Despite it being the age of increasingly sophisticated mobile devices and widely accessible digital systems, people still love to use paperwork for people management.
Around four million UK businesses still rely on paper-based sickness monitoring systems, resulting in over two-thirds of sickness and holiday absences going unregistered.
“You cannot make smart decisions if your systems aren’t keeping pace with your business,” advises Tim Groves of Addtime.
At a point where they have expanded to a certain size, businesses will find it increasingly difficult to continue managing with paper systems, and for HR and payroll-related administration this can end up costing businesses money.
Assets and Costs
Tim specialises in integrated software solutions for people management, including payroll, absence monitoring and time management functions.
“People are a business’ most valuable asset, but also its costliest, which means that without the right level of management, they can become a risk to profitability”
“If you take sickness absence monitoring as just one example,” he says, “then it has wide ranging implications for any business.”
These include how it affects productivity and staff morale, but also its impact on the service the business provides to its customers.
“It’s not just to do with keeping tabs on people and records up to date, because it can impact on an entire workplace culture, from employees upwards,” Tim warns.
Integrated Solutions
“What software can offer,” Tim explains, “is scalability and a means of integrating management.”
“Don’t look at it as simply solving a particular issue,” he says, “but instead look at the potential it unlocks.”
This potential comes from the way workforce management software opens up new possibilities for how the various record-keeping and data monitoring arms of a business can then talk to one another.
This cross-referencing functionality then becomes a powerful business tool.
“Workforce management software works for diverse, people-dependent sectors such as logistics, construction, manufacturing and hospitality because it addresses multiple issues such as absence recording, payroll, time-keeping, along with security”
Just as some sectors have been slow to adopt to cloud-based accounting and project management software, so the take-up of people management technology has been relatively slow.
“We talk a lot about dynamic business innovation and agile working practices in the UK,” says Tim, “but without the fundamentals being fit for the 21st century, innovation won’t count for much.”
When it comes to applying technology to business, the fundamentals of people management should be a priority.
To discover how people management technology can reduce costs and improve your workplace, please call Addtime on 01942 272061, or visit addtimerecording.co.uk.
