Time and attendance systems have historically been viewed as something of a deterrent to employee engagement; putting a barrier between staff and management who monitor workers and creating an atmosphere of mistrust amongst employees.
However, as these systems are evolving, they are bringing with them a range of added benefits that actually reinforce a company’s engagement strategy. It’s no longer just about clocking in.
It’s good to talk
Imagine that you work on a factory floor with hundreds of other staff. It could be easy to think of yourself as a small cog in a large machine, unimportant and overlooked by management, who never communicate with you. In this kind of environment, it’s easy to see how employee disengagement can set in.
With the advent of smart terminals, and the wealth of applications available, staff are now able to do much more than just clock in. They can also receive global bulletins and personal messages, reminding them of their worth in the company and the effect their input has made. You’re no longer simply asking them to clock in and out: you’re communicating directly with them, and improving the worker experience.
This daily communication channel can be utilised without the need for additional hardware such as workstations or even smart phones, which are themselves sometimes viewed as a distraction and a cause of low productivity.
Give me freedom
Although rather an oxymoron, attendance monitoring can provide additional freedom to your workforce which would not have been available to them previously. With mobile and virtual clocking in using smart phones and workstations, employees can provide a constant interaction with a central office, providing information about their location and working hours without physically being present.
This is also true for staff working across multiple sites in the same day. This freedom loses none of the control of any central precursor system either, since even remote managers are able to check their workers’ locations in real time.
Equally liberating, a time and attendance system could provide a small company with the infrastructure they need to allow flexible working hours which administrative restraints couldn’t otherwise allow.
Help yourself
Many companies still operate a leave system which has to be calculated manually by administrative workers, who are often bombarded by requests from other employees to check their leave allowance. Not only is this a strain on staff resources, it’s also a big missed opportunity for employee empowerment.
Most modern time and attendance systems offer employee self service functionality, allowing staff members to make their own leave requests and view their own attendance records. This gives them more control, allowing them to view their work schedules and hours worked.
Fair is fair
For large companies, it’s very important for a workforce to perceive fairness across all levels of the business. This is known as organisation integrity, and again is a factor in employee engagement.
With a time and attendance system in place, there can be no more petty squabbles over any staff members arriving five minutes late, or leaving five minutes early. The records will clearly show if someone is taking advantage of the system, and this will be flagged.
Support structure
Although employee absence is a whole separate topic in and of itself, it also shares some common ground with engagement. A time and attendance system can have an absence management component, which allows certain KPIs in attendance to be monitored.
When issues such as work-related stress and mental health can be caught early through observed absence patterns, management can direct employees to the correct support path before it becomes a critical issue and affects engagement levels. It fosters an environment where management supports rather than just monitors.
Employee engagement is no longer an issue companies can afford to neglect. As such, many organisations will justly be looking for technological solutions to support their engagement strategy. The latest time and attendance systems are in a prime position to do exactly that.
Bodet specialise in promoting employee engagement through Time and Attendance Solutions. Their modular software makes it easier for your organisation to implement flexible working hours or empower your staff through employee self service, and the award-winning Kelio Visio X7 Smart Terminal offers increased communication opportunities with your workforce.
Visit Bodet at http://time-attendance.bodet.co.uk/
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
