Superior workforce management with workforce analytics

“In today’s volatile economy, companies are looking for new ways to do more with less and seek out efficiencies from their existing processes.”

Superior workforce management with workforce analytics

Traditionally information collected by workforce management systems served to assist the pay office in automating the payroll processing function. However accurate time and attendance data can be utilised to drive efficiencies across different areas of an organisation.
 

Automated time and attendance produces live reports with accurate, real-time data and analytics that can provide management with a better insight into their workforce. With this information at their disposal, they can identify potential problem areas, and take immediate action to resolve them before they have an adverse affect on operations.

Integration with other core business IT applications such as ERP, Outlook Email, Payroll, HR, and point of sale systems, further extend the use of workforce management information and corporate investment in IT systems.

Business areas where time and attendance information is proving to be particularly beneficial are job and labour costing, absence management, workplace health and safety and fatigue management.

The emergence of improved biometric data capture devices and the rapid growth of smart mobile technologies have also extended the reach of workforce time and attendance tracking, enabling organisations to effectively monitor employee activity and performance data regardless of where their teams are physically located.

No longer limited to payroll processing, this information is now being utilised to gain greater operational efficiencies, facilitate WHS and fatigue management initiatives, and plan production cycles and cost projects.

Celebrating Workplace Diversity with A Taste of Harmony

With one in four workers coming from overseas, there has never been a more important time to acknowledge and celebrate Australia's diverse workforce. A Taste of Harmony is an annual event that provides Australian workplaces with the opportunity to celebrate the diversity within their organisation. 

This year A Taste of Harmony runs during the week of March 17 – 24. 

As part of the event, workplaces are asked to register and then organise a lunch or afternoon/morning tea and encourage staff to bring a dish that represents their cultural background. Workers are also encouraged to share stories of their cultural background. 

“The team at Mitrefinch Australia consists of a number of cultures including The Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Korea, Fiji, the UK and Ireland, as well as some token Aussies. A Taste of Harmony provides us with a perfect opportunity to come together and learn a little more about where our co-workers come from while enjoying an array of different national dishes.” 

To find out more about Taste of Harmony or to register your organisation visit - http://www.tasteofharmony.org.au

Mitrefinch Time and Attendance Systems up for Innovation in Business Award

The Mitrefinch team are pleased to be representing the South West Sydney region in two categories at the upcoming NSW Business Chamber Awards which celebrate and recognise business excellence across the state. 

As winners of the Innovation in Business and Young Business Executive Awards at the regional South West Sydney Chamber Awards back in September, Mitrefinch will contest these categories at the overall State Business Awards gala dinner which take place on Friday November 29th at Sydney’s Technology Park.

Our Innovation in Business entry focuses on the ongoing development of our workforce time and attendance solutions; to include smart mobile and web applications, as well as the integration of leading-edge Lumidigm multi-spectral imaging technology for accurate employee data collection. 

While Marketing Manager, Jamie Fitzsimons, is in the running for the Young Business Executive title. 

“Simply been nominated as a finalist has provided us with a fantastic opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments to date and feel proud of what we have achieved as a team, especially as we celebrate our ten year anniversary in Australia this month” said Ms Fitzsimons. 

“We attribute much of our success to the users of our time and attendance and workforce management systems who are a driving force for continued innovation and product development within our business.” 

Tickets for the State Business Awards can be purchased direct for the NSW Business Chamber - http://www.businessannualawards.com.au

Celebrating all things Payroll with National Payroll Week and the launch of The Payroll Revolution

As a leading provider of Workforce Management and Time and Attendance Software, Mitrefinch is pleased to once again support National Payroll Week in Australia.

Running from March 18th to March 22nd, National Payroll Week aims to boost the profile of the payroll function within organisations across the country.

National Payroll Week in Australia runs from March 18-22

“During National Payroll Week we are delighted to acknowledge the important role that the pay office plays in every business”, said Jamie Fitzsimons, Mitrefinch Marketing Manager.

Payroll professionals are tasked with managing one of the largest costs a business has, ensuring all legislative requirements are being met and keeping up with award and entitlement changes, while developing processes and practices to ensure employees are paid accurately, and on time, every pay run.

“We enjoy working closely with the payroll community to develop user-friendly time and attendance management systems, that help automate payroll processing, and ensure compliance with entitlements, ultimately making life in the pay office a little easier.”

As part of the week’s festivities, The Association of Payroll Specialists (TAPS) in conjunction with ADP, are searching for Australia's Best Payroll Ambassador.

TAPS have also distributed posters promoting the payroll function to all their members, and will run their popular payroll photo competition with 10 $300 pay cheques up for grabs.

For more information on National Payroll Week or to nominate you or your team as a Payroll Ambassador visit TAPS online. 

In keeping with the Payroll theme, Mitrefinch also attended the official book launch of "The Payroll Revolution" in Sydney last week.

The book, written by Tracy Angwin from the Australian Payroll Association, provides practical advice for those working in payroll on how they can ensure they are highly valued in their organisation and be accepted as a professional in their field.

The Payroll Revolution is now available to buy online at www.thepayrollrevolution.com.au

Allan Murdoch (Mitrefinch Sales Manager), Tracy Angwin (The Payroll Revolution), and Jamie Fitzsimons (Mitrefinch Marketing Manager) at The Payroll Revolution Book Launch in Sydney last week

 

A sign of the times: Rise of Workaholics Anonymous

In this "always-on" society and with smartphone use going through the roof, is it really any wonder that we are breeding a nation of Workaholics?

After widespread success in the US, Workaholics Anonymous has made its way to Australian shores reports The Age Newspaper.

Workaholics Anonymous is a support group in the same vein as its more well-known namesake Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), with groups now up and running in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide. 

A recent study found people are more likely to experience burnout when they are exposed to continuous stress, long hours, increased workload and a feeling that they have no other work alternative. 

While WorkCover’s 2011-2015 Occupational Disease and Wellbeing Strategy, also reported that the number of claims for occupational diseases in NSW is increasing – with more than 17,000 claims for mental disorders such as work-related stress, anxiety and depression between 2007 and 2010. 

Organisational and industrial psychologist Dr Tim Hill said those with high ambition but a lack of stress management skills are at the highest risk for burnout. 

“If you’ve got a new hire who has a real need to prove themselves in a position that has a relative degree of difficulty, desire to prove themselves can turn into a compulsion – they may lose work/life balance, neglecting their needs if they have obvious behavioural changes, something like depersonalisation can be a strong indicator they’re on their way to burnout.”

Dr Hill also pointed to workplace bullying as a leading cause of workplace stress and burnout saying bullying often flies under the radar and workers sometimes feel reluctant to report it.

Employers are urged to look out for warning signs such as; a rise in absenteeism, increased workplace conflict and cynicism, isolation or detachment from others in the workplace.

An automated time and attendance software system can monitor and track employees’ working hours as well as unplanned absence and leave. By recording absences, a time and attendance software system builds a complete Employee Absence Profile which can be viewed on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. While a Group Absence Profile allows you to analyse absence for a specific team, department or site.

By measuring the work absences of individual employees a time and attendance software system can identify how these absences impact the organisation’s overall productivity, while real-time reporting allows supervisors and managers to quickly identify potential problem areas and address issues before they get out of hand.

To find out more about how improved Workforce Manangement and Time and Attendance Tracking can help you monitor your employee's work patterns visit Mitrefinch online

Sources: 

Human Capital Online 
The Age - Workaholics down tools to get their lives back  

Check out our other work stress-related blog posts: 

Excessive Overtime may be linked to Depression
Preventable job stress costs economy $730 million annually

Positive relationships and better work/lifebalance 'key to job fulfilment' 

Festive Workforce Management: Leave and Absence Management

In Australia, the combination of Christmas, the School holidays and Summer generally means HR departments across the country are being bombarded with various requests for time off. 

Give your HR Department the gift of Employee Self Service!

How your business deals with these requests can make a big difference to your bottom line - as well as your HR team's mental wellbeing!

A Workforce Management system, with Employee Self Service functionality, empowers your staff to manage their own time and attendance in a controlled, accessible and efficient way.

Employees can view their accrued leave, associated entitlements, and request updates to their personal records without having to bother the time-poor HR department.

A web-based interface could be customised to suit the needs of your complete workforce, handling remote clocking in from desktop PCs, laptops and smart mobile phones. This would enable staff to clock in and out or on and off tasks, appointments and projects, regardless of their physical location.

In the event that department managers are on leave, they can ‘escalate’ their responsibilities regarding approving/declining holiday requests to other supervisors. This ensures that any holiday-related issues are resolved without delay.

Absence Management functionality allows managers or supervisors to enforce minimum notice for absence, and enforce minimum or maximum length for absence – which can be particularly relevant for this time of year – as you need to ensure you have sufficient staff on hand to manage production or customer demands.  

To facilitate improved Absence Management, Mitrefinch have introduced “Leave Slots” into their Time and Attendance System (Mitrefinch TMS).

Leave Slots give managers and supervisors the ability to limit how many employees can be off on a given day or time period - averting potential staffing shortfalls and ensuring you have sufficient staff on hand during times of increased demand – like the  January Sales period for those in the retail industry.

Employee Self Service allows staff to view available Leave Slots online – they will be unable to request leave once all available Leave Slots have been allocated – hence HR won’t need to deal with multiple requests for leave availability etc... 

To find out more about Absence Management, Leave Slots and Employee Self Service visit Mitrefinch online or call 1300 884 831 (+61 2 8762 7888) and put improved Employee Time Management on your Christmas Wishlist today!

Suffering from overworkitis? Take a dose of "Go Home on Time" today!

Do you struggle to clock off on time? Never enough hours in the day to do all the things you want to do? Does having a Smart Phone mean you are always connected to the office?

 
New research by The Australia Institute in the lead up to “Go Home On Time Day” has found that, 6.8 million Australians' personal time is interrupted by work phone calls or emails, 2.2 million don't know what time they will be heading home from work when they leave the house in the morning, and 4.8 million find it hard to take their annual leave at a time that suits them. 

Now in its fourth year, “Go Home On Time Day” (November 21) is an initiative of The Australia Institute and its aim is to show employers and their staff that life doesn’t need to revolve around work. 

The day was originally conceived as a light-hearted way to start a serious conversation about the impact of poor work/life balance on our health, relationships and workplaces – and needless to say the team here at Mitrefinch are keen supporters!

The negative impact working excessive hours can have on an employee’s mental wellbeing are well documented. Just a couple of months ago, we reported on a UK study that found working 11-hour days on a regular basis can more than double a worker’s risk of depression compared to those who typically work an eight hour day – Read the "Excessive Overtime may be linked to Depression" blog post.

As a provider of Workforce Management Software Systems, we are often asked about the value of having a Time and Attendance Solution when an organisation only has salaried staff on the books. 

In our opinion, if you don't monitor your employees’ working time you can’t manage it! 

By having all staff clock in/out, managers and supervisors can easily identify just how much unpaid overtime their employees are putting in and if there is a particular pattern forming - e.g. staff being forced to work overtime around the end of the month or busy trading periods. 

Armed with this information you may be able to justify hiring additional staff or bringing in contractors at times of increased activity, or at the very least acknowledge the effort being put in by your team - perhaps introducing a Time in Lieu scheme or incentives for those that put in the hard yards? 

In the long run, this ultimately benefits you as a motivated and happy workforce generally means increased productivity! 

There are many more benefits of using an automated time and attendance system, visit our website to find out more or feel free to contact us directly on +61 2 8762 7888 or sales@mitrefinch.com.au 

Also, be sure to relieve work related stress this afternoon and Go Home On Time! 

For more info on “Go Home On Time Day” and to get your workplace involved see: http://www.gohomeontimeday.org.au/

Australian Businesses failing to fully embrace flexible and mobile working practices

While the economic advantages of having flexible work options are widely recognised, new research has found that 85% of companies do not have an organisation-wide work from home policy, reports HC Online. 

84% of companies either never let employees work from home at all or do so only on an individual basis (67%)

The research study by recruiters Robert Half found that despite the obvious benefits of work-from-home initiatives, such as boosting staff morale and productivity, as well as reducing employee turnover, the majority of Australian companies are still not embracing a remote workforce.

The main roadblocks citied were trust, security of information and access to technology. 

Key statistics from the report included: 
• 85% of HR directors* agreed that non-financial benefits, including flexible time, have a positive impact on staff retention 
• 83% of HR leaders said that they find it more challenging to manage remote workers compared to workers on site and only 58% said that remote working policies were in place • One in three (30%) of HR decision-makers said they are actively planning to implement a flexible work scheme to improve staff engagement in the next twelve months 
• 84% of companies either never let employees work from home at all, or do so only on an individual basis (67%) 

Andrew Morris, director of Robert Half acknowledges that, companies are right to have a certain healthy paranoia about remote working, but that paranoia is best addressed through good technology and tight internal policies. 

“Flexible time and remote work can be powerful motivators and may result in significant morale, retention and productivity improvements. But a flexible work policy needs careful implementation and close supervision to be effective,” he added. 

Writing for the Huffington Post, Claire Morley-Jones, managing director at HR180 ltd, advises that helping employees achieve a good work life balance is a sensible workforce management strategy, bringing benefits for both businesses and staff. 

She added, offering flexible working opportunities is an essential part of creating a good work life balance and helps staff fit work around their personal commitments, such as looking after their children. 

"Flexible working should be a culture and something that is available to all, whether they want to use it to undertake further study, pursue a hobby or spend time with their families at sports days etc." 

Investing in staff scheduling and mobile workforce management software can make it easier for firms to implement flexible working practices, allowing them to keep track of employees' working hours whether they are in the office or working remotely. 

For more information on mobile workforce management technologies visit Mitrefinch online 

*201 HR directors across a broad range of industries in Australia were surveyed 

Source: HC Online

Show your Payroll People some Love this Week

Many of us don't give payroll a second thought - that is until something goes wrong somewhere and we get paid incorrectly, but for the large part all we are concerned with - is how we are going to spend it come pay day!

Regardless of company size or industry, payroll professionals are tasked with managing one of the largest costs a business has, ensuring all legislative requirements are being met and keeping up with the changes, developing processes to ensure we are paid on time and correctly, as well as providing a wealth of employee information for the business to use in effectively managing its employees.

This week, it's National Payroll Week (NPW) in NZ, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of the payroll function within a business and how those professionals in the Pay Office manage to get our wages processed on time, every pay run.

As part of the week’s festivities, the New Zealand Payroll Practitioners’ Association (NZPPA) in conjunction with HAYS, are hosting a number of free* breakfast briefing sessions throughout the week in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Each session will have three speakers and morning tea available while giving attendees the opportunity to network with industry peers. 

In addition, NZPPA are distributing posters and postcards which promote the payroll profession to organizations all over New Zealand, they are also running a “Best Payroll Team” photo competition with $500 in prize money on offer. 

Organisations are encouraged to get involved in NPW by hosting their own morning tea or lunch with the payroll team, or simply just take the time this week to drop by your Pay Office and thank your payroll person for a job well done!

For more information on National Payroll Week please visit the NZPPA website: www.nzppa.co.nz

Here at Mitrefinch we are proud sponsors of NPW. Our Time and Attendance System (Mitrefinch TMS) aims to make life in the pay office a little less stressful come pay day by  automating the transfer of hours and rates to their payroll system, ensuring compliance with entitlements, and improving overall productivity and efficiency.

*Free for NZPPA members, for non-members a $12 fee will be payable.

More than half of employers to change working practices during the Olympics

Allowing staff to work remotely can provide a host of benefits for organisations. It means that employees who are unable to get into the office can still work, but from home. In addition, staff can do their jobs on the move, if they need to attend meetings or travel to client sites.

By introducing working from home, and other flexi-time initatives, companies can also boost staff morale, as staff who are allowed to work flexibly are often better motivated and more loyal to their employers.

Of course for many companies in London there will be major advantages this summer when the Olympic Games begin, as workers will be able to avoid the expected public transport disruption and work more efficiently from their own homes.

The British Government has in fact urged companies to encourage and support flexible and remote working practices during the 2012 Games, while Transport for London has also launched a campaign to get more commuters working from home to ease pressure on the Tube, train and bus networks.

According to a new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), more than half of employers surveyed are making changes to their working practices during the Olympics to enable staff to work more flexibly or enable them to watch key events at work. 

But London Mayor Boris Johnson takes another view. He has argued that home working could become a "skiver's paradise" for many in the capital who he claims will use the Olympics as an excuse to do as little as possible.

"Some people will see the Games as an opportunity to work from home, in inverted commas," he stated. "We all know that is basically sitting wondering whether to go down to the fridge to hack off that bit of cheese before checking your emails again. I don't want to see too many of us doing that."

His comments have been criticised by diversity campaign group Opportunity Now, which described them as "disappointing and damaging" and said it is frustrating that Mr Johnson has not chosen to support the many employers who plan to trial home working this summer.

Speaking to HR Magazine, spokesperson Rachael Saunders said: "Instead of wasting time battling through the tourist crowds, it is far better to be more productive at home - for employers and employees alike.

"Employers in London should continue with their agile and working from home plans during the Olympics and use this as an opportunity to prove outdated viewpoints like this wrong."

Of course while many employees will work to their full potential at home, it can be difficult to monitor what workers are doing when they are not in the office, which is why timeand attendance software and mobile clocking systems can be an effective tool.

Technology innovations facilitating flexible working practices

New technology and communication devices are making flexible and mobile working practices more and more commonplace. 

According to a recent study by Siemens Enterprise Communications, 85 per cent of communication devices used for team collaboration, including smart phones, laptops and mobile phones, are located outside the company headquarters. 

Siemens believe that this trend could result in the 'anywhere employee' - who can use modern technology to work from multiple locations - replacing the traditional office-based worker. 

The communications company says that in the past, staff would have had difficulty managing different platforms - such as email, mobile, landline and social media - outside of the office, whereas modern flexible and collaborative tools now mean this can be done seamlessly and irrespective of location. 

The increasing adoption of cloud computing is also helping organisations to enable remote working, said the study – with 40 per cent of the businesses surveyed intending to deploy some form of cloud computing in the next year.

"The rise of the anywhere employee has meant the end of the office worker," said Rob Keenan, head of UK portfolio management, deployment readiness management at Siemens Enterprise Communications. 

"Business tools, such as unified communications, are reshaping the way organisations collaborate and are helping deliver on the previously-too-difficult promise of enhanced communication. More than ever, work isn't where you go, it's what you do." 

Providing employees with the means to work flexibly can prove a useful absence management tool for employers, allowing staff to work from home or elsewhere should they be unable to make it into the office. 

A web-based time and attendance system would also provide employers with the capability to effectively manage and track their mobile workforce, regardless of their location.

With a web-based time and attendance system, staff can remotely clock in and out of tasks, appointments and projects via desktop PCs, laptops, notebooks and the latest communications devices and smart phones. They can also view their holiday entitlements, apply for leave, and request updates to their personal records without having to converse with HR staff. 

A web-based time and attendance system also facilitates real-time project tracking, providing accurate analysis of employee activity anytime, anywhere – increasing efficiency and ensuring that labour-related costs are genuine. 

For more information on how a web-based time and attendance system could help you embrace mobile/remote working contact Mitrefinch today on 1300 884 831 (+61 2 8762 7888) or visit www.mitrefinch.com.au

Fair Work Australia announce Annual Wage Review decision - what does it mean for your business?

The national minimum wage for Australia's 1.4 million lowest paid workers should be raised by $17.10 a week, Fair Work Australia has said.

Under the review, the adult National Minimum Wage will increase by 2.9% ($17.10) to $606.40 per week and to $15.96 per hour (equating to a rise of $0.45 per hour). 

So what does this mean for your business? 

The NSW Business Chamber have summarised the main points for us as follows: 

• All Modern Award rates of pay are increased by 2.9% effective from the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2012.  
• This increase can be absorbed into any existing over award payments. You will need to check the absorption clause in your Modern Awards.  
• If you are transitioning rates of pay to the Modern Award, an employee’s new minimum rate is his/her new Modern Award rate plus or minus 40% of the transitional amount.  
• For award free casual employees – the default casual loading has increased from 22% to 23% effective from the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2012. 

For full details of the Annual Wage Review Decision see the Fair Work Australia website: http://www.fwa.gov.au/sites/wagereview2012/decisions/2012fwafb5000.pdf 

Do you find it difficult to comply with Modern Awards and related changes? 

Ensuring you are compliant with penalty rates and modern awards can represent a major headache for many organisations, particularly those that operate nationally. 

An electronic Time and Attendance system takes the stress out of Award Interpretation and safeguards your organisation from potential legal action, by automating compliance with workplace legislation and your business’ work rules. 

A Time and Attendance system allows you to quickly and easily modify base and overtime pay rates, weekend and public holiday penalties, leave loading and shift penalties, as well as Modern Award rates as needed. 

To find out more about effective Award Interpretation contact Mitrefinch today on 1300 884 831 (+61 2 8762 7888 if outside Australia) or sales@mitrefinch.com.au

Do falling staff sickness levels signal rise in presenteeism?

In the UK, employees are now taking fewer sick days off work than at any time since records began, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed.

However, while absenteeism rates appear to be falling, experts have warned that this could be creating another workforce management problem for employers - a rise in presenteeism – where staff come in to work even when they in ill health, which can ultimately affect their own and their organisation's performance. 

In Australia, the latest estimates put the price of absenteeism at $6bn annually, while the cost of presenteeism could be as high as $34bn, according to a new report by Medibank.

"Sickness absence is in the spotlight because it is something management can measure, putting individual managers under pressure to reduce the level of absenteeism among staff - but it leads to increased presenteeism, especially during a recession," Ksenia Zheltoukhova, a spokesperson for the Work Foundation, told the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

“Employers have the ability to reduce presenteeism rates, thereby improving productivity and, in the long-term, generate a positive impact on their business bottom line,” Dr Matthew Cullen from Medibank Health Solutions said. 

As such, to minimise negative effects to businesses, employers should take steps to make staff feel comfortable about taking time off when they are ill as part of their absence management strategies.

Medibank advise that investments need to be made in the health of staff, so that employers can reduce presenteeism rates, productivity and, in the long term, generate an overall positive impact on business.

For more info see “Time to get serious about presenteeism, it’s costing you $34bn” on HC Online.

Mitrefinch are Auckland bound for the NZPPA Payroll Expo

Are you a New Zealand based Payroll Professional? or do you need to process pay for NZ staff from your Australian office?

If so, mark Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd June in your diary for the New Zealand Payroll Practitioners' Association (NZPPA) Annual Conference and Payroll Expo at the Crowne Plaza in Auckland!

Now in its fifth year, the NZPPA Conference is the largest payroll event in New Zealand, and Mitrefinch are once again delighted to be involved as a corporate sponsor.

The theme of this year's event will resonate with many a Payroll Professional - “Become a Payroll Whiz – Calculations, Calculations, Calculations" and will focus on all things calculations related to help ensure payroll is compliant - from the Holidays Act, Parental Leave, KiwiSaver, Superannuation, Salary Packaging, Extra Pays, ACC, and Payroll Giving, to understanding Taxable and Non-Taxable allowances. 

Determined not to be a talkfest, the NZPPA also aims to make the conference as interactive as possible over both days - with round table discussion, multi stream workshops, and real-world case studies from payroll practitioners making up a large part of the programme. 

The Payroll Expo will run in conjunction with the conference, allowing attendees to meet with vendors and learn more about the latest developments in payroll technology and available services. 

The Mitrefinch team will be on hand to demonstrate our Workforce Management solutions and data capture options for effective time and attendance management of all staff, whether they are on the factory floor, at a remote site or working from home - so drop by Booth 11 to find out more!

To register or to find out more about the NZPPA Annual Conference and Payroll Expo visit www.nzppa.co.nz 

Alternatively contact Mitrefinch directly on +64 9 363 9557 or marketing@mitrefinch.co.nz if you would like to attend the NZPPA Conference at the discounted NZPPA member rate!

Employers 'failing to grasp extent and cost of staff absences'

Employers could struggle to make improvements to their absence management practices by failing to recognise the true impact that staff sick leave has on their organisation. 

A study by Aon Hewitt has found that many organisations are unaware of how many working hours are lost through staff absences and how much this could be costing their business.

A poll of 185 employers in the UK, representing a combined workforce of 650,000 employees, revealed that 32 per cent of businesses do not know how many days employees are absent through sickness annually, while of those who could give a figure, 60 per cent were not very confident of its accuracy. 

Furthermore, more than half of the respondents said they do not measure the total cost of employee health issues, including absences, while 14 per cent did not know whether their organisations measured costs relating to health. 

James Kenrick, healthcare consultant at Aon Hewitt, said that employers who fail to report on these type of measures are likely to find it hard to improve on the way they handle staff absences. 

"There is a widespread lack of knowledge among the UK's employers about levels of absence through sickness and the wider costs of healthcare. This suggests a lack of focus on absence rates and on health generally," he said. 

"It is clear that there is a need for healthcare measurement and for tangible improvement on the current situation - but without an accurate picture of sickness absence and healthcare costs, employers will struggle to make and measure improvements." 

The survey also suggested that a lack of integration between absence management and healthcare strategies could be compounding the issue. With 13 per cent of those polled revealing that they view the components of their benefits programme completely separately from staff absences, while 36 per cent said they are only loosely related. 

"In our experience, once management is aware of high sickness rates and the corresponding costs, it takes only a modest degree of intervention to bring rates down swiftly," added Mr Kenrick.

An Employee Time and Attendance system is a powerful tool for analysing and managing employee time and attendance.

By recording unplanned absences, holidays and other leave (compassionate, parental etc...), a Time and Attendance system builds a complete Employee Absence Profile which can be viewed on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. While a Group Absence Profile allows you to analyse absence for a specific team, department or site.

By measuring the work absences of individual employees a Time and Attendance system can identify how these absences impact the organisation’s overall productivity, while real-time colour-coded reporting allows supervisors and managers to quickly identify potential problem areas and plan work schedules according to available resources, skills sets etc…

If you’d like to find out more about how an automated Time and Attendance system can reduce your company’s absence rates and boost productivity contact Mitrefinch Employee Management today on 1300 884 831 (Australia) or 09 363 9557 (NZ).

Our Free Guide to Choosing a Time and Attendance system is also available for download online.

Celebrating all things Payroll this March

With the launch of the National Payroll Awards and National Payroll Week (NPW) just around the corner, March has well and truly become Payroll Month!

For the majority of us, we don’t think twice when our wages are lodged into our bank account or we receive of pay slip at the end of the week or month, and rarely do we need to converse with the Payroll department.

While Payroll is often overlooked, it is one of the most highly regulated functions within a business. Compliance with complex Federal and State legislation, terms and conditions of employment and business policy is critical, and if that’s not enough Payroll Officers are often asked on a regular basis to pick up other roles. 

Yet, despite all these challenges, the Payroll team must remain focused and accurately process our pay on time, every pay run.  

However, during NPW it is Payroll’s time to shine! All over Australia, Payroll staff are encouraged to celebrate their profession and spread the word about the important role Payroll plays in their organisation.

As part of the week’s festivities, the Association of Payroll Specialists (TAPS) are running a Poster Campaign and Photo Competition. In addition, the Payroll Ambassador Award ($1,000 prize from ADP) is up for grabs.

For full details see: http://www.payroll.com.au/npw.html

But wait, there's more! Entries for the Inaugural National Payroll Awards are also open up until 23 March. Prizes include $2,500 for the 2012 Payroll Professional of the Year and a prize pool of up to $3,000 for the 2012 Payroll Team of the Year.

To enter, CLICK HERE or visit the Australian Payroll Association online for more info.

“At Mitrefinch we are big supporters of National Payroll Week, and are delighted to acknowledge the fundamental role that payroll plays in every business”, said Jamie Fitzsimons, Mitrefinch Marketing Manager. 

“Payroll is an extremely important component of every worker's life. Yet, the challenges involved with processing our pay is something that many of us take for granted.”

"Having qualified payroll personnel as well as a user-friendly system to help automate payroll processing can significantly reduce error, offering huge cost savings".

Mitrefinch’s Time Management Solution, TMS, is used on a daily basis by payroll teams and HR professionals. TMS can automate the calculation of hours, rates, awards and entitlements and this data can be easily passed through to the organisation’s payroll or accounting system – cutting payroll processing time and costly errors.

To find out how Mitrefinch Time and Attendance Solutions can make your job a whole lot easier contact us today on 1300 884 831 or sales@mitrefinch.com.au