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!

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' 

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.

Up to 173,000 Aussies planning a sick day today - things may be a little quiet around your workplace!

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!

With Australia Day falling on Saturday this year, Monday is regarded as a public holiday. And as a result the NSW Business Chamber, warns that this Friday (today!) employers will encounter some additional 173,000 sick days, at a cost of $36 million, as many employees plan on enjoying  an unofficial extra long weekend.

As reported on HC Online, the peak business body advises employers to take a tough stance on the act of “chucking a sickie”, and communicate that such unplanned absence can have a detrimental effect on productivity. 

“It's amazing how many people get 'sick' the day before a long weekend, but it's an obvious stunt that only serves to damage personal reputations and morale in the workplace," CEO Stephen Cartwright said.

Employers are encouraged to communicate a willingness to approve leave requests either side of the long weekend where possible, he said, as this can greatly reduce ‘sickies’ taken. 

Generally when employees are aware of their annual leave entitlement and if they have a substantial number of days stockpiled, they will be more likely to use this rather than feeling like they need to use a sick day instead.

An automated time and attendance management system, with EmployeeSelf Service (ESS) 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.

In addition, by maintaining a central repository of all employee leave records, a time and attendance management system monitors and record patterns of absenteeism, sick leave, and productivity, enabling you to identify any particular patterns or sudden unexplained changes.

A time and attendance solution can also help you to effectively manage your organisation’s leave and holiday planning processes by:

• Calculating leave eligibility based on an employee’s hours worked and hire date
• Generating real time absence management and vacation planning reports
• Creating work schedules that take in account employees on leave, thus ensuring you have sufficient cover to meet customer or project demands and deadlines

So if you want to enjoy your Australia Day festivities without having to worry about the effects of unplanned absence, contact Mitrefinch on 1300 884 831 or visit www.mitrefinch.com.au to find out more about effective Absence Management and Time and AttendanceTracking.

Source: HC Online