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.

Are your staff going home on time?

Do you find yourself staying late at work more than you'd like or does your Smart Phone mean you are constantly connected to the office? 

Well it turns out you aren’t the only one with Australians working on average 7 hours overtime each week, and this unpaid overtime equates to $109.6 billion or 7.4 per cent of GDP. 

It has been well documented that a poor work and life balance has a direct impact on our health, relationships and workplace. A recent report out of the UK found that one in five employees had taken a day off sick because they could not cope with the pressure of going into work, with most citing excessive workload and/or long hours as the most significant causes of stress in the workplace. 

Now in its fifth year, Go Home on Time Day (Wednesday 20 November) is an annual initiative of The Australia Institute, in partnership with beyondblue. The Day is a light-hearted way to start a serious conversation about work-life balance - and we are keen supporters of the cause!

As a provider of automated Workforce Management systems, we are often asked about the value of tracking employee time and attendance data when an organisation only has salaried staff on the books. 

In our opinion, if you don't measure it you can't manage it. By having all staff clock in and out of work, managers and supervisors can easily identify just how much unpaid overtime their team members are putting in, and if there is a particular pattern forming. 

What's more, if your employees have to frequently work extra hours, workplace health and safety may be jeopardised through increased fatigue, potentially leading to a workplace accident and subsequent legal action. 

Armed with this information you may be able to justify hiring additional staff or bringing in contract labour 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 are working longer hours. 

In the long run, this will ultimately benefit your business as a motivated and happy workforce generally means increased productivity. 

To find out more or get your organisation involved in Go Home on Time Day see: http://www.gohomeontimeday.org.au/

2013 Australian Payroll Benchmarking Report

The 2013 Australian Payroll Association Benchmarking Survey is now open and we encourage all our readers to get involved.

By collecting and analysing payroll data and publishing benchmarks, the survey and subsequent report aims to assist participants in understanding how they compare with other businesses within their particular industry, as well as across many other sectors, whether they are top performers and where improvements might be found.

All participants will receive a complimentary copy of the report when it is launched in January 2014.

The report is unique as it is the only survey of its kind in Australia that specifically relates to the costs and efficiencies of the payroll operation.

Complete the survey here before 22 November.

In addition, feel free to pass on to other colleagues or peers that may be interested in getting involved.

2013 Australian Payroll Association Benchmarking Survey is now open

Melbourne Cup Day brings with it Sickies and Long Lunches

The Melbourne Cup carnival is in full swing, with many organisations across Australia busy planning themed lunches and office sweep stakes ahead of tomorrow’s big race. 

However legal experts are advising employers to have all the right policies in place before Cup Day to avoid getting caught out. 

Joydeep Hor, managing principal, at People + Culture Strategies, explains that it doesn't matter whether you decide to have a half-day or not: you need to set expectations for all staff so there's no disappointment or confusion on the day. 

“Issues have arisen in the past for some of our clients where their staff assume they have the rest of the afternoon off, when in fact they are required in the office”. He also added, "There are plenty of complications regarding the consumption of alcohol and the risk of inappropriate behaviour, the disclosure of corporate information." 

Hor recommends that businesses spend some time setting guidelines for all staff about whether or not they should come back to work, if alcohol can be consumed, and any other related topics. 

Despite it been a Public Holiday in Melbourne, Victorian employers have raised concerns about the tendency for workers to call in sick on the Monday before Cup Day - giving them an extra long weekend. 

While the majority of employees take a legitimate four-day weekend by applying for leave in advance, employers have also experienced a significant increase in unplanned absences or sickies on the day. For example, figures by absence management company Direct Health Solutions predict that there will be a 20-25 per cent spike in absences from work nationally tomorrow. 

The impact of staff taking a ‘mass sick day’ on a business is significant in terms of financial costs and lost productivity. Where possible, employers should encourage staff to use up any stockpiled leave if they are planning on taking an extra-long weekend. 

DHS chief executive Paul Dundon reports that sick leave costs us about $30 billion a year. "It seriously reduces service levels and causes a big disruption by affecting those who do show up." 

People working in call centres and manufacturing and production industries are most likely to chuck a sickie. 

Dundon acknowledges that the risk of being short-staffed can be minimised on Melbourne Cup Day if businesses host special activities or a luncheon.

New report reveals work is the primary cause of stress

Work is the biggest cause of stress in the UK, a study commissioned by mental health organisation Mind has revealed. 

The research showed that 34 per cent of those surveyed felt their job was either "very" or "quite" stressful and this was a bigger concern than financial or and health worries. 

One in five of the 2,000 people who took part in the survey said they had taken a day off sick because they could not cope with the pressure of going into work. However, 90 per cent made up a different excuse for their absence. 

Most cite excessive workload and/or long hours as the most significant causes of stress in the workplace. While the emergence of new mobile technology and the "alway-on" employee, as well as a lack of work-life balance are also common contributing factors. 

Employers can use the data collected by their workforce time management system to effectively monitor their employee’s time and attendance – analysing unpaid overtime, those who work from home, as well as absence statistics. 

Armed with this information they may be able to justify hiring additional manpower or bringing in contractors at times of increased activity, or at the very least acknowledge the effort being put in by their team - perhaps introducing some incentive or a Time in Lieu scheme for salaried staff who work overtime.

In the long run, this ultimately benefits the entire organisation as a motivated and happy workforce will lead to increased productivity, as well as reduced absence and staff turnover.

Chief executive of Mind Paul Farmer agrees, "Improving mental wellbeing in the workplace doesn't have to cost a lot. Our research shows that people whose organisations offered flexible working hours and generous annual leave said such measures supported their mental wellbeing."
 

Overtime and Absence costs Queensland Corrective Services $35m - what about your business?

Queensland Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis has raised concerns over “unacceptable” levels of sick leave, overtime and workers compensation amongst prison officers - with overtime and personal leave costing the state close to $35m last year*. 

Organisations need to establish an effective means of measuring and monitoring employee attendance and overtime, particularly across the Public Sector where they are under constant pressure to manage their wage bill more effectively.

Mitrefinch are currently assisting a number of Government and state agencies with their absence and attendance reporting needs, arming them with the information they need to optimise their workforce and eliminate costly overtime and contract labour.

With this information on hand, department heads and managers can quickly identify; how often a worker is absent, how much working time has been lost, if there is a particular pattern forming, and where absenteeism occurs the most (i.e. within a particular department, team). 

An automated Time and Attendance System is a powerful Workforce Management tool designed to accurately analyse employee attendance information and the associated costs. 

By recording unplanned absences and leave, a Time and Attendance System can generate a complete Absence Profile for an individual employee, group of employees, or department, for further analysis. As well as identifying how absence impacts the organisation's overall productivity. 

To help alleviate the problems associated with unplanned absence, in-built employee scheduling and rostering capabilities can help management to plan work schedules and shift cover according to available resources, skill sets, and pre-defined budgets. 

For more information on absence management, attendance recording and time tracking solutions contact the Mitrefinch team today.

* Source: HC Online

Safeguarding your business from an underpayment law suit with better workforce management

Yet another company is in the Fair Work Ombudsman’s sights for underpayment with SmartCompany reporting that an Adelaide windscreen company is set to appear in court over allegedly underpaying seven employees more than $100,000 over a period of four years.

In this case, the FWO argues the employees were paid flat hourly rates ranging from $12.50 to $21.62, "resulting in the employees variously being underpaid their minimum hourly rates, casual loadings and penalty rates”.

Employees were also allegedly instructed to work through lunch periods without a break, and then weren't paid for that time. One employee has also accused the company of underpaying annual and personal leave entitlements.

The FWO has been eagerly chasing businesses accused of underpaying workers, especially workers from other countries. However, business groups have complained the wage system is too hard to understand, with businesses likely to make mistakes because of the complexity of different awards and rates.

Safeguard your business from a potential Fair Work Ombudsman investigation

An automated time and attendance system can assist organisations with better workforce management by accurately capturing and recording employees’ work time and attendance information.

With this information a time and attendance system can easily calculate base and overtime pay, weekend and public holiday penalties, as well as leave loading and shift penalties and modern awards. This ensures consistent application of your business rules and compliance with federal and state workplace legislation.

A direct interface to your external payroll application further reduces payroll administration and the potential for costly payroll errors.

For more information download our White Paper "Howto choose the right Time and Attendance System for your Business".

Employees crying sick after Anzac Day to cost Aussie Business at least $36 million

The NSW Business Chamber predicts that about 173,000 Australians will pull a "well-known and obvious scam" by taking this Friday off after the Anzac Day holiday. 

Australia celebrates Anzac Day on Thursday April 25th

"It's amazing how many people get 'sick' on a Friday after a public holiday so they can create a long weekend," CEO Stephen Cartwright said in a statement on Friday. His advice to employees who want some extra time off is to plan ahead and talk to their supervisor or manager about booking annual leave*.


In dealing with unplanned absence, it is important for organisations to establish an absenteeism policy and make all employees aware of its content. A company can also gain significant insight into their operation by examining their workforce’s attendance and absenteeism information. 

If the business is small in size they may be able to track employee absenteeism manually. For larger companies this may not be an option, therefore they need to ensure that they implement a time and attendance tracking system that can: 

• Keep an accurate count of individual employee absences 
• Tabulate all employee absenteeism totals 
• Calculate the financial impact that these absences have on the business 
• Detect patterns where absences are particularly high 
• Differentiate between various types of absences 

The Mitrefinch Time and Attendance system can report on an unlimited number of absence codes. Each code represents a type of absence such as annual leave, personal day, sick certified, sick uncertified and bereavement, amongst others.

In addition, managers can keep a check on the percentage of absenteeism by employee, site, location, department and company on a whole, and then determine if an employee is above or below a plant or department average of absenteeism – and take appropriate action. 

The Mitrefinch Time and Attendance system includes a host of other features to assist with absence management and holiday planning including Leave Slots and Self Service tools. 

Leave Slots enable you to limit the number of staff that can book leave on a particular day, ensuring you have the right staffing levels to meet customer or production demands. Web-based Self Service tools make it easy for employees to view their leave balances and book time off, while supervisors can quickly approve or deny requests. 

Continue to our website to find out more information about automated time and attendance systems and absence management. 

*Read the full article on news.com.au

Effective Easter Holiday Planning with an automated Workforce Management System

Each year, the Easter holiday period raises a number of different workforce and payroll issues for organisations, representing a demanding time for HR and Payroll professionals across the country. 

Happy Easter from the team at Mitrefinch!

Common issues range from an increase in levels of absenteeism, a rise in the number of annual leave applications, and questions regarding the day or days that have been declared a public holiday by the respective state or territory government. 

As an employee or employer, you need to know your entitlements and obligations for public holidays during the Easter holidays. 

This year the following days are public holidays under the National Employment Standards: 

Friday 29 March 2013 (Good Friday) and Monday 1 April 2013 (Easter Monday) 
*Note: Saturday 30 March and Sunday 31 March are also public holidays in some states and territories in Australia. 

In relation to pay rates, casual employees aren’t entitled to be paid for a day off for a public holiday. Part-time and full-time employees who get the public holiday off are generally entitled to be paid their base rate of pay for the hours they would have ordinarily worked. 

Some employees are entitled to be paid a higher rate (penalty rates) when they work on a public holiday. Whether or not an employee is entitled to penalty rates depends on a number of things, including the industry and the job. 

Visit Fair Work Australia online for more detailed information. 

For Mitrefinch Time and Attendance System users we help reduce the extra pressure normally suffered by HR and Payroll professionals around the Easter holiday period with the following functionality: 

Award Interpretation: Automate all your payroll calculations, manage different pay and penalty rates associated with the holiday period, and import this information direct to payroll – reducing data entry, saving you time and reducing the potential for payroll error. 

Self Service Tools: Employees can check their Annual Leave Balances and Request Annual Leave, while Supervisors can check off anomalies and approve/reject Leave Requests via the web or a web-enabled mobile device. 

Leave Slots: Supervisors can limit the number of employees that can be off on a given day; employees cannot request Annual Leave once the limit has been reached. This feature is particularly useful in times of high demand for holidays like Easter or in the run up to and during the Christmas Break, as well as times of heightened production/activity. 

Group Absentee Profile: Allows employees to view Leave Slots and whether the allocated limit has already been reached, preventing them from generating requests for leave. Managers can also enforce minimum notice periods for absence, and set minimum or maximum length for leave. 

With all your workforce management needs automatically taken care of, all you need to do is sit back, relax and enjoy all those Hot Cross Buns and chocolate treats!

Positive relationships and better work/life balance 'key to job fulfilment'

According to a new study out of the UK, encouraging better relationships between staff and helping them strike a reasonable work/life balance could be the best workforce management techniques for employers looking to boost staff engagement and wellbeing.

The study by support charity Samaritans and insurance firm Simplyhealth, asked more than 1,400 workers to identify which aspects of their job they felt was most essential to feeling fulfilled at work.

Just under half (42 per cent) of workers felt positive relationships with their bosses and colleagues helped them to feel good at work, while 40 per cent said having a good work/life balance was key.

Receiving praise (26 per cent) and earning the trust of the boss (16 per cent) were also important factors. While just 14 per cent of workers said hitting their targets was essential for feeling good about their job, and interestingly only four per cent agreed that team activities including 'away-days' made them feel fulfilled.

Commenting on the findings, Rachel Kirby Rider, Samaritans' director for fundraising and communications, said: "Samaritans understand how interacting with people is really important and so it is interesting to see that having positive relationships tops the poll of making people feel good at work”.

"Our survey results demonstrate how looking out for each other’s wellbeing and having a good work/life balance is essential."

Employers looking to help staff achieve a better balance between their work and private lives could find that investing in time and attendancesoftware, which allows for the monitoring of employee working hours, can help achieve this.

Management could use the data collected by their time and attendance system to monitor not only the contracted hours of their staff but also the extra hours that employees put in to complete projects. 

Armed with this information they 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 their employees - perhaps introducing a Time in Lieu scheme or incentives for those that put in the hard yards?

This could not only improve staff wellbeing but also boost productivity, suggested Mark Day, spokesperson for Simplyhealth.

"Organisations with healthy, happy employees can find they see improvements in productivity and results," he added.

There are many more benefits of using an automated time and attendance system, visit Mitrefinch online to find out more.

Are you on holidays? Are your employees on leave?

In Australia, January is usually regarded as peak holiday season with many taking full advantage of the summer sun, school holidays, and enjoying an extended break from work. 

However many employers and employees can be unsure of their annual leave rights and obligations.  

Annual leave entitlements form part of the National Employment Standards (NES) with all employees (except casual employees) paid annual leave based on their ordinary hours of work. 

Fair Work advise that an employee’s entitlement to annual leave under the NES accrues progressively during a year of service according to their ordinary hours of work and accumulates from year to year. 

On termination of employment an employer must pay an employee for any untaken annual leave which has accrued. Leave continues to accumulate while employees are taking paid annual leave and paid personal leave. 

For more details on the NES and Annual Leave Rights and Obligations visit Fair Work online.

A time and attendance software system can easily manage and track absence and leave. Web-based self-service functionality also enables employees to check their own attendance information such as flexi-time balances and entitlements, absence history and planned leave etc…without having to consult HR 

An automated time and attendance management system can help you effectively manage leave and the holiday planning processes by: 

• Keeping a central repository of all employee leave records, keeping track of all leave types such as Holiday or Personal leave 
• Calculating leave eligibility based on an employee’s hours worked and hire date 
• Creating work schedules that take in account employees on leave, thus ensuring you have sufficient cover to meet customer or project demands and deadlines 
• Generating real time absence management and holiday planning reports 

In addition, Employee Self Service functionality empowers your staff to check their own leave records and entitlements, and request/book leave online without having to converse with their supervisor or HR. 

Want to find out more? If you would like find out more about effective Leave Management and Holiday Planning contact Mitrefinch today on 1300 884 831 (+61 2 8762 7888) or email sales@mitrefinch.com.au

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!

Festive Workforce Management: Managing Public Holidays

While Christmas is generally regarded as a holiday for most, there are a number of industries that will require staff to work across some or all of the public holidays. 

Image courtesy of Fair Work Australia

Managing public holidays and associated pay rates over the festive period can be quite confusing – in particular for organisations who operate nationally – as some Australian States and Territories adopt slightly different arrangements. For example, in South Australia, part-day public holidays have been declared from 7pm - midnight on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. 

Employees also have workplace entitlements on public holidays, regardless of whether they work or not. Fair Work Australia advises that minimum wages for working on public holidays depend on a number of things, including the industry you work in and the work you do. 

Under many awards and agreements, an employee who works on a public holiday may receive a penalty rate or loading for the hours worked, be provided with time off instead of payment of penalty rates, or receive equivalent time added to their annual leave balance. 

Fair Work also advise that an employee's roster can't be changed to avoid the payment for a public holiday if the employee doesn't work. 

Useful Links: 

• What Employees Get on Public Holidays 
• Christmas and New Year Public Holiday FAQs
• Annual Shut Down FAQs

Regardless of the State or Territory you operate in, a Time and Attendance system can take the stress out of employee allowances and entitlement calculations via inbuilt Award Interpretation functionality. 

Award Interpretation enables you to easily calculate base and overtime pay, weekend and public holiday penalties, as well as leave loading and shift penalties, ensuring consistent application of your business rules. A direct interface to your external payroll application further reduces payroll administration and the potential for costly payroll errors. 

Current Mitrefinch TMS users can easily configure their Time Management System (TMS) to process Public Holidays – for assistance contact Mitrefinch Support. 

If you are still processing your payroll manually and would like to put improved Workforce Management and automated Award Interpretation on your Christmas Wish List contact us via email (sales@mitrefinch.co.au) or call +61 2 8762 7888.

Festive Workforce Management: Managing your Casuals

Hasn't December just crept up on us once again! But alas before we can kick back and enjoy the festive season many of us are already feeling the effects of increased pressure as we count down to the holidays.

If you work in Operations or HR you are more than likely facing numerous scheduling and rostering challenges, while trying to manage multiple requests for annual leave, in addition to a possible increase in unplanned absence (with some staff possibly chucking a suspicious sickie to get some last minute Christmas shopping out of the way or recover from the staff party!)

Meanwhile, our friends in the Pay office will be busy calculating award entitlements, and allowing for the various public holidays and penalty rates (which can differ from state to state) - ensuring we all get paid correctly, and in time to spend it just as quick!

Our next three blog posts will look at different festive-related workforce scenarios and how an effective Workforce Management System might provide a hassle free run up to the holidays!

First up....Managing Casuals

Similar to Santa and his elves, many organisations (particularly in Retail and Hospitability) rely heavily on casuals to provide the extra manpower required to operate effectively over the holiday period.

A casual workforce needs to be closely monitored to ensure they are serving their purpose. If they are consistently late, taking long breaks or failing to come into work, you run the risk of having to pay your permanent employees or contract staff overtime to cover particular shifts.

Within a Workforce Management System, time and attendance tracking provides supervisors with a real-time report on a casual workers working time. In addition, when linked with project information or cost centres you can easily identify how they are performing against specific tasks, and address any issues before productivity is affected.

Scheduling or rostering capabilities allow you to create groups or pools of available workers to help with scheduling multiple sites, departments or stores. Casuals or agency staff can nominate themselves as being available to work for certain times of the week, and can be rostered on accordingly by supervisors to assist with filling positions or vacant shifts.

Mobile messaging functionality can send an automated SMS text message direct to the employee so they are aware that they have been included in the shift. Likewise if a shift becomes available a SMS message can be sent out to the entire group to see if anyone is available to work.

I bet you can feel your festive headache easing already!

If you’d like to find out more about how Workforce Management tools like Employee Time and Attendance, Labour Tracking and Rostering can help you manage your casual workforce visit Mitrefinch online or call us on 1300 884 831 (+61 2 8762 7888 if outside Australia)

The pitfalls of underpaying staff - what you can do to ensure it doesn't happen to you

A national service station operator has been fined for underpaying more than 200 employees, resulting in a $46,200 fine, as reported by Payroll News. 

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) also ordered Freedom Fuels Australia to back pay a total of $191,197 to the 234 employees it underpaid between May, 2006 and July, 2009. 

Organisations need to ensure they have systems in place to accurately pay staff - or face large fines

 According to the FWO investigation, casual and part-time workers made up the majority of the underpaid workers, and the mistakes were predominantly made in the calculation of overtime rates, namely penalty rates for weekend, shift and public holiday work. 

So how can other businesses ensure they don’t make similar mistakes? 

Small to medium-sized businesses without dedicated HR staff can ensure they are better equipped to manage employees by using free employment documentation templates available through the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website. 

A series of Best Practice Guides have also been developed by the Fair Work Ombudsman to assist employers make better use of the provisions of the Fair Work Act and better understand other aspects of workplace laws. 

Businesses can also benefit by implementing a Workforce Management System, which records employee time and attendance as well as automatically calculating specific pay scales, modern awards, pay penalties and overtime rates. 

This pay information can then be imported into the organisation’s payroll system – further improving the efficiency and accuracy of the pay run. 

Real time Absence Management reports also allow management to view the Annual Leave and sick leave taken by employees to date, while Employee Self Service functionality enables staff to view accrued leave and request holidays with the click of a mouse. 

For more information download our Guide to Implementing a Time and Attendance System. Alternatively feel free to call +61 2 8762 7888 or email sales@mitrefinch.com.au to discuss in more detail. 

 Read the full article on Payroll News: http://www.austpayroll.com.au/announcements/employer-fined-for-underpaying-200-staff

Melbourne Cup: the Race that can grind Business to a halt

With the Melbourne Cup day just a few days away, many employees across NSW are busy planning Cup day lunches and office sweep stakes.

However legal experts are advising employers to have all the right policies in place before “the race that stops a nation” to avoid getting caught up in any scandals.

Speaking to mX Sydney, Joydeep Hor, managing principal, at People + Culture Strategies, explains that it doesn't matter whether you decide to have a half-day or not: you need to set expectations for all staff so there's no disappointment or confusion come Tuesday.

“Issues have arisen in the past for some of our clients where staff assume they have the rest of the afternoon off, when in fact they are required in the office”.

He also added, "There are plenty of complications regarding the consumption of alcohol and the risk of inappropriate behaviour, the disclosure of corporate information."

The solution isn't difficult, according to Hor. Just spend some time setting guidelines for all staff about whether or not they should come back to work, if alcohol can be consumed, and any other related topics you may think of.

Despite it been a Public Holiday in Victoria, employers there have raised concerns about the tendency for workers to call in sick on the Monday beforehand - giving them an extra long weekend.

While the majority of employees take a legitimate four-day weekend by applying for leave in advance, employers have also experienced a significant increase in unplanned absences or sickies on the day.

The impact of staff taking a ‘mass sick day’ on a business is significant in terms of financial costs and lost productivity. Where possible, employers should encourage staff to use up any stockpiled leave if they are planning on taking an extra-long weekend.

In addition, there are numerous tools available to help employers better manage leave and absence.  

Leave Slots are an innovative holiday planning feature available in the latest release of Mitrefinch’s Time and Attendance System. 

This new functionality enables managers and supervisors to limit how many employees can be off on a given day or time period (e.g. the Monday before Cup Day) - averting potential staffing shortfalls and ensuring you have sufficient staff on hand to meet demand.

Employees can view available Leave Slots online and they will be unable to request leave once the limit has been reached – hence HR won’t need to deal with multiple requests from staff on what days are available etc...

In addition, Absence Profiling, allows you to see who took a sick day, when, and if any particular pattern is forming. For example, you could check back to last year and see if there was a significant spike in absence on the Monday of Cup Week – and take appropriate action.

If you happen to work in an industry where staff are required to work on Cup Day, an automated Time and Attendance Software System can also take the stress out of payroll processing – by easily calculate overtime pay and public holiday penalties, and exporting this information direct to your external payroll application. 

For more information call 1300 884 831 or email sales@mitrefinch.com.au

Read more: 

Smart Company: Cup day blues legal expert warns businesses to get their work policies in order

mX Sydney: Race that stops nation if boss OK

Is stockpiled Annual Leave an issue for your Organisation?

According to the latest Government figures, Australian workers have accumulated a staggering 129 million days of annual leave worth up to $40bn in wages*.

While this means a lot of overdue holidays, it can also represent a huge liability on the balance sheet for many organisations, and employers should take action and encourage employees to redeem accumulated annual leave as we approach the Christmas and Summer holiday season.

Interestingly, HC Online also report that a global study by travel website Expedia show that Australia is the fifth most holiday-deprived nation, and Australian workers are reluctant to take all of their leave due to the uncertain economic outlook and uncertainty over how their employer will react to their request. 

This is particularly important when you consider that, employees who don’t take annual leave can often demonstrate higher levels of depression or anxiety-related stress compared to those who do take their holidays. 

The “No Leave, No Life” campaign supported by Tourism Australia, provides organisations with helpful resources to tackle the issue of stockpiled annual leave. The campaign website features an employer toolkit with a series of modules and practical case studies to assist with implementing a successful annual leave program. 

Do you know how much annual leave your workers have accumulated?

An automated time and attendance management system can help you effectively manage leave and holiday planning processes by:

• Keeping a central repository of all employee leave records, tracking all leave types such as Holiday or Personal leave
• Calculating leave eligibility based on an employee’s hours worked and hire date
• Creating work schedules that take in account employees on leave, thus ensuring you have sufficient cover to meet customer or project demands and deadlines
• Generating real time absence management and holiday planning reports 

In addition, Employee Self Service functionality empowers your staff to check their own leave records and entitlements, and request/book leave online without having to converse with their supervisor or HR.

Want to find out more?

If you would like find out more about effective Leave Management and Holiday Planning contact Mitrefinch today on 1300 884 831 (+61 2 8762 7888) or email sales@mitrefinch.com.au

*Source: HC Online - No winners when it comes to untaken leave 

Also see our previous Blog Post “No Leave, No Life”