Stress Down this Friday

During the course of our working week, most of us experience some degree of work-related stress - be it pulling together a report together for the CEO, responding to a large tender, dealing with an irrate client, or having to tolerate an intolerable colleague!

The effects of stress can not only lead to lost days, but also a less productive workforce, and poor decision-making, nevermind the negative effects on employee health and wellbeing.

Only this week, a Women's Health Study found that women under a lot of stress at work are almost 40% more likely to have a cardiovascular event – which is quite alarming!

While WorkCover’s 2011-2015 Occupational Disease and Wellbeing Strategy, also found 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. 

In a bid to encourage employees to reduce stress levels at work, this Friday (July 27) is Stress Down Day, an initiative that aims to raise awareness and funds for Lifeline.

Everyday, Lifeline receives 1,250 calls from Australians in need of support. Sadly up to 50 of these calls are from people at high risk of suicide.

As part of Stress Down Day, organisations are encouraged to let employees take time out from their busy day to have fun, stress less and feel better  -  be it by wearing Stress Down slippers all day, going to work in pyjamas, or organising a stress free morning tea.

Some organisations have gone a step further and encourage "wind-downing" for their staff every Friday. Take for example, Kellogg’s Australia, where employees enjoy a 4½ day week, and head home at 1pm every Friday. “They get home to their families and get their shopping done. It is part of our culture,” HR director Michelle Bakar said.

HC Online advise that Friday perks needn’t be a costly exercise. Here are some benefits and perks that cost very little but may work for you and your team:   

Casual dress
Inviting employees to dress casually on Fridays has two major benefits. Firstly, employees who are heading out socially after work appreciate the option to come to work dressed casually. Secondly, it doesn’t cost the employer a cent, and can be an easy way to drum up engagement.

Free lunch
Providing a wholesome, fresh lunch for all employees (such as fruit, yogurt, pasta, rice, vegetables etc) on Fridays, may be one way for teams to wind-down together and casually discuss how the week has been. 

Friday arvo drinks
Putting on drinks and snacks at your workplace is an easy week-to-week recognition strategy to bring teams together, and foster ties between colleagues who otherwise may not have the opportunity to chat and collaborate.

Get your organisation involved! See the Stress Down Day website for more details and resources on overcoming stress - http://www.stressdown.org.au/

Check out our other stess-related blog posts:

Excessive Overtime may be linked to Depression: 

http://mitrefinchaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/excessive-overtime-may-be-linked-to.html 

Preventable job stress costs economy $730 million annually: http://mitrefinchaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/preventable-job-stress-costs-economy.html

Failure to comply with Fatigue Management laws costs Perth Truck company - how are you managing Fatigue?

Industry Search reports that a West Australian truck company has been fined $20,000 for failing to comply with fatigue management laws for its drivers.

Holm, trading as Cockburn Transport, employs drivers to transport freight across Australia on journeys that can take more than two weeks.

In July and August 2008, WorkSafe inspectors investigated the company's fatigue management practices and found it had failed to keep records of work time, breaks from driving or non-work time for trips undertaken by two drivers, and did not ensure that drivers observed fatigue management regulations on three occasions.

Interestingly, the company had been convicted of two similar charges and fined $10,000 in June 2007.

Acting WorkSafe WA commissioner Lex McCulloch said it was "disappointing" that some companies are still failing to comply with laws that have been in place since 1998.

Workplace fatigue is not isolated to the transport and logistics industry. Regardless of what sector you operate in, fatigue can significantly affect a worker’s ability to operate effectively, with side effects including reduced performance and productivity, and greater potential for workplace accidents.

Automated Time and Attendance systems can assist organisations with effective fatigue management, enabling them to proactively monitor staff work and break hours.

Employees have the ability to clock in/out or on/off jobs via wall mounted devices at the depot, head office or manufacturing plant, or via the Internet and mobile or wireless devices for remote staff. This attendance data is recorded and Supervisors and HR are sent an alert when an employee is approaching their work hour limit, enabling them to adjust rosters and shifts accordingly, and enforce minimum break times.

In addition, and automated Time and Attendance system can accommodate current workplace legislation and modern awards, as well as any organisation-specific work rules, and can easily accommodate any new legislative changes. This ensures that your staff are only permitted to work if they satisfy all the associated rules, providing you with ‘peace of mind’ that they are alert to perform their duties in a safe manner.

By automating annual reporting and maintaining a complete audit trail, an effective Time and Attendance system will also arm you with all the information needed in the unfortunate event of legal action.

Ask yourself, how does your fatigue management plan stack up? If you haven't got the processes in place maybe it's time you took a look at a system that will help safeguard your employees and your business. 

To find out more about how an automated Time and Attendance system could help you apply Fatigue Management procedures within your organisation check us out online, email sales@mitrefinch.com.au or call us on +61 2 8762 7888

Benchmarking Payroll: Feedback from the NZPPA Annual Conference and Payroll Expo

Mitrefinch were delighted to be a part of the New Zealand Payroll Practitioners Association (NZPPA) Annual Conference and Payroll Expo which took place in Auckland last week.

The event, the largest of its kind in New Zealand, featured an impressive line-up of presentations with a strong emphasis on current payroll legislation, with Peter Dunne, Minister of Revenue, providing the keynote speech.

Round table discussion groups hosted by NZPPA’s Accreditation arm, Inland Revenue, Payroll Giving, the Department of Labour, and Buckett Law facilitated interaction between attendees and industry specialists, enabling them to ask questions and find out more about services available to them.

While the Training streams covered conference related subjects such as; Customer service skills for payroll, the Wages Protect Act, Top 5 Payroll Calculations, handling difficult people and managing stress in Payroll.

As one of the event exhibitors, the Payroll Expo provided Mitrefinch with an opportunity to speak to a large number of payroll professionals on the challenges involved in fulfilling the ever-changing demands of their businesses.

In keeping with the Conference Theme, “Benchmarking Payroll - Improvement, Performance, and Achievement”, we were only to happy to demonstrate how our employee management solutions have enabled some of the world’s leading organisations to reduce payroll costs and associated administration, improve payroll accuracy, and achieve superior planning and control of employee schedules and jobs.

Our extensive range of data capture options, in particular our mobile applications for effective time management and job costing for remote staff, drew lots of attention to our booth, as well as our delectable Mitrefinch cupcakes (courtesy of the 12 Cupcakes company) and our prize draw for a hamper from The Sweetest Little Chocolate Shop!

If you missed out on the event, the presentations and photos will be available online at the NZPPA website later in the week.

Alternatively to discover how Mitrefinch Time and Attendance and Employee Management solutions could help benchmark your payroll processes contact us on 09 363 9557, marketing@mitrefinch.co.nz or visit us online.

Mitrefinch also look forward to exhibiting at the TAPS Payroll Expo in Sydney and Melbourne later this year (October).

Are your Admin staff stretched and overworked?

Well, apparently they aren’t the only ones, with new research revealing that three quarters of office and administrative staff in Australia are forced to work outside regular office hours.

And believe it or not, they aren’t just doing it to impress you or senior management. Being “over-stretched” and having too much work to do were cited as the main reasons for staying late in the office.

The study compiled by recruitment firm, OfficeTeam, examined the working habits of 540 administrative professionals across the country. They found that while 76 per cent of recipients admitted to voluntarily working outside their contracted hours, more than half of those questioned said that they felt pressured by their employer to put in extra graft to help keep on top of their workload.

Stephen Langhammer, Associate Director of OfficeTeam explained that, “It is the responsibility of employers to manage their staff’s hours and ensure that they are not burning out at work.” “Managers need to heed the warning signs and look at ways they can alleviate the pressure if their administrative staff are regularly working overtime,” he said.

Interestingly, the survey also revealed that 84 per cent of those questioned said that they sometimes went to work when feeling ill, while one in four were not satisfied with their current remuneration package. Langhammer advises employers who can’t afford to renumerate staff for the extra hours that they are putting in, to instead look at compensating them in other ways, and aim to offer a better work/life balance.

“Whilst alternative work arrangements have obvious health and well-being benefits for employees, there is also a strong business case for equipping staff to work flexibly, as it can boost efficiency and, in turn, reduce the pressure to work overtime and to come into the office when sick,” he added.

Source:http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/A1/0C06FEA1.asp

How might an automated Time and Attendance System help?

A first step might be to monitor the hours your admin staff are actually putting in at work. An automated Time and Attendance System will allow you to track when staff are working longer hours and if there is a particular pattern i.e. at month or quarter end, every fortnight etc...perhaps you need to hire extra manpower during these busier periods to help elevate the workload inflicted on your admin staff.

If you want to introduce flexible working practices, an automated Time and Attendance System can be customised to match your specific working patterns and legislation, supporting flexi-time and shift work across multiple sites and pay centres, while seamlessly integrating with you other business, HR and Payroll systems.

Web-based and Mobile Time and Attendance applications can be customised to allow remote clocking in from desktop PCs, laptops and the latest smart phones - enabling staff to clock in and out of tasks, appointments and projects whether they are in the office, working from home or out on the road.

In addition, by eliminating the manual calculation of working hours, an effective Time and Attendance System will eradicate the mountain of administrative work involved with payroll processing, and thus saving the Payroll Department from unnecessary stress and hardship as the generate the pay run.

While an Employee Self Service module, would allow your staff to manage their own attendance information in a controlled, accessible and efficient way. Employees could simply access the system online to view their accrued leave, entitlements, and request updates to their personal records without having to bother the HR department.

Want to find out more?

Don’t stress! Simply download our Free Guide on “How to Choose an Effective Time and Attendance System” or call us on 1300 884 831 for more information.