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Employee Time Clock System

Keywords:

Employee Time Clock. Employee Time Clock System, time clocks

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Employee time clocks are time systems used by organizations to accurately record the number of hours worked by each employee every week. The clocks have evolved with time and the companies still need some sort of system that they can use to generate payroll and ensure that the employees are paid for each hour they worked. Today, employees use swipe cards with a magnetic stripe through a slot that reads their name and records the time every time they clock in or out, much like the old punch clock system of long ago.

At the end of a work week, the main computer computes the total hours worked for every employee and prints it out on a spread sheet. This rids the payroll system of human error, making it much more efficient. The employee time clock has been linked to a factory’s employee productivity. It is commonly placed near the main entrance or break room. An employee who is not paid for break time must clock out for a break and must also remember to clock in before resuming work after the break.

Sometimes, it is found that employees try to use the time clock to gain an advantage. For instance, employees may clock in or out for each other. This is why company rules and time clock technology keep changing in order to keep employee misdeeds in check. Company policy forbids employees from “punching” or “swiping” for each other and both employees stand a chance of losing their jobs if caught. Again, with the advent of new technology, like clocking in and out using nothing but fingerprints, such employee behavior is now a thing of the past.

The manual time clock system, though time saving and error-free, is not entirely perfect. Sometimes, the magnetic strip on the back of a card may get damaged. When the employee swipes the card, the machine may not register it. Such inadequacies are corrected in the computer time clock system. Even with the advent of computer software and advanced time keeping techniques, the principal of the employee time clock remains the same. Hourly employees will always need a way to keep track of their time and organizations will need logical ways to monitor and record an employee’s time to ensure productivity.

Employee time clocks are available in all various forms such as biometric time clocks, punch time clocks, computer based time clocks, etc. Today, there is wide array of employee time clock systems on the market, from yesterday’s free standing polling, memory based clocks to today’s advanced PC based time keeping solutions, from standard mechanical clocks to electronic time clock systems. This is why choosing a system that suits your needs is a daunting task.

Small employee time clock systems can cost you anything from to $5 to $50. And for bigger and more advanced time clock systems, you will have to pay in the range of $250 to $550.

Five Business Benefits of Employee Training Programmes

Understanding the business benefits of an employee training programme can sometimes be more of an art than a science. As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to convince management teams of the need for forma people investment. Like any business case, we need to persuade others through demonstrating the benefits or, as salespeople would say, “What’s in it for them" Discover more here...

Keywords:

training, management training, employee training, training plans, learning and development

Article Body:

Copyright 2006 Train In A Day

Understanding the business benefits of an employee training programme can sometimes be more of an art than a science.

How do you measure success?

How can you convince your colleagues to make the investment?

As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to convince management teams of the need for forma people investment.

Like any business case, we need to persuade others through demonstrating the benefits or, as salespeople would say, “What’s in it for them?”

This article highlights five major benefits of employee training:

Let’s take a look:

1. Impact on bottom line

Successful employee training delivers improvements in employee performance which, in turn, creates a better performing business and an improved bottom line.

Research conducted has suggested that, where training programmes are effective, employee productivity can increase by 230 per cent.

You may wish to highlight job roles within your organization where employee performance has improved using measurable variables that will demonstrate your business case for further investment.

By focusing your business case on the objectives of the business you will not only be preparing a persuasive proposal for the rest of your management team but will also be steering your training plans towards the areas of greatest benefit. Hence, ensuring the greatest return on investment for the project.

2. Staff retention

Want to spend more training recruiting staff?

Thought not.

Training increases staff retention which will save you money.

Instead of paying recruitment fees, re-investing in training, loss of management time why not treat your people as your number one asset?

Invest in their development and they will receive a return your investment many times over.

In some companies, training programs have reduced staff turnover by 70 per cent and led to a return on investment of 7,000 per cent.

Incredible, eh?

3. Improved quality and productivity

Training that meets both staff and employer needs can increase the quality and flexibility of a business’s services by fostering:

• accuracy and efficiency
• good work safety practices
• great customer service.

You know the benefits of quality assurance programmes. Now buy in to the benefits of employee training programmes!

Can you put a value onto a lost customer?

How about a health and safety issue?

If you wish to gain a simple but meaningful measure of employee training programmes take a look at the consequences of NOT investing in your people.
Often, we only make investment decisions when we can visualize the effects of not taking action.

If you’re not yet convinced by the benefits of training, take a look at where your company has suffered from a lack of improved skills and try calculating the TRUE cost of those incidents.

4. The flow-on effect

The benefits of training in one area can flow through to all levels of an organization.

Over time, training will boost the bottom line and reduce costs by decreasing:

• wasted time and materials
• maintenance costs of machinery and equipment
• workplace accidents, leading to lower insurance premiums
• recruitment costs through the internal promotion of skilled staff
• absenteeism.

If you take a closer look at those companies which sit within the ‘Top 100 Companies’ to work for you will notice something which runs through each of them.

You can’t measure it but successful companies have a ‘culture’ which runs throughout them.

The benefit of this culture is a happy, innovative and successful workforce.

A positive culture only comes through a respect for and an investment in your people.

Start cultivating a progressive culture within your business today through employee training programmes and other forms of people investment.

5. Remaining competitive

Businesses must continually change their work practices and infrastructure to stay competitive in a global market.

Technology, previously the main driver of competitive advantage, is progressively taking a back seat to people.

As economies become progressively service orientated, it is the development of people that is providing successful businesses with long-term sustainable success.

Training staff to manage the implementation of business strategies, improvements to procedures and customer service policies can also act as a benchmark for future recruitment and quality assurance practices.

As well as impacting on business profit margins, training can improve:

• staff morale and satisfaction
• 'soft skills' such as inter-staff communication and leadership
• time management
• customer satisfaction.

So there we are. Start thinking now about how investing in the skills of your people can benefit your business to make more money, save money or save time.

Employee With Entrepreneur Mindsets

As an employee, I think a good strategy is to get a job, but at the same time try to look for opportunity and ideas that can generate big income. The point is not to limit ourself in the fix salary that we are getting now. Think of the fix salary an income that can be use to cover our daily expenses. At the same time, keep ourselves open to the opportunities or ideas that can make us rich.

Keywords:

employee, career, entrepreneur, mindset

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Although I am working as an employee, but I always try my best to adopt the entrepreneur mind set. It is important for an employee to think like an entrepreneur. This way, you program yourself to think out of the box. You will do more than an ordinary employee do. You will always do your best and be outstanding.

Recently I have come across a concept on earning $10000 in one hour. Don’t be misunderstand, this is not to teach your how to earn $10000 in an hour. Rather this is a concept that we should adopt deep inside our mind. You see, normally we have the mindset of fix salary, simply because this is how we get our pay. This is especially true for employee. We are paid either hourly, weekly or monthly with a fix rate. For example we get paid $5000 per months, $20 per hours and so on. This has made our mindset fixed to what we get. For instance if we get paid $50 per hour, we are programmed to believe that what we do only worth $50 per hours. We like to get the pay regularly because we need the money to pay our bills. We are bound to the sense of security here because we get stabil income that enable us to live comfortably.

However this creates a problem where we totally neglect the possibility of earning more than that. We cannot believe that we are able to earn $10000 per month. But the fact is that there are plenty of ideas that allows us to earn more than $10000 per hours. We just need to conditions ourselves to be able sense and catch this type of opportunities. We need to have our minds open to be able to do this.

As an employee, I think a good strategy is to get a job, but at the same time try to look for opportunity and ideas that can generate big income. The point is not to limit ourself in the fix salary that we are getting now. Think of the fix salary an income that can be use to cover our daily expenses. At the same time, keep ourselves open to the opportunities or ideas that can make us rich.

While we are enjoying the regular income of $50 per hour from our job. Lets not ignore the posibility of earning more than $10000 per hour.

Employee Performance Reviews - Dealing With Disagreements

Most of the time, you have a reasonably good understanding of the areas where disagreements are likely to pop up in the course of the performance review discussion

Keywords:

performance, employee, management, evaluation, review, assessment, online, software

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What do you do when an employee disagrees with something you’ve written on their performance review? How can you prepare for this and deal with it effectively?

Start by listening to figure out the source of the disagreement. Is it an issue of fact (you wrote that the employee received a customer satisfaction score of 79 but the employee says that his score was actually 83), or is a matter of judgment (you wrote that the employee’s customer service skills were unsatisfactory; she feels that her skills are terrific)? If the disagreement involves an issue of fact, get the facts and make any corrections necessary. If it’s a matter of judgment, ask the employee for additional evidence. Then determine whether that evidence is weighty enough to cause you to change your mind, revise your judgment, and amend the rating that you assigned on the employee’s performance review.

Most of the time, you have a reasonably good understanding of the areas where disagreements are likely to pop up in the course of the performance review discussion. Before beginning the discussion, re-read the review you wrote and try to spot the areas where you and the individual may not seem eye-to-eye. Then ask yourself, “What am I going to say when George disagrees with my assessment that his performance on the Thompson project just barely met expectations?” If you’ve taken to time to review the appraisal you’ve written for potential hot spots, and given some thought to how you’ll respond, you’re much less likely to be caught off guard.

During the employee performance review discussion, start with your higher ratings and move toward the lower ones. Be prepared to give additional examples besides the ones you’ve included on the formal written appraisal. Refer back to the informal conversations you have had with the individual over the course of the year.

Of course, if you haven’t had on-going, informal performance review discussions with the individual over the course of the appraisal period, then it’s much more likely that disagreements will surface during the review. That’s one more reason for scheduling periodic, “How’s it going?” discussions with each person on your team.

As soon as a disagreement pops up, switch into active listening mode. “Active listening” involves allowing the other person to clarify both the facts and feelings about an issue so there’s nothing left under the surface. For example, using phrases as simple as, “Tell me more . . .” or, “What else can you share with me about that . . . ?” or, “Really . . . ?” can encourage people to talk more about their perceptions. Simply nodding without saying anything encourages people to expand on what they have said. It’s not at all unlikely that the employee, allowed a sufficient chance to think aloud about what you have written, will end up saying, “Yeah, I guess I see what you mean.”

In dealing effectively with employee performance review disagreements, remember what your objective in the discussion is — and what it isn’t. Your objective in a performance review discussion is not to gain agreement. It is to gain understanding. If the employee agrees with you, that’s great. But particularly if your appraisal is a tough-minded assessment of the fact the Charlie’s contribution toward achieving your department’s objectives was only mediocre, you’ll probably never get him to agree. That’s OK. What you want is for him to understand why you evaluated his performance the way you did, even if his personal opinion is different.

Finally, if you have several employee performance reviews to deliver, don’t start with the individual whose performance was the worst and where disagreements are the most likely to arise. Start with the easiest — your best performer — and move toward the more difficult. In this way, you’ll build your skills and become more comfortable with the performance review process. Remember the advice that John Dillinger, the 1930’s public-enemy #1, once provided: “Before you rob your first bank, knock off a couple of gas stations.”

Employee Retention - Building Commitment

Keywords:

employee retention strategy,employee retention program,employee retention survey,employee retention plan,employee retention research,ways to improve employee retention,employee retention idea

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A committed employee is extraordinarily valuable. You can gain staff commitment by meeting people’s key needs: paying attention to people at all levels; trusting and being trusted; tolerating individuality; and creating a blame-free, can-do culture. But why go through all these? What is the importance of gaining trust and commitment? It all goes down to the fact that when a company gains the trust and commitment of their employees they establish employee retention. And employee retention is vital in establishing a firm foundation as the company proliferates and achieves their goals.

1. What Is Employee Retention?

Basically, employee retention is all about encouraging the people to commit themselves throughout in the company. Through employee retention, the company is able to lessen the additional expenses of hiring and training new people and at the same time build trust and commitment within coworkers, the result of which is happier, harder working employees.

2. The Basics Of Gaining Trust

The quality and style of leadership are major factors in gaining employees’ trust and commitment, thereby, initiating employee retention in the long run. Clear decision-making should be coupled with a mutual and emphatic approach. This entails taking people into your confidence and clearly and honestly valuing their contributions. In turn, you gain employee retention.

As the boss, you should also

- Make yourself as visible as possible
- Show yourself to be approachable
- Always be willing to listen to others
- Never ask an employee to do something you would not be willing to do yourself
- Learn to trust those who work for you - trust is a two-way street

3. Sense Of Ownership In The Organization

A company can gain trust and commitment and expand their shareholders at the same time by offering employees the opportunity to purchase shares in the company, or better yet, implement a rewards program where shares in the company are offered instead of monies. By letting them feel that they will realize that the success of the company is their success as well, and its downfall is their failure too.

4. Pride

If your employee takes pride in being a part of the organization or the company, chances are that employee will surely stay for good. Employee retention is achievable when the employee feels good about the work, loves the company, knows that they are in good hands, and takes pride in their work.

3. Willingness To Work Long Hours

If you are able to encourage your employees to work long hours without having to mandate them or push them, chances are you are establishing a good sense of employee retention. This just goes to show that the employee is more than willing to commit longer hours of work not because of the overtime pay but the fulfilment that he or she wants to achieve.

4. Holding Personal Values Consistent With The Organization

If your employees continue to take part in the company’s values and moral standards and incorporate these things within their own system, this goes to show that they are committed to the company and that they are willing to be a part of the group for as long as it exists. That is a clear manifestation of employee retention.

5. Creating A Strong Sense Of Team Spirit

Employee retention can be achieved if you know how to foster a sense of team spirit. If this is achieved, you can be assured that your employees will serve best for the interest of the group and their individual satisfaction as well. Corporate events and challenges between departments (or even between store locations) are examples of how you can foster team spirit.

6. Commitment

Commitment is the highest form of employee retention. If your employee is already committed to the company by expressing his or her desire to uplift the status of the organization, to boost productivity, and to refurbish mistakes and failures then you can be sure that the employee will stay for good.

Keep in mind that when employee retention is achieved, the company should, in turn, keep that retention as well by remunerating effectively and expressing appreciation through employee recognition. If this is all incorporated, then, a harmonious relationship between the employee and the company is at hand.

Can An Employee Survey Help You?

Keywords:

Employee surveys

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An employee survey can provide you with a good understanding of what is happening within your business when you are not there or what your employees think of working there. While any company can benefit from doing an employee survey, there are many reasons for those companies that have issues with such things as poor retention of employees and high turnover to those companies that have a low productivity level. Finding out what is happening behind the scenes will help you to determine what you can do to improve these situations.

For many of those who do an employee survey within their business, it is an eye opener. It can relate good things such as why employees like working with you and how well you pay them and treat them. But, it is also a great way of measuring ways in which you can improve. For many businesses, it can be a turning point.

Because the survey will be conducted through the use of a blind study, that means that the employees who partake in it can do so with the confidence of knowing that their opinions will not be judged or they will not receive harsh treatment if they do not provide good answers.

So, what areas can you learn about on the employee survey? You can learn about many areas from communication down to how well your management team is treating employees. You can learn of why people think about quitting and what things you can do to make things better for them. Little things are often important things to employees. You can also find out about really worrisome issues such as harassment and be more aware of what is really happening behind the scenes.

The employee survey can be done by any number of outside agencies who will provide for your employees a questionnaire. They will then review the information provided and come back to you with the information you need. You'll find that you have options in helping to create an employee survey or you can use a generic model as well. Whatever you choose, realizing that you can benefit from getting an employee survey taken care of is very important in helping your business take the next step forward.

Employee And Coworkers Gifts

Keywords:

corporate gifts, relatiopnship marketing, employee incentives,

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Giving gifts to your co-workers or your employees can be a tricky business. You want to give something that is they will really enjoy but doesn't break your piggy bank. You want to give something that suits the individual's tastes but doesn't suggest anything politically. We have some suggestions that for the most part can be given to either sex and to anyone of almost any age which we think will help you in your gift giving search.

- Everyone uses a memo pad even if the memo is only to themselves. Pick ones that reflect their hobbies or show the type of work they do.

- People are always looking for a paperclip for all those papers we still have. If you give a magnetic paperclip holder, they'll always have their own paperclips. They can also play and make funny shapes when someone on the phone has put them on hold.

- Occasionally everyone has to take work home or get away from the desk to write or proofread what they wrote on the computer. Give them a lap desk. They have some lap desks that have a pillow on the part that fits on your legs. Some of them also have storage underneath the board.

- Baskets full of things are always good. Fill them up with an assortment of coffee sample packages, cocoa, jams and jellies, cookies and snacks, specialty teas, cheeses and meats.

- Did you ever plan on stopping on the way home from work to pick up something but forgot the one item that you really needed? We all have. But now, you can get door hanger note pads that say "Do Not Forget". They hang on your office door knob or the your desk drawer. You write things on them as you think of them during the day. When you leave, the list is there for you to rip off the sheet and head to the car.

- We all sit in rush hour traffic each day. An audio book on cassettes will take their mind away from the traffic.

- The truth is, we are all clock watchers. Find a small, attractive desk clock. Just don't give it to the person who is late every morning.

- We don't always plan ahead. Most of us forget our umbrella on the day that it rains buckets. With the new mini-umbrella, you gave them, that won't be a problem. Mini-umbrellas fit nicely inside a purse, briefcase, or desk drawer.

- Everyone loves those yellow little sticky notes. You can give a more decorated stack that's printed with flowers, sailboats, mountains, or whatever hobby best suits the recipient.

- Did you ever receive a card that a guy had in his wallet until it was dog-eared. It looked pretty sad, didn't it? Anyone who hands out their business card would appreciate a silver or gold cardholder case.

- Find the guy who took pictures of the last company functions; Christmas party, company picnic, company exhibit booth. Get all the pictures of the recipient and his co-workers and fill up a photo cube to place on a co-workers desk. Enclose a note that he can change out the photos for members of his family if he wants.

- We have mail and not everyone has a secretary to open it. A letter opener that reflects the hobby of the recipient will be a welcome gift.

Employee Rewards Reap Results

Keywords:

employee reward and recognition,employee incentive reward,employee reward program,employee motivation reward,employee reward system,ways to reward employees

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The way you reward people forms an essential foundation for effective people management. Money is by no means the only motivator of people, but too little money demotivates powerfully. Studies have shown that material reward is far more powerful than monetary.

1. How To Determine Levels Of Reward

To determine how much reward is appropriate, consider the question what level of employee reward will attract, retain, and motivate people of the calibre that you require. If an employee does something that results in a one-time boost for the company, a one-time incentive is most appropriate.

2. Why Give Employees Added Rewards In Addition To Wages?

Keep in mind that the main reason why you are giving an employee reward is because you want exceptional results, not comparable performance. Exceptional productivity will more than cover extra pay.

- Employee rewards should be set for noteworthy achievements
- Rewards must be related to a particular completion of a given task
- Employees should be encouraged to express their recent achievements
- Ensure the employee knows they deserve it, it will have a great impresion on their personality

3. Employee reward should never be an alternative for a reasonable remuneration scheme

This type of award should not be set as an enduring option to stable income amendments when, in fact, these changes should be carried out for constant and regular completion of tasks, excellent execution, and notable modifications in conscientiousness, or enhanced assessment of a status. Remember that employee reward is a one-time incentive program; therefore, it should be set out clearly and must be understood well by the employees so that they will know where to stand.

6. Employee rewards should not reflect the impression that these are changes to one’s basic pay

It must be set out clear to the employees so that they will not expect anything more than what they have to receive. Make it apparent that the extra pay is for special achievement only and nothing else. Generally, employee rewards may be in the form of cash incentives or non-cash fringe benefits. It could even be something of no real financial worth such as a personal letter of commendation.

7. Reward By Volume

If you have to use a monetary type of employee reward, give reward based on results. This means that the employee gets a fixed amount for a specific amount of results. In theory, this gives the employee the best incentive to maximize output. In fact, employees tend to put a ceiling on their earnings and thus on their effort. Nevertheless, the key concept here is that the management should only give an employee reward that is tied to an individual achievement. The reward must be reasonably large to have value - no one likes getting an overly small reward as it could have the opposite effect and make the employee view the company as cheap or undervaluing them. Never reward an employee for what has been accepted as a sensible objective. It should be given for extraordinary achievements only.

Employee Development: Motivate Employee Participation in Professional Development Opportunities and Improve Performance

An employee development and training program is not something to be checked off on a checklist. The strongest organizations make employee development an integral part of their culture and strategies for success. Learn how to increase your performance by motivating the seemingly unmotivated.

Keywords:

employee training and development, training and development, employee development, professsional development, employee training, motivation

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When companies think of employee development, they often search for training programs, educational seminars, coaching or the latest book that might offer ideas on what employees can do to sharpen skills or strengthen expertise. However, none of these programs will be effective if the organization lacks one critical success factor: individual motivation. An individual has to want to develop himself before any employee training and development program can be successful.

Some say they’re 'too busy.' Some say they’re 'already developed.' Some blame the boss. Some like burying their heads in the sand, afraid of what they might learn about themselves.

What can you do to help your employees achieve best performance?

Here are some tips to help motivate the seemingly unmotivated and increase your organization’s overall performance.

1. Target the highly motivated and strong performers.

All organizations have individuals who are highly motivated. They stand out more easily. They typically like challenges and welcome growth opportunities for themselves. Engage them in activities to help them get even better. The improved performance of the highly motivated will help raise the bar for your entire organization. Those who are less motivated will have to step up the pace.

2. Focus on the future.

Rather than concentrate on performance areas that aren’t working for an individual, talk about possibilities for the future. It’s easier to become energized about new possibilities than dwelling on weaknesses. Determine the positive outcome that will occur if a change/improvement is made. For example, you might say, "We can reach more buyers if you can speak more frequently to groups. What can you do to hone your presentation skills to help secure more business?" Help employees keep their eye on the goal, not their ego.

3. Open dialogue about desire.

Discussions about development should be positive and ongoing -- not limited to annual performance reviews. Let the individual lead. Rather than saying, "Here are areas you need to develop," ask "What would help you build on your strengths or increase your effectiveness?" When a particular approach has been identified, ask for commitment to follow-through. Create a culture where ongoing development is expected, encouraged and rewarded at all levels.

4. Start at the top.

Executives should model the commitment to growth and development that they want to see throughout the organization. After all, many problems disguised as employee development issues actually reflect leadership deficiencies of the firm or organization.

Consider using assessments of some kind to help employees gain a more objective perspective about them. Assessments can be helpful or destructive depending on how they are used. In the end, it’s all about achieving what both the employees and what the organization wants. Be clear about what’s most important to both.

An employee development and training program is not something to be checked off on a checklist. The strongest organizations make employee development an integral part of their culture and strategies for success. They constantly seek new and innovate ways to engage their people in development opportunities to achieve best results.

Employee Recognition Awards Create Progress

Keywords:

employee recognition program,employee reward and recognition,lapel pin employee recognition,employee recognition idea,employee recognition letter

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In difficult situations, when companies are in crisis and can only be saved by major effort, group morale often rises to far higher levels than before. Individual objections and objectives are bypassed in the collective drive to do what must be done. This is where recognition awards take its importance. High group morale can enrich individual motivation and performance remarkably!

I. Planned Awards:

1. Recognition Awards

On its basic concept, recognition awards are effective ways of increasing and boosting a person’s morale. It encourages them to accept of and have a desire for change at all times. The change they will make is not entirely for the advantage of the company but to his or her own personal achievement as well. Basically, the common recognition awards given to an employee are based on the three categories of recognition. These can be planned, immediate, or formal. If a recognition award is set on a formal approach, the award should focus more on the employee’s exceptional contribution to the organization for a given year. Some of the examples of formal recognition awards are:

2. Employee Service Award

This may refer to the remarkable service extended out by an employee. This means that he or she had taken responsibility of not only doing their assigned task but were able to complete other work that made the entire organization benefit from it.

3. Customer Relations Employee Awards

This is to recognize people who constantly make effort in reaching out to the company’s most important asset the customers. And by merely providing them with exceptional customer service is good enough in such a way that the company is too grateful to just take it for granted.

4. Retiree Recognition Award

This goes out to employees who gave almost half of their life serving the company, providing exceptional service, and undivided loyalty throughout the service period. On the other hand, if the recognition award is planned, meaning giving out these kinds of recognition awards are pre-set and the frequency of conducting them is on a routine basis, then it should be focused on simply recognizing an employees simple yet notable achievements or manifests a good area for advancement.

5. Employee of the Month

This is given to employees who where noted to have done outstanding performance in a given month. This type of recognition award usually boosts the person’s morale in terms of emotional satisfaction and personal fulfilment. This, in turn, encourages and motivates them that if their colleague was able to achieve it, so can they.

6. Best in Attendance

In order to motivate people to come to work on time and avoid habitual absences, this type of recognition award should be given. This, in turn, reflects the company’s value for the employee’s presence, that a day or even a fraction of missed work is detrimental to the entire organization’s development.

7. Best in Customer Service

This type of recognition award is given to those who have exceptionally rendered customer service to their clients, thereby, motivating more people to opt for their services because of the kind of satisfaction they will get from the organization’s staff. In many cases, it is usually the customer service that keeps people from coming back to the company. And so, if carried out well by an employee, it is just right to acknowledge it. And last, if the recognition is based on immediate recognition, the recognition awards should reflect the urgent need to take note of a person’s commendable completion of a given task, in which, when done by anyone else may not have resulted as well.

II. Unplanned Awards:

1. Teamwork Effort

This type of recognition award is given to a group whose outstanding performance had contributed to the company’s growth.

2. A special project award

This refers to the immediate completion of a special project which reaped good results. This recognition award is effective in motivating people that the earlier they complete their work at the same time maintain the quality of output, they will be rewarded.

3. A simple employee appreciation

This type of recognition award is a simple way of uplifting the confidence and drive of the employee to continue and keep up the good work. The bottom line is that, if a company knows how to take car of its people by giving recognition award, the employees will take good care of the company in return.

Gary Blum E-Learning: Effective Employee Training

Gary Blum elearning is all about wirk training. Training an employee is essential for any business, whether it be a fast food establishment or a multi-million dollar software company.

Keywords:

gary blum elearning, online education

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Training is essential to any employee and provides not only a benefit to them but also to the company in increased productivity and employee job satisfaction. The high costs of travel combined with increasing strained budgets have meant that training can sometimes be the first thing to be cut when focusing on the bottom line. Companies are turning to a more cost-effective solution through online education and e-learning.

Training an employee is essential for any business, whether it be a fast food establishment or a multi-million dollar software company. One of the most effective ways to train employees is to let them get education at their own pace through e-learning training programs. Not only does this eliminate costly travel expenses but it also allows the employee to take the training on their own schedule as they are available. If an employee cannot finish the online education is one sitting they can easily come back to where they left off next time. Furthermore, if there is a question or a concept the employee does not understand the e-learning system lets them review and go over materials as often as they desire.

One of the foremost designers of e-learning software is Gary Blum Designs. They have developed online education systems for a number of major companies including Charles Schwab, Cygent and Sybase. If your company does not have an internal training department then hiring an outside contractor such as Gary Blum Designs can be the best solution for getting quality e-learning materials delivered right to your employees.

Most online education includes quiz and performance evaluation software at the end of the course. This information can be stored for use by management to see training weak-spots in the company or judge individual performance. Many times employees can re-take missed quizzes or evaluations and never be asked the same question twice thanks to the technology behind the e-learning application.

Employee Performance Management

Keywords:

Employee Performance Management, Manufacturing Performance Management, Marketing Performance Management, Performance Management

Article Body:

Fixation of compensation or wage rates for different categories of employees in a company is an important task of management. The employees are not only concerned with the wages received but also concerned with the level wages received by same level of employees in similar organizations. Hence wage structure may be considered very important. The relative wage-rules must be fixed carefully, because they have implications for promotion, transfer, seniority and other important personnel matters.

Wage plan should possess certain fundamental characteristics if the long term interests of the worker, management and the consumer are to be served. The wage plan must be linked with the productivity of the workers. Unless higher pay scales of workers are linked in some way to the productivity of workers, a wage plan will not be fair either to the management or to the consumers.

Basic wage for each job classification should be related to skill job requirements of job. Due consideration should be given to such factors as skill, length of time required in learning, versatility required and working conditions. In all fairness to management, the plan should usually result in a reduction of unit cost of manufacture, making possible lower prices and higher profits.

In all fairness to the consumers a share of higher efficiency should be passed on to them by way of lower price. This will be possible when there is reduction in cost due to higher efficiency. Thus the wage plan must ensure that all participate share the gains of higher productivity. The wage plan should include an incentive system for the efficient workers. The system should ensure higher pay to the workers who perform work at higher level of efficiency. The wage plan should guarantee minimum wage to protect the interest of workers against conditions over which they have no control.

Five Principles For Any Employee

One day you get a job! You are thrilled. You do not have to ask your dad for money, you can buy what you want, you can have fun as you wish. There is a lurking suspicion somewhere. Whether I will be able to work to the satisfaction of the boss, what kind of work will be

there, and actually what will I be supposed to do ?

Keywords:

job,career,software,computer,organisation,employee,management,satisfaction,goal,objective,profession

Article Body:

Getting a job after several years of schooling gives some anxious moments to everyone!

It is a time when you are on your own and want to lead your life your own way without any strings attached.......

There are three major aspects in life :

1. Childhood

2. Adult life

3. Old age

There are however some transition periods like there is teenage between childhood and adult life in which period you develop your strengths - physical and mental. You play games and study for a job or a career. Depending on the profession you choose or plan you choose the area of education. Nehru said, " Education is what one forgets what one has learnt at school". It does not mean you immediately wipe out what you learnt. One has to develop one's own learning.

Learning Curve

A learning curve is 'S'-shaped. There is a lag phase, a growth phase, a stationary phase and a decay phase. In the lag phase you take your time to grasp, understand and apply the rudiments of knowledge imparted or learnt. The time period of lag phase varies from person to person. The growth phase is the period where you learn faster than before that is there is acceleration. In the stationary phase, you reach stagnancy since you are saturated either due to educational limitations or you are an expert by that time. Decay phase may overtake you either due to old age or due to out-dated knowledge.

You enjoy your life if you are lucky in the pre-adulthood phase of life when your mother takes care of you showering love and affection and father takes care of your educational needs and career planning. There those who have to struggle ( and there are plenty of them) to overcome emotional and economic problems to achieve their aims and objectives.

On getting a job

What is an organisation?

First of all, one has to have an idea of an organisation or a company or a firm. The very word organisation implies a 'structure'. There is a hierarchy or a pyramid of people. There is a base, a mid- section and a pointed top. If one starts at the base, he is at the lowest level where all low-level jobs have to be carried out. If one joins at the mid-section, he has a base at the bottom and a top above him. The top-level or senior management plans, reviews and controls the over-all objectives of a company. The mid-section or middle management has to get the objectives planned by the top-management through the involvement of the base-level employees or their supervisors. The middle management has to clearly understand the plans and perceptions of the top management and the problems and limitations of the base-level to achieve success. Alongside one must also know whether one is in line management or staff management.

Line Manager

A line manager is directly in the line of command whereas a staff manager is one branch of line management. A line manager has better chance of promotion since he can go to the next higher level by virtue of a promotion in a vacancy. A staff manager has fewer chances of rising up the ladder. A line manager grows more by virtue of his years of experience though he may be doing the same job again and again, year after year!

Staff Manager

A staff manager can grow only by aquiring up to date knowledge and skills and by looking for better paying jobs. One should identify on joining a job whether he is a line manager or a staff manager. In a big organisation, even staff management can have its own line management but limited up to the main line where it is an off-shoot.

Career Visions

In the course of a job, one must realise quickly enough whether one is just doing a job for livelihood or for a career. When three bricklayers were asked what they were doing, each replied differently. One said he was earning his livelihood, the other said he was perfecting the art of bricklaying whereas the third fellow said he was building a castle. They are respectively the ordinary worker, the skilled worker and the manager, says Peter Drucker. Thus a profession can be looked at in one's own perception. Fundamentally, one who enjoys his job can achieve greater heights. If you want to be a successful manager, each and every nuance of work should be done with full focus and with dedication.

Emotional Quotient

In the beginning, very few job-seekers or fresh recruits realise that employee life is worse than student life. One has to have a high emotional quotient to tolerate the behaviour of colleagues at the workplace. There are those who are planning to out-wit you without your knowledge, there are those who are otherwise good but ineffective, there are those who at your very sight curse you under their breath, there are those who paint a dismal picture of the organisation on your very first day of joining and so on. Yet there are some good people too. There are those who want your help and company.

Five Golden Principles In Any Job

The first principle :

" Study the environment and the people for a reasonable time."

The second principle :

" Do not get tempted to comment or make statements."

The third principle :

" Do not be in a hurry to please your boss ."

The fourth principle :

" Do not enter into political discussions ."

The fifth principle :

" Study your boss carefully remembering the golden adage - the boss is always right!"

Ethics and Morality

In the long run, one should try to maintain ethical standards in a job. Ultimately, everything boils down to one's character. One has to be true, sincere, honest, hard-working, dedicated, principled and caring if one wants to be a successful manager. Remember, in an organisation you are what you are perceived to be! You cannot believe in something and appear to be somebody else - certainly, not in the long run. Be sure. Gandhian principles merit consideration in every walk of life.

Then you must plan for your finances. Work out a plan - when you want to get married, when you want to raise a family ( and what size!), where you want to be locationally and career-wise, standard of life you plan to maintain, assets you wish to build - fixed and current, your responsibilities, disaster management plan, savings for the future etc.

Above All

Above all, one should never land oneself in unnecessary problems. It is always better to maintain integrity. Do not be greedy or get misled by quick-money ventures. Take your time to study, analyse and discuss any investment and its associated risks. Do not fall into traps just because your friend has taken up something. Be safe and sure. Live by truth and self-control. Never be avengeful or nurture evil thoughts. Whenever you get angry or upset with someone, adopt "silence with a smile". If you wish you can tell politely but be ready to hear similarly!

In the long run, try to make up as best as and as fast as you can. Nobody has come to live permanently on this planet....

For latest job openings in computer related fields, you can visit:

Build Bridges Not Walls - Employee Recognition

Keywords:

employee recognition program,employee reward and recognition,lapel pin employee recognition,employee recognition idea,employee recognition letter

Article Body:

Regular, one-on-one assessments with your staff provide an efficient two-way forum with which to set and review realistic achievement targets, provide feedback on performance, and listen to and consider any problems employees may have. For example, a sales executive may feel that he or she is under performing, when in fact sales targets have been set too high. During the appraisal, these targets could be reviewed and set at more realistic levels. And after the goals have been met and the targets achieved, it is just but fair to recognize your employees effort in doing their best.

1. Why Employee Recognition?

This is where employee recognition takes center stage. Through employee recognition, you give your staff the reason to go on, push a little harder, and achieve their dreams as well. You can do this by giving them better opportunities to prove themselves worthy of the job you gave them. Giving people new or better jobs shows that you recognize their achievements and encourages them to achieve further success. Rewarding exceptional performance also inspires colleagues to improve their contribution in the workplace. All of these boil down to the point that employee recognition is, indeed, a vital element in the company’s success.

2. Planned Employee Recognition

As its name implies, planned recognition is more of a pre-coordinated plan. Because of its frequency, the event may not necessarily be formal. Under this category, the most common employee recognition awards are customer service, attendance, outstanding achievements, employee of the month, productivity, and safety.

3. Immediate Employee Recognition

This method of employee recognition renders acknowledgement at any point in time for exhibition of the principles and ideals being upheld by the company and their role in achieving the targets and goals of the establishment. The company or management may award an employee recognition particularly upon a commendable effort, solidarity, accomplishment of an exclusive project, acquisition of a new company procedure, or simply expressing indebtedness to the employee for making such effort.

4. Formal Employee Recognition

This type of employee recognition is done annually. Because of its formality, the event showcases a very glamorous and prestigious ceremony. This type of employee recognition renders acknowledgement on the total and outstanding performance of an employee. The award itself is so special that every employee aims to achieve it. These are sometimes known as presidents awards, the top 10 percent club, etc. In this type of employee recognition, the most common awards are centered on the employee or the department’s outstanding and remarkable performance. This refers to an exceptional work that an employee was able to accomplish in spite of its level of difficulty. The company should, however, bear in mind that employee recognition does not simply mean that it is the right thing to do since your employee has done such merit.

5. The Reasoning

The main purpose of employee recognition is to build bridges among people, to establish communication, and to acknowledge the value of each employee in establishing the success of the whole organization. Moreover, employee recognition is utmost appreciated if the event is timely and is done at a more public gathering. In this way, the impression is more intense. Consequently, the employee recognition should delve more on the effort of the employee to accomplish tasks and not on the result itself. Research has shown that by giving equal weight to the employee’s intellectual, emotional, and psychological needs through employee recognition, the commitment of the staff is increased and therefore productivity increased.

Employees must also remember that

- Employee recognition should not be expected
- It does not translate to an instant promotion
- It may not result in any additional monetary compensation
- Is best percieved as a gift
- The main purpose of employee recognition is to positively motivate the group

Effective Employee Internet Monitoring

Keywords:

network management, internet monitoring, securemycompany

Article Body:

Many business owners find themselves in the position to confront employees about their Internet use. Non-work related activities including online games, Internet shopping, stock trading, Internet radio, streaming media and MP3 downloads represent the new temptations in the workplace.

When an employee connects to the Internet, your company is exposed to these four threats:
• Productivity Threats: Just 20 minutes of recreational surfing a day can cost a company with 30 employees over $1000 per week (At $25/hr per employee)
• Legal Threats: Employees can sue if you don't provide a work environment free of gender and minority harassment. This means taking reasonable care to block offensive Internet content.
• Network Threats: An employee can crash your network just by logging into the wrong website. Other activity like recreational surfing and downloading MP3 files can divert valuable bandwidth from critical business needs.
• Security Threats: Viruses enter networks through a variety of sources, such as web-based email, Instant Messenger file transfer, email attachments or through other files directly downloaded from a website.
Companies of all sizes must effectively incorporate email, Instant Messages and web traffic logs into their overall records management strategy. Some companies must do this to comply with industry regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley and HIPAA.

The first step is to choose the types of Internet content that will not be allowed in the workplace. Keep in mind that not all employees will have the same privileges, so it is important the network management solution you choose provides a flexible configuration to suit your needs.

There are two basic types of Internet monitoring solutions: Gateway and desktop solutions. Gateway solutions are software or hardware that act as checkpoint for all Internet traffic on the network. Desktop solutions are installed on the local machine to enforce the Internet policies before the request leaves the machine. Desktop solutions work well on smaller networks and gateway solutions work well on both.

The next step is to create an official company policy specifically for Internet use. It should include all Internet activities and not just those you wish to manage. Keep in mind the document cannot account for every possible scenario on the Internet, so it is important to use broad terms with specific examples. For example, instead of stating “Political opinions are not to be posted on newsgroups,” you may wish to use “Messages originating from the company network or other company-owned assets may not contain political opinions.” The second clause is much stronger because it doesn’t specify a message type or delivery system. If you have liability insurance, then be sure to get their approval on all documents. In some cases they will have additional provisions that directly relate to your industry.

The most difficult step will be implementing the new policies. In most cases, some or all users will experience a reduction in Internet privileges. Prepare for a temporary increase in support requests as some users will be prevented from accessing some work-related content. Internet policy configuration is an on-going process that must be routinely maintained.

Soon the complaints from users will cease and production will return back to normal. It is important to keep your filtering software updated and to maintain a history of Internet activity. If the time comes when you must confront an employee about their Internet use, you will have proof of their Internet activity and a detailed comparison to their peers. That is a much stronger case than saying “I’ve seen you 10 times looking at ….”

Employee Performance Reviews — Dealing With Disagreements

Keywords:

performance, employee, management, evaluation, review, assessment, online, software

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Employee Retention: What Employee Turnover Really Costs Your Company

Keywords:

employee retention, employee turnover, turnover cost calculator,

Article Body:

It’s one of the largest costs in all different types of organizations, yet it’s also one of the most unknown costs. It’s employee turnover.

Companies routinely record and report costs such as wages and benefits, Workman’s Compensation Insurance, utilities, materials, and space, yet most companies have no and report the cost of employee turnover. It can be much higher than you think.

How Much is it Costing You?

Several well-regarded studies have recently estimated the cost of losing an employee:

• SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, estimated that it costs $3,500.00 to replace one $8.00 per hour employee when all costs -- recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, reduced productivity, et cetera, were considered. SHRM’s estimate was the lowest of 17 nationally respected companies who calculate this cost!

• Other sources provide these estimates: It costs you 30-50% of the annual salary of entry-level employees, 150% of middle level employees, and up to 400% for specialized, high level employees!

• Do a quick calculation: Think of a job in your organization where there has been some turnover, perhaps supervisors. Estimate their annual average pay and the number of supervisors you lose annually. For example, if their average annual pay is $40,000, multiply this by .125% (or 125% of their annual pay, a reasonable cost estimate for supervisors). This means it costs $50,000 to replace just one supervisor. If this company loses ten supervisors a year, then 10 times $50,000 equals $500,000 in replacement costs for just supervisors. This is the bottom line cost. The top line cost? If the company’s profit margin is 10%, then it costs $5,000,000 in revenues to replace these ten supervisors.

Do These Numbers Seem Unbelievable?

Here’s an actual calculation from a well-regarded organization in my community. The HR Manager of this human services organization (housing for disabled persons, sheltered workshops, etc.), estimated that 30 entry level people leave his organization on average every quarter.

This averages out to ten people per month. Let’s be extra conservative and shave SHRM’s estimate (see above) down to $3,000.00 to replace each employee.

This amounts to $30,000 per month, or $1,000.00 in employee turnover costs every day of the month! Annually, this totals $360,000.00.

Actual turnover costs are usually much higher than we think they are -- until we estimate them.

You may be thinking, “Some employee turnover is unavoidable, even desirable.” You’re right. Some turnover is necessary, to replace marginal or poor employees with more productive ones and to bring in people with new ideas and expertise. However, high turnover costs are both avoidable and unnecessary.

This is where companies need to focus their efforts. The goal is to retain valued performers while replacing poor ones.

Most companies group both types of performers together when looking at turnover. By doing so, they’re missing the cost and significance of replacing the good performers.

Why Don’t More Companies See This as a Costly Problem?

There are a variety of reasons this is not seen as a problem, all of which cost companies in expertise and dollars. How many of these occur in your organization?

1. No process is in place to tabulate costs. One survey found that only 44% of its respondents had a process in place to estimate turnover costs; 43% of companies relied on intuition, and 13% had no process at all. (1)

2. Costs are not reported to top management. It’s a business axiom that one of the best ways to get top management’s attention is to show them what something costs. However, most top management never gets to see turnover cost estimates because most companies don’t measure them -- or if they do, they don’t report them to top management.

3. It’s an inescapable cost of doing business. Except, it’s not! While some turnover is unavoidable and desirable, most turnover, especially among your better and top performers, is largely avoidable. Thinking that turnover is just a normal cost of doing business is the same quality of thinking which says that accidents are just an inescapable part of being in the construction business.

4. It’s an HR problem. While HR needs to be a key partner in reducing turnover cost, this is a strategic issue requiring top management’s attention and actions, in addition to HR’s efforts, to resolve it.

5. Costs are underestimated, and so they register less concern. If costs are underestimated because the organization doesn’t agree on or know what to measure, the statistics generated either register less concern than they should, or are disputed and held in disregard.

What Costs Need to be Fully Estimated?

A comprehensive program measures the following costs:

Exit costs
Recruiting
Interviewing
Hiring
Orientation
Training
Compensation & benefits while training
Lost productivity
Customer dissatisfaction
Reduced or lost business
Administrative costs
Lost expertise
Temporary workers

There needs to be advance agreement among Human Resources, Finance, and Operations as to which cost measures will be considered valid. Then, it has to be measured and reported.

6. Waiting until there’s a crisis. I was amazed when the executive director of one organization told me she knew that one of her capable managers was unhappy, but decided it wasn’t necessary to take action because she hadn’t received a letter of resignation yet.

Prevention is what works best. Begin to measure your turnover costs and, very importantly, look at who is leaving so you’ll know if you’re retaining your best people.

The time to do this is now. Waiting until there’s a crisis to take action limits your options and success rate. It also often triggers the common response of offering more money to get someone to stay, instead of fixing the original problem.
Why Do So Many Retention Efforts Fail?

These are among the most common reasons company retention efforts fail, even when they’re implemented by capable people.

1. No assessment, so ineffective solutions are chosen. In their hurry to correct a costly problem, companies often forgo conducting a relatively brief and cost-efficient assessment in order to correct the situation faster. However, implementing a solution without diagnosing who is leaving, and why they’re leaving often results in solutions that are incapable of solving the root causes behind turnover.

Diagnosing the reasons behind turnover always pays for itself. Don’t start without an assessment.

2. Implementing too many solutions instead of the most effective solutions. Managers often brainstorm a number of plausible solutions, then implement many of them -- especially those favored by top management. However, what is most needed is to select and implement a limited number of solutions which will be most effective at solving the problem. Implementing too many solutions, even good ones, will diffuse your resources and weaken your efforts and success.

3. No way of measuring success to know what works. How do you know which retention solutions you’ve implemented are working effectively and which aren’t, where you need to make refinements, and what strategies you need to drop if you don’t have a way of measuring your results?

How Do We Do a Better Job of Retaining Employees -- Especially Our Most Valuable Ones?

First, rank your employees in three categories: best performers, middle performers, and lowest performers. Your objective is to retain your top performers; develop and retain your middle performers, turning them into near-top or top performers if possible; and potentially replace your lowest performers.

Second, agree internally on the measures you’ll use to calculate turnover costs. Be certain you’re taking all costs into consideration. Most organizations greatly underestimate them.

Third, report turnover costs to top management on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

When turnover costs are unacceptably high, or higher than your industry’s average, do an assessment. Find out who is leaving and why they’re leaving. Exit interviews can help you find out why.

You need to know if it is your top, middle, or lowest performers who are leaving so you can gauge the expertise level leaving your organization. You’re obviously going to employ (and pay for) different strategies if your top performers are voluntarily leaving, compared to middle or lowest level performers.

Develop solutions capable of solving the problems you uncover, and only implement a limited number of them.

Measure the success of your retention efforts, and refine them.

Two Very Key Strategies to Save a Large Amount of Time and Money.

Very key strategy # 1: Don’t wait until turnover costs become unacceptably high before you implement an ongoing retention program. Put a retention program in place before you have crisis situation. You not only must find out why employees leave your organization, you must also find out why others stay.

Very key strategy # 2: Survey your top performers now in order to find out what keeps them there, why they might leave, what type of competitive offers they may find attractive, and what they need to be happier and more productive in their jobs. You’ll do a better job of keeping them (along with their expertise and value). You’ll also find out highly beneficial information about improvements your organization needs.

This means driving improvements in your organization by what your best people tell you, instead of focusing on taking care of the ever-present complainers in every organization.

Just How Valuable are Retention Efforts? One source estimated that a 10% reduction in employee turnover was worth more money than a 10% increase in productivity, or a 10% increase in sales!

Retain and gain.

Employee Burn Out Prevention

Keywords:

employee management, employee scheduling, employee training, employee rights, employee incentives

Article Body:

Employees who are motivated are the assets, even secret to the success of successful companies. However, these employees aren't robot nor machines. They can feel pressure, be overwhelmed, or even worse, be burned-out. Recognizing and preventing symptoms of burn-out will save your company and your employees from self-destruction. Organizational psychologist David Javitch, PhD, names the most common signs of burn-out. According to him, the most telltale signs of burn-out include a decline in productivity. It is most noticeable when a highly productive employee starts turning in mediocre work. Lateness, leaving on the dot, leaving work early, prolonged breaks, and increasing absences are the most common actions of burned-out employees. He also named the simplest means to prevent it such as employee scheduling, employee training, employee rights, employee performance, employee time, employee incentives, and regular evaluation.

Employee scheduling
Rotating employee's schedule may refresh your employees. However, there is a risk that you may hasten the burning out process. To prevent this from happening, be sure to consult with your employees about the rotating schedule. Put morning persons on the a.m. shift and the late risers on the afternoon shift. Night owls would definitely prefer the evening shifts. This will significantly reduce stress and pressure on your employees to perform at the time when their energies are low. Plus, you will get to benefit from their top performances because they would work at the time when their productivity levels are at their peak.

Employee Training
Provide training on areas that interest and help your employees. If your business is all about computers, train your employees on new programs or applications. A fashion or entertainment business would do well to conduct image consultancy and development training for its employees. Writers would benefit from writing workshops. Aside from breaking the monotony of their daily schedule, the employees and your company would also benefit from this move. You will have more trained and confident employees that are motivated to put their training to good use. Also, widen employees' responsibilities or cross train them. Have them handle other projects than their regular work to challenge them.

Employee Rights, Employee Incentives, And Employee Time
Convene with your employees and discuss with them their rights and the incentives they would get if the company performs well. They would get a big boost from being reminded and knowing that the company's future depends on them and their productivity. Give them employee time or a break from work. Declare a company holiday and treat your employees to an outing. A change of scenery would refresh them and energize them for another work season. In addition, they would feel that they are important to the company and that they are rewarded for all their efforts. Nothing boosts a person's morale most than praise and reward. These will encourage them to perform well and top their earlier efforts.

Employee Performance and Regular Evaluation
Conduct regular evaluation system to monitor your employees' performance. Reward good employees to encourage them to perform better. Encourage slackers with training and an assurance that the company, and you, as their employer, would help them in coping with their workload. Present your employees with a definite career growth plan such as promotions for top performing employees. Their enthusiasm for work would be revived if they know that they can move up the corporate ladder.

According to Javitch, these motivation methods will serve to aid you and your employees in the evaluation of their present company roles. He stressed that these are key improvements to an efficient employee management program. These methods would increase motivation, satisfaction, and most of all, productivity in your employees. Implement these and you would be saved from mediocre performances and work disruptions.

Employee Time Tracking

Keywords:

Time Tracking, Time Tracking Software, Time Tracking Programs, Employee Time Tracking

Article Body:

Time tracking is the act of tracing out the time spent on each activity in a particular period of time. With so much pressure on time these days, time tracking and management has become absolutely necessary. Though time tracking was initially just a method for keeping track of the way employees use their time, today it is a major program that is used for several other things like: payroll processing, employee productivity, revenue management, client management, invoicing, database management and project management.

Employee time tracking was first done using simple time cards or punch cards. Employees had to punch in their cards, when they came in or out, into a machine that would record the time. The timings were later copied onto spreadsheets and analyzed manually to determine how much time an employee spent in the office. This simple mechanism was sufficient in the days when there was not too much stress on the productivity of employees. However, with technological diversions like the Internet, e-mails, and phones, it has become very important to track the exact time the employee spends working. Besides, some enterprises have thousands of employees located at different locations across the world, working in different time zones, which make employee time tracking even more important. There are several advantages of employee time tracking: it makes payroll processing easier by tracking the exact hours an employee worked, increases revenues by correct invoicing, and makes database management easier. There are also some disadvantages: employees do not appreciate it they feel too much pressure for showing results for every minute; or the information may not be used properly.

Today, there are hundreds of employee time tracking programs and software packages available. These not only make tracking, but also billing, payroll, project costing and estimation easier. Besides, they can track the employee’s use of time in the absence of the supervisor. Employees located even thousands of miles away can be tracked using this software. These software programs can be downloaded easily onto any platform and used either offline or online. They can also be customized to suit exact requirements. Information about this software can be obtained over the internet.

Employee Newsletters for Small Companies

Smaller companies can make employee newsletters work for them by using some special strategies and by taking advantage of the Hawthorne Effect.

Keywords:

employee newsletter, small company, small companies, Hawthorne Effect

Article Body:

A newsletter for 60 employees?

A visitor to the Manager═s Guide Web site asked for about buying content for a newsletter that would serve a group of 60 professionals; the department responsible would not have time to write a complete newsletter.

I emailed the following response (slightly edited):

You have asked a good question. With 60 employees, your staff is big enough to need a newsletter, but not big enough to make a major spending commitment. On that basis, let me share a few observations with you.

First, while I═‘m not sure why you want to communicate with these employees, I assume it is to maintain their loyalty and to increase their productivity (both common objectives for employee newsletters ).

To maintain (and perhaps increase) loyalty, I would recommend that you or some other appropriate person sit down once a month and simply write a letter. Think of it as a letter to a friend or colleague, and report any news of interest to them. You might report on hiring, about changes in policy, how to apply for benefits, or any other information they would find useful. Again, I would stress the need for an informal approach, perhaps something mirroring this letter to you. Avoid making it sound like a memo, if possible. And, I would laser print or copy and mail it, rather than use electronic mail.

Turning to productivity, I would not buy articles from third parties unless you come across something that really impresses you. You say these are people are professionals, which suggests to me they will have access to the Net, and probably no end of information already.

Instead, I would prepare a modest budget and then offer to pay the employees for providing useful tips and articles that their colleagues can use to be more productive. For example, $20 per employee per issue would give you a budget of about $1,200; offer to buy two articles of 500 to 1,000 words for $500 each, and four tips of 100 to 200 words for $50 each. Or if you want to spend $10 per employee, then you could buy one article and two tips. Once you have the material in hand, print and distribute it to the employees. It can be sent with, or separately from, the letter about internal issues.

Finally, you may wish to consider the Hawthorne experiments, which took place in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Researchers set out to find which internal environment changes (such as lighting, etc) increased productivity the most.

They found, to their great surprise, was that productivity went up regardless of the type of change that was made. For example, productivity went up when they increased the amount of light, as expected. But, it also went up when the amount of light was decreased; that was not expected.

All of that led researchers to realize that it was the attention the employees received, not the changes, that made a difference. We now refer to this phenomenon, in which employees respond to the attention they receive, as the Hawthorne Effect.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying that the act of communication is often more important than content or style. As long as you do something, it may be better than nothing.