Even as early as 10 years ago, nonprofits were realizing that they too could achieve better workplace efficiencies by using strategies like PTO policy to lower the number of unscheduled absences in their organization. By implementing a system for paid time off and PTO tracking, managers could schedule time off in advance or set up overtime, and people were less likely to “call in sick” at the end of the year to use up all of their allotted time.

Nonprofits that started using PTO tracking and PTO management also found that people tended to call in sick less frequently and their organization lost less valuable worker time during the on-the-job hours. Merging sick time with vacation time can also mean that time becomes more flexible, with workers choosing to use the time or carry it over for the following year. Some nonprofits and government organizations, in the spirit of their altruistic missions, also have started programs where employees can create a pool in which to donate paid time off for colleagues that are in need.

One big trend in the PTO world is that people’s lifestyle have changed, and the old model of using paid time off for overtime sick leave or vacation only has changed. The “personal day” has evolved to mean many other things beyond illness and family issues, as modern schedules and work models change. For example, some nonprofit HR models now incorporate allowances for daycare pick-up and drop-off, half-days, and virtual work-from-home days.

Stress levels have increased, too, in the past decade, and often account for many absences. What’s that? Nonprofit employees are stressed? Absolutely. As the labor market becomes tight, there is “no demarcation between nonprofits and for-profits,” the article noted. “People are doing more work and organizations are running a tight ship.” Nonprofit HR has to account for this evolution and adapt accordingly, they suggest. One way to start is to check out some of the great resources on the web, from Idealist’s Human Resource Center to the Center Point for Leader Toolkit. You can also start using software like iEmployee to automate processes and make PTO tracking easy to implement.

The new generation of timekeeping systems is a far cry from either of those iterations. Time and attendance systems utilized by companies today are often a software product or strictly web-based, with no hardware involved. However, reliable data collection in a workplace where employees have less frequent access to PCs often requires physical time clock hardware. With the new biometric time clock options we offer — the TTG-400 and the IE-7200 — you can accurately capture time and labor data, eliminate time fraud, and reduce overall payroll costs. Time clock hardware from iEmployee also fully integrates with online timesheets, bringing the benefits of higher levels of accuracy and more efficient payroll processes, not to mention less administrative paperwork!

But why are these new clocks so great? First, they support any kind of punch-in punch-out system you want, from PIN punching, magnetic stripe, barcode badge, and RFID. Second, their biometric fingerprint-reading feature protects against buddy punching, in which an individual clocks in and/or out on behalf of another person. That way, you’ll only pay for time actually worked. And, they’re not complicated! With an easy user interface, your employees will not need a special training session just to learn how to use the “fancy new equipment.” It’s all very simple and straightforward.

What if your employees aren’t physically in the workplace? No problem. These clocks have an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to support a mobile workforce; employees can clock in and out just by using their phone.

*photo courtesy of Bernard Polet

Change is hard. Trying to explain change — such as new time and attendance tracking systems — to your employees is often the most difficult part of change. No matter how many conference calls you might organize or policy documents you distribute explaining your company’s web based timesheets, there is always going to be some confusion. Especially if they are not accustomed to using web based time tracking in the workplace, your staff members are going to need some help understanding and using the web based timesheets.

One way to quickly get everyone on the same page is to send an email to your staff list with a brief explanation of the new time management tools. Don’t bombard them with long text explanations, or lots of attachments. Instead, we recommend using the following template, along with a few links to the intranet or other centralized location where the documents (e.g., user manual, company-specific instructions, policies) are stored so that they can refer back to them at any time.

Below is a template that you can use as a starting point for this very important email.

Introduction. Use a friendly beginning, introducing yourself if you’re rarely in mass contact with employees, or if it is a new employee that has never met you before. State the purpose of this communication: “I am writing to give you a brief overview of the web based time system that we use here at [Your Company Name].”

Reasoning. Some employees are wary of time and attendance tracking systems, because they don’t understand how it benefits them and not just their managers. Explain that web based timesheets are used so that they can record work as it completed, at any time, ensuring that they don’t miss any hours and lose compensation (if they are hourly), overtime, or miss positive work reporting opportunities. And because they can log in and enter time from anywhere with an Internet connection — including their home — it gives them more freedom and flexibility to work from different locations.

How it works. Provide a short explanation of how time and attendance tracking works with your company’s system. Feel free to copy and paste this summary:

Timesheets are used to enter time against specific projects and tasks or activities and time off. We complete our timesheets by entering time against projects or time off codes, entering time only for those projects for which they are part of the project team. All time is either billable or non-billable. Once submitted, timesheets are sent to the appropriate project leaders, clients, and supervisors for approval. Approved timesheets are closed so the data can be processed, and you can be compensated for billed time. Timesheets with rejected items are returned to you for correction. When all items are approved, the time information is saved to the database.

Specific Instructions. Use this space to explain your company’s timesheet policy and process. Be sure to include deadlines, for example: “Users enter timesheets for the week by end of day on Friday. If users work on the weekend, timesheets must be submitted no later than 9:00 am on Monday morning.” Also note who in your company is the “owner” of timesheets, so employees know who to contact for certain types of questions. In addition to step-by-step instructions on how to use the time tracking system on a daily basis, add another set of numbered instructions for how to request paid time off.

Sign off the email with the same tone you used in your greeting, and note that all questions about the web based timesheets will be received by you personally, so your employees feel comfortable making inquiries directly, if their questions are not answered by the materials you direct them to in the beginning.

Whether you are introducing a new web based time system to current employees or training new staff on your company’s established time and attendance tracking system, a structured and personalized email will do wonders for your staff communication and ensuring that they adopt to your company’s time and attendance tracking system.

“Time is the new currency and employers remain committed to providing paid time off as a key employee benefit and reward,” Lenny Sanicola, benefits practice leader for WorldatWork.

The Paid Time Off Programs and Practices survey, which gathered data from over 1,000 WorldatWork members employed in the HR, compensation and benefits departments of mostly large U.S. corporations (Feb. 17 – March 5, 2010) also showed that 15% of participating organizations offer sabbatical leave programs (typically unpaid). For many employees, having the option of a long break in the middle of their busy careers is an important outlet.

Other key report findings:

• 21 days (12 paid vacation plus nine sick days) are allocated on average for one to two years of service using a traditional PTO system; 19 days in a PTO bank system.
• Employers offer an average of nine paid holidays each year.
• A vast majority of employers (all organizations with a PTO bank system and 87% with a traditional system) provide paid sick leave.
• The average number of paid sick days in a traditional system is nine. PTO bank systems do not distinguish between vacation and sick time.

With paid time off being such an important ingredient for many employees, PTO management (and PTO tracking) can be essential in maintaining open communication and organization within your company and staff.

Image Credit: Maureen Lunn

Enterprise-level timesheet systems do all of the basics — gather time and attendance information — but take it many steps further, with integration into payroll provider systems, consolidating employee information, and allowing managers to review and approve timesheets at various levels.

Here are a few companies and organizations that have benefited from web-based timesheets:

• LA County — a much-needed transition to online payroll, which included web-based timesheets. In the old system, HR managers had to report billing information on spreadsheets!

• Law firm Lowenstein Sandler used iEmployee’s time management tools to automate employee time tracking. The web-based time software served to capture, report and transfer all employee data to the firm’s payroll provider, Ceridian. With the iEmployee solution in place, employees could use a basic web browser to clock in/out as well as access and manage their schedules, time-off balances and attendance history.

• The Veteran Affairs department is on the trend, too. According to a new strategic plan, by 2012 the group expects to implement a web-based time and attendance system to better assess and track labor costs related to health care and benefits delivery, reports Federal Computer Week.

Those days are long gone. Sure, the concept of the “paper trail” is still here; there are many situations in which you have to keep documentary evidence of your actions. But it is much more limited in scope; the advent of digital records has reduced the total load of paperwork, making it quite manageable. There is, of course, still need for some paper documentation — just because you’ve digitized your files doesn’t mean you don’t need physical backup of the most important ones.

But keeping most of your records digital can be a great space-saver. Additionally, using online services in areas that used to be highly focused on generating and storing paperwork, such as HR departments and government agencies, can greatly improve efficiency. For instance, buried somewhere in your parents’ file cabinets might be some employee documentation, such as paystubs or even those old fashioned timecards! With an online payroll system, unnecessary paperwork is eliminated — it’s all stored online.

Below, more ways your processes will be simplified by putting your payroll online.

Fast, easy access.
iEmployee’s online payroll system lets you and your employees access paystubs and other account information immediately, so you won’t have to wait for the snail mail, email, or phone systems. Payroll is also sped up by online automation, with processing and check depositing moving much faster than with offline methods.

Do 10 things at once.
Sounds like it might make things more complicated, right? Well, doing 10 things at once is only complicated when you’re doing them manually. iEmployee’s automated payroll does so much for you, that it frees up your time to take care of bigger tasks. When your online payroll is providing employees with benefits information, processing withholding information, filing employee W-2 forms, completing direct deposit transactions, obtaining special reports, and providing electronic paystubs, you’ll have much less to worry about!

Minimize mistakes.
What’s the best way to keep information accurate? Enter it once, paying close attention to detail — and then re-use that information. Mistakes always arise when people have to copy information, so why not automate that process? iEmployee’s paystub interface integrates with leading payroll systems to provide a seamless transfer of employee data. Create new integrations with providers and third party applications to meet the demands of your business quickly and simply with our flexible technology.

To find out more about how iEmployee paystubs can simplify your payroll process, take a five-minute tour of the Time & Attendance software — just to see how easy your life could be.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Orin Zebest

ADP National Employment Report

A few highlights from the report:

• The sector that would create good wage jobs, the goods producing sector, is “going in the wrong direction,” notes Economic Populist. It declined -17,000 in June.

• The manufacturing sector increased 16,000, the fifth consecutive monthly increase.

• Construction is still losing jobs, this month 35,000, and so is the financial services sector, -10,000.
• Large businesses, defined as those with 500 or more workers, saw employment increase by 3,000 and employment among medium-size businesses, defined as those with between 50 and 499 workers increased by 11,000.
• Employment among small-size businesses, defined as those with fewer than 50 workers, decreased by 1,000 in June.

How accurate is this data? The pace from Feb.-June is consistent with other publicly available data, including a pause in the decline of initial unemployment claims that occurred during the winter months, says BusinessWeek.

And over the previous six reports, ADP’s initial figures were closest to the Labor Department’s first estimates — particularly in February. The estimate was least accurate in April, however, underestimating employment gain by 199,000.

How? It’s simple — better time management. But don’t think you have to organize your time all by yourself. Time management tools in the workplace, such as employee time tracking software, serve as an “assistant” that helps you organize time, as well as collect data for more insights into time spent on tasks.

With automated time tracking, you can avoid some of these very common time management mistakes:

Wasting time planning instead of doing
Too many people get caught up in trying to figure out the best time management tools, setting it up, and working with all of its complexities. Time management tools should be simple! They should be “invisible,” that is, you shouldn’t be so aware of the planning and time tracking system that it distracts you from actually performing tasks. When you harness technology like iEmployee’s employee time tracking, you will have more time to complete complex tasks because the manual (yet critical) tasks will be fully automated. Imagine how much more you can do when you are not spending your time updating personal information, benefits enrollments, collecting forms, and processing changes!

Not using time blocks
Time management tools like iEmployee’s time tracking divide up time into customizable blocks of time, which helps both employees and the managers that are reviewing the sheets easily see how time is being spent. There will always be a certain amount of time needed for “miscellaneous” or low-priority items, but these tasks will be less likely to suck up time and prevent employees from reaching their goals. Rather, time tracking reminds employees that they should be spending their time working on items that are going to help them achieve their larger goals — and to stick to that routine. It’s ultimately the difference between being busy and being effective.

Underestimating how long things really take
Time management tools serve to avoid the time management trap of underestimating how much time you need to complete a task. When employees track their time with iEmployee’s time tracking system, they will always have access to real information on how much time they spent doing a certain task. It is an invaluable reference for them to be able to estimate how much time they will need for future, related tasks — and be able to budget time for those accordingly.

What exactly is excessive internet use? Some 27,500 website hits, the company said, noting that they had “no idea” how to interpret the internet usage report. However, they argued that Innes admitted he spent “certain hours of unproductive work” via a submitted timesheet.

The amount of time he spent surfing the web has not been challenged, but the tribunal said that the company did not have a frame of reference for what they called “a ridiculous amount of time” since the manager who fired Innes “made no attempt to obtain advice from the respondent’s IT department.”

The lesson? Before interpreting data you receive on timesheets or IT systems, check with other key internal stakeholders as to what constitutes an appropriate level of poor employee behavior or performance before taking action — or you might be opening yourself up to uneccesary litigation costs.

Scottish and Southern Energy, in the meantime, is considering an appeal against the decision, citing disappointment at the call of the tribunal.

But what are the true benefits of PTO software? Sure, these features are great to have to make the PTO management process run more smoothly. But the real value lies in how PTO software can help you avoid uncomfortable situations in the workplace that often occur in its absence.

Here are two common problems with a non-automated system:

• Situation A: Benjamin wants to go on vacation, but he doesn’t know if he has enough PTO to take a full week, so he wants to arrange for 3 days of vacation and 2 days of sick leave. But when he tries to separate his PTO, he finds that there is only one category.

• The solution: Use a PTO software that allows you to categorize time off in a way that fits your organization. You could have a single pool of PTO or specific break-outs for sick and vacation. Moreover, PTO software like iEmployee Online PTO Tracking lends full visibility to employees so they can see their time-off accrual.

• Situation B: Cathy wants to take some PTO to attend a friend’s wedding in North Carolina, but unbeknownst to her (or the department manager!) three other people in her department want to do so as well.

• Solution: Use a calendar in your PTO software to view all time-off requests (pending, approved, rejected, etc.) to see at a glance if time off can be taken and if there is enough coverage to approve a PTO request. Also, managers and administrators can use a centralized inbox to stay on top of pending approvals and requests, so they can be sure never to let one slip through the cracks and respond to their team in plenty of time.