In the 1970s, businesses started using computers for large calculations like payroll. IBM software recorded to punch cards or tape wheels. The ability to recall data was cumbersome. It is no wonder smaller companies just used paper time sheets to calculate payroll.

In order to have efficient plan schedule management, you need workload management software like Time Clock Wizard. Read more about the importance of standard operating procedures.

What is Workload Management Software?

Making informed decisions about the level of workforce needed every day is made easier with online management tools.

Because your workforce schedule is concentrated on a convenient dashboard, it makes it easy to get a quick overview of your operations at any time.

When customers started using Time Clock Wizard, there were surprises. One of the unexpected benefits is that it is easy to re-assign employees to different areas of the job site as needed.

This reduction in wasted downtime labor hours and the ability to do batch scheduling were  key factors for meeting projected labor force goals.

What is Batch Job Scheduling?

Batch scheduling is typically a hands-off process in which events trigger the schedule management. You may know of “If this, then that“process arrangements.

Time Clock Wizard is a hands on and convenient way to do mass scheduling. This gives management and human resources the best ability to easily schedule staff, make changes and notify employees. The benefit is easing conflicting deadlines.

Unlike typical batch systems, Time Clock Wizard allows for employees to check on their own schedule, request time off and request to exchange days with another employee.

How to manage conflicting Deadlines

Business have moving parts. Sometimes projects get delayed or work ahead of schedule. When this happens, sometimes labor is required to be in two places at once.

Time Clock Wizard has some features that can help out with conflicting deadlines.

The ability to leave notes for employees is helpful. For example, when your employee logs back in from their break, a note could appear to them to: Switch to project B for the afternoon only.

It is good to have a mix of tasks available for employees that include routine items, tasks that are tied to deadlines and no more than 3 priority items at a time.

How to manage workload of Employees

An important thing to remember is that the manager in charge of employees sets the standards. Creating and maintaining standards makes it easier for employees to do their jobs efficiently.

Time Clock Wizard helps out with maintaining standards by having an intuitive interface that all employees interact with.

An employees time is just as important as a manager’s time. Make sure that employees have blocks of uninterrupted work time to get tasks done. Also, make sure to have a set of problems that warrant input from other team members before calling a meeting.

Outsource repetitive tasks that can be completed efficiently somewhere else at a better price. It is important to ask employees if they are running into repetitive tasks that is getting in the way of more productive time.

Time Clock Wizard increases ROI for Workload Management Software

When you are able to make and post batch schedules for your employees using Time Clock Wizard, employees will be able to check their schedule online. This frees up the bottleneck caused by employees coming into physically check their schedule.

This is a terrific six sigma project to see how much better customers react to the increased service. You can try Time Clock Wizard for free: Try TCW now!

The post Employee Workload Management Software as a Service appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

Customers will quite often request products or services to companies that they respect. The goal of any business is to be the best value for each customer. One of the ways to do this is to appropriately manage budgets to avoid cost over-runs.

In the last article, we covered how to schedule staff using Time Clock Wizard. In this article, we will cover project planning. Knowing what to do for scheduling will help your business become more organized.

What is Project Scheduling?

Project scheduling is a part of total project management. This is a detailed list of a particular project’s activities, deliverables and milestones.

It is a good idea to have a start and end date for each project; with that in mind remember that bottlenecks happen, so be flexible with date allocations.

What is a Plan Schedule Management Process?

In order to bring innovative ideas into reality, there is a process that you should follow. There are many ways to get to your end goals depending on the size, technical difficulty, resources available and willing employees for each project.

Here are different types of project management systems:

• PM Methodologies
• Agile
• Waterfall
• Scrum
• Rapid Applications Development
• New Product Introduction
• Get Things Done
• 5s Methodology
• Packaged Enable Re-Engineering
• Bullet Method
• PRINCE2
• Kanban
• Kondo Method
• Six Sigma
• DMAIC
• Outcome Mapping

A lot of managers have not taken the time to research these various kinds of systems. There are some systems that just use paper and pencil while other methods are software-driven. Find out how to create a schedule online with Time Clock Wizard.

If you want a simple system, then Kanban is the winner. If you have a lot of projects to do at once, then the Scrum method might work better for your team. When your goal is improving customer satisfaction, then six sigma is your best project plan.

What is a Project Schedule Good for?

The project schedule helps managers organize resource allocation (including having enough employees to do the tasks), budget (avoiding overages and overtime), duration of tasks, specific events (pre-launch) and all dependencies.

Another key factor for creating a project schedule is to communicate the chain of command for every given project. This ability to delegate tasks to middle management will free up time for upper management to pursue strategic partnerships.

Project Planning and Scheduling with Time Clock Wizard

One of the really nice features of Time Clock Wizard is that you can easily move employee schedules as needed for your projects. The scheduler within Time Clock Wizard allows you to email your employees about schedule changes.

Employees will be able to easily look online at their schedule the night before a shift. This will free up time for both employees and managers. Employees will also be able to switch shifts with each other so there is no confusion who is supposed to work.

Another feature is the forecasting section. This will allow you to see if your proposed schedule is under- or over-staffed. It is good to know when to avoid overtime charges.

Shift Planning for Projects

When a plan is put to a schedule, the task become manageable in sections. It is important to point out that planning for extra shifts in the beginning of the project will give wiggle-room toward the end of the project.

No matter the method of task planning and schedule management you choose, Time Clock Wizard makes shift planning changes easier than traditional workload management. In fact, workload management software is becoming as much of a staple to business as staplers.

Right now, you can try out Time Clock Wizard for free.

The post What is an Efficient Plan Schedule Management Process? appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

It makes sense to get organize a schedule that works well for both management and staff. The easier the schedule is to create and use, the better for everyone and the why standard operating procedures are important.

How to Schedule Staff Effectively?

At one time, creating schedules by hand was the preferred method. Then, scheduling moved to database spreadsheets, which was more efficient yet still hard to work with.

Smartphone apps gained popularity in use. With the ability of online apps, the scheduling process has become more interactive and intuitive.

Employees should be able to access and view their schedule online at any time and make requests for changes.

Did you know this? 

Time Clock Wizard is workload management software that handles employee scheduling, virtual time clock, hours reporting plus payroll.

Here is an example of one way TCW will immediately save your business:

When employees call into the place of business to ask for verbal confirmation of their schedule or to request changes, so much time is wasted. The time wasted on the phone does not benefit the company.

With the app for TCW, employees can just log onto their account and see their information. This takes the strain off management. Small, non-efficient interruptions add up throughout the day.

What is an Efficient Plan Schedule Management Process?

Employee time is an important aspect of plan schedule management. In order to get the product or service to your customers on time, your labor force needs to meet the demands of the project at hand.

As companies get away from doing punch cards and paper schedules, workload management software takes it place. It is great to be able to create your schedule online.

Time Clock Wizard is available via a free trial. There are tutorial videos available for you as well to teach you how to schedule employees.

How to Schedule Employees

You can input the schedule the first time with our intuitive software. Easily copy schedules week to week. Utilize employee check boxes for individuals.

Also…

You can also move schedules around to help cover for mistakes, vacation time or other necessary changes. Managers love this feature!

You can email the schedule directly to an employee. This is convenient because it prevents employees from calling excessively or creating a bottleneck around a physical schedule. Employees will be able to request time off within this same app.

Use the payment graph to stay within budget. The forecasting option to meet scheduling goals. You will be surprised with the results. Data that emerges from scheduling stats is like gold. Over time, you’ll be able to shift employees to cover high production times.

And…

The data you can collect from Time Clock Wizard is really beneficial. Executives who are working on six sigma projects or other efficiency testing models get a good value for Time Clock Wizard.

Sign up for a free trial today.

The post How to Schedule Employees using Time Clock Wizard appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

Administrative support services can be so busy with trying to adjust payroll that they fail to to employee benefit requirements. This is a huge problem when entry into certain employee benefit programs is time-sensitive.

Employee Benefits

There needs to be a good balance of pay versus benefits. It is a really good idea to ask employees whether they want more pay or more benefits. By doing that, your employees will feel more in charge of their working destiny.

Here is a small list of employee benefits that are competitive:

• 401(k) Retirement Plan (Major Type)
• Company Credit Card Plan
• Company Credit Union
• Health/Dental Insurance (Major Type)
• Life Insurance (Major Type)
• Paid Vacations
• Paid Sick Days
• Flexible Scheduling
• Counseling
• Drug & Alcohol Rehab
• Disability Insurance (Major Type)
• Education & Six Sigma Training

The more benefits your company can feasibly offer the better. Besides employee benefits, there are lots of substantial employee perks that cost nothing or very little.

401(k) and other Retirement Programs

Retirement programs are the standards for large corporations. Smaller businesses find that doing 401(k) matching can be stressful for their company. That is why capping the amount that your company will match is important.

Here are common employee benefits 401(k):

• 401(k) Quit/Death Accounts
• Roth IRA
• Rollover IRA
• Safe Harbor
• Matching Contributions

The goal of this program is to encourage employees to give to their maximum amount that you match. It is good to hand out literature as to the benefits of the retirement programs.

Do not be upset if employees opt out of this program – no matter how valuable you think it is.

What Happens to 401k when you Quit?

Employees leave a job for a lot of reasons. People want to know what to do with their 401k after they leave a job. They think they need to transfer it like their other insurance programs.

Here are the choices after severance:

Employees can do nothing at all. Because this is an easy option, a lot of employees just keep the 401k as is.

Employees can more assets over into a plan offered by their new employer. This can be messy in the middle of a down-turned market.

The least favored method is to cash out and use this money for living expenses in between jobs. This is a way to lose all of the momentum as well as face financial penalties.

The best option is called a Rollover IRA. Because this IRA account can travel with you from job to job, this offers the most long-term security.

Matching Contributions

Matching contributions is a way to show your value to your employee. This is an incentive to keep your employee loyal to your company – especially if you do better matching than your competitors.

It is a great idea to show people about compounding interest and how this builds up a retirement account.

What is Safe Harbor Matching Contribution?

Companies can choose to create a safe harbor plan for your employee investments.

The most popular option that employers do is a dollar-for-dollar match for 4% of employee compensation. This means that if your employee earns $100, they pitch in $4 and the employer pitches in $4.

Another option is to put in 3% for each employee whether or not they choose to go with this program. Sometimes, just having the employee funds on hand is good for your business bottom line.

The Types of Employee Benefits that Matter

Employees have a hard time covering insurance without the help of a group plan through an employer. Medical, disability, retirement and life insurance is the base employee benefits that your business should offer.

It is a good idea to get the most competitive benefits for your employees to be the best for them and not your business. In order to be a true benefit, it should be better than your closest competitor.

Speaking of benefits, having an efficient time clock system that reduces both employee and management stress is important. Time Clock Wizard is an online time clock app that makes it easy for employees to check their schedule, switch shifts and request time off.

Right now, there is a free trial available. You can see what Time Clock Wizard is all about by clicking on this link: Try the Free Trial for TCW now.

The post Types of Employee Benefits Necessary to be Competitive appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

For example, it used to be common practice to adjust employee’s time clock data to reflect when they were scheduled to work versus when they clocked in. This was done to prevent time clock scams.

With the new FLSA requirements, you will need the exact time via time stamp as well as the adjusted time. This is put into place to keep employers from scamming employees out of hours by shaving off a bit here and there.

Here are questions asked by employees:

• Weighted overtime
• Time and a half
• Paid holidays
• Pay for Sabbaticals
• Errors in Payroll

Overtime

Overtime is a subject that often gets contested state by state. It is the amount of extra pay per hour that is awarded. It is typically time and a half.

There are a lot of misconceptions about what is and is not overtime. In fact, in the previous article, there were questions about the 40-hour work week.

What is Weighted Overtime?

Weighted overtime is more accurately weighted average overtime. This is used for people who are paid by salary with different week to week hours (like hospital and emergency preparedness staff). Also, people who hold more than one title (waitress/rolling silverware).

During a two week period pay cycle, you calculate total number of hours worked. Any hours over 80 should be calculated at time and a half. Time and a half is can be referred to as the premium overtime rate.

In order to find the amount that is due, you take the overtime hours and multiply those by the premium overtime rate.

Now, add this number to the calculation for the regular pay rate.

From this total, subtract all necessary taxes, entitlement payments, insurance, etc.

It is very very very important that if your company uses weighted average overtime, that the employee is aware of that (with a signature).

Time and a Half

As discussed above, time and a half is the most common premium overtime rate.

What does Time and a Half mean?

This question is one of the most common questions for payroll. To be clear, what time and a half means is the hourly rate plus 1/2 the hourly rate.

For example, if the hourly rate is $10. 1/2 that hourly rate is $5. $10 plus $5 is $15 dollars. The pay rate for time and a half in this case is $15 per hour.

Time and a half is usually for overtime and holiday pay hours.

Holiday Pay

The holidays are times set aside by the American Government as days that you can spend time with your family. These are traditional days off. If you choose to work on specific holidays, you are rewarded with extra pay for not being able to spend the holiday with your family.

What Holiday pay are Casual Workers Entitled to?

The most commonly observed holidays are:

• New Year’s Day (Jan 1st)
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day (July 4th)
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Christmas Day

For most states, these holidays are paid time and a half. Depending on the state and worker’s contract, a holiday that falls on a weekend might fall under double time and a half.

This information should be in your employee handbook under the section regarding payroll and attendance systems and guidelines.

Personal Growth Pay

Personal growth pay is a growing trend as a perk for companies. This is time that the company or institution pays you to take classes that will benefit the company of institution.

The most commonly known personal growth pay is called a sabbatical. This is different than a vacation because it is work-related.

When is Sabbatical Pay Awarded?

According to nyu.edu, sabbatical pay is awarded following 12 semesters of service. Only tenured faculty are eligible to apply for a one semester of sabbatical leave at full pay or 3/4 pay for an academic year.  Faculty members may choose to apply for a one semester of sabbatical after 6 semesters of service; the pay is 3/4.

Sabbatical pay is not a requirement, and it is a perk. It is important for companies to explore the benefits of paying for sabbatical pay for their workers. The workers can come back with skills that will be helpful to the company while giving the employee the feeling of having a vacation.

Payroll Errors

It is tough when there are mistakes on payroll. A single error can affect people up and down the chain of command.

What is a Payroll Error?

A payroll error is a mistake that is made from the misuse of a time clock by an employee to a missed calculation by someone in the administrative support services office.

It is a good thing that Time Clock Wizard, the best online time clock app, makes fixing common payroll errors very easy.

Payroll and Attendance Systems Conclusion

As you can see from the article above, making sure that the employee is paid at the correct rate for each of their hours worked is of huge importance. It is better to overpay a worker than to underpay them. The most efficient system would be paying the correct amount on time – every time.

Time Clock Wizard is a software solution that can be accessed online that helps managers fix scheduling, payroll and timecard issues in the same location on a dashboard. This makes the efficiency of payroll and attendance management skyrocket.

You can try Time Clock Wizard for free for a limited time by clicking on this link: free TCW trial.

The post Payroll and Attendance Systems Calculate Overtime Holiday Pay and More appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

Time Clock Wizard (TCW) is making this available to you because we are confident that you’ll find that using our online time clock will make for a data-rich, quality study for your project.

This article is meant to start the process of brainstorming what you’d like to do for your project.

Six Sigma Green Belt Project Examples

Time Clock Wizard is a time clock app good source for your green belt project for these reasons:

1. Time Clock Wizard can improve an existing time clock process – especially if your company is using punch machines and time cards, still.
2. TCW can improve customer complaints of employees not being at their places on time.
3. Our time clock set up attacks waste issues – like the loss of time when an employee walks to and from the time clock.
4. TCW attacks cycle time as the number of employees that can clock in simultaneously goes up, managers can make corrections faster and employees can switch shifts efficiently.
5. Time Clock Wizard does not cost as much as the paper time cards your employer may be using.
6. You can create a green belt-like project by treating your employees like the customers to your time clock service.

HR Project Topic List

Below are the most common issues that affects human resources and employee management:

• EMPLOYMENT LAW
  • Law of the Individual
    • Consent
    • Privacy
    • Employee versus Contractor (Fair Standards Labor Act)
      
  • Law of the Group
    • “At Will” (Labor)
      
    • NLRB (Labor)
    • ADA (Disabilities/Discrimination)
    • EEOC (Affirmative Action/Discrimination)
• ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
  • Payroll and Attendance
    • Base Wage Rate
    • Timesheets and Time Cards
    • Travel Pay
    • Overtime
    • Time and a Half
    • Holiday Pay
    • Personal Growth Pay
    • Payroll Errors
  • Employee Benefits
    • 401(K)
    • Matching Contributions
    • Company Bank/Credit Union/Credit Cards
• SCHEDULES
  • Time On
    • Job/Task Assignment
    • Trading Schedules
    • Meetings
    • Trade Conferences
    • Continuing Education
    • Off-Hour Parties
  • Time Off
    • Scheduled Time Off
      • Vacation
      • Military Duty
      • Jury Duty
      • Medical Appointments
      • Other Appointments
    • Unscheduled Time Off
      • Sleep Through Alarm Cock
      • Vehicle Transportation Issues
      • Sickness/Family Emergency
      • Bereavement Leave/Funeral
      • Work-related Accidents
      • Inclement Weather
• TIME CLOCK OPTIONS
  • No Time Clock
  • Manual Punch
  • Bio-metric Scan
  • Online Time Clock
• BEHAVIORAL ISSUES
  • Personal Issues
    • Employee Expectations
      • Disgruntlement
      • Envy
    • Addiction/Alcoholism
    • Domestic Violence
  • Personnel Issues
    • Workplace Harassment
      • Workplace Bullying
      • Zero Tolerance
    • Absententeeism
    • Time Clock Misuse
      • Buddy Punch
      • Clocking in Early/Late
      • Sleeping on the Job
      • Missed Punches
• ONBOARDING
  • Job Description
    • Job Scope
    • Specialization
    • Job Design
    • Satisfaction
  • Recruiting
    • Recruitment Policies
    • Recruitment Process
    • Channel Recruitment
    • Employee and Association Referrals
  • Job Application
    • Abandonment Rates
    • Applicant Tracking System
  • Background Checks
    • Fair Credit Reporting
    • Criminal Background Check
    • Social Security Number Verificiation
• TRAINING
  • Time Clock Training
  • Safety Training
  • Policies and Procedures
    • Employee Handbook
    • Open Door
  • Performance Management
    • Performance Appraisal
    • Appraisal System
    • Competency Mapping
• TERMINATION
  • Attrition
  • Turnover
  • Change Management
• FEEDBACK
  • Overall Purpose
    • Joy at the Workplace
    • Areas of Stress
    • Areas for Motivation and Empowerment
    • Ways to Increase Engagement
    • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Employee/Management Surveys
    • Entry Survey
    • Employee Engagement Survey
      • Creating Unhappiness with Status Quo
      • Define Compelling Vision for Future
      • 360 Survey for Everyone
    • Exit Survey
    • Customer Survey
    • Vendor Survey
• ETHICS
  • Overall Focus
    • Customers First
    • Stakeholders First
    • Employees First
  • Community Service
    • Good Steward
    • Giving Back
• BEST HR TIME CLOCK PRACTICES

What is your Goal using this Time Clock App?

The staff here at Time Clock Wizard are wanting to give you the best experience with employee engagement. With the recent changes in labor law, it is more important than ever to have a time clock system that can time stamp your employees clock in and out times.

At the same time, we want to help people with advancement in their careers. The blog posts going forward are going to discuss human resource, employee management and education challenges.

Please share this post with others as it will be a hub for blog posts in the future. Consider this post like a table of contents in progress. Feel free to ask questions about Time Clock Wizard.

Thank you so much.

Did this HR project topic list cover what you expected?

The post Time Clock Wizard Provides this HR Project Topic List for Green Belts appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.