What is team management software?

First of all, what is team management software? Team management software is a set of tools and programs designed to help businesses organize, manage and track their team members. This type of software enables businesses to monitor their team’s progress toward meeting its goals.

It is much like project management software, with slight differences. While project management software is designed for managing projects, team management software is focused on individual employees or team members. It allows businesses to keep track of each person’s progress and performance and manage their daily activities.

Team management tools like Time Clock Wizard can also help businesses reduce costs and maximize efficiency by automating certain tasks. For example, a time clock or attendance tracking system can be used to record employee time cards and generate reports with ease.

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In this way, team management tools also function as project management tool, as it monitors the progress of each project, task, or job for each employee. This type of software can be used to manage multiple projects simultaneously and identify areas where improvement is needed.

Features of Team Management Software

Team management software is usually composed of several features and tools that serve different purposes. Some of the most important features to look for include attendance tracking, scheduling, task management, performance metrics, employee profiles, and access control.

Things to Look Out For When Selecting a Task Management Software for your Business

When selecting task management software for your business, there are several key features that you should look for. Aside from the features listed in the previous section, the following will help you make the most of the best team management tools so you can ensure that each team member is performing efficiently and that each task is completed on time:

Benefits of Team Management Software

Using a team management or project management tool can improve project planning, motivate each team member, and help you build an agile project management system. Here are some more benefits of this type of software that can help you adapt effective team management techniques:

Best Team Management Software for a Business

When it comes to team and project management software, not all options are the same. Often, businesses need to select software that can meet their specific needs. For instance, some businesses prefer focusing on project management software to track project progress from project planning up to the project’s end.

While for other businesses, the best team management tool for them is one that focuses on remote teams, time tracking, file sharing, and team communication. And yet, for other businesses, the focus is on a collaboration tool that works as a project management platform as well as a team management app. Thus, it is up to you to decide what type of task management, project management, or team management software you want to adapt.

To aid in your decision, check out some of the most popular and well-reviewed team management software for businesses today:

1. Slack

Slack is a popular team collaboration platform that is used by millions of businesses. It allows for real-time communication and file sharing, task management, and project tracking.

2. Asana

Asana is a cloud-based project management tool designed to help teams collaborate on tasks and projects. It offers features like task lists, calendars, task assignments, reporting, and more.

3. Trello

Trello is a visual project management platform that offers Kanban-style boards for teams to organize tasks and projects easily. It also includes features like custom labels, due dates, automated notifications, and integrations with other apps.

4. Monday

Monday is an all-in-one project management platform for teams. It offers features like task organization, time tracking, reporting and analytics, and communication tools.

5. Wrike

Wrike is a project management and collaboration software that enables teams to manage tasks and projects easily. Features include task management, resource planning, automated workflows, file sharing, and more.

6. Notion

Notion is a powerful collaboration tool that allows teams to collaborate on projects and tasks easily. It offers features like task tracking, project management, document editing, file sharing, and more.

7. ClickUp

ClickUp is an all-in-one work productivity platform that allows teams to manage tasks and projects easily. Features include task lists, Gantt charts, reminders, notes, discussions, and more.

8. Airtable

Airtable is a project management and task-tracking tool that allows teams to organize tasks and projects easily. Features include custom views, notifications, team collaboration, and more. Although Airtable started as an exclusive application for Mac and iOS users, it is now widely available on many different platforms, including Windows PC.

9. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform from Microsoft that allows teams to communicate and collaborate on tasks. It is one of the most popular team management apps today. Features include chat, file sharing, team meetings, task management, and more.

10. Time Clock Wizard

Time Clock Wizard is a time tracking and employee management software that helps businesses track employee hours, attendance, and location. Features include real-time tracking, GPS clock in/out, activity log, and more.

One of the best features of Time Clock Wizard s its integration with several popular project management and task-tracking tools like Slack, Asana, Trello, Microsoft Teams, Todoist, and more! This makes it easy for businesses to keep track of their employee’s productivity and allows them to easily integrate their time-tracking information into their existing project management workflow.

Final Verdict: How to Select a Team Management Tool for your Business

Team management software can help you streamline communication, automate workflows, improve team collaboration, and increase productivity. When selecting a tool for your business, make sure to consider factors such as cost, scalability, security, and usability.

It’s also important to look for features that are tailored to the specific needs of your project or team. With so many options available, you’ll find team management software that fits your business and helps you succeed. Be sure to check out Time Clock Wizard’s team management tools to get started!

The post Ultimate Guide on Team Management Software for Your Business appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

If you are new to the employee dashboard or you are just needing a refresher, the video and transcript are available below.

Also, we know that managers get busy from time to time and just need a quick reminder of what to do next. This video series is also for you. The previous video featured scheduling employees.

Transcript:

Hi everyone. This is Melisa with Time Clock support and today we going to go over your dashboard.

So this is your dashboard. You have a nice little blue widget here that gives you your company name.

This little pencil over here helps you to put a little welcome message over here or reminder for all your employees to see. You can make the text red or bold or whatever you feel like doing.

Going over Pending Requests

Then you have your Pending Requests. This just kind of like a central station for managers to know what needs to be done.

For example, we have one pending request, time sheet request that needs to be approved by management so that it can actually apply.

So this is when employees want to change the time or request a time that maybe they forgot to clock in and in order for it to apply you need to approve it as a manager.

So I just approved by checking the little green check mark or you could do decline by clicking the red X.

So let me go back to my Dashboard and I have zero pending requests.

Clock In Error Reminders

You have four Possible Clock in Errors. This is just to let you know that this person. They work 75 hours, 145 hours, 25 hours. The system will automatically let you know anything over 13 hours in one 24 hour period.

Requests for Days off or Absences

This one will let you know if you have any Absences Request.

So if your employee is requesting vacation time or any type of time off, you can approve it or decline it. I approved that one.

So that one is finished and usually managers will go through this list once a day or once a week to make sure everything is up to par.

All Employee Time Sheet Overview

This timesheet to verify gives you an overview of everyone’s timesheet.

You can see it over in one place. If you require Clock in Image you can see here and you can verify all of them at the same time, just letting the system know that these Clock ins are okay.

When it comes to generating payrolls you are good to go.

Those are done.

Employee Clock in Stats

Alright. Then we go over to Who’s in Stats. These basically will let you know on your schedule how many employees were scheduled for today, how many are clocked in right now and how many clocked in as a total for today.

So you’ll know you have five scheduled employees today. Only one is clocked in now and only two have clocked in for today. You are missing three employees.

You can click any of these and just kind of see what’s going on. Like in who’s in, you can see a list of who’s in. Nobody is in right now for me but you can click on that and I’ll just give you some information.

Your Tasks to Manage

The My Task which is basically that will let you know what tasks are assigned to you and that need to be completed. Also what task you assigned to other people that have not been completed.

Live Stream of Time Clock Action

The Live Stream is just an overview of what is going on in the back end of your time clock.

So it’ll let you know when something has been approved or declined, when someone is clocked in, when somebody is clocked out, when somebody is on a break, all sort of different types of things.

When someone creates a task or finishes a task you can just go through the live stream and sort of check it out.

Payroll and Hours Graphs

You have two graphs down here and one is basically letting you know for that particular day, the 15^th, what you can expect the Payroll for that day based on the hours worked and the payroll wage you entered on the employee’s profile.

You can change the graph to another type of graph. Whatever you’ll be comfortable with.

Time Card Overview

Then you have My Time Card. My time card is when you clock in and out. It lets you know that information here.

It lets you know this a time Clock In Out type Clock in.

It’s a break and it’ll let you know it’s a break.

It lets you know the IP address for the clock in and the clock out.

You get you totals down here. How many times Clock in hours you worked, how many breaks you work and absence for that pay period.

Whenever you generate a payroll, it automatically clears this out and starts a new fresh Time Card.

Upper Employee Dashboard Features

You have your Quick Add for your employees.

You have your Messages. So you can always click here when the bell is rings as it is right here. It says two which means you have two messages.

You can always send a message by clicking here.

This is another overview of your pending requests which is just a little reminder and this is your tasks as well.

This little question mark is so that you can have a quick tutorial of the icons and the widgets if you ever need a little reminder of any kind. You can access that on any page.

Here is your Clock-In button.  Once you click Clock-In, it’ll change to Start break and Clock-Out. So you are able to start your break now or Clock-Out depending on, you know, what you do in your business.

So that’s your Dashboard.

So if you have any questions you can always click the live chart down at the bottom and feel free to ask us any questions. We hope you guys are enjoying the Time Clock and thanks so much. Have a wonderful day.

Employee Dashboard Conclusion

The Employee Dashboard from Time Clock Wizard is one of the best features of this software as a service. The efficiency of taking care of the employees in this manner frees up time for managers to work on other projects.

Time Clock Wizard is an incredible return in investment just with time saved alone! The Pre-scheduler is another great feature to try out. If you have not had a chance to try Time Clock Wizard for free, click this link.

The post How do you use the Employee Dashboard for Time Clock Wizard? appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

You should consider utilizing our cutting edge technology in order to keep up with all of your payroll needs.

You are certain to appreciate everything that this fine system has to offer. Just one of the benefits that multiple employees have favored is the ease with which they can use the system.

It accurately records the hours a person is logged in, including making certain that the appropriate department or job number is billed for the hours.

At, TCW, we are happy to showcase videos from the past for #ThrowbackThrusday, like this one:

Efficient Employee Tracking

The system that we offer is designed to minimize the amount of work that you will need to do in order to keep all of your payroll systems operating properly.

Our software is able to track everything that you need it to, including breaks, overtime and mileage. You can rest assured, knowing that you can sort out your results to look at each department or the workforce as a whole.

One Place For It All

When you or one of your employees logs in, the first thing you will see is the dashboard. This screen is easy to use and you can readily locate all of the information you require at a glance.

It will show your schedule, what hours you have worked during this pay period, and any requests that you have made.

Additionally it will alert you of upcoming birthdays and you can see where to actually clock in and out on this page.

Centralized Employee Requests Handled

You can also locate a time sheet request through Time Clock Wizard. Although nobody wants to make the mistake of forgetting to clock in or out, it does occur from time to time.

In the digital age, it requires a slightly different solution than the days gone by. If an employee discovers an error on their digital time sheet display, they can easily submit a correction request, including the reasoning for it.

A manager will review it and determine if it should be approved.

Time-Saving

Those in managerial positions can easily use the software in order to find out who is on the clock and where they are supposed to be stationed. This can be a real time saver when an employee is needed quickly.

Clocking In and Out Accurately

There are times when an employee will need time off for various personal reasons. This software allows them to easily make the request and they will be provided with any managerial messages regarding the request.

Additionally, Time Clock Wizard can accrue absence time for employees based upon individual parameters or one that has been established for an entire group.

If you have employees that are not regularly available at certain times, for example while they are in school, you can ensure they are never scheduled during those times. Find out the best web time clock for you and the 8 best features of the best time keeping software!

Clocking in and out along with general scheduling requirements is simplified dramatically with Time Clock Wizard. You should consider using this incredible free solution for your business today with this trial!

The post Clocking In and Out with Time Clock Wizard appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

In order to keep up with Video Fridays, here is the video and transcription below fore your ease.

Hi everyone! It’s Melissa with time clock support, and today we’re gonna go over adding employees.

Adding Employees to your Time Clock

So there’s two options here on how you can add your employees:

1) Add Employee Using “Quick Add”

One option is our “quick add”.

So, let’s say you’re super busy and you just hired a new employee and you just want to get them in the system so you can start tracking their hours (and you’ll worry about their settings later.)

Or, you just signed up with us and you just want to get everybody going.

This is a great option.

So, you would just click that little guy up there in the corner with the plus sign [it brings up “Employee Quick Add” box], add the employees information, create a username and a password, enter their email address, and then you can click this box right here [check box for “Email this employee their log in credentials”].

It will automatically send them an email with the link to your time clock’s specific subdomain with their username and password (so that they can login themselves).

You can click save and add more users (if you want to have more people) OR just click save.

2) Add Employee Using Employee Tab

The other way you can do it is on the employee tab.

So, I clicked the employee tab here on the left. And now I can go to “add employee”.

This is also what it looks like after you added an employee to the “Quick Add”.

This is what their profile will look like. So, you have the option to give your employer specific color for color coding.

Adding Employee Profile Images

You can also upload an image of your employee and your employees can do this themselves on their end.

There are certain things that the employee can do on their end but, of course, they don’t have the ability to access the permissions of any kind.

Add each Employee at your Leisure

So, you just go through the process of adding each employee, and then when you’re done, you hit save the next. It’ll take you to the next tab and so on and so forth.

And you just create the settings for each employee. And that’s it; that’s how you add your employees to your time clock.

Please ask Questions if you have Them

So if you have any questions of course you can always click the question mark [?] at the top and and it’ll give you a run-through of the page.

Or you can always go to Live Chat (Monday through Friday from 9 to 5 Eastern time); we’re always here to help you.

We hope you guys are enjoying the time clock. Have a great day.

If you have not had a chance to try out Time Clock Wizard, you can sign up for free trial period. Also check out our article on how to generate payrolls.

The post Use Quick Add to Add Employee with Ease appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

While there are a lot of really good scheduling solutions out there, most do not meet the standards of efficiency.

Here are three areas that can be improved:

• Specific job tasks or assignments
• Schedules trading
• Meetings

In the next article, there will be three more areas of interest for improvement.

What are Differing Schedules for specific Job Tasks?

Not all job tasks are the same nor should they be paid out the same. Because of the structure of traditional schedules, it is difficult to switch between paid tasks easily.

Take for example a waitress. Her schedule will show that she needs to work from 6 to close. When she is waiting on tables, she is earning $2.33 plus tips.

However, other tasks like cleaning and rolling silverware take her away from waiting on tables. At this point, she should be getting paid the prevailing wage.

A software solution to this is Time Clock Wizard. The waitress could have the traditional schedule set up with additional instructions to use two hours for maintenance. She will be able to clock out as a waitress and clock back in as a regular employee easily.

It will be easy for management to see if their waitress is managing her time properly.

The point is that it is okay to pay different wages for different tasks. It is good to use an online time clock service like Time Clock Wizard to do so.

Do you Empower Employees to trade Schedules?

One of the most time consuming tasks is letting employees trade schedules.

Firstly, the employees need to get together to decide on a trade.

Then, they both track down the manager and interrupt his/her tasks to ask to trade shifts. Sometimes, this even involves getting human resources involved.

After everything is arranged, there is a change that one of the employees who traded forgets about the agreement. Consequently, neither person shows up to work.

Another concern is employees getting overtime in a single week doe to the traded shift.

This is an area that Time Clock Wizard can help with. The employees get together and trading schedules. The manager’s dashboard allows for a quick verification and approval of the traded schedule. The revised employee schedule is online for the employee to see.

Also, there is no ambiguity as to who is responsible for showing up for the traded shift.

What about Scheduling Paid Meetings?

Some meetings are more productive than others. By dropping the hourly rate for unproductive meetings, employees are incentivized to have efficient meetings. Employees can use Time Clock Wizard to clock out of their regular job and then clock back in as a meeting attendee.

Imagine if you could design a system where meetings were as efficient as possible because there is no incentive for long meetings. Right now, the incentive is getting away from work – like taking a mini vacation during the day.

The Daily Time Schedule

There are terrific schedulers on the market. Time Clock Wizard is innovative because it has the scheduling and payroll together in the same application. Using your management dashboard, you can easily see the metrics behind the schedules.

By using the metrics, you can easily switch hours and get coverage for peak hours of labor. You can also approve shift exchanges with just a few clicks of the mouse. The best part is that it is all contained in an application that is portable – meaning it works both on and off site.

You can start your Time Clock Wizard experience here.

The post Daily Time Schedule Tips You Can Implement Now appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

Within this video, you can see how to:

• Reset employee passwords
• Edit employee permissions
• Deactivate employees
• Add additional employees
• Add reimbursements
• Tips/Bonuses
• Travel Expenses

Hi everyone! It’s Melissa with Time Clock Support, and today I’m gonna go over your employee tab.

So I clicked the employee tab here on the left which brought me to this page.

And here we have our employee list.

Edit Employee Password Permissions Settings

You can see a list of all your employees and this is where you can reset their password, edit any of their permissions or settings or information OR deactivate the employee.

You can search by name.

Activate Inactivate Add an Employee

You can search by active or inactive.

You can also click here and add an employee.

Watch our video about adding employees if you need more information about how to add them.

Reimbursements Tips Bonus Office Supplies Travel Expenses

You can also click the reimbursement tab and add a reimbursement for your employees.

Basically, reimbursements are if you offer any type of tips or bonuses OR you reimburse your employees for travel expenses or office supplies.

This is where you can add it. Make sure you watch the video about adding reimbursements if you have any additional questions.

And that’s pretty much it. That’s the employee tab. It’s very simple very easy. Of course if you have any questions feel free to chat with us.

Thanks again. We hope you love the time clock and have a great day!

Employee Table Tab Conclusion

A special thanks to Melissa Ruy for creating these videos. She is part of the Time Clock Wizard Support Team, and Melissa can answer your questions.

If you have not tried your free trial of Time Clock Wizard yet, you can sign up now by clicking this link: Free Trial of TCW Now.

Save

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The post How to use your Employee Table Tab appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

• 40 hours
• Base pay rate
• Timesheets and timecards
• Travel Pay
• Overtime
• Time and a half
• Paid holidays
• Personal growth (Sabbatical)
• Payroll errors

Payroll and Attendance System Questions Answered

What is 40 Payroll Hours per Week?

Since labor unions fought for the right to a 40 hour work week with time off on the weekends, people use 40 hours per week as the standard for a full-time job. See more here.

Is 40 Hours a Week Full-Time?

Yes and no. In the general cases, 40 hours a week is considered full time. But because of unpaid lunches and breaks, some companies call full time 32 or even 28 hours per week. Read more here.

Does 40-Hour Work Week include Lunch?

Typically no. If you are scheduled for 40 hours with an unpaid lunch, the lunch hours are removed. Read more about this here.

How Many Business Days is 40 Hours a Week?

Typically, 40 hours refers to 5 days per week. See more combinations here.

What is Base Wage Rate?

Typically, minimum wage is $7.25. If your a waitress (or similar support role), the base wage is $2.33 (plus tips). See more here.

What’s Base Pay plus Commission?

Base pay plus commission means that this business is willing to pay you the lowest possible pay per hour with the opportunity to earn more money from each sale you make. Read more about commission pay here.

What does UAT mean?

When you do not work a portion of your scheduled hours, this is considered to be unallocated time or UAT. View more details here.

What does FTR mean?

The code used  for missed timecard punches indicates a failure to record the proper time or FTR. Read even more here.

What does LL mean?

When managers set up your schedule, there is a set number of hours expected. When employees work beyond the time they were scheduled, this can be called labor long or LL. Read more about LL here.

What does UGR mean?

UGR stands for user group. Typically, this is a country code. If the country is not listed for country codes, use 99 for most payroll systems. See more in this article.

What is Travel Pay?

Employees may get reimbursed for hotel room, food, entertainment and gas; these all fall under travel pay. Read more.

What’s a Travel Stipend?

Any time spent traveling for your company (be it door-to-door sales or going to a business conference), must be compensated. See more on this subject here.

Payroll and Attendance Systems Calculate Overtime Holiday Pay and More

What is Overtime?

Overtime is any worked time over the set legal criteria – typically over 40 hours. More detail here.

What is Weighted Average Overtime?

Weighted average overtime is used for people who are paid by salary with different week to week hours. A lot more detail here.

What’s Time and a Half?

Time and a half means is the hourly rate plus 1/2 the hourly rate. Read more about his here.

What is Holiday Pay?

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. See more here.

What Holiday pay are Casual Workers Entitled to?

The most common holidays are:

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

Read more about holiday pay here.

What is Personal Growth Pay?

Personal growth pay is time that the company or institution pays an employee to take classes that will benefit the company of institution. Read more about this here.

When is Sabbatical Pay Possible?

Sabbatical pay is awarded following 12 semesters of service. See more here.

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. Read more here.

Types of Employee Benefits Necessary to be Competitive

What are Employee Benefits?

Here is a small list of employee benefits:

• 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

Read more about these benefits here.

What Happens to 401k when you Die?

Employees can do nothing at all.

A Rollover IRA account can travel with you from one employer to the next.

Read more about 401K switching here.

What’s a Safe Harbor Matching Contribution?

A dollar-for-dollar matching for employee compensation up to 4%.

Or 3% for each employee whether or not they choose to go with this program.

See more about safe harbor matching here.

What is the Advantage of a Credit Union?

What is the Advantage of a Credit Union?

Here are some credit union advantages:

• Cash employee checks and fill payment check cards
• Competitive credit and debit card services
• Stakeholder power
• Personal/auto loans
• Higher CD rates

Read more about this here.

Do you need a Company Credit Card Policy?

Having a credit card policy to avoid illegal employee purchases on a company card. See more here.

What do I need to open a Credit Union Account?

Credit unions wish for you to work within a geographical area or are employed with a participating company with the appropriate entrance credit score. Read more here.

Administrative and Support Service Acitvities Conclusion

Administrative and support service activities are the heart of the organization, really. They make sure that everyone gets paid what they are owed. It is very important to help out the administrative support services as much as possible.

One big way to do this is to cut down their workload by utilizing Time Clock Wizard for schedules, time clock needs and payroll. For a free trial of this amazingly efficient software, click on this link: Try Time Clock Wizard for Free.

Check out our article on common problems Attendance problems an solve.

The post Administrative and Support Service Activities 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.

In so many cases, the workers do not interact with administrative support services during day-to-day operations. Regardless the benefits of having these services as part of your team is crucial.

There are so many areas of employment law that affect how workers are paid.

These support services include managing:

• Record keeping
• Level of education pay scale
• Time sheets/Time cards
• Tax reporting
• Scholarships
• Personal growth pay
• Government contract payments
• Minimum Wage
• Subminimum wage
• Time and a half
• Overtime
• Tips
• Merit Pay
• Commissions earned
• Union dues
• Payment cards
• 401(k)
• Matching contributions
• Piece Work
• Work from home
• Holiday Pay
• Hazard Pay
• Garnishments
• Severance Pay
• Last paycheck
• Back pay due

Even with all of these areas to work with, administrative services are professionals at crunching numbers. With all of this calculation happening, it is very unwise to interrupt administrative services personnel with things like a missing time card.

There are technical questions to answer too, like:

• Overtime for part time employees
• Garnishments and release dates
• Tax withholding for severance pay

For the sake of completeness, the answers to those questions are below.

What is Overtime for Part Time Employees?

According to the Federal labor laws, overtime is paid for any time worked over 40 hours per week. Typically, workers earn time and a half for overtime pay. Some states have established different rules regarding overtime.

In California, overtime is paid after working for 8 hours in a single day. If an employee works four 8-hour shifts, that equals 32 hours – not eligible for overtime pay. However, if that employee works three 10-hour shifts, that equals 30 hours. 24 hours at regular pay scale with 6 hours of time and a half pay.

What is a Release of Garnishment?

A court starts a garnishment proceeding in which employers start diverting funds from an employee paycheck initially. After the claim has been satisfied by the court, a judge sends a “Release of Garnishment”.

This release frees the employer from having to divert funds on behalf of the court. It is very important to look at the date of release because the letter could have arrived before or after the release date.

If the company garnished wages for too long unintentionally, the employer owes the employee the back pay even if the funds have not been refunded from the court.

Pay very close attention to release dates.

Payroll and Attendance System Questions Answered

What is the Tax Rate on Severance Pay?

The tax rate is a flat 25%. Do not forget to also withhold for social security and medicare taxes as well.

For example a $1000 severance pay amount: $250 would be for the severance pay tax rate; $62 for social security; $14.50 for medicare. $1000 – ($250 + $62 + $14.50) = $673.50

Do not forget this step.

Make sure to let your employees know that their severance pay is going to be taxed as well to avoid very upset ex-workers. People depend on the amounts told to them to cover bills and necessities during a transition period.

Administrative Support Services Handle the Money

As a company expands, so does their need for administrative support personnel. These are the people who make sure that every payment to employees is at the correct amount for their time.

Because there is so much to do, it is wise for upper management to make sure that administrative service workers are fully focused on their work. One way to avoid constant interruptions is to use a service like Time Clock Wizard.

This is an online time clock app that helps manage payroll, scheduling and logged time. Start a free trial by clicking here.

The post Why Administrative Support Services Need an Online Time Clock App appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.

It is up to the Human resources Department to make sure they are meeting all of the regulations before posting a job advertisement.

Here are some common questions that are asked about employment laws pertaining to protected groups:

• “At will”
• Unfair labor practices
• Persons with disabilities
• Equal opportunity settlements
• Intent of affirmative action

Individuals that are part of a protected group are going to be able to get resources to fight against unfair labor practices. Human resources should be on the ball to be able to be informed of employment law and make sure companies are in compliance.

What does At Will Mean?

Employment “At Will” means that a person can be terminated “for any reason” “at any time”. If you are not employed at will, there will be a separate working contract spelling out how long your job security lasts (1 year or more).

There are illegal reasons that people are terminated regardless of “at will”:

• Unfair labor practices
• Violation of ADA
• In the middle of EEOC mediation
• Violation of affirmative action

What is Unfair Labor Practices?

Unfair labor practices could be renamed “unfair management practices”.  Before an employee works for an employer, there are a set of rules regarding pay, hours, breaks, safety, security, and more.

When managers break these rules for their benefit, they might commit a series of unfair labor practices. Each of these infractions can end up being a mess to sort out in federal court.

The best thing HR can do is to avoid unfair practice issues in the first place.

What does the name ADA mean?

The American Disabilities Act (ADA) was put into place to provide safety and accessibility to people who are in wheel chairs or otherwise disabled.

Before hiring a person with disabilities, make sure that you have the correct dimensions in order to avoid future lawsuits.

These include and are not limited to:

• specialized toilet dimensions and handrails
• countertop height
• dishwasher height
• doorway dimensions
• alternative to stairs
• specialized parking

Because of all of the disability laws, a lot of small businesses cannot afford these changes. That is why more small businesses are moving into shared office spaces to spread the cost of each of these requirements across all who use it.

What is a Typical Settlement in an EEOC Mediation?

There is no fee to do a mediation through the Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Often, this is a good choice form employers who are accused of violating an EEOC mandate.

A lot of time, the non-compliance is a misunderstanding of current employment laws.

Mediation rarely involves monetary payments. The best option may be to return the employee to their position and continue with compliance for the rest of workers.

Sometimes, the employee is not in a position to return. The EEOC may require the employee to inform workers of the EEOC rights (like Affirmative Action).

The typical rate of settlement is just over 70%.

What Impact was Affirmative Action designed to Have?

Affirmative Action was put into place to help disadvantaged groups get into jobs and colleges. The EEOC established quotas to mandate a specific percentage of women, minorities and war veterans be allowed entry.

This was put into place to end the hands on process of desegregation city by city and state by state.

A Group of Employees May Have Specialized Laws

Human Resources needs to be able to make sure that the company is not in violation of labor laws. This should be a group effort between management, the legal department, the financial department and maintenance as well as HR. Hiring employees is a very important job – maintaining compliance is the duty of HR.

A simple thing like a manager not understanding the new labor laws on overtime causes an employee to be under paid according to their time clock stamp. (You can try Time Clock Wizard for free to maintain time stamp compliance.)

Human resources may act as if on the side of management causing the employee to seek a lawyer. This is not a good situation for the company. It is better to learn, follow and educate management of their proper roles.

Which group of employees is the hardest to maintain compliance for?

The post Why is a Group of Employees Protected When Others Are Not? appeared first on Time Clock Wizard.