Although managing expenses with Excel is a significant step forward compared to templates, paper, and pencil, it’s still a bad idea because there are much better alternatives.

The following drawbacks have led us to integrate a digital expense management feature into our software.

Every manual entry carries the risk of typos. With Excel, there’s the added danger of incorrect formulas and accidentally deleted data. This results in incorrect reports, leading to extra effort. Costs rise, work time is wasted, and nerves are frayed. By the way: According to a study by the Global Business Travel Association, one in five (19%) manual expense reports contains errors. Each correction costs a company an average of almost €50.

Manually entering data into Excel, especially with large data sets, and checking numbers, formulas, and more is extremely time-consuming.

While Excel is practical for many things, it scales poorly. Especially when many employees work on one document, chaos is often inevitable, and the task quickly becomes confusing and complex.

Closely related to the previous point is the risk of data inconsistency. No matter how many detailed guidelines and specifications are written, it often ends up in chaos. If the company works without an internal server or cloud, there’s always a risk with Excel that different versions of a file are in circulation and being edited. (In fact, this risk exists even with a cloud.) This can end in a small disaster.

What saves the most time? Right, automation. It’s arguably the biggest advantage of digitization. Unfortunately, the automation possibilities in Excel are very limited. It’s better than paper and pencil, but many processes still need to be done manually. This is time-consuming and inefficient.

Excel files can easily be:

• Copied
• Accidentally or maliciously shared
• Manipulated or deleted
• Or simply lost.

This undermines trust in the process and the accuracy and completeness of the data. Moreover, it poses a high risk to data security.

Excel has limited capabilities for creating comprehensive reports and analyses. Creating desired or required reports in Excel usually requires extensive know-how and is very time-consuming.

Compliance with legal regulations and the traceability of changes are difficult in Excel. Changes are often not documented or traceable. This poses an increased risk of legal issues for employees and the company.

Collaborating on an Excel file is problematic. While there are options to edit files live through internal servers and cloud solutions like Google Drive, it’s not flawless. Version control and traceability of changes are just a few examples of what can go wrong here.

The Excel skills of employees typically vary greatly. From absolute Excel experts to those who can only type something in, everything is usually represented. Managing expenses with Excel often leads to training needs and, in any case, a high error rate.

Excel may be ranked among human achievements alongside the telephone, camera, or wheel. As software developers, Excel is often the basis of new ideas. We analyze what Excel can do but also what it cannot. We try to technically address this “lack.”

If you think we just want to sell our software, you’re absolutely right. We want to sell our software. We founded absence.io 10 years ago because we are completely convinced that it will make life easier for everyone. (And without false modesty: We were right.)

Our new feature manages to eliminate or at least minimize all the above disadvantages of Excel expense management.

With our software, expense management becomes:

• Reliable
• Efficient
• Fast
• Scalable
• Consistent
• Automated
• Secure
• Clear
• Traceable
• Transparent
• User-friendly

If you want to see for yourself that we’re not talking nonsense, you can test our software for 14 days for free and without obligation. Additionally, our experts are always available for a free product demonstration and to answer any questions you may have.

• Digital Travel Expense Reimbursement: How It Streamlines Processes, Overcomes Obstacles, and Boosts Employee Satisfaction
• Travel Expense Reporting via App: Why Digital Submission and Accounting are Essential

The post Excel at expense management, just not with Excel. appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

This can be set up globally for all employees in just 30 seconds.

To activate the documentation requirement, simply go to “Settings” in your admin account (top right). Then click on “Leave Types” in the left sidebar and select the type you want to edit. In our account, this would be “Krankheit / Sickness” (though you might have named it differently).

Next, you can activate the “Requires documentation (e.g. doctors note)” by toggling it on. Here, you can configure several options:

• After how many consecutive sick days should the documentation requirement be activated?
• Should scheduled employee workdays or calendar days (the latter only makes sense in a few exceptional cases) be counted?
• When should the documentation requirement take effect?

All changes you make are automatically saved. There’s no need to click a separate save button.

When the specified number of consecutive sick days is reached, both the user and the admin receive a notification. This reduces the risk of forgetting to submit the required documentation to nearly zero.

In case you didn’t know: certificates and medical notes can be uploaded directly to the relevant absence record, keeping everything organized.

In the first few days, we received valuable user feedback: What happens with different, consecutive illnesses?

Example:
Joseph’s employment contract states that he must submit a medical certificate starting from the second day of illness. Suppose he has a severe headache on Monday and gets food poisoning on Tuesday.

In this case, Joseph would log two consecutive sick days but with two different illnesses.

To prevent Joseph from receiving a notification on Tuesday that he needs to submit a certificate, we built an additional function. You can activate or deactivate the “Disable creating absences of this leave type next to each other” toggle to specify whether the same absence type – in this case, “Sickness” – can be recorded on consecutive days without them being considered a single absence.

A heartfelt thank you to our users who continuously provide us with helpful feedback, helping us improve our software every day. ❤️

If you have any questions about the new feature, we are always available to help.

• AI in HR (Part 1): Potentials in Attendance and Absence Management?
• Travel Expense Reporting via App: Why Digital Submission and Accounting are Essential
• Time Tracking for Small Businesses: The Challenges and How to Overcome Them
• Digital Travel Expense Reimbursement: How It Streamlines Processes, Overcomes Obstacles, and Boosts Employee Satisfaction

The post New Feature: Automated Documentation Requirement for Sick Days appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

What’s the purpose of this?
Let me explain with a few use cases.

If you have company cars that your employees can use, you can create a leave type “Company Car” in absence.io, which allows an employee to book a car. Suppose you have five cars, you give the leave type “Company Car” a quota of five.

Once all cars are reserved on a particular day, this leave type cannot be used any further.

This function can also be used for specific tools, rooms, software licenses, etc.

Another use case is limited office workstations. In times of remote work and home office, many companies reduce their office capacities or even completely do without their own spaces, using, for example, coworking spaces like “WeWork.”

In this case, our new feature is extremely helpful. You create, for example, a leave type “Office Munich.” If you have 10 workstations there, you give it a quota of 10.

Now, the principle of “first come, first served” applies. If “Office Munich” is already booked 10 times on a particular day, all workstations are booked, and this leave type cannot be booked further.

This prevents the extremely annoying situation where people are left standing in the office without a place to work. This pleases both employers and employees.

“Not everyone can take vacation at the same time.” A classic issue in vacation planning. With our new quota function, you can optimize this situation a bit.

Suppose you have a business where someone must always be present to ensure business operations, for example, in logistics.

You have, for instance, 10 logistics staff members, and two must always be present. You give the leave type “Vacation” or “Vacation Logistics” a quota of eight. Again, the principle of “the early bird catches the worm” applies.

If this leave type has already been booked eight times within a certain period, it cannot be booked any further. The employee will receive a notification and can directly choose an alternative period.
Through the team calendar in absence.io, they can see exactly when someone is on vacation, making the search a bit easier.

This small but fine function prevents unnecessary overbooking and unpleasant discussions. If you use the function wisely, you can save a lot of time, nerves, and money.

You can find the function directly in the settings of your leave types. If you have any questions, we are always available.

• AI in HR (Part 1): Potentials in Attendance and Absence Management?
• Travel Expense Reporting via App: Why Digital Submission and Accounting are Essential
• Time Tracking for Small Businesses: The Challenges and How to Overcome Them
• Digital Travel Expense Reimbursement: How It Streamlines Processes, Overcomes Obstacles, and Boosts Employee Satisfaction

The post New Feature: Quotas for Leave Types appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

As experts in absence and time tracking, the topic of travel expense reimbursement is crucial for us. In our quest to add new features to our software and provide even better service to our customers, it quickly became clear that we wanted to integrate a digital solution for travel expense reimbursement into our app.

We’d like to share with you the arguments that have convinced us the most during this process in this blog post.

The “submitters” face the following hurdles the most with analog or “rudimentary digital” travel expense reimbursement (think “Excel”).

For submitters, the ordeal starts with finding the appropriate travel expense template. Employees who travel infrequently often spend a long time searching for the right document, which can turn into a sort of “scavenger hunt” until the template is finally found.

Solution:

With software or an app, this search is completely eliminated. You open the app and, with just one click, the necessary form.

A classic issue is finding the receipts. The business trip is over and the expedition begins. Where is the invoice for the train ticket? Where did I put the taxi receipt? Where is the receipt from the dinner?

It costs nerves, time, and money.

Solution:

This problem can be solved with a mobile app. Business travelers can submit all receipts on the go. The train ticket invoice can be uploaded as a PDF, the taxi receipt as a photo. Dinner paid with a company credit card is directly created as an expenditure in the app.

Guidelines change, both internal company guidelines and legal ones. Those still working with travel expense templates quickly find themselves in trouble. As guidelines change, not only do all templates need to be updated, but it must also be ensured that all employees are using the current versions. For the submitter, this often results in an annoying mistake. They use the old template, creating double the work and delaying reimbursement.

Solution:

A software solution almost completely resolves this issue. As guidelines change, everything is updated accordingly and centrally in the software. Using the app prevents the situation of using an incorrect template.

Analog processes take time. This is true not just for travel expense reimbursement but is one of the main arguments for digitalization in general.

Delays become particularly frustrating when it involves money, especially one’s own. Travel expenses and allowances are costs that the employee effectively advances to the employer. The fact itself is challenging, and every day waiting makes it more unpleasant.

Solution:

Apps and software significantly speed up the process. Searching for templates is eliminated. Searching for and submitting receipts proceeds much faster with an app. The responsible supervisor receives an immediate notification, can review the expense report, and approve it. Accounting has everything compactly and digitally at hand and can reimburse the costs.

The HR department also struggles with old processes. Digital solutions can simplify and streamline these.

An analog travel expense reimbursement is primarily slow. HR waits for receipts, which they then must individually check, sort, and process. This not only leads to delays in reimbursement but also ties up a lot of time that could be used more wisely by HR.

Solution:

A digital travel expense reimbursement shortens the time effort through more efficient processes. All receipts can be submitted digitally by the travelers along the way. This not only prevents waiting time but also reduces sorting, reviewing, and processing efforts. This frees up a lot of time, saves money, and spares nerves.

Analog processes are not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. Manual data entry always poses a risk. This includes calculation errors, missing information, etc.

It costs nerves, time, and money.

Solution:

Software and apps significantly reduce the risk of errors. The app takes over the calculations, receipts are automatically read, and the software issues an error message if something is missing or incorrect.

Paper can get lost, especially when there’s a lot of it. Physical receipts, forms, etc., tend to disappear. This can lead to minor but also massive difficulties.

Solution:

Digitally, everything is well preserved, especially when using software like absence.io, which operates with the highest security standards. This eliminates the worry of disappearing documents. Plus, using the search function makes things much easier to find.

A lot of paper requires a lot of space. The offices of HR departments are bursting at the seams.

Solution:

Digital requires little space.

Just as for employees, adhering to internal and external guidelines is a crucial factor for HR. Reviewing per diem rates, tax deductions, and other regulations can be challenging in the analog world when things change, new employees are hired, or one simply doesn’t remember a regulation.

Solution:

A digital travel expense reimbursement largely takes this problem off your hands. The software ideally knows everything. It not only calculates the per diem rates but also alerts both submitters and HR and accounting to anything that is missing or incorrect.

In today’s work environment, analog travel expense reimbursement is on the same level as phone books, fax machines, and filing cabinets. It needs to disappear.

The analog process is lengthy, error-prone, insecure, annoying, complicated, and expensive. A digital solution resolves old problems, straightforwardly and affordably.

These arguments have convinced us at absence.io to integrate travel expense reimbursement into our software, as it optimally complements and extends our product portfolio.

If you’re still battling through cabinet labyrinths and cluttered desks searching for forms and receipts, if you’re still chasing your employees or grappling with legal regulations: Come to us!

We’ll help you implement a digital travel expense reimbursement and take a lot of work off your hands. Just arrange a non-binding and free consultation with us, and we’ll take a closer look at the matter.

Hero image by Alexander Grey

The post Digital Travel Expense Reimbursement: How It Streamlines Processes, Overcomes Obstacles, and Boosts Employee Satisfaction appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

An app for travel expense reporting is not just a nice-to-have, but essential in modern and current work culture. Why? As obvious as the answers are, they are fundamental.

For the following reasons, we incorporated expense and travel expense reporting into our app at the end of last year. It was clear to us that it perfectly complements our feature portfolio and makes the software even more valuable for our customers.

This post summarizes all the arguments for travel expense reporting via app. One thing upfront: don’t overthink it, just do it!

When it comes to the completeness of data and simplifying processes, an app offers advantages for all involved.

With the appropriate app, digital receipts and invoices can be uploaded directly. Analog ones are simply photographed. The photo is uploaded to the app and all data is automatically captured. This prevents receipts from getting lost and helps you maintain complete documentation. With the proper discipline, this is already done on the go, keyword: Mobile App.

Even if the complete report is sent to the HR department later, all receipts and invoices can be collected directly or uploaded to the app. This prevents a later search and – in the worst case – the loss of receipts and information.

Some apps work with special technology for image interpretation with which photos of receipts are basically scanned. Information such as invoice date, price, and so on are thus automatically entered in the app and do not have to be typed in manually. This saves the user effort and prevents incorrect data entry.

A major advantage of the app is a generally very uncomplicated and fast accounting process. After all receipts are quickly uploaded and all important data quickly entered, the report is submitted with one click. The admin receives a corresponding notification and can check everything directly and forward it to accounting with another click.

At absence.io, we fundamentally develop and optimize every feature for both the admin AND the user. For travel expense reporting, an app solution has special benefits.

One of the main arguments for digitalization is the almost complete elimination of paper. This not only saves money but also protects nature. A digital expense management solution reduces your company’s ecological footprint.
This also eliminates the need for a large part of the necessary storage space. Goodbye folders, welcome cloud storage!

This argument is a “no-brainer,” but it is still often underestimated. Digital processes reduce the necessary working hours and thus your costs IMMENSELY. We are currently working on an internal study to quantify this.

First and foremost, travel expense reporting is annoying for the “submitter”. An app provides good relief here.

The biggest advantage for the user is submitting invoices and receipts the moment he receives them. The need to store (where?) and the subsequent search (where?) are eliminated.
The train ticket arrives by email and is uploaded directly to the app via the smartphone. The entertainment receipt is photographed, the photo uploaded, and automatically scanned and captured by the app.
This feature alone is enough to outperform any other solution for travel expense reporting.

This naturally includes time savings and stress relief. “Where is the receipt?”, “Oh damn, I should have submitted this yesterday?”, “Where did we store the template for the report again?” All these questions become obsolete.

The software provider always stays legally up to date. Otherwise, his app is quite worthless. The HR department keeps the software up to date with internal guidelines. For the user, things like meal allowances or mileage allowances are never outdated, which significantly reduces misunderstandings and the like.

In the end, there’s nothing more to say than: Go for it. The travel expense accounting via app ultimately makes everyone happy, from the “submitter” to the Big Boss. One advantage follows another.

At absence.io, you can test your travel expense app for 14 days free of charge and without obligation. Alternatively, our product experts are available at any time for a free consultation or a product presentation. Let’s go!

The post Travel Expense Reporting via App: Why Digital Submission and Accounting are Essential appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

Especially in the area of process optimization, we see great potential, but also in service. We would like to give you a brief insight into our thoughts so far.

After signing up, many users want to handle the setup themselves. Although our user guide is a powerful and successful supporter, an AI assistant can save a lot of time and prevent errors.

Based on its knowledge about our software, the respective legal requirements (of the country) and the company information provided, it could alert users to missing information, errors, or legal irregularities.

Based on historical data, AI could identify periods with high personnel capacities, for example.

“Since many developers were available in April in the past years, we could have made room for Project X.”

At the same time, personnel bottlenecks could be identified. Linked with a project management tool, for example, the product owner could be warned that many developers have been on vacation or sick during the planned period in recent years.

Linked with appropriate tools and software, AI could automatically record working hours for certain tasks. Although it sounds a bit like George Orwell, it’s practical. Without having to enter everything manually, AI could automatically track how much time a developer spends, for example, programming, researching, or in meetings.

Through AI time tracking, the workload of employees could be determined. For those with low workloads, certain open tasks could be suggested or directly assigned. In the case of overload, tasks could be redistributed accordingly.

In conjunction with time tracking and a link to project management tools, based on experience with similar projects in the past, the time efforts for projects could be reliably estimated.

With well-maintained types of absence, AI could calculate necessary office capacities. Based on recorded business trips, home office, vacations, or sicknesses, AI could reliably analyze how many workstations a company actually needs. This could prevent unused office space and save rental costs.

AI, linked with all the data and information captured in the account, could prove to be a valuable analyst. Important information could be obtained via voice or text input:
“How many sales staff are available to us in the 2nd week of July?”
or
“How many sick days did X have this year?”
etc.

At the center of every idea is the benefit for our users. We try every day to make our software even better, and AI is a lever that enables us to provide great features for you.

At the same time, during development, we will always ensure that everyone feels comfortable with the respective features, whether they’re an admin or a user. It’s particularly important to us that users do not feel monitored or lose control. Every AI feature is designed to help you, not cause uncertainty.
Stay tuned!

In the second part, we will take a look at use cases of AI in the areas of personnel administration and expense and travel cost accounting.
Coming soon!

If you haven’t used our software yet, you can now try it free for 14 days. Manage absences and vacations, track working hours, create digital personnel records, and discover the benefits of digital expense and travel cost accounting. Let’s get started!

Hero image by Cash Macanaya

The post AI in HR (Part 1): Potentials in Attendance and Absence Management? appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

That’s right. In a recent European Court of Justice ruling, all companies in the European Union must track their employee’s working hours.

This may seem archaic to some of you given flextime, home office days and more generally the culture of freelance work. But don’t forget that although punching in and out may no longer be a mainstay of your daily working day, tech companies and start-ups have not forgotten about it and have in fact continued to modernize how employees can track their hours.

Yes, the thought of tracking your time may seem cumbersome and outdated. But really when we get to the bottom of it, mandatory time tracking is simply a tool of accountability and responsibility not only on the part of the employee but also for the employer.

How so?

Tracking working hours means more fair and transparent compensation.

I’m not only talking about getting paid for the 40 hours you put in every week, but also being compensated fairly when you work overtime, on statutory holidays and on those odd hours during the weekend.

By tracking your time, you’ll also know when you’re due for a break and for how long. Working an eight-hour day? Well go and take your 30-minute lunch and don’t listen to that co-worker giving you a hard time for it – you (legally) deserve it!

Managers have access to a wealth of information regarding productivity.

Now, this doesn’t mean that managers should then go ahead and start micromanaging everyone and chastising people for days when they may not be 100%. But think about it, when employees track their time, managers will be able to see a breakdown of tasks worked on, and when an employee is most productive.

This kind of data can help companies introduce practices that would make it easier for their employees to be more productive throughout the day. This may mean, encouraging employees to take more shorter breaks or perhaps introducing an outdoor office space for fresh air.

With all this data, maybe a six-hour workday would be best for employee health ????

The benefits of time tracking are many! With this new ruling, the EU is taking steps in protecting workers’ rights and well-being.

At absence.io we’re all about living a balanced life and we strongly support practices that will not only make our team happy but also those that will encourage individual health. Our time tracking feature is based on these principles, and if you’re like us then why don’t you give it a try and see for yourself?

You might also like:

• Why a Healthy Company Demands Smart Sick Day Management
• Time Tracking is Mostly Bullsh*t (Unless You’re Conscious of This)
• Hustle harder? Burnout faster?

The post Hurray! The EU passes time tracking legislation! appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

In a recent study, it was found that the average worker spent more time procrastinating than actually working.

Here’s a breakdown of a typical day:

• Checking social media – 44 minutes (spent doing this during working day)
• Reading news websites – 1 hour 5 minutes
• Discussing out of work activities with colleagues – 40 minutes
• Making hot drinks – 17 minutes
• Smoking breaks – 23 minutes
• Text/instant messaging – 14 minutes
• Eating snacks – 8 minutes
• Making food in office– 7 minutes
• Making calls to partner/ friends – 18 minutes
• Searching for new jobs- 26 minutes

In total, the average worker spends about two hours and 53 minutes working.

Now it’s easy to blame workers for this and insist that they stop procrastinating, but maybe instead of resisting this information, it’s time that we rethink the way we define what a productive workday is.

Maybe instead of enforcing an 8-hour workday, companies and legislators should begin to use this information to create workdays that are not only conducive for productivity but also for individual well-being and happiness.

When we consider all these things, it seems likely that restructuring how we work and when we work will only create a more efficient and beneficial work environment.

The post How Many Hours Are Workers *Actually* Working? appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

Those emails are piling up and who wouldn’t want some time to concentrate and just get it done?

But you know what, all work and no play is no fun at all and in fact having a little bit of fun and building friendships at work is found to benefit you in more ways than one.

So let’s hear it for having a few laughs and for your work BFF, because without them you’d be less happy, less motivated and less productive!

In fact, having a work BFF is linked to higher engagement and positivity levels at work.

So seriously, take some time out of your work day to chat to your colleagues or desk buddy – who knows maybe one of them will end up being not only a work BFF, but a BFFL.

Read on!

• Hustle harder? Burnout faster?
• In the Age of AI, Is Business More Suited to Female Leaders?
• Neuroscientist Says These are the 4 Most Important Decisions to Make at Work

The post Can We Be Friends? appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

1. Don’t micromanage

People don’t like to be constantly told what to do. If you’re breathing down their necks about every little task and every little project, down to the way they take their coffee. You’re sure to diminish feelings of efficacy and engagement in the workplace.

2. Give them internal reasons to want to succeed

Make the work personal and something they can attach a sense of ownership and accomplishment to. Nothing is worse than feeling alienated from the work you’re doing, so make sure that you try to make the task at hand something that they can feel proud of. Of course, not every task can feel like their own, but if your employees can see how the little task contribute to the bigger picture, they’ll feel less alienated from their job and readier to innovate when the time is right.

3. Recognize their work

Oftentimes, all we want to hear are words of recognition after a job well done. We all like positive affirmation, it gives us a sense of pride and lets us know that we’re doing a good job.

4. Reward them with benefits and incentives

Everyone has needs and wants. Sometimes by giving your employees a slight raise, it shows that you care for their well-being and understand the amount of effort they put in daily for your team. Giving them a raise bolsters feelings of equity and job satisfaction.

Last but not least…

5. Allow them to recharge!

We all have our personal struggles. Sometimes we fall sick or just aren’t feeling 100%. As employers, it’s your job to create an environment where your employees feel that they are welcome to take a day off or two to get back to their 100% so that they can be ready to tackle the work ahead of them.

You might also like:

• Why a Healthy Company Demands Smart Sick Day Management
• Can Small Business Owners Afford an Employee Mental Health Program?
• Hustle harder? Burnout faster?

The post How to motivate your employees appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

But where does working harder and longer actually lead us to?

Burnout. That’s where.

Burnout can be blamed for the lack of motivation in employees, the feelings of stress and exhaustion, and overall reduced quality of life. According to Dr. Susan Biali Haas, burnout is a reaction to prolonged job stress, and typically encompasses three main components.
1. Exhaustion

You feel constantly tired and will most likely not be motivated to face your workday. As the day wears on, you lose the little motivation you can muster up and no matter how much time off you get, you come back worn out and overwhelmed.

2. Cynicism or chronic negativity

What may have been once fun and exciting, is now just frustrating or annoying. Your colleagues are taking a toll on you and you just can’t seem to be positive at work or at home.

3. Reduced feelings of self-efficacy

You no longer have confidence in what you do. You may have major doubts about yourself and can’t get those doubts to go away. They may even affect your personal relationships and lifestyle.

Keep in mind, that your body will speak to you before you even realize you’re burning out. You may be getting sick often or may have a hard time getting out of bed and motivating yourself to start the day.

You may not notice these symptoms right away, and that’s why it’s best to keep these signs in mind and check-in with yourself once in a while.

We at absence.io are firm believers in taking some time to recuperate and to find the time to be yourself again.

It’s no shame to want to feel whole. So remember to breathe, relax and to most importantly treat yourself with kindness.

If you’re an employer, you may want to encourage your employees to take personal health days when they need it and not to be sceptical of the real mental impact burnout can have on a person. Encourage your employees to turn off and really disengage from work emails when they’re off work.

You might also like:

• Why a Healthy Company Demands Smart Sick Day Management
• Is Hell Millennials in the Workplace?
• This Habit Could Ruin Your Career and Cost Your Company

The post Hustle harder? Burnout faster? appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

Time tracking remains controversial in exactly how productive it actually is. The advantages are evident, at least on paper. Employers can better oversee and manage the time of their employees. Employees can do their assigned tasks and reflect on long it takes. It also could vary: time tracking could be more useful for remote workers or freelancers, but less so for in-house employees.  But beyond paper, what are the pros and cons of using time trackers? Do the tool’s benefits and frustrations extend to both employees and employers?

Employee Pros

Possess the proof that certain projects are wasting your time

Time trackers show the good and the bad. You had a hunch the proposed project would be incredibly time-consuming and hardly effective for the time and energy invested. With a time tracker, it could be easier to prove your case to your boss. A time tracker could be another member of team to corroborate your story. An employee could offer recommendations to an employer about how to optimize time towards a project.

Optimize future planning

Better planning means better execution. When you’re in a department, you own a certain group of tasks and projects. Some projects may be similar to others. If you’re able to track similar projects, you’ll be better to estimate at how long projects will take, what resources you’ll need (and how long it takes to procure those), and quantify the time it takes for other group members to get things done. This will be incredibly useful when debating about a potential project. Maybe your team will be unable to meet a similar project’s deadline given the time parameters. But because you know the parameters of other stakeholders, you can eliminate the unneeded departments or activities to meet the end point.

Employee Cons

Frustrate workers

Tech can be frustrating. Depending on the tech, it can be a gateway to frustrated employees and lowered morale. Time tracking is a tool. Like every tool, it takes a certain amount of understanding to utilize it. For employees that already are a bit tech-anxious, introducing a new tool may be a cause for concern. Our work lives can be fast paced; introducing another tool gives another mechanism to adapt to, which may lead to anxiety.

Frustration may not only stem from understanding how to execute the tool, but also the “why” behind the new tool. Why must I integrate this into my daily work? Is my work not good enough? Why does my employer need to feel they have to track my every move? An employee may feel a certain of distrust towards the tool and their boss. For employees of tech companies, this might be an added stressor to an already-angsty work situation.

Employer Pros

Gives a precise record

Time trackers show who, what, and how time is being spent. What’s valuable to employers is how time trackers show when employees leave and depart and precisely what they’re dedicating their work hours to. Because of the record, a company can see how an employee’s abilities and tasks have evolved. It could be a thoughtful jumping-off point to discuss an employee’s evolving (or devolving) position.

Motivates employees to finish on time

Companies want to deliver on time. If employers have given their workers a reasonable amount of time to complete a project (time tracking does not create time), this signals employees to remained focus and complete tasks accordingly. Time tracking software gives the ability for employees to reflect on how long a task is taking. This can be valuable feedback, as an employee can explain to an employer a task is taking longer than projected. Thereafter, the manager can quickly put out a potential fire before it starts by dedicating more staff to the task or rethinking resources.

Employer Cons

Shift company culture into burn-out

Creating a company full of burnt-out employees may be the greatest risk. Employees may be fired up and ready, integrating the tool into their daily work. Initially, they put in their hours and may come into work early to show dedication. After time has passed, employees may feel burnt out from the constant updating and checking. They may choose to do non-work activities with their time as they recover—making it difficult to meet deadlines. Simply, a time tracker could prove exhausting to a workforce. Productivity expert, Laura Stack, of The Productivity Pro, explains that “People are spending far more time creating these elaborate systems than it would have taken just to do the task. You’re constantly on your app refiguring, recalculating, recategorizing.” The amount of time dedicated to tracking time may exhaust employees to the point of reversing the tool’s productivity aspirations.

Popular posts like this:

• Does Your Company Support the “Sandwich Generation”?
• Can You Pay Your Employees in Crytocurrency? 
• Employees Like the Tech, But Aren’t Convinced: The Adoption Problem 

The post Team Time Tracking or Team Not Time Tracking: The Modern Workforce Debate appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

How does one rate a CEO? Turns out, it’s more of an objective art.

Rating CEOs is more of an objective art as HBR fine-tuned its performance measuring metrics. In addition to incorporating the environmental, social, and governance metrics of a company (ESG) from firms like Sustainalytics, HBR drew from CSRHub, a service that aggregates ESG data and gives feedback on areas of improvement to a company. Through these methods, offering more objective insight into leader performance, one is able to understand the effectiveness of an entire career, rather than drawing conclusions from quarterly ratings.

The ranking gives insight into what shareholders could consider when selecting C-Level members. Given the hire-and-fire feel of the job (in 2015, the turnover rate of global CEOs was 17%), it’s essential to find indicators for success. Amongst the 100 ranked CEOs, the average tenure has been 17 years and churned out an annual return of 20.2%.

It’s important to note that many of these high-performing CEOs do not have “traditional” business backgrounds. The top spot, belonging to Lars Rebien Sørensen, studied forestry. 24 of the ranked CEOs were engineers by trade. For those selecting talent, it’s not about finding the leader with the “right credentials”, but rather foreseeing the longevity based on past performance—even if in other industry.

How to judge a CEO (according to the experts)?

According to Elena Botehlo, a partner at ghSMART, a consulting firm, weighs in to Harvard Business School on what traits set great CEOs apart.

1. Usually have had a major career blow up.

Botehlo cites an interesting find: CEOs that had a major career event occur, like being fired, were more likely to be recommended to be hired. In fact, 45 percent of CEOs in Botehlo’s survey of hundreds of participants. Why? Boards and companies want to someone who has been tested and seen the rough side of the road. To be back in the role, they will have usually have had to prove their worth again, making them smarter (hopefully) in the climb up.

2. Know perseverance

This ties in with creating a comeback after a major blowup. A CEO has to have a certain must-do-it-ness. They plod on despite the hardship. Think of well-known business leaders like Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison, who kept innovating despite numerous and considerable setbacks. Perseverance is not something one is a born with; it’s a honed virtue.

3. Make “tough calls”

Being the boss comes with a set of challenges. It often means making some tough decisions, like laying off employees, cutting product features, or knowing to step aside. They make the right calls by rising above the “noise” and can be lasered focus on what needs to happen. They head straight to the core of a tough issue and know how to find the answer — even if they don’t know it quite yet. Great CEOs know how to prioritize and how to commit to enacting the best decision for the company.

Popular posts like this:

• Wake Up Your Walls: Office Decor is the Other (Other) Team Member
• Is Hell Millennials in the Workplace? Millennial Whisperer Gives Managers 5 Strategies to Survive 
• Next Hiring Competitive Advantage: How to Find the Originals
• It’s Time for a More Simple HR Process
• Slow Tech Kills Your Company

The post According to Harvard Business, Here are Best-Performing CEO Traits appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

A common misconception is that freelancers are just like employees and thus, can be treated the same. But while employees can duck into the employee kitchen to avoid a bad boss, freelancers can simply stop working with clients.

A manager doesn’t want to have the reputation in being difficult to work with. Freelancers may talk and warn other colleagues to avoid a certain client. This may leave a manager with unexperienced newbies to do the work. While cheaper, freelancer newbies may not deliver  expectations or add seasoned insight onto project. This may leave a manager responsible for an under-delivering freelancer.

What should I not do when working with a freelancer?

Ask them to do something for free

No bueno. This is the most unforgivable strike in the freelancer manual. It’s understandable when manager and companies want a sample of their work. They want to see how a freelancer can contribute to a few of the issues they’re facing. Request work samples or browse their online portfolio or Github to become better acquainted with their work experience. Avoid asking them to do any work for free.

Hire without clear goals

You’ve got to know what you want done. A freelancer can execute, but they can’t execute well if they don’t know what to exactly do. If you know that you need to update your logo, but give little direction in exactly what you want to convey or the color scheme, a freelancer can only do so much.  Before you hire, clarify your company’s needs: if do need a logo, but are open to design suggestions, pull a few sample logos for inspiration. Be careful as to avoid being the boss that constantly changes their opinion on a project. Depending on the contract, a freelancer can often make only one or two revisions. So, best to know what you’re end-goal is before hiring.

Question their rates

As as manager, you’re familiar with the average salary in your industry at your seniority. Just like you’re an expert in salary, trust your freelancer is knowledgable about their own rates.  It’s unprofessional to question how a freelancer came up with their rates. It may signal that your focus is more on the wage rather than on what you want accomplished. You may have a small budget, so let them know how you have to be a bit more money-conscious this year.

Here’s what to do:

Sign a contract

Contracts are protective means for both client and freelancer. It acts as a plumb line in expectations as you begin working together. You’re a professional; they are a professional. A contract signals a respectful relationship. Also, if you don’t offer a contract, a seasoned freelancer will avoid you. They could do work and not receive payment, if a contract is not signed. Contracts also act as guidelines if freelancers do not deliver. Show you’re professionalism in providing a contract, or asking a freelancer to send over their own.

Respect boundaries

Freelancers differ from employees in a few ways. Different boundaries are another. Because freelancers typically a lot a certain number hours to a particular client—and usually have multiple clients—they can’t be expected to adhere to the same boundaries as employees. If you worry in reaching a freelancer, discuss and make specific time slots where they make themselves available for a call or an in-person appointment.

Understand that things take time

Projects take time. Even though you found a razor-sharp freelancer, be aware that even the brightest need time to re-focus, concentrate, and change a solution. You may find yourself saying, “You were so fast with this change. How hard will it be to change this?”. Revision takes time.

What’s the best relationship a manager can offer a freelancer?

The best managers offer collaboration, transparency, and autonomy. Choose to be an inclusive manager, opening up the floor for a freelancer to contribute to ideas—even alongside full-time employees. When there are difficulties, operational, or product changes, keep the freelancer in the loop. They work for the company and will feel closer as they are told what’s going on within the space. Lastly, like employees, freelancers thrive with autonomous rule. Offer them the option to work remotely and contribute free-flowing ideas.

Share success

Managers have the tough job of having to get others to adopt their own agenda. Part of that is showing them they have real value in reaching company goals. Share with freelancers how they can or how they’ve already helped your department or business reach milestones.

Get the right tools!

At absence.io, we’re doing something different when it comes to absence management. Governments, companies–like MyTheresa and Check24–trust our digital method to help them navigate planned (and unplanned) employee absence.

Try absence.io for free!

Popular posts like this:

• Wake Up Your Walls: Office Decor is the Other (Other) Team Member
• Is Hell Millennials in the Workplace? Millennial Whisperer Gives Managers 5 Strategies to Survive 
• Next Hiring Competitive Advantage: How to Find the Originals
• Feeling Scattered Managing a Remote Team?
• Beyond Cookies and “Sorry”: How Do You Apologize at Work?

The post Rules of Engagement: How Managers Should(n’t) Work with Freelancers appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.

Because bringing out the best people takes work.

And the right tools.

We’re the eyes-on-the-ground for what tech tools are moving the HR industry forward. Our latest discovery is moving mountains in bringing how global companies manage their global workforce. With offices around the world, Papaya Global oversees global payroll, keeps employee records, and makes sure their clients remain 100 percent compliant with national and international standards. In fact, they were the first HRIS solution to promise 100 percent GDPR compliance. Which tells you they’re committed to solving problems before their clients receive a hefty fee.

Papaya Global CEO, Eynat Guez, shares her insight into the critical social movements affecting HR, the challenges a global company faces in managing a global workforce, the future of work, and her love of open water swimming.

What led you to founding Papaya?

The beginnings of Papaya goes way back. My career started in global relocation and holding companies. Projects were mainly in Africa and Asia. But what I saw firsthand was companies, that had no local presence, had difficulties in keeping compliant because they had no local insight on the rules. They also seemed to have issues with immigration, because they had few resources to understand what policies were changing. This kind of challenge stuck with me.

What does Papaya Global do?

We provide the transparency and execution of one of the biggest challenges for international companies. A global company has to follow the rules of a local company, which makes sense, but for an international company with employees from all over the world (with different visa requirements, etc.) it quickly becomes a tangled problem. Payroll includes contracts, local benefits, immigration, and administration red tape.

China provides different payroll data than Brazil does, for example. They both have such different regulations and demands. Most companies still don’t have any idea on how to consolidate that kind of data, local information; there is a lack of understanding in how to adhere to local compliance easily—and quickly. Before us, clients struggled getting this kind of information beforehand. Now, they understand the environment they’re operating in.

What are the changes you’ve seen in how tech is augmenting the human work experience?

Firstly, regulations are getting stricter. It becomes more difficult to relocate people. When I worked in relocation services earlier in my career, contractors were not bothered by local compliance. Today, companies need to be more aware. With tech, rules can change faster. So companies need to  have a system in place that allows them to be more agile while still be able to find and manage the best talent.

What are trends that are shaping how companies work with employees?

Recently, President Trump made immigrating to the United State more difficult by heightening requirements. Talented people are being denied access to the U.S., so companies are having to figure out where to place them. It feels benefits are becoming more stratified. For example, some freelancers want the same social benefits as regular employees, like having local holidays off. On the other hand, regulations are changing where it’s more difficult to terminate employees under the guise of “let’s protect our work force”. This has been happening in the last 3-4 years.

How do you envision the human work experience in the next 5-10 years?

Companies will be facing compliant-heavy issues, as regulations are growing stricter. Companies will have a global workforce, with freelancers and remote employees working in different time zones. Employees will be asking for employers to provide local benefits, like meal vouchers and gym memberships. There was a recent story on how a group of engineers working for Facebook wanted the same benefits as their Menlo Park colleagues, though this group engineers worked elsewhere in the world.

What are companies asking for now they didn’t ask for 2-5 years ago?

Determination processes have become super important. Benchmark what are the local benefits and packages. They want to understand what annual costs look like in their respective industries. Many companies are starting to roll out paternity leave.

You were one of the first HRIS solutions to offer virtual currencies as a payment method for employees. Why was that important to you?

Social forces affect how companies run their company, but also affect employees expectations about their employer. We want to provide a solution for employees and employers where they can meet and work easily together. Crypto is a symbol of that. Exchange ranges can be crazy and change their monthly income, so we want to be sure our customers can always remain compliant.

Since you see how companies manage people, do you have any advice to managers or founders in how they oversee?

Be open and transparent. It’s important to speak about the bad thing too. Keep an open relationship with employees, sharing both the troubling and the good. When employees feel they know what’s going on in the company, they will feel more connected to it.

You’re an open water swimmer, are there exercises or methods that you carry between swimming and running a company?

It’s my time to disconnect. It’s my own form of meditation. When I’m in the water, it becomes the only place on Earth where I can renew. When you’re able to go into such a space, you bring new energy into your work.

Special thanks to Eynat Guez for this interview!

At absence.io, we’re doing something different when it comes to absence management. Governments, companies–like MyTheresa and Check24–trust our digital method to help them navigate planned (and unplanned) employee absence.

Try absence.io for free!

Popular posts like this:

• Workplace Horror: Have You Said These 5 Deadly Phrases to Employees?
• Is Hell Millennials in the Workplace? Millennial Whisperer Gives Managers 5 Strategies to Survive 
• This Habit Could Ruin Your Career and Cost Your Company
• It’s Time for a More Simple HR Process
• Why a Healthy Company Demands Smart Sick Day Management

The post Meet ‘n Greet the Next Gen in HR Tech: Eynat Guez, CEO of Papaya Global appeared first on Happy Employees, Happy Employers - Our Blog!.