to create policies without any issues.

    2.     Keeping an eye on all the unplanned absences

    For every business, unscheduled absences can severely affect productivity. No matter what is the reasons, a worker may be off, and keeping a tab on those unscheduled absences can be very challenging as well as hectic. Well, one of the easiest ways of managing such things is to detect the absences as soon as possible and eliminate the issue from the root.

    This way, you can easily reduce the chances of unplanned absences. For such reasons, having a Leave tracker like Day off can help you a lot. Such systems can be easily integrated with your existing attendance management system, web-based attendance, biometric device, access cards, and more.

    This way, the HR manager can get timely notification about the absence of an employee. As a result, you can effectively mitigate the cost of finding a new employee. On the other hand, as the attendance data will get integrated with the leave tracker of the company, this will ensure reduced efforts from the HR managers, and you can remain compliant with the rules.

    3.     For reducing possible payroll errors

    Manually tracking the leaves taken by the staff and then calculating the payouts at the end of the month can be very exhausting. Now just imagine, if you have an auto-updated Employee leave tracker app that is integrated into your existing payroll management system! Well, now all the calculations will be carried out automatically by the tool.

    This will be very constructive. A professionally developed and cloud-based Employee time off tracker, when used properly, can empower you with a lot of things. The system can be easily integrated into the payroll software, ensuring that all the leave data is validated accurately. As a result, there will be no payroll errors.

    4.     To easily accommodate complex leave policies

    In the countries like the United States, leave policies are quite complex. There are religious holidays, hiring negotiations, leave accruals, and more. Well, with a Vacation tracker or a professional leave management tool, you can easily deal with different complexities like the following:

    Approval workflows

    Where a sick leave may need approval from the reporting manager, a childcare leave may require a two-step approval. However, the leave tracking tool can be used to create complex workflows for such leaves.

    Leaves entitled to

    If it is a company’s rule, then such leaves can be auto-populated, and if you want, you can also set employee-specific rules using the vacation tracker app.

    Combing weekends with the holiday

    Some organizations don’t allow their employees to take a vacation before the weekends to extend the holidays. Your leave management software can identify that, and you will be able to prevent such misuse.

    These are some common types of complex leave policies that you can set using a leave tracker. Give such tools a try.

    5.     For leave analytics

    With a professional Free time off tracker, you can automate different types of HR processes. After that, you will get actionable insights as well as comprehensive analytical reports. The HR managers can now easily analyze the monthly leave data to come up with some smart and profit-oriented decisions. It has been seen that some business leaders generally underestimate the negative effect of absenteeism. Besides, they also don’t understand the impact of leave data on the bottom line of the organization. After a study, experts found that:

    • The average cost of vacations taken by the employees can be around 36 percent of the same salary of an employee.
    • The annual cost of administering leaves can go up by 27 percent. This may include the cost of legal support, internal audit, outsourcing expenses, and more.

    Using a Time off app, the managers can access the detailed leave analytics offered by the software for analysis, and they can estimate the cost related to the leaves.

    So, don’t think much and get the best vacation tracker app like Day off app now for your company. Use them in the above-mentioned ways, and you can boost up productivity.

  • How to Run a Successful Internship Program

    How to Run a Successful Internship Program

    In a business environment, organizations are always on the lookout for fresh talent and skills. From hiring freshers to taking interns for initial training and exposure, every functional organization runs its internship program from time to time. HR management is an important cog of the business ecosystem, and internship programs are crucial for HR management. If done properly, an internship program can create a mine of the resourceful workforce for a company. All successful companies look at internship programs as a mutually beneficial mechanism that works for the company. 

    Most HR managers launch internship programs to scout for promising talents early. In today’s world, when job roles have become very demanding, students want to learn and gain experience before fully stepping into the corporate world that allows business organizations to utilize and hone young talent. However, with this, the HR department and other departments have the responsibility of managing the interns well. 

    Plan and create your first internship program 

    Are you an HR manager or director who wants to start an internship program for his company but does not know the finer details? In this blog, we will discuss the necessities of starting an internship program for your company. Creating an internship program may look challenging as an extra task initially, but if you have got the basics right, it will be profitable in the long run. 

    Understand your target audience and their needs

    As we have discussed before, an internship program is mutually beneficial for your company and the interns. Thus, before initiating an internship program, always scope out information about the talent you want aboard. Understand what an internship is and how it fits into the definition and image of your company. Apart from this, always try to understand the youngsters you want to hire as interns. Understand what they need and want at a future workplace. Comprehend their career ambitions and projections. This will help your organization offer a lucrative internship program that they would want to be a part of. 

    Analyze your organization’s abilities

    An internship is like a relationship between your company and your interns. Thus, just like the prospective intern group, you need to evaluate your business too. The interns that your HR managers hire depend on your organization’s needs and resources. Gauge the resources your organization has to know how far you can afford interns. Of course, many people will go for unpaid internships. However, paid internships are way better because they give your company a level of credibility. Thus, you have to take note of the resources at hand. This will help you know how many interns you can hire. Also, note your company ethics and necessities to know what type of people you want to take on as interns. Analyzing your company’s purpose behind the internship program gives a clearer vision to the HR management. 

    Plan and design the entire program

    Once you are clear about what your company expects from the interns and what the interns want from the program, you have a solid scaffold of design to start with. After that, HR managers should get into finer details and plan out the entire program. From the duration of the program to the roles and responsibilities of the interns, your planning should cover everything. A great internship program comes with good planning and design. You need to assign mentors to the interns during the program too. Always plan so that you build a team of intern trainers and mentors. This should happen before the program launch to promote coordination inside the program. From day off dates to work dates, you should have everything charted out. 

    Understand the legalities

    Every business relationship involves legalities. Before starting an internship program and kicking off a new business relationship, always seek legal counsel and establish a legal framework. You should be clear about the policies and workplace rules that govern hiring an intern for your office. It would help if you had a healthy workplace environment, a good day off schedule, proper work timings, and safety policies in place. The interns that work with you later go out in the world as professionals. Make sure that there will be no legal conflicts with your interns during the program. Always ensure that you utilize your intern’s talents, not exploit his capabilities to make up for paid work. 

    Post the internship offer

    Once you know your organization’s capabilities in hosting interns on-premises, you can post the internship offers on recruiting websites and apps. You can also try to post these offers in print media. Ensure that there is a wide circulation of the advertisements. The widespread circulation of the offers will increase its exposure and expand your available workforce base. Of course, you might take a little longer than usual to hire an intern with a lengthy shortlisting process. However, widespread advertisement is a kind of marketing for your company. Moreover, some students may decide to apply next year for the program. This means the prolonged success of the program as well as your company. 

    Stay transparent during follow-up, and payments

    A sign of a good company and a committed organization is clear communication. When you start getting applications for an internship, always try to communicate clearly with the candidates. When you have hired the interns, always be prompt about payments and other bonuses. The interns should experience a smooth and organized work process with the company. Even when the interns leave the company, the after phase of the program should also be smooth and transparent. This ensures good communication between you and your interns. Good communication makes interns feel like they can come back for a full-time job at your company. 

    Whenever your company launches an internship program, you should look at the program as a multi-benefit one. The interns walk away with work experience from the program. On the other hand, your company can walk away with increased brand value, expanded human resource reserves, and more popularity than before. Therefore, an internship program needs to be planned out and executed properly. 

  • Employees’ Support: How to Gain it?

    Employees’ Support: How to Gain it?

    Support is an essential part of an individual’s life. Having a strong support system from understanding people can help you cope with everyday stress and anxiety easily. It gives you a sense of hope and power to deal with any situation. and it’s also essential for companies to get their employees’ support.

     In stressful places like offices, hospitals, MNC’s, and any workplace in general, where the workflow is endless, a supportive employer can save the day. When an employee is facing a crisis and needs assistance, a supportive employee who has your back is all you need to keep the work progressing. To win the support of the employees, one needs to be a supportive employer first. Good HR management will also provide a strong support system for the employees.

    Importance of gaining employees support

    A good support system is crucial for an effective workplace and inculcating a productive and efficient workplace environment. The support of the employer is extremely important as it impacts the positive nature of workplace culture. It is up to the employer to turn the office into a friendly or hostile place. It will not only reduce workplace anxiety but also make the employees feel valued.

    A supportive work environment requires a two-way process. In the employer-employee relationship, where one person holds authority or power over another at times creates distrust. Both sides need to maintain mutual understanding within the workplace. It is equally important to gain the support of the employees as well. Attaining this will result in high productivity in the company, benefit both sides, and create a sense of team spirit.

    As an employee spends a lot of time in the workplace, it is important to check on the overall health. Studies show that having a stable social support system has both mental and physical health benefits. It will reduce the risk of health issues like unhealthy body mass index, high blood pressure, depression, and anxiety, thus ensuring lesser days off and more productivity.

    How to create a supportive workplace environment?

    Employees spent their time in their workplace, so creating a strong support system to boost productivity and emotional health is essential. And a large part of this is in the hands of the employer. An employer can provide support to the employees in various ways. Some of them have been described below in brief.

    1.     Promote training and learning

    Providing virtual training and learning will nurture the career growth requirements of your employee. This will create a sense of affection among employees at the workplace, and in turn, they will give their best to the company. Training employees will increase their productivity while providing them with career growth. Planning and organizing training programs related to the company projects will have an overall benefit to the company and the employees. You can sit down with your staff and discuss which areas need development and plan training programs accordingly.

    2.     Maintain a work-life balance

    You could offer a flexible work schedule that is not too loose, neither too tight. You can schedule certain weekdays on which they can choose to work from home. Employers can choose a certain day where the working hours can be cut in half. It should be kept in mind that your employees have a life outside of the office as well. Allowing them to take unpaid leaves for emergencies will indirectly gain you their support at the time of crisis.

    Employees are often worried about their salary being deducted on their day off. Allowing paid time off or PTO will let your employee create a better work-life balance. Make use of the time off the app and show your employee that you care and support them.

    Refrain from contacting them if their time off app shows so. Employees are often worried about their salary being deducted on their day off. 

    3.     Good HR management

    The role of the HR manager is vital when it comes to providing a supportive environment, ensuring the development and career growth of the employees. Since they act as a link between the staff and the superior authorities, they contribute immensely in providing support to the employees. During the recruitment process, the HR manager should deliver all the policies, PTO tracker usage, schemes, and so on of the company to the new employee in a friendly and honest manner to feel safe and fully supported.

    4.     Listen to employee concerns

    Ask your staff to tell you or the HR Management their concerns and issues, however small they may be. Be consistent in your efforts and solve the issues concerning your employees without delay. This will make you a concerned recruiter. Be in touch with the HR team to hold all the staff issues and formulate effective solutions. Be it issues related to benefits, compensation, insurance policies, free time off the tracker, and so on. Being an active listener is one of the main elements for gaining the support of your employees.

    5.     Praise their work

    Everyone likes that little pat on the back saying that they did well every once in a while. Likewise, your employee’s efforts can also be appreciated by a formal ‘thank-you’ note or an appreciative email for the successful completion of a big tenure or project. You can award special achievements. While praising staff, do so positively. Be brief and specific, as employees like to stay behind the spotlight, not in on it. So, be specific and brief while talking about what the individual did and how it helped the company, and so on.

    Conclusion

    Support in a need and want for every walk of life. Like it is said, a kind word or a good deed doesn’t go unnoticed or in vain, so does a strong support system. When people witness a good deed, they feel inspired to do the same. Likewise, being a supportive employer will gain the employee’s trust, and the employee, in turn, will want to go ahead and give more to the company. What comes around goes around. Hence, a little support can go a long way.

  • Collaborative Culture: How to promote it within your team?

    Collaborative Culture: How to promote it within your team?

    Many companies like to talk a lot about how cooperation leads to innovation. But there’s not much effort behind all their discussion whenever it comes to developing a collaborative culture.

    Sure, every time in a while they hold a brainstorming session. And they just purchased some new software for communication. Perhaps their declaration of mission implies even cooperation.

    But when you look at how work is done on a daily basis, it’s a different picture. Departments often work in silos or are at odds with one another. Employees are aware of issues or suggestions for improvement, but they do not feel comfortable speaking out. They also understand that solo “stars,” not team players, are praised.

    This is hardly a climate favorable environment for invention, nor is it one in which anyone enjoys coming to work. In today’s complicated, ever-changing business world, failing to maximize your team’s potential through cooperation may result in your company falling behind.

    So, what steps can you take to make your company’s culture more collaborative? Putting up a few teamwork posters isn’t enough. It is, however, more achievable and enjoyable than you may think.” This is our step-by-step guide to getting started.

    What is a collaborative culture?

    Almost every organization engages in some form of collaboration. However, a collaborative culture does not exist in every firm. So, how anyone can tell a difference?

    People who work on a continuous and intentional basis form a collaborative culture. When someone wants cooperation, it does not always happen. Instead, it’s ingrained in how people go for their work on a daily basis, as well as their opinions toward them.

    The attitude that we are stronger when we work together is the foundation of a collaborative culture. It is founded on the premise that collective intelligence drives the most inventive solutions.

    Ways to build collaborative culture:

    1. Make relationships a main focus:

    People are more likely to work cooperatively with people they know and trust, so search for ideas to help team members to form strong bonds. This could involve establishing physical spaces that promote personal interactions, having regular in-person meetings (even if they’re done over Webinar), or organizing parties and gatherings in a nice environment where team members can get to know one another better.

    Employees who have valued relationships at work are considerably more engaged and motivated to take actions that help the company than those who do not.

    Rather than avoiding social interactions or failing to check in with employees about non-work-related issues, Organizational leaders should look for ways to engage with people and support the development of relationships – both inside their teams and among themselves and their teams.

     2. Define roles clearly:

    A highly collaborative culture requires the development of a clear collaboration plan, complete with particular goals and roles. Assess that employees at all levels are aware of their duties for teamwork and what their involvement in collaboration should entail.

    For example, your company may want to clarify that while every employee’s opinion will be heard, not every suggestion will be implemented, and team leaders will make final choices.

    Furthermore, collaboration should not be limited to personnel at specific levels within the firm. Organizations that are really collaborative require teamwork at all levels and from all departments.

    3. Make use of the appropriate tools:

    Technology makes it simple for organizations to work, whether they are across the hall or halfway over the world. The appropriate tools can help a team create a collaborative culture that works for them. According to one research, nearly two-thirds of skilled workers depend on technology to collaborate.

    To create a collaborative culture, you’ll need software that allows employees to collaborate and removes the specific obstacles to collaboration that they face on a daily basis.

    4. Assess your system of rewards:

    If collaboration and teamwork are highly valued aspects of your company’s culture, you should integrate them into your compensation system. If one person is rewarded for excellent achievements obtained while working as a “saboteur” rather than collaboratively, other employees may wonder whether they would continue trying to collaborate.

    Instead, reward teams who collaborate well, projects that bring departments together, and achievements that are accomplished as a result of cooperation.

    5. Everything simply comes down to faith:

    Employees must be willing to collaborate in order to achieve common goals, which can only be accomplished in an environment of trust, pride, and togetherness. People must feel comfortable offering and receiving genuine constructive feedback, being driven by a common goal, and having access to the tools and opportunities to interact. When people don’t see the value in involving others in their work, silos form. Diverse perspectives are essential for developing innovative solutions. Best Workplaces promote collaboration through a variety of practices and programs, but they all believe in the power of working together to achieve greater success.

  • Why Should HR Tech be Companies’ #1 Priority in 2022?

    Why Should HR Tech be Companies’ #1 Priority in 2022?


    It has been seen that most of the medium and small-sized businesses don’t prefer or they hesitate to invest in HR technologies. Some HR managers think these techs are expensive and they can manage the task manually. But the fact is, when you have the right HR tech, such as Day off, a free vacation tracker, you can witness a lot of amazing benefits. All you need to choose the right solutions that will fit your unique and specific requirements perfectly. A report has informed that the global HR technology market size would exceed around USD 10 billion by the end of 2022. That means companies are investing a lot of money in HR tech.

    Why HR technology or software?

    The principles of modern HR management say most of the employees in a company will interact with an HR software program at some point while working in the company. The tools, such as the Leave tracker, are used by employers and employees to manage multiple crucial matters, for example, payroll, employee benefits, time off or leave, and more. The HR tech is widely leveraged by the HR professional as well as leaders to effectively streamline the different processes of acquiring data related to the employees so that they can make the right decision.

    On the other hand, managers utilize HR software or tools to assist the employees in developing new skills and for performance tracking. Besides, some HR tools can be used for employee scheduling for a certain task. The HR system is an important part of any organization. The reason behind this is different departments utilize data from the HR tools to enhance their employee’s experience. Some of the major HR software or tools that an organization can use are:

    HRIS or HRMS

    The functionality helps the HR managers to properly manage the payroll, personal information and also benefits HR and administration services.

    Talent management

    Such tools help in onboarding, recruiting, performance, career planning, development, and more. In simple words, these software programs will help the HR management teams to find the skills that a company needs.

    Workforce management or leave tracker

    The best workforce management tools, such as PTO tracking software, can handle time off, leave, clocks as well as scheduling quite effectively.

    Apart from this, a company can also use IoT applications, artificial intelligence, workforce analytics, and more. Now, let’s talk about why a company should use HR tech in 2022. 

    Some reasons to make HR tech a priority

    You can get valuable workforce analytics faster

    If you are hiring the best talents in the industry, but your organization is not growing as per your expectation, then the HR managers, using the right HR tech, can acquire data that can help you determine the reasons. For example, is any department in your company turning over frequently? What is the cost related to the turnover?

    When you deploy an HR Tech, such as an employee leave tracker app, you can keep the information in a cloud database system, and you can also track then without spending a lot of time. Remember that having comprehensive workforce analytics readily available will make your planning or decision easier.  So, don’t forget to make the HR tech a part of your company.

    It’s time to automate some repetitive tasks

    HR technology can lower the HR team’s workload by effectively automating different repetitive tasks with some useful features, for example, performance analysis, attendance, record keeping, expense management, and more. When you have the best PTO tracker, you can easily track the leaves as the tool will record them automatically without making any errors. When the technology takes care of the task, the employees and employers will get more time to focus on the real task. The HR team will get time to find out a new method to increase employee retention.

    It will promote a better corporate culture

    The HR systems that come with a social feed and chat function feature can easily promote a sense of unity as well as cohesiveness among the staff. Frequently shared personal wishes, organizational announcements, and shout-outs will help in creating and maintaining a self-sustaining and transparent corporate culture. By using an employee time off tracker, you can inform the employees about your leave policy and can send them important notice faster at the same time.

    It will increase the security factors

    It is important for every organization to not waste their time using papers and lose important data as they are not in the central place. When your company has an HRIS- Human Resource Information System, you can lower the amount of manual paperwork. Besides, an Employee leave tracker app will offer a secure way to manage employees’ leave data. So, use them and make the workplace secure. Remember that employees and data security should never be considered to be an option; it is compulsory for all.

    The HR tech will increase employee’s capabilities and performance

    When the employees know how to complete the job requirements, how they can enhance their performance, and more, they can work accordingly to optimize their work. It is crucial for the HR managers to regularly communicate with the employees, and this is where they can a professional HRIS that can send reminders automatically.

    You will enjoy a better attendance monitoring

    Timecard fraud is a common issue, but it can cost companies money and time. Fraud can include taking a long lunch break, attendance proxy, and more. The timeclock or a Free time off tracker requires the staff to clock in through their employee ID, and this can eliminate some issues. Besides, such tools will add a better layer of security as to take leave; the employees will require the manager’s approval. You can also configure the tools to send a notification to the HR managers instantly if the employee is absent.

    There are many budget-friendly HR tech options available for all, for example, the Day off app, a trusted Time off app to manage leaves. These tools are designed to help the business today and, in the future, to keep running their business without any issues. So, HR tech should be the no.1 priority in 2022 for every company. Don’t think much and integrate the best HR tech now.

  • Bad Employees: How to Handle them?

    Bad Employees: How to Handle them?

    In every group or company, at least one individual lacks morale, low productivity, bad performance, bad attitude & behavior, and refusal to go by the rules. It is inevitable for leaders to deal with complicated employees at some point. Therefore, you must know how to handle difficult employees effectively. The Day off app plays a significant role in tracking the employee’s performance, which is why most HR professionals utilize it to identify undisciplined employees. Below are some proven strategies for providing solutions for dealing with bad employees.   

    Criticize the employee’s behavior, not the person itself

    While dealing with problematic employees, it’s better to not judge them as a person but focus only on specific behavior. It would prevent you from having any unproductive conflict with the said employee, which would not resolve their behavior. Since people are not often aware of how their behavior impacts their work and environment, you should bring it to their attention in a non-confrontational way. Show them examples of how their negative behavior is impacting the team and help them understand the problem. The reason might be poor communication, time management, and many more that lead to poor performance. Therefore, you should invest in a leave tracker to address these issues. Most HR personnel use a PTO tracker to monitor employees’ performance in their role, and the employer knows timely to manage them.

    Identify the causes of your problem.

    It would be best if you found the reasons behind the employee’s behavior. You can only address the problem effectively if you can diagnose the issues by identifying the causes. It might be about their work, issues with other colleagues, or any personal reasons that prevent them from showing their full potential while performing tasks adequately. As the employer, you should take responsibility for finding the root cause of their bad behavior. You can have your HR manager look into the matter and report to you. It would help if you integrated your company network with PTO tracking software to monitor the uncomplicated employees. If some troubling employees are taking leaves unasked, a vacation tracker would be very helpful for them to identify them. You can inquire about these issues with the said employee to resolve them. 

    Give appropriate behavioral feedback

    The majority of managers can spend months only complaining about the poor performance of the employees. But more than complaining, the troubled employee might benefit by getting some genuine feedback on what they should do differently to avoid causing the problem in the team because of their actions. Although giving behavioral feedback can be uncomfortable for the manager, it would not be awkward for the team if it’s reasonably done. When confronting the employee, it can trigger their defensiveness, so that this reasonable approach would prove very helpful. Use the employee time off tracker to look at their performance record and give them specific insight and instruction to improve their performance. Also, the manager should be open to receiving feedback. The reason could be about the company’s management style or any problem with the organization. Incorporating an employee leave tracker app also helps the employees to give feedback on the organizational system so that the manager can be aware of the employee’s opinions on the management system. 

    Inform them about the expectations and consequences

    As a team manager, you need to mention the instructions to be followed effectively without any misunderstandings. Once you have confronted the difficult employee, document your expectations for their behavioral changes; work with your HR management to develop a plan that establishes your objectives and a timeframe for them to work on their behavioral change. The HR team can evaluate the regular progress, document it on the Day of app, and report it to you. There should be mentions of consequences if the employee fails to abide by the instructions. 

    Discuss with your HR management

    Evaluate their progress by getting feedback from other coworkers. Evaluate the quality of their work and conducting personal meetings to get more transparency on their behavioral change. All these actions can be done over free time off the tracker. Sudden negative feedbacks coming from the team manager can cause tension in the whole team and upset them. Thus, you should stay calm and avoid judgmental critics. Give importance to facts to maintain honesty, professionalism and show a respectful attitude, or the employee might get discouraged. If the evaluation is not a success, it’s wise to discuss the matter with HR management. The HR team would implement company policy to deal with such issues—HR managers are professional at advising how to handle a difficult conversation with your employee.

    Identify the demotivating factors

    While dealing with an unmotivated employee, start by giving them the benefit of the doubt. Identify what factors are demotivating them to change their attitude. Check through the time off the app to see if your employee has too much work and less work. See if the employee is already fed off with their regular work and requires a new challenge. Estimate the employee’s skills that are required for the new potential task. Discuss with the employee to know if they require adjustment with their job description, should you relieve them of a heavy workload, or do they need specific training to perform on a task? Lack of motivation can develop disruptive behavior in fellow employees and create a toxic work environment. Employees can feel burdensome approaching the manager or the HR team when they require to leave, giving out any feedback, or redefining something about their assigned tasks. Thus, it would be best to encourage your employees to utilize a free vacation tracker, which is integrated with many other services to effectively manage employees.

    No employer wants to increase the rate of their company’s employee turnover by terminating an employee. However, a bad employee with no intention of showing development can negatively affect your office environment as well as your company’s reputation. Thus, you must learn to let them go if you are unable to handle their bad behavior. Consult with your HR manager to get advice and information on your company policy to terminate the employee. 

  • 8 Must-Read Books For HR Professionals

    8 Must-Read Books For HR Professionals

    Human resource management is the fulcrum of a company and its work structure. HR recruiting and management is a crucial process that creates an impact on all other processes of the company. Therefore, it is important to hire experienced and knowledgeable HR professionals for the team. If you are someone who wants to go ahead in the Human resource management sector, you not only depend on your college education but look towards expanding your knowledge base. If you want to expand the knowledge base, a good resource to start from is books. As a future or working HR manager, here are the must-read books you need to read for a secure future.

    The Best Books for HR Managers

    1.     Work Rules!

    Written by Laszlo Bock, the book is a resource based on human behavioral patterns. The book helps HR managers in working with people based on the different behavior they show. The Work Rules! Book also discusses HR management around behavioral economics. The book has examples from different work environments and industries of the world. Therefore, you can use these real-life examples as inspiration to better your problem-solving approach. Moreover, the book provides insights into the work culture of Google to the reader. This helps in a better understanding of a balanced work environment. The book shows an approach to creating a balance between creativity and structure for employees in the workplace. Hence, there is a lot to learn from this book.

    2.     Can I have it all?

    Written by Anuranjita Kumar, the book is a memoir of the Chief Human Resource Officer of Citi. Therefore, when you pick this book up for a read, you can be sure that you will get insights about HR management from the best HR management officer of a leading global company. As a woman leader in the HR management sector, Kumar brings a perspective that is seldom discussed in public. In fact, the book discusses how working women can handle every aspect of their lives and the go-ahead to be leaders too. If you want to bring gender equality to the workplace, definitely read this book.

    3.     I am HR

    The book is a refreshing pick among the current bestsellers. If you are among the new-age HR managers who are trying to make their own mark in the sector, definitely read this book. The book is written by the founder of LFR Inc. Thus. You get to see HR management through the eyes of someone who belongs to the corporate world. The book addresses the different stereotypes attached to the profile of HR managers. When you read the book, you will be able to know why HR management is seen as a boring and thankless job. The book also talks about the revival of HR management to make it more fun and employee-friendly.

    4.     Don’t Hire the Best

    The book is written by Abhijit Bhaduri, the chief learning officer of Wipro. The book talks about hiring fresh human resources and how HR managers can approach it judiciously. The nook talks about why the right fit for a job may not be the best of the lot always. Sometimes, HR managers have to choose the right person for the job unconventionally. The decision to hire someone depends on how the HR managers look at the process and the result. The book talks about small startup scenarios and global organizations from the hiring perspective. Thus, the reader gets a complete view of the corporate world and how to handle different work environments. The book helps in understanding the process of hiring from the perspective of the company culture, the people, and the role you want to hire for. As hiring is a major responsibility for HR managers, you might want to tap into this one.

    5.     Quote me if you can

    The book is written by NS Ranjan, the Group CHRO of Tata Sons. This specific book is one that holds a compilation of quotes from the author. It emphasizes the need for a happy working place for employees. It helps HR managers in creating a balanced and productive workplace at their companies. As the author is a leader in HR management, you get to read his words and be mentored by them.

    6.     Friend and Foe

    The bestselling book is written by Columbia and Wharton business school professors. The book presents an academic perspective with some research-backed facts. That book talks about healthy competition in the workplace and how competition and cooperation can be balanced in the workplace. The book talks discuss the mechanism of creating a friend out of a foe and how the workplace environment affects this process. You can learn a lot about trust and cooperation building from the book. Since the book is research-backed, you can be assured of what you learn from it.

    7.     Good to Great

    The book widely talks about what makes a company successful and includes human resource management in it. Whether you are in an HR management position or a leadership role, this is a book you must read. The book is authored by James C.Collin. The book goes in-depth into hiring the right people, leadership, and work culture. Moreover, this book will help you understand the culture of freedom and culture of discipline in the workplace. The book discusses how HR managers can balance each aspect of the work culture to create a highly productive workplace.

    8.     People Skills

    This book is an old one, originally published in 1979. This book focuses on the importance of communication and interaction skills and how to use them. As communication and people management skills are of foremost importance for HR managers, this is a very useful book to read. Therefore, this book will help an HR manager in slipping into leadership and management roles. It helps you build speaking and listening skills in the workplace. It also helps you in the peaceful resolution of conflicts at work. The book discusses verbal as well as nonverbal communication skills in the workplace. This book is like the all-in-one guide to effective communication and HR management in your workspace.

    These eight books are the bestselling, useful books that every HR manager should read at least once. Moreover, these books will help you in upskilling and upgrading your skillset in the role. 

  • Employees Performance: How to Manage it?

    Employees Performance: How to Manage it?

    Imagine this? You are the founder of this amazing start-up or company. Fast forward five years, and you are still where you started first. With average profits and zero growth of your brand. What happened? Where did you go wrong? There can be endless reasons if you do a deep analysis of the entire process you had been following. One of the contributing factors to this situation can be the employees. And no, there is nothing wrong with them, but employees performance is being checked and managed. Employees are the main building blocks of any business setup. Along with them, the HR management team acts as a supportive pillar to it all. An efficient and talented workforce of employees and an amazing HR team management can make your brand soar the skies and reach the top of it all. 

    Performance management is a very contributing factor to the overall growth of any company. It will help the employer set the company goals clearly, but it will also help the workers keep track of their improvements and mistakes and grow along with the company. The role of the HR managers is crucial when it comes to the performance management of the employees and the company as a whole.

    The purpose of performance management

    When it comes to performance management, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Evaluations of your assigned work for the entire previous year or a period of 6 months by the HR management team are usually done to keep track of your improvements and highlight areas where you need to focus more, and so on. Well, you are right in a way. But, there is so much more to performance management than you can imagine. 

    In simple terms, performance management refers to the interactions of the subordinates and the HR managers with the employees individually and, at times, a department as a whole. They carefully define the goals of the company or an undertaken project and look into how you carried out your action work as an employee. The main purpose of performance management is to evaluate and improve the employee’s performance and keep the progress in check.

    The advantages and disadvantages of performance management

    Let brush up with some of the advantages and disadvantages of having a good performance management strategy.

    Advantages

    • The positive performance appraisals give the employee something to be happy about. These are like those Parents-teachers meeting remarks you get from your teacher that fill you with surprise and happiness.
    • With the employee time off app, you can customize it to have a reasons column to mention what they do in their time off. Doing so will allow the officials to have an in-depth analysis of the personality of the employee. The managers can use this information when giving performance appraisals to fix the loopholes of the targeted staff.
    • While shortlisting the staff list, the employee performance surveys’ data can prove to be very beneficial. There is always someone better than the other. Comprehensive performance management can help sort the best ones out.
    • It helps the employee know the strengths and weaknesses and woke on improving them for the betterment of all.

    Disadvantages

    • If the employee strength is already one, conducting employee performance management drives can be tedious and time-consuming. Although using an Employee leave tracker app or related such apps can help get the process done faster.
    • The performance appraisals are usually very motivating for most employees. Henceforth, the appraisals can prove to do the opposite and be discouraging to fix certain employee defects.
    • Sometimes, the managers tend to be biassed and favor certain employees who take less to no day off. Although one can look into it using a day off app, the managers dealing with this can act unprofessionally.

    Some effective employee performance management tactics for HR managers

    As the name suggests, human resource professionals are present to take care of its human assets, that is, its employees. It is the role of the HR managers to boost the deal with all staff-related matters and ensure the growth and performance maintenance of the employees. 

    Listed below are some creative ways to do so-

    1. The HR professional can organize a general meeting to share the remodeled aims, goals, and company objectives to the entire staff population. It is when they know in which direction the company is seeking growth and development. That is when the employee’s performance will automatically align.
    2. One can use the 360-degree review and ask certain employees to give peer reviews. It is the employees that will help in providing an honest remark on the performance of their colleagues.
    3. You can go digital with your efforts and use a free time off tracker to overview when and how frequently the employees use their free time. It will help you in formulating a general free time activity or plan.
    4. With everyone slowly overcoming the pandemic that had the entire world upon its feet, businesses are slowly commencing. Some skill enhancement programs and teamwork-building competitions can be organized to get things back to normal. The scores can be added to the employee performance charts. Leave tracker apps can be put into the picture to show that the company cares about its employees.
    5. You can frequently write feedback emails and messages based on the annual performance to give the staff options and time to improve.

    No one is perfect, and it is not important to be a perfectionist either. Knowing your faults and weaknesses and working on them is almost as close to being perfect. And sometimes, it so happens that despite doing everything right, there are times when things go wrong. A great employee is open to advice and looks forward to constructive criticism. All you need to create history with your brand is some good HR strategies to maintain employee performance. To an organization, its employees are everything. Likewise, to the employees, the workplace should be everything. Passion and dedication can never go to waste. These should be included in the personality development of the employees. Nothing can stop you from moving mountains and making fabulous brand statements if things are managed correctly. 

  • Leave Policy: How to Create it to Boost Productivity?

    Leave Policy: How to Create it to Boost Productivity?

    As all the HR managers and CEOs are striving to keep the team productive and motivated at the workplace, different types of employee engagement activities may come in their mind. Well, while some fancy organizational retreats may work, you may not find them a cost-effective way to increase the morale of your employees. So, this is where a perfect leave policy comes to play. Out of all the HR policies, the experts think the leave policy always gets the maximum attention. An ideal leave or vacation policy creates a perfect work-life balance for the employees. This way, you can make sure that when they come to work again, they are motivated and refreshed.

    Even though developing a good leave policy for the employee is a crucial part of better employee engagement, HR management sometimes ignores this. As your employees go on leave frequently, the leave policy of the company is put to the test every day. So, how to create an ideal one? Can you do that using a Vacation tracker like the Day off app? Keep reading to explore more.

    What do you mean by a leave policy?

    In general, a leave policy is an important document that can lay down the regulations and various rules related to different types of leaves that the employees can take. Your company’s leave policy can set out multiple types of leaves for various situations, for example, grief, sickness, vacation, and more.

    Besides, it also states rules related to leaving encashment, availing leaves through a PTO tracking software, granting of leave, and more. Furthermore, your organization’s leave policy will reflect the professionalism and culture of the company through the policy’s tone, friendly quotient, and language. 

    Why does every company need a good leave policy?

    Leave is a statutory obligation of the HR managers and a right of the employees. Your leave policy will help you to define the total number of leaves the employees can take, the types of leaves they are eligible for, and the process for applying for leave using a Leave tracker like Day off.  When you have a leave policy, you can assure that your company will offer them the required time off to deal with their personal issue or other things. Now, let’s discuss how to make a leave policy that can boost productivity.

    Creating a perfect leave policy

    To create a leave policy, you will have to consider the below-mentioned points:

    • Your weekend policy
    • Different types of leaves offered to your employees
    • Public holidays
    • Rules governing the types of leaves

    Every company offers paid leaves to the employees even though there are public holidays based on the local labor law.

    Purpose for leave

    First, you need to remind your employees that they can’t take a leave every single day. So, you need to identify different leave conditions and then move with that in the leave policy creation process. Well, some common types of leaves that you can add to your leave policy are; sick leaves, maternity leaves, casual leaves, public holidays, first response leaves, religious holidays, paternity leaves, bereavement leaves, compensatory leaves, and more. Well, to make the process a little easier for you, you can always use an employee leave tracker app.

    Understand that laws related to leaves

    There are different types of leave policies the employers or HR management should follow to remain compliant with the law. For every company, it is crucial to follow the local leave, federal, and state leave laws and then check with a professional attorney to make sure they have the right policy. Due to the COVID-19, some states have expanded the paid leave or sick leave. So, carefully monitor the changes while creating an employee leave policy. A professional Employee time off tracker can inform you about these things.

    Add eligibility rules

    Well, not all the employees can take all types of leaves. For instance, while paternity leaves are only for men, only women can take maternity leaves. There can be different conditions for the employees to be eligible for a leave type:

    • A specific waiting period from the date of joining.
    • Preventing your employee from taking certain leaves combined with other leaves, for instance, taking sick leave with annual leave, may not be allowed.
    • Allow a leave if the leave balance of other types of leave is zero.

    You can set the rules as per your requirements. However, make sure that the leave eligibility rules are flexible. Besides, use a Free vacation tracker to circulate the rules among employees and get their feedback to know whether they are happy with that or not.

    Consider employee insurance

    Buying certain types of insurance can help the HR managers to cover the costs of employee leaves. For instance, every employer has to pay into the employee’s compensation. On the other hand, some other insurance, such as disability insurance, can offer benefits to the employees when they are suffering from any illness or are on leave due to childbirth or injury. For help, you can hire an experienced attorney who can guide you in choosing the right type of insurance.

    Set proper rules and regulations

    Formulate proper rules related to each leave, and then you should let the employees go through those rules before they can apply for a leave. Mention the rules properly and describe the process of applying for a leave. Besides, mention the condition for the leaves. Otherwise, these things can become a loophole, and later, it can be a major problem. Using Day off, you can easily send those rules to all at the same time. There is no need to hang the notice on the notice board.

    Creating the leave policy

    A leave policy is very important, and you should take it lightly as it can affect the cost as well as productivity. Considering all these things, you can now start creating a leave policy for your company that will be perfect for the company as well as for the employees. Once developed, let your lawyer go through this and then send the policy to all with the help of the Free time off tracker.