Author: Spine Tech

Hybrid mode of working is sure to stay in the long term.

But is it efficient? The answer is yes, and no at the same time. Hybrid mode of working has its own pros and cons. Some people have grown comfortable with working from home. In fact, some employees’ productivity has boosted ever since work from home has been implemented. But on the other hand, some employees just cannot work without the office environment. Listed below are 6 challenges face by the hybrid mode of working and how one can tackle them-

– Unconscious Biases

In comparison to their in-person counterparts, remote workers experience less “passive face time”. Or time spent being observed in the office. According to an MIT research, even proactive, hardworking remote employees receive lower salary raises, fewer promotions, and lower performance ratings than their in-person counterparts. Managers should instead be taught how to use performance monitoring and evaluation systems. This allows them to evaluate people objectively. Remote employees should preserve their work ties by scheduling regular catch-ups. Because remote workers can’t bump into their coworkers in the office, it’s even more crucial for them to check in frequently. This ensures that they’re top of mind when new projects or promotions arise.

– Watered-Down Office Culture

Workplace culture has traditionally grown through office ritual. Which requires everyone to be in the same physical space at the same time. When the workforce is remote, corporate cultural beliefs and norms are more open to outside influences. According to a recent survey, 76 percent of respondents said that remote work has benefited their company’s culture. Employees who reported a positive change were more likely to stay with the organisation. While being enthusiastic about their work.

– Underutilisation of Resources

As employees return to the office, there may be meeting rooms, hot desk areas, or other communal workspaces that aren’t being used. One option is to highlight these areas in an email or during team meetings in case others aren’t aware of them. Signs directing people to less-used locations or naming the spots might help boost their use. Inviting small firms to operate out of unused office spaces is another creative solution to office space. Employees may be enticed to return to the office if there are places where they can eat, drink, shop, or According to Recruiters, poor communication is the primary cause of low employee morale. It can also lead to perform other errands during the workday.

– Work Relations

Employees can be more creative when they have close working ties. It also prevents information silos from forming. Organising in-person retreats, summits, or conferences will aid in the developing relationships. Updating video conferencing hardware and software is also critical. Meeting facilitators on hybrid mode aids in the inclusion of remote workers.

– Inconsistent Communication

 confusion and isolation among remote workers who feel out of the loop. Communication in writing ensures that personnel in the office and those working from home have access to the information. Transparency can be achieved by holding weekly meetings and other such mediums.

– Overall Employee Wellbeing

Communicating openly and consistently with supervisors can help reduce work stress. Setting a regular schedule including when to work, exercise, eat, and relax also helps mitigate the stress that leads to burnout. Meditation can help employees detach from work, improve attention to work tasks, and allow employees to recover from screen fatigue. There also are many apps available to help employees learn how to look after their mental well-being with meditation.

 

In conclusion, Hybrid working is going to stay. People can go around and find ways to tackle the challenges faced by the way but there are no definite ways to avoid them. The best thing an employer can do is ensure employee wellbeing and expect productivity in return. You can read 6 Ways managers can support employee mental health at workplace here. Click here to learn more about Spine HR Suite.

 

As the world is healing, offices are starting to work offline. And the mental health of the employees is on an all time low!

There is a huge requirement to bring up the spirit of the employees and make them feel secure and empowered. Here are 6 tips on how you, as a manager, can support employee mental health at workplace:

– Model Healthy Behaviour

The very first thing you can do to ensure good mental health of your employees is modelling a healthy and friendly behaviour.  Don’t just say you support mental health. Model it so that your team members feel they can prioritise self-care and set boundaries. Ordinarily, a manager stresses about the team’s well-being so much so that they forget to take care of themselves. You can share your ways of getting rid of the stress with your employees. Create a personal bond with them and treat them as a friend.

– Constantly Check-in

 Intentionally checking in with each of your direct reports on a regular basis is more critical than ever. Now that the employees are returning back to working from offices. The lockdown has had a mental toll on almost everyone. In a study with Qualtrics and SAP, nearly 40% of global employees said that no one at their company had asked them if they were doing okay. And those respondents were 38% more likely than others to say that their mental health had declined since the outbreak. In such times, the least a manager can do is check on their employees and ensure they are doing okay. To really ensure good mental well being, you can go beyond a simple “how are you?” Ask specific questions and ensure necessary support.

– Communicate Regularly

Communication is the key. The study with Qualtrics and SAP also  showed that employees who felt their managers were not good at communicating have been 23% more likely than others to experience mental health declines since the outbreak. So the simplest thing you can do, as a manager, is to talk to your team. You can unload stress by setting expectations about workloads, where possible. Prioritising what must get done, and acknowledging what can slide if necessary.

– Modify Practices and Policies

Modification of practices and policies, here, implies being flexible. For example, you may need to take a closer look at your rules and norms around flexible hours. Paid time off, email and other communications, and paid and unpaid leave policies might also need tweaking. Performance reviews can be reframed as compassionate feedback. You should go a bit easy on your employees and try to avoid civil unrest whenever possible.

– Schedule Training

More training sessions implies regular honing of skills. It is as simple as this. Scheduling more training sessions allows your employees to stay up to date with the trends. This enables employees to stay in the finest form and boost organisational performance. And a good organisation must treat it’s employees well.

– Set-up Awareness Sessions

Now more than ever, you should focus on proactive and preventive workplace mental health training. For leaders, managers, and individual contributors as well.

And at last, you should get rid of the hectic manual processes and implement an HRMS. Spine HR Suite is the one stop HR solution for all your requirements. With a vast experience of more than 2 decades and an international presence, Spine HR Suite is the best HR Tool in the market. You can learn more about Spine HR Suite here.

Strategic Planning? Operational Planning? The words seem too heavy, don’t they?

This blog is a simple introduction and guide about strategic and operational planning.

Time Frame:

Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning generally relates to a period of 5 or more than five years. The plan is long-term and hence, there are constant changes and improvements made to the plan.

Operational Planning

Operational Planning usually relates to a period of 1 or less than a year. The plan is short-term and prompt. Generally, changes are difficult to execute as the term is very short lived.

Goals:

Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning deals with goals of the organisation as a whole. Since the goals are organisation based, the planning needs to be very precise. Strategic planning shapes the organisation and its resources. It also assesses the impact of environmental or external factors. This ensures protection against external threats. It views the organisation as a whole and develops overall strategies and objectives. Strategic planning is concerned with the long-term benefit of the organisation.

Operational Planning

Operational Planning deals with departments or subunits of the organisation. It deals with the current deployment of the resources. Rather than developing a strategy for the business, it develops tactics which would help in development of strategies. Since it deals with the current whereabouts of the business, it might make modifications to the business functions. These changes though, are not fundamental.

Environment:

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning deals with the external environment and external threats to the business.

Operational Planning 

Operational planning helps in developing a strong core. It deals with the internal factors and helps improvise the weaknesses.

Framed by:

Strategic Plans

Strategic plans are extremely important and can change the course of the business. Due to this reason they are only developed by the higher authority and top-level managers.

Operational Plans

Operational plans are important and they deal with departmental matters of an organisation. They can be improvised with regular checkups; these plans are pretty sure to aid business growth. And are developed by the lower authority and lower-level managers.

In conclusion, Planning in itself is crucial. Doesn’t matter strategic or operational. Planning is essential for your organisation to sustain in the long term.

You know what else is essential? An integrated HRM tool which makes carrying out HR processes a lot easier! If you are looking for one such HRM Solution, Spine HR Suite is the one stop destination!

 

Don’t you ever wish that everything could be done in one click?

Like, no transfer of data across softwares. Well then, the term you are looking for is “integration”. Let us understand how an  integrated software works with an example.

• Recruitment

Recruitment refers to the process of hiring an employee. The process consists of mainly 3 stages- Recognition, Selection and Hiring.

The first stage is recognition of a vacancy in the organisation. Software creates openings if there are any vacancies. An HRMS lets you create these openings in a few clicks. Employees can see these openings through the self service portal. Next step is the selection of employees. This stage consists of interviews and selection of candidates. An HR System lets you automate the interview process and make recruitment efficient. And the third and final stage is the actual hiring. Creation of employee offer and acceptance letters, creating the employee masters. An HRMS automates all these processes.

• Onboarding

Onboarding is the actual induction of the new recruit. HRMS lets you automate the document and data collection process. This makes employee onboarding very quick and efficient.

You can learn more about the 6 Tools that help automate the recruitment and onboarding process.

• Attendance

Tracking employee attendance is surely a tedious task. But it is even worse when you have a stand alone attendance management system. You have to input the monthly attendance report into your payroll software and do many more proceedings. Under an integrated HRMS, attendance is directly integrated with payroll and leave to make things smoother!

• Leave

Tracking leaves is yet another task. Half-days, Comp-offs, Paid leaves and many more categories, it is very difficult to track them all simultaneously. But implementation of an HRMS can make things much more easier. Employees would just have to access the portal or app to plan and apply leaves. You can learn more about how an HRMS boosts attendance and leave management efficiency here.

• Payroll

Payroll is the process of paying salary to a company’s employees. A Payroll software automates the process of calculation and salary disbursement. Different departments like HR and Finance need to come together to calculate payroll the traditional way. But with an HRMS, the processes are automated and hence the manager can focus on productive tasks. You can learn more about payroll management here.

• Training

To have skilled employees, an organisation must provide efficient training on a regular basis. Not only to new joinees but also older employees as they need to keep their skillset updated and learn about the changes in the market. Regular training ensures that the employees’ skills are always honed. They are ready to face any road block in the near future and improve the organisation’s performance as a whole. Click here to know how an HRMS enhances employee training efficiency.

• Performance Management System

Now that you have provided the required training to the employees, it is high time you evaluate the performance. A performance management system allows automation of employee performance tracking. Managers can check and compare employee performance data with past data. Under-performing employees can be given training. And well-performing employees can be appraised. You can read why performance appraisal is necessary in an organisation here.

 

In conclusion, an integrated HR System allows the modules to seamlessly interact with each other. This kick starts a smooth cycle of processes. Everything is just one click away with an integrated HR management system.

Looking for one such integrable HR Solution? Spine HR Suite is at the top of the recommendations list! You can check out Spine HR Suite here.

Recruitment Efficiency and Onboarding Process- two pillars of good employee induction.

Why does one need to automate recruitment and onboarding? The simple answer to this would be efficiency. An automated system is much more efficient than a human. Following are some tools which help the automation:

1. Internal Job Posting

An internal job posting is a job opening made available to existing employees within a company, as opposed to a public posting. How does this help your organisation you might ask.   It can be a powerful tool for employee retention. As it leads to longer employee tenure and better employee engagement and productivity. An HRMS automates the Internal Job Posting process. The HR does not have to check with each and every employee. The position is visible to eligible employees on the self service portal. From here they can apply for the position.

2. Resume Parser

A Resume Parser is a powerful integrated tool which helps in storage, comparison and analysis of applicants’ resume data. The Resume Parser boosts the recruitment efficiency by a long shot. With features like automatic data collection and storage, candidate comparison and candidate sorting. A Resume Parser can also be integrated with a payroll system for seamless payroll processing. Spine HR Suite’s Resume Parser is an all-in-one solution for recruitment.

3. Applicant Tracking System

The next step to resume parsing is Tracking Applicants. An ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is a tool that covers every bit after the confirmation of an interview. It is an automated solution for all recruitment and hiring needs.  From recognition of vacancies to actual hire of employees. Following are the processes carried out by an ATS:

– Publishing vacancies

– Receiving and reviewing applications

– Scheduling interviews

– Hiring employees

4. Applicant Scoring System

An Applicant Scoring System is an extension to ATS. It lets you create a score sheet for the applicants. This enables you to rank all the applicants according to the score and skill set. An Applicant Scoring System strengthens recruitment by ensuring the selection of the best applicants.

5. Document Collector

Okay now that you have hired an employee, it is time for onboarding. The very first step of onboarding is document collection. Documents like address proof, identity card and bank details are required at the time of onboarding. An HRMS lets you automate the collection of these documents. The employee can upload their documents on the self service portal at their convenience.

6. Employee Self Service

Employee Self Service (ESS) is a module of HRMS which majorly dismisses the need of an employee to go to the HR. It aims to allow the HR manager to more complex tasks like managing the workforce, workflow, and more. It also helps to maintain a friendly work environment in your organisation. Below are some major features of an ESS Portal-

If you are looking to boost your recruitment and onboarding efficiency, Spine HR Suite is exactly what you need! You can check out Spine HR Suite here.

An employee survey is a questionnaire which helps you understand the point of view of your employees. Is it that important though? To keep it short and simple- Yes!

Why are employee surveys important, you might ask. Here’s how employee surveys help you boost your organisation’s efficiency-

– Know your Employees

First off, if that was not obvious. You can get to know your employees much better with regular employee surveys. The surveys could be about work environment, training requirements or a basic monthly evaluation. Regular surveys give a sense of being heard to the employees. And where employees feel heard and understood, they tend to stay there for a longer period of time. Employee surveys are also a great tool if you, an employer, wishes to know your employees better. It helps create a bond and sense of communication between the employees and the employer.

– Increase Retention

While we are on the topic of employees being heard, why not talk about how surveys drastically increase retentivity. A company which assures good employee treatment, will always be a preferred one. There is also a psychological factor related to it. Employees feeling secure, heard and well treated is sure to increase the retention rate.

 – Dedicated Workforce

Your employees will treat work how you treat them, let’s get this one thing straight. Regular surveys would ensure good employee relations. Good employee treatment can be somewhat related to the final output. Treating your employees well will definitely result in a better output. And needless to say, a dedicated workforce.

– Smoothened Workflow

What does a dedicated workforce imply? A smoothened workflow of course! Conducting regular surveys will ensure that there are no roadblocks in the workflow. Surveys also enable you to identify the difficulties that the employees face. Eliminating them becomes easier with surveys as well.

– Amplified Performance

Employees focusing on their work. All obstacles eliminated from the workflow. Employees getting a healthy, work-friendly environment. What do all these things imply? Amplified performance and greater output! This might not be a direct effect of conducting employee surveys but it comes even so.

In conclusion, employee surveys helps you increase your performance efficiency by-

1. Improving working conditions
2. Smoothening the workflow.

The best way of ensuring a healthy workflow and conducting surveys is implementation of an HRMS. An HRMS is a tool that helps you automate your HR processes. Payroll, Time and Attendance, Leaves, Timesheet and of course Employee surveys. You can find everything in an integrated HRMS.

If you are on a hunt for an HRMS to tackle your HR Worries, Spine HR Suite is the one stop solution! You can learn more about Spine HR Suite here.

 

Admins have been there, tracking of assets is a hassle for sure.

But is there a way to maintain efficiency while handling all this hassle?

Of course there is! A Fixed Asset Management System! How? Here’s how-

– Tracking Hardware

“Which asset is allocated to which employee in which department?” Now that is something you will not need to worry about with a Fixed Assets Management Software. You can generate and allocate a barcode to each and every IT Asset and track it. You can issue the barcode for every change in asset to have an accurate track of the asset. This saves time as one can know which employee the particular tech is allotted to by just scanning the code. Not only that, one can also know the department of the employee and the period for which the asset is issued.

Talking of allocation, Asset Allocation is another major reason you should consider getting a Fixed Asset Management System. Allocating assets with proper barcodes/ QR Codes/  RFID Tags allows you to accurately track assets, more importantly IT Assets which tend to move more frequently in an organisation. Allocation of assets also helps in making the workflow easier by ensuring that the proper employee has the proper asset.

– Tracking Software

By tracking software, a fixed asset management system means tracking the dates for expiry, renewals, etc.

It is one thing to keep a track of hardware service due and another thing to ensure that all the softwares is up to date, running and the respective certificates are not expired. SSL and SQL Certificates also need to be renewed. With a Fixed Assets Management System, the IT Admin can focus on other important tasks while the system tracks the expiry and renewal of such software and encryption certificates.

The IT Admins all collectively might agree on one thing. Maintaining a date sheet to track IT Hardware is one hectic job. What if this tedious task was performed by a software/ system? That is what an FAMS does for you!

– Role of FAMS

A Fixed Asset Management System ensures that you never miss out on any of your asset services due. Get automated reminders for whenever your IT infrastructure like laptops, desktops, biometric systems, etc call for service. No more stress to the IT Admin with Email and pop-up reminders for every asset to the Admin as well as the employee the asset has been allocated to! 

 

To conclude, an FAMS helps an organisation manage it’s IT Infrastructure by keeping a date sheet and reminding and/or notifying about renewals/ expiry/ service dues, by Helping them track the IT Assets and by assisting in allocating the proper asset to the proper employee.

If you are looking for a FAMS which excels in the above mentioned necessities, you should consider Spine Assets. Spine Assets not only covers the 4 basic necessities but also offers many more features that will help your organisation boost its asset management efficiency.

Employee Assets, with regards to HRMS are the assets allocated to the employees by the organisation. Management of employee assets is particularly difficult, let alone the assets. As management of employees itself is difficult in the first place. An HRMS lets you manage these assets by automating the tracking of these assets. These assets are then integrated into the workflow and tracked in further detail. 

Listed below are major factors that contribute in management efficiency of employee assets-

– Request and Approval of Assets

The most attractive feature of an Employee Asset Management is the workflow integration. Employees can post requests for asset booking and the admin/manager can approve the requests. This ensures optimum utilisation of assets. Request and approval method also ensures that there are no clashes in scheduling of the assets.

– Streamlines Workflow

Speaking of workflow, an Employee Asset Manager streamlines workflow by applying the request-approval method. It also streamlines workflow by eliminating clashing of schedules. Providing employees with resources that they require to complete a particular task and then lining up the resources to align the schedule of other employees also aids in improving the workflow efficiency.

– Grouping and Categorisation

Major perk of using an HRMS to manage your employee assets is grouping and categorisation. With this, you can create groups and heads of assets and qualify the employee to request these assets on an eligibility basis. This ensures that there is no misuse of resources and resources are utilised at maximum efficiency.

– Asset Calendar

With the Asset Calendar, Resources (Assets) can be allocated and/or booked on a time or day basis. This base will be determined by the assets already marked as booked in the calendar. The assets once booked cannot be used by other employees and if they wish to use them, they have to request. Employees can plan the request by looking in the asset calendar. This provides further assurance of elimination of clashes.

– Reports

Due to a Human Resource Management System, reports are much more efficient and accurate. Various reports  like Asset Usage per month/quarter/year can be extracted. Department and group wise reports can also be generated. Alongside such reports, many more user defined reports can also be generated. Graphical representation of such reports is another thing that makes an HRM Software a standout!

In Conclusion, Management of employee assets is as important as management of the employees themselves. You can learn more about employee asset management and how an HRMS (Spine HR Suite) helps you manage them. And if you are looking for an HR Software for your organisation, Spine HR Suite is the best option in the market today. With over 2 decades of experience and an international presence, it becomes obvious.

“Ugh, recruitment is such a tedious process, there is no way to make it simpler!”

Do you think the same? If yes, this blog is exactly for you! Recruitment is one of the major duties of an HR and every HR knows how much stress it is. But what if there’s a tool which makes the majority of the process automated? Yes, an HRMS makes even the most stressing processes simpler and efficient! How? Well, here’s how-

– Resume Parsing

Resume parsing is an automated way of segregation of resumes and CVs of the applicants. A resume parser collects the data of the applicant from the resume and automatically ranks the candidates according to the skills mentioned in the JD. No more struggling for collecting, organising, analysing and storing data! Resume parsing refers to the storage, organisation and analysis of job resumes. An HRM System helps you automate all these processes and make them quicker, more accurate and efficient!

– Applicant Tracking

Keeping a track of all the received applications is no less than a nightmare! Spine HR Suite makes application tracking way easier for you with The Best Applicant Tracking Software. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a part of HRMS which acts as a database for all the job applications. It collects all the data from the parsed resumes and uses it to track the progress of the application. It enables the recruiter to access the information of any applicant from anywhere at any time. ATS makes it easier and more convenient for the recruiters to keep a track of numerous applications received.

– Elimination of Biases

Any biases on the basis of gender, caste, creed or race are sure to hinder your organisation’s performance. Since the HRM System is automated, there are no biases related to gender, caste, creed or race. This ensures that you get only the best and the most skilled employee regardless of their gender or caste. This makes an organisation that uses an HR Software for recruitment stand out from others.

– Document Collection

Manpower Form Requisition, check! Applicant Tracking System, check! Recruitment cost calculation and reports, check! Employee Onboarding, done! Now what? Here comes the tedious task of document collection! Collection of documents like Identity proof, Address Proof, Bank details, etc is a task on its own. But you do not need to go through all of this with an HRM Software! Document Collection, Organisation and Storage is completely automated! The employee can enter their details through the portal and upload copies of the necessary documents from anywhere at any time. While the HR can approve the submission requests at their convenience!

– Cost Tracking

There are many costs incurred in the process of recruitment and onboarding. It is necessary to track these costs. An HRMS makes cost tracking much easier for you. You can get elaborate cost reports wherein you can get detailed reports about all the costs incurred while the recruitment of the candidate takes place. Other overheads can also be calculated through this tab and you can gather data for processing all the costs incurred.

– Miscellaneous Tools

A Human Resource Management System offers you an array of tools which help you boost your recruitment efficiency. Employee master creator, Letter writer, Candidate feedback, Interviewer feedback, Automated ATS, etc. There are many more tools which will get your recruitment experience through the roof!

Concluding, HRMS sets the bar of recruitment experience too high to be touched by traditional methods. There are many factors which make this possible. If you are looking for an efficient HRMS with powerful recruitment tools, Spine HR Suite is the ultimate solution for you! You can click here to learn more about Spine HR Suite.

Expense Management is important no doubt. But do you even track your expenses properly? 

First off, we need to understand why expense management is important. Businesses need to thoroughly check expenses to ensure the business complies with regulations and make sure employees aren’t spending too much or buying non-work related items. Expense management technology can help with business audits by providing visibility into what funds are coming in and out of the business.

Following are the major features of an expense management system-

• Expense Tracking

When it comes to tracking expenses there are not many efficient ways to do it. You can either do it manually in a register/excel sheet or you can use software. Using a software is always a better deal as there are no real drawbacks and it is just much more efficient and cost-effective. Of course if you are a very small organisation, the traditional manual way would work just fine. But as you grow, this will become more and more difficult for you. An HRMS lets you track your organisation’s expenses at the very moment they are incurred. Employees can submit bills/receipts as a proof of expense. With an HR Management System as efficient as Spine HR Suite expense tracking becomes easier than ever before.

• Categorisation of Expenses

Expense management feature of HRMS also lets you group and categorise expenses. Eligibility can be set group and head wise. Receipts for eligible expenses can be added through the web/mobile app. Per kilometre expenses can also be added for travel. And if you thought it ends here, HRMS also allows you to add expenses in foreign currency.

• Emails for notifications

Spine HR Suite allows you to set up a mass emailing system for notifications. Initiations and other notifications like bill upload, expenses paid, etc. this helps you be updated with the expenses incurred/requested. HRMS ensures that you never miss out on notifications and expenses!

• Integration with ERP

Okay HRMS helps you track expenses but where does this data go? All the expenses that are approved are directly reflected in your ERP software. Seamless integration between HRMS and ERP softwares allows you to create JVs and ledgers which directly reflect the expenses recorded by the HR Software. Spine HR Suite is integrable with an array of ERP Softwares which allows seamless integration.

• Web and Mobile App

You might not have a laptop or computer everywhere you go. But you would always have your phone with you! Majority of Human Resource Service providers have a mobile app for convenience. But Spine HR Suite takes convenience to a whole nother level with the web-based application.

 

In conclusion, expense management is one of the overlooked features of an HRMS. Read 6 Overlooked features of HRMS and why should you consider them? But it is as important as others as expenses directly reflect in your statement of affairs. 

Are you on a hunt for an HRMS or Expense Manager? Spine HR Suite is the one stop solution! With seamless integration and an array of other useful modules it is the ultimate HR Solution!