Category: Employees

  • Employee benefits in Europe

    Employee benefits in Europe

    When looking for a new job, there are many factors to consider, not the least of which are the benefits available to you as a valued employee. So, how does the United Kingdom compare to other European countries? Let’s see the employee benefits in Europe.

    Observed holidays

    Who doesn’t fantasize about a four-day workweek and an impending bank holiday? In March, April, May, and August, Brits gain more days off as summer approaches. The United Kingdom has six bank holidays and two public holidays per year, which it shares with the Netherlands and Hungary. You may think that’s impressive, but a look at European counterparts may have you sobbing into your bank holiday picnic.

    The Finns get an enviable 15 days off every year, whereas Spain has 14 days off per year and France and Sweden both have 11 public holidays. Employees in Colombia and India have the most public holidays in the world, with an astonishing 18 days. Thailand, Japan, and South Korea will have an additional 16 days off. Consider how much free time you could be spending somewhere if you didn’t have to work. It could be time to start looking for work in another country.

    Working Hours

    Workplace culture and trends are evolving – slowly. While many firms insist on employees reporting to work by 9 a.m., others are starting to see the benefits of flexible working hours. Flexible working hours not only benefit workers’ mental health and well-being but can also boost goodwill and engagement among current employees.

    Did you know that after working for a company for more than 26 weeks, you have the right to request flexible working hours? This is a little-known fact that many companies fail to mention when advertising a job, so it’s always worth double-checking a company’s policy when you’re approached with a job offer. The average full-time working week in the United Kingdom is 33 hours.

    Employee benefits in Europe

    Paid annual leave

    Richard Branson, the billionaire, declared in 2014 that Virgin would no longer have an annual leave policy, allowing employees at the company’s headquarters to take as much vacation time as they wanted. People couldn’t believe what they were hearing and wondered if it was just another publicity gimmick by the media magnate. But how many of you instantly began looking for Virgin job openings while daydreaming about far-flung destinations? Either he was employing reverse psychology – give them the option of taking more time off and they won’t out of guilt – or he was on to something.

    The majority of full-time workers in the UK are entitled to 5.6 weeks (28 days) of paid annual leave as part of their employment contract, second only to France, which provides 30 days a year. Workers in Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Ireland have only 20 days off each year, but with more public and bank holidays, they get more days off total than Brits. It may sound incredible, but the United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not provide paid annual leave to its workers, earning it an image as a country with a poor work-life balance.

    Netflix, LinkedIn, and Eventbrite are among the companies that have jumped on the holiday bandwagon. Employees can take as long off as they like. Airbnb takes a step further by providing staff with a £1,500 travel stipend so they can get out and explore the world – it might be time to look for a new career.

    Responding to the different values and requirements of the workforce

    “Employers are becoming more cognizant of the importance of responding to a diverse workforce.” Workers’ benefit needs can be influenced by a variety of factors like age, culture, and family. Employers can obtain greater value from their benefits and ensure their employees are engaged with the perks they receive by taking some time to understand and focus on the varied demographics of a firm, according to Ms. Honess.

    Employers across Europe are adapting their benefits to meet the diverse requirements and values of their workers, according to the poll. While the most prevalent employer-provided benefits differ by country, insurances, pension savings plans, staff training, automobiles, and food vouchers are among the most frequent.

    Flexible benefits have a global scope

    While just a small percentage of multinational respondents indicate they have a global employee choice plan in place, nearly a third of those don’t say they’re seriously exploring it. The percentage of multinational respondents who say their company isn’t ready for a worldwide strategy has dropped from 35% to 20%.

    “When dealing with variances in customs, tax rules, and other legislative variables, harmonizing and standardizing flexible benefits abroad can be a difficulty,” Ms. Honess explains. “However, once in place, a global approach can help with employee engagement and benefits alignment, and in an era when the global workforce is so fluid, an international flexible benefits scheme can reinforce multinationals in the global competition for talent.”

  • Employee benefits in Canada

    Employee benefits in Canada

    Although employment laws in Canada’s provinces varied, statutory benefits are generally uniform across the country. Although Quebec may be an anomaly in some areas, employers employing Canadian workers can often develop a common benefits package that is compliant across the country. In Canada guide takes a close look at the labor rules and regulations that apply to Canadian employees. Let’s take a closer look at the Employee benefits in Canada.

    Pensions, statutory and parental breaks, PTO, employment insurance, and eye exams are all examples of employee benefits in Canada. Retirement, healthcare, voluntary and flexible benefits, healthcare spending accounts, gyms, and workplace canteens are all examples of supplemental employee benefits. Virtual care, mental health training, and digital health and fitness platforms are among the many benefits offered to employees.

    In Canada, who is eligible for benefits?

    Certain perks are guaranteed to all full-time employees in Canada. While Canada allows businesses to fire employees without cause during probationary periods, workers in Canada have greater rights and safeguards than those in the United States.

    Importantly, the concept of at-will employment is not practiced in Canada. Businesses can use probationary periods to “test” an employee’s fit, but beyond probationary periods, employers must have at least one valid basis to terminate an employment relationship.

    Employee benefits in Canada, both statutory and common paid time off are available:

    Employees in Canada are entitled to varying amounts of paid time off, depending on their province or territory of residence.

    Employees with at least one year of service in Canada are entitled to at least two weeks of paid vacation every year under federal law. The minimum wage climbs to three weeks after five years of employment. The minimum reaches its peak point of four weeks after ten years. The percentage of salary granted to employees during their time off is sometimes regulated by provinces in Canada. Employees who have worked for at least three years in a row are entitled to three weeks of vacation at a rate of 6% of their yearly salary under Quebec legislation.

    Overtime pay and the minimum wage

    The minimum wage in Canada varies from region to region. Saskatchewan will have the lowest minimum wage in 2020, at CAD $11.45. The current minimum wage in Canada can be found here.

    The cost of overtime varies by area. Employers in some parts of Canada must pay overtime rates for hours worked after eight hours per day or 40 hours per week. Others raise the weekly restriction to 48 hours. While most provinces require overtime pay to be 150 percent of regular pay, some raise overtime rates to 200 percent depending on the number of hours worked. In Canada, employers should be aware that exempt salaried staff may still be entitled to overtime pay.

    Flexible working hours

    After six months of continuous employment with a company, workers in Canada are guaranteed the right to seek new working hours. Employers have extensive freedom to decline these requests, but employees can press the matter if flexible work hours would help them achieve a better work-life balance and would not harm their job duties.

    Personal leave

    After three months of working in the same position, employees in Canada are entitled to personal leave in addition to paid time off. Employers are required to pay for this leave for the first three days. Employers are not allowed to penalize employees who use all of their paid time off.

    Leave because of domestic violence

    Only a few countries provide additional protections to victims of domestic and family abuse. Employees who take leave due to family violence in Canada are entitled to ten days of protected leave, of which five must be paid by their employers. Family violence leave is not available to employees who have been accused of committing domestic abuse.

    Leave of absence for medical reasons

    Employees in Canada are entitled to up to 17 weeks of unpaid vacation for medical reasons such as illness, injury, organ donation, tissue donation, or attendance at medical appointments, including hospital stays. Employers may seek proof from a healthcare provider proving the conditions that prevented the employee from working for three days or more.

    Leave for COVID-19

    In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada offers two types of unpaid protected leave. The first is a two-week vacation that protects employees who have been exposed to the virus and need to quarantine, as well as workers who get the illness but only have moderate symptoms.

    Employees who must provide care for a kid, elderly relative, or other family members who require more care but cannot obtain it due to circumstances preventing them from retaining access to their customary care providers can take up to 26 weeks of protected leave.

    On September 21, 2021, both types of leave were planned to expire.

  • Employees benefits in the USA: Complete Guide

    Employees benefits in the USA: Complete Guide

    Resettlement assistance, healthcare, medication, vision, and dental plans; health and dependent care flexible spending accounts; retirement benefit plans (pension, 401(k), 403(b)); group term life and long-term care insurance plans; legal assistance plans; medical second opinion programs, adoption assistance; child care benefits and public transit benefits; paid time off (PTO) in the form of holiday and sick pay; paid time off (PTO) in the form of holiday and sick pay; paid time off (PTO) in the form of sick pay, all of the previous are from the Employees benefits in the USA.

    Healthcare and Insurances

    Certain large employers will face an annual penalty for each full-time employee not provided with affordable health insurance by the employer. The amount of the penalty may be reduced if the employer provides this coverage. If larger companies do not provide affordable insurance to at least 95 percent of their full-time employees and their dependents, they will be subject to an annualized employer “shared responsibility” penalties of $2,570 (indexed) per full-time worker (less the first 30 full-time employees in 2020). Companies may also be compelled through a negotiated collective bargaining agreement or employment contract to provide health insurance coverage to their employees.

    Holidays and Annual Leave are both required.

    Despite the fact that the US government recognizes a number of “national holidays,” there is no federal legislation requiring companies to grant time off for a holiday. Employers, on the other hand, are expected to give employees paid time off to honor national and local holidays. New Year’s Day, Memorial Day (late May), Independence Day (4 July), Labour Day (early September), Thanksgiving Day (third Thursday in November), and Christmas Day are examples of public holidays frequently honored by employers in private enterprise. Employees working on specified holidays are required by some states to be compensated at a higher rate.

    Similarly, no federal law forces firms to provide paid vacations to their employees. In practice, all employers provide paid vacation time to their employees. It could be as little as one week every year during the first few years to three weeks or more for long-term employees. Employees who are members of a labor union may be entitled to greater vacation time.

    Leaves of Maternity and Paternity

    Employee Benefit for the employers with fifty (50) or more employees within a seventy-five (75) mile radius have to provide employees with twelve (12) weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for the childbirth or placement of children under the Family Law Act. Employees who are not covered by the FMLA may be entitled to maternity leave under state law. In addition, several jurisdictions offer half compensation during parental leave, and there appears to be a trend toward state-enacted family leave regulations.

    Leave of Absence for Illness and Disability

    Employees may be entitled to unpaid sick leave under the FMLA, which permits eligible workers to take up to twelve (12) weeks of unpaid medical leave in a twelve-month period if they are suffering from a serious health condition that prevents them from performing their job tasks. Regardless of the fact that there is no national law requiring companies to provide paid sick leave, a number of states, counties, and towns mandate employers conducting business within their borders to do so.

    Mandatory and Typically Provided Pensions

    Employers are not compelled to pay employee pensions or retirement benefits unless otherwise stated in a collective bargaining agreement or employment contract. Many American firms do offer some type of retirement benefit to their employees, most typically in the form of a retirement savings plan, sometimes known as a “401k” plan, which is a defined contribution plan called after the pertinent section of the Internal Revenue Code.

    Other Benefits That Are Required Or Typically Provided

    Additional benefits, while not compulsory, are generally provided depending on the size and industry of the company. Long-term/short-term disability insurance, health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, paid parental leave, commuting/travel help, and gym/wellness perks are all popular employee benefits in the United States.

    Qualified disaster relief payments made to an employee in the event of a national crisis are not taxed. Payments must be for fair and essential personal, family, living, or burial costs incurred as a result of a national calamity. Medical expenditures, childcare, and tutoring costs incurred as a result of school closures, as well as internet and telephone costs, are also eligible. It is not possible to replace lost salaries or revenue.

    Employee benefits supplied under ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) are not regulated at the state level like most insurance contracts, but employee benefit products delivered through insurance contracts are.

    ERISA, on the other hand, doesn’t really apply to government-sponsored plans, church-sponsored plans, and a few other instances.

  • How to Stay Healthy While Working Remotely

    How to Stay Healthy While Working Remotely

    Working from home alleviates some of the day-to-day challenges you’d come across. For example, you don’t have to figure out your outfit for the day. Likewise, there’s no need to check the weather app for sudden downpours. However, it also comes with severe physical, social, and psychological challenges. Health tips include fitness fundamentals. You need to follow a nutritious diet and exercise regularly. People have switched to remote working over the last couple of years. It’s inevitable with the pandemic. This change has brought a sudden hike in productivity. But, unfortunately, people in traditional offices don’t deliver the same way. While this change is a boon to your company, you shouldn’t sacrifice your health in the process. Even minor interruptions are welcome in an office setting. Nothing prompts you to move away from your desk at home. In this article, you’ll learn how to stay healthy while working remotely. But first, let’s take a look at the challenges you’ll face.

    Challenges of Working Remotely

    Working from home has its own set of advantages. However, they come with a plethora of challenges. Here’s what you can anticipate:

    • Feel isolated
    • Struggle to stay motivated
    • Face numerous disruptions
    • Fail to find a work-life balance
    • Burnouts
    • Face poor eating habits
    • Minimal physical activity

    Despite the long list of drawbacks, you can still stay healthy while working from home. All it takes is some conscious effort. So let’s take a look at how.

    How to Stay Healthy While Working Remotely

    The challenges of working from home could be physical or psychological. It’s impertinent to maintain your health in these trying times. Here’s how you can make your work life at home easier.

    1.    Maintain a Healthy Diet

    It’s essential to focus on consuming nutritious food while at home. Try to incorporate fruits, vegetables, and whole grains into your diet.

    Experts say healthy food includes eggs, nuts, fish, beans, and lean meat. Try to limit food high in sugar, salt, and fat. It’s okay to indulge once in a while but avoid eating fatty cuts of red meat frequently.

    2.    Stay Hydrated

    It’s essential to stay hydrated. You need to drink fluids frequently. You’ll be susceptible to mood swings and constipation otherwise. So water should be your beverage of choice. However, coffee and tea (in moderation) work too!

    3.    Get Enough Exercise

    Exercise comes with a slew of physical and psychological advantages. You tend to feel positive. A short walk in your local area can elevate your mood. If you can, use a standing desk to avoid long hours of physical inactivity.

    4.    Create a Space for Optimal Comfort

    You should set up a home office that promotes good posture. It can help prevent back pain. The ideal office chair should come with armrests and allow you to rest your feet on the floor. Your hips and knees should be at a 90-degree angle.

    You can also add a cushion that helps the curvature of your back. The monitor should be an arm’s length away. And the top should be below or at your eye level. Larger font sizes also help reduce eyestrain.

    5.    Make Connections

    Working from home makes it challenging to nurture relationships. It’s hard to connect with your co-workers outside the office setting. But, on the other hand, it’s natural to socialize in an office setting.

    On the other hand, working from home compels you to work alone. Therefore, you should make an effort to initiate conversations with your coworkers. It doesn’t have to be about work only. Talk about the new changes or your day-to-day activities.

    Avoid loneliness by spending more time with your family or housemates. Eat meals together. Take out the board games. Watch a movie on Netflix. There’s so much you can do!

    6.    Practice Mindfulness to Avoid Stress

    Stress is inevitable whether you’re working in the office or at home. Mindfulness helps alleviate some of that stress. This practice asks you to pay attention to the present.

    You have to observe your surroundings without actively judging them. Mindfulness helps you increase your objectivity. You won’t be plagued with negative thoughts and get entangled in them. You’ll rise above it.

    7.    Walk Around

    People often get up several times a day in a traditional office. They grab a cup of coffee or say hi to their colleagues. Working from home somehow curbs that. You can simply ask someone to get you a cup.

    Everything is in smaller spaces. The distance is shorter too. You don’t end up walking often. If you work remotely, you’ll notice you end up sitting for more extended periods. You don’t have the same distractions as office workers do.

    It’s essential to go up and walk around. You should walk for at least 30 minutes a day. It’s highly recommended that you do! It helps reduce the risk of heart diseases.

    Take your furry friend out for a walk. Get a breath of fresh air. This break will rejuvenate you. Take an extended lunch break and go for a walk after your meal. Every minute counts!

    A walk clears your head and combats your lousy mood. It reduces anxiousness and depression. Your work won’t feel like a stump anymore. Get rid of all those mental blocks by walking.

    8.    Find a Work-Life Balance

    When people work remotely, it’s hard to differentiate between work and leisure. The thin line between work and life disappears. For this very reason, you should set boundaries. Have a dedicated space for work only. Get a room, if possible.

    Establish a concrete work schedule. Time boundaries will prevent you from overexerting yourself. Assign a lunch break for yourself. Scatter coffee breaks here and there.

    Remember to detach yourself from work after office hours end. Allow yourself to communicate with others around you. Everyone needs time to relax. Don’t take that away from you!

    Final Thoughts

    It’s easy to remain healthy while working remotely. All you have to do is adhere to these eight tips! Consume a nutritious diet, set a schedule, and exercise regularly. These three are essential. The rest will fall into place. Put your emotional well-being first. You’ll find yourself flourishing in no time!

  • Internship Programs: Tips for Successful Ones

    Internship Programs: Tips for Successful Ones

    Once you are done with your undergrad or almost about to finish your studies, you would surely start looking for a job for a stable life. That’s when internship programs enter your life. Before you finally land yourself in a complicated field of the corporate world, you start with a small sector of that world, that is internship.

    Internship programs are all about gaining experience in the particular job field you are intending to join, and even though this program is not tough, you still need to know the basics and the rules to do better here.

    Go through this article to know what an internship program is, why you should pursue an internship program, and what are useful tips would help you to be successful in this field.

    What Is An Internship Program?

    An internship program is a limited period of work experience that is offered by a company or any organization. Internship programs exist in different fields, such as non-profit organizations, businesses, or even governmental organizations.

    Usually, students get the opportunity to do internships as it is a field of learning, but the experienced ones also get to do internships in new fields as well. If you ask me what an intern actually does, then let me tell you, an intern usually works on tiny projects, learns about the place he is going to work in, exercises their skills, and learns new skills as well. Through internship programs, you might even land a permanent full-time job too.

    Internships are usually part-time. Some organizations offer paid internships, and sometimes unpaid internships, but mostly they would pay you.

    Different internship programs offer different facilities.

    Why are internship programs important? Yes, why? Because you need to work on your skills if you are going to do a job. At the same time, you would know which particular field would be better for you to join. If you take multiple internship programs in different organizations, it means you are getting to experience different corporate skills, and that is helping you to decide which path you want to choose. In easy words, internships help you to choose your career.

    What Makes A Successful Internship Program?

    Now, before you join in, how would you know that the company you have selected offers the best internship program? No, you don’t. This is why there are some factors that you need to observe during the internship period.

    These are the elements that will help you to understand the condition of the internship program:

    1.    Training:

    Training can be both formal and informal. The training is different in different organizations. The training is provided so that you can work on your skills. Now, you have to observe how helpful they are to you. Are they being friendly? Are they not providing enough material to help you understand the curriculum? Are they giving you excessive pressure with your work? During the training period, you would be given some resources which will help you with your work, and you have to observe how rich those resources are.

    2.    Professional Links:

    One of the major elements of an internship program is the professional development of that particular company. You need to see the links and connections that the company has with other organizations. The stronger the links of a company, the better the internship program, because the facilities are wide.

    3.    Opportunities:

    Internships programs where you only have to work can be pretty boring. You need to see what other opportunities you can find in these internship programs. The opportunities can be fun activities like bars, restaurants, outings, volunteering, and other official activities.

    4.    Reviews:

    Before you join in, make sure you have seen the reviews of the internship programs. You need to check the positive and negative reviews of the organizations before you fill in for the internship.

    These are the elements you need to know before joining the internship.

    Tips For Successful Internship Program:

    Before I give you the valuable tips on how to be successful in internship programs, let me tell you how you can find internship opportunities:

    1.    From University Campus:

    University campus is a fine place where you can get internship offers pretty easily. Your university might hold seminars where they will introduce you to new companies offering internships. You can even get internship news from your friends and classmates as well.

    2.    Stream Online:

    There are certain sites or social media pages which offer internships, and if you are familiar with these, you can contact them for the opportunity.

    3.    Newspapers:

    Not very useful, but newspapers can also provide headlines about internship opportunities.

    Now that you have the sources to find internship opportunities, it’s time for you to know how you can actually get those internships:

    • As soon as you start your undergraduate program, you better start looking for internships. The earlier you look, the more efficient it gets.
    • Prepare your CVs and resume for internships.
    • Train yourself for the interview.
    • Connect with people. Form a strong bond with them. It creates a network for you which might lead you to internship programs.

    Finally, it is time to give you the tips on how to be successful in internship programs:

    1. Befriend your coworkers. If you have a good relationship with them, they can help you out with the curriculum.
    2. Learn from your seniors and the professionals.
    3. Start working with a goal.
    4. Keep yourself busy, stable, and professional.
    5. Be organized, neat, and tidy.
    6. Be punctual.
    7. Work with ease and keep track of it. Make sure you don’t mess up with the projects you are working on.
    8. Take small breaks and don’t get too hard on yourself.

    Even if you get into internship offers, you might not work things out due to your lack of understanding of the whole curriculum. This is why I have provided you with tips on how to be successful in internship programs.

    Conclusion

    There are numerous challenges you might find in an internship program. But all you have to do is to be professional and deal with it by being extremely sensible. Workplaces vary, so do their facilities and activities, and so does their internship program, but your skills and patience will remain constant. I have provided all the details you would need to know to join an internship program and the tips to be a professional intern in corporate organizations.

  • How to be a Proactive HR Manager: 7 Tips for Success

    How to be a Proactive HR Manager: 7 Tips for Success

    A reliable HR manager is most likely to be aware of strategic HR management, which is the connection between the organization’s human resources and its objectives and goals. To effectively carry out the strategic HR management, the human resources should play their role adequately as strategic partners in accordance with company policies and you need to be a proactive HR manager.

    Only a proactive HR manager can execute the HR strategies by conducting various activities such as hiring, training, and complimenting employees. Utilizing Day off application is one of the strategic moves to make the tasks more effortless. It entails a lot of work, experience, insightfulness, and consistent experimentation with new techniques to become a proactive HR manager. Let’s get to know about some strategic moves to become a proactive force behind the workforce strategy.

    1. Understand the company’s objectives

    Strategic HR has a direct connection with the company’s goals. Thus, first, you must understand your organization’s goals and thoroughly get familiar with aims, objectives, and mission. With the clear communication of the company’s goals, you can analyze the operational measures, address how efficient, effective and impactful your HR practices are.

    While the business metrics data can assess the efficiency and performance of the human resource, analytical methods can measure them by making them understand and how to predict the outcomes. Using an employee leave tracker would help you address the issues of why people leave your organization.

    2. Establish your HR capabilities

    The high employee turnover of a company can affect its creditability. The turnover factor of the firm can have any reason. The PTO tracker can easily provide HR strategic data on employee turnover. You would be able to know the reasons for its high or low rate if the company is recruiting when someone is retiring etc.

    Moreover, the employee time off tracker can let you know if the turnover rate is high in one department or in the entire organization. The HR managers should evaluate their capability as a strategy to become proactive. You should be able to understand the employees and their contribution to fulfill your and the company’s goal and objectives.

    Furthermore, consider conducting skills tests for every employee that would help you discover what employees are experts in which area. This would help you identify which employees need to be trained in particular, analyze if they are trained enough, who the manager is for training in that area, etc. 

    3. Analyze your goals

    Assessing your current HR capabilities would help you recognize the barriers to constructing plans to use the opportunities effectively. You can utilize the PTO tracking software to analyze the number of employees and their skills. This way, you can identify ways to effectively equip the employees to achieve your and the company’s goal. It is a must for HR managers to build a business case.

    For example, you can analyze employee departures to calculate the employee turnover rate. When analyzing the cause, you might find certain qualities as an HR manager that might have discouraged specific employees and some characteristics that have encouraged the employees’ commitment towards the company. 

    4. Determine the future requirements of the company

    Once you have done analyzing your objectives and goals, determine the future HR requirements for the company. The future prediction of requirements is made according to the demand and supply structure of the organization. Following the number of employees, the prediction needs to be done with association with their skills that would be required to meet the company’s future needs.

    Evaluate the current availability of employees and skills to help your company to achieve its goals. Make use of the employee leave tracker app to forecast the company’s HR needs. It would also help you estimate whether the current HR personnel in the HR management can accommodate the company’s future growth.

    5. Utilize the tools to track employees’ activity

    A major proactive strategy of HR personnel is to determine how all the departments and the employees of the corporation are using required tools and how this impacts their ability to perform their tasks. A free time off tracker is a software tool that should be integrated with the organization’s network.

    This can effectively identify the gaps in using the tools to facilitate a more organized workforce. Day off app is a workforce management software that can manage some major HR functions such as scheduling and assigning work, holiday entitlement, sick leave management, etc.

    6. Identify the workforce components of the company

    Identifying the workforce component of the company is essential for a proactive HR manager since it solves business problems to achieve the company’s goals. When the company’s higher executives find too many errors in the work projects, you might find the solution in the employee turnover analysis or in the performance data.

    The company revenue might be down due to high turnover that can reduce the performance and productivity of the company. A free vacation tracker can prove very effective in such cases to study the turnover. The vacation tracker is a helpful integration for HR personnel to recognize the workforce components of the organization.

    7. Never compromise with data quality

    HR metrics should always be consistent, accurate, reliable, and efficient. The data quality you provide to the company executives should never be compromised to establish yourself as a proactive HR manager. Vacation tracker software can prove to be an advantageous tool to measure the matrices steadily over time.

    HR personnel is entailed to establish timelines for the strategies to carry out. The time off app is a must-use HR tool to track the progress you made in the identified areas. With these evaluations and taking corrective action, you would not fail to meet the objectives of your human resource management.

    In order to develop as a proactive HR manager, you should not only focus on your growth as an HR manager but the growth of the organization as a whole. Keep up with developing your skills, practice new strategies as well as suggest developing ideas to the organization become an extraordinary HR manager.

  • How to Create a Culture of Passionate Employees

    How to Create a Culture of Passionate Employees

    Everyone is passionate about something or the other. One can be a passionate teacher, student, or a successful company filled with passionate HR managers. But, what exactly is passion or being passionate? Psychologically speaking, passion is a strong inclination towards something. In simple terms, it is a strong desire that drives you to go all out and do it in the best way possible. Passion is an important factor that paves the way for many great things. This passion has to lead many noteworthy personalities to great discoveries and inventions. These, in turn, have benefited humanity as a whole. and when it comes to work, passion does a lot.  

    Why is passion required in a workplace?

    Passion drives people to strive for what they are seeking until they achieve the results they desire. You are free to be passionate about anything. Usually, people are passionate about their careers and the work they do. Because it is one of the building factors to success in life, it is essential to have a work environment that inspires passion. It will prove beneficial for the companies and contribute to the pleasure required by the employees to work efficiently. As quoted by Aristotle, “Pleasure in the work puts perfection in the job.” A day off will be less sought, ensuring maximum productivity from the employee’s side.

    How will a passionate work culture help in creating passionate employees?

    If you are a working professional, you must be spending most of your time in your office. Studies have shown that an employee spends more than one-third of their lifetime, approximately 90,000 hours. That’s a lot. Having a positive work environment that values the efforts and work of its employees is a must if you want your company to reach the top. Encouraging a work culture will generate happy employees who ask for fewer days off and more work to help your company achieve the best.

    8 ways to arouse passion in employees

    If your employee is passionate about work, it will not only make it harder for them to quit, but they will go above and beyond in the quest to achieve the best for themselves and the company as well. Itemized below are some amazing options you can choose to teach in the workplace to generate employee passion.

    1. Employees either work for money or because they are looking for a place to learn and grow. The most effective way to get your employees to be passionate about their work is by showing them that their efforts are valued and looked upon. The HR management team can come up with ideas to achieve this.
    2. You can introduce PTO tracking software to your company. It will provide you and your employees with a hassle-free platform to keep track of annual leaves, paid sick leaves, and so much more. Having a PTO tracker will ensure transparency and make your employees feel that you are a sincere employer.
    3. Your HR management team can work on office perks like performance bonuses, parental paid leaves, profit sharing, and partnership options for potential employees. You can provide specialized training workshops to ensure the career growth of your employees.
    4. A leave tracker can be a time-saving and effective way to keep track of your employees leaves. It will give your employees another reason to trust you with their efforts and time, making them more passionate and boosting employee attendance. An employee leave tracker app will also help the HR team carry out the leave-related processes effectively. They have all the employee leave-related information they require for maintaining employee documents.
    5. You can portray yourself as a passionate employer by getting a free vacation tracker or similar related apps and providing employees with an easy way to track their vacation time. The tracker can have customized features like allowing them to use their salary in planning their desired vacation once a year. You can option such as an annual paid vacation for the best employee of the year. It will give your employees a passionate reason to well be passionate about working for you.
    6. Open teamwork can be encouraged to achieve collaboration. Similar work-related teams can be shuffled once a month, similar to how you were shuffled from one seat to another, encouraging communication and extrovert behavior. It will help the hidden introvert employees to interact and develop meaningful work relationships with other teammates, allowing them to grow as better person, in both the professional and personal domains of their life. You can introduce free time off the app to keep things smooth and transparent for everyone.
    7. Another good initiative can be, having a day off app designed with personalized features as per the needs of your employees. It will show the employees that you care for them and that you value their time and talents. 
    8. You can introduce a  free time off tracker to keep things smooth and transparent for everyone. Having this will allow the employees to be more passionate ibn whatever they have been assigned. It is especially beneficial for the employees who take time off unnecessarily by making them feel guilty about it.

    To top things off, if you are the boss, employer, CEO, or a holder of a similar higher post in business or work-related set-up, you need to work on your growth as wee. You need to act like a thoughtful leader, meaningful guide and mentor, and a sincere professional if you want your employees to add passion to their work.

    Behind every successful enterprise is the dedication and passion of its employees. Passion is an important factor in achieving a meaningful work environment. Without passion, life would indeed lack purpose. Being passionate, though, is not always a fun merry-go-round. Many a time, when you are extremely goal-driven and passionate about something, you give it your all and put your heart all out. But, it so happens that you cannot get the desired results, or people don’t appreciate your efforts and tend to use you in the process. Behind a successful enterprise are the dedication and passion of its employees.

    It is especially common in workplaces, which can lead to demotivation and dissatisfaction of the employees. But despite it all, life would be pretty monotonous and boring without it. So, if you are passionate about something, don’t stop, no matter how hard it gets, because it is that driving force that allows you to live a better and more meaningful life.

  • 8 Must-Read Books For HR Professionals

    8 Must-Read Books For HR Professionals

    Human resource management is the fulcrum of a company and its work structure. HR recruiting and management is a crucial process that creates an impact on all other processes of the company. Therefore, it is important to hire experienced and knowledgeable HR professionals for the team. If you are someone who wants to go ahead in the Human resource management sector, you not only depend on your college education but look towards expanding your knowledge base. If you want to expand the knowledge base, a good resource to start from is books. As a future or working HR manager, here are the must-read books you need to read for a secure future.

    The Best Books for HR Managers

    1.     Work Rules!

    Written by Laszlo Bock, the book is a resource based on human behavioral patterns. The book helps HR managers in working with people based on the different behavior they show. The Work Rules! Book also discusses HR management around behavioral economics. The book has examples from different work environments and industries of the world. Therefore, you can use these real-life examples as inspiration to better your problem-solving approach. Moreover, the book provides insights into the work culture of Google to the reader. This helps in a better understanding of a balanced work environment. The book shows an approach to creating a balance between creativity and structure for employees in the workplace. Hence, there is a lot to learn from this book.

    2.     Can I have it all?

    Written by Anuranjita Kumar, the book is a memoir of the Chief Human Resource Officer of Citi. Therefore, when you pick this book up for a read, you can be sure that you will get insights about HR management from the best HR management officer of a leading global company. As a woman leader in the HR management sector, Kumar brings a perspective that is seldom discussed in public. In fact, the book discusses how working women can handle every aspect of their lives and the go-ahead to be leaders too. If you want to bring gender equality to the workplace, definitely read this book.

    3.     I am HR

    The book is a refreshing pick among the current bestsellers. If you are among the new-age HR managers who are trying to make their own mark in the sector, definitely read this book. The book is written by the founder of LFR Inc. Thus. You get to see HR management through the eyes of someone who belongs to the corporate world. The book addresses the different stereotypes attached to the profile of HR managers. When you read the book, you will be able to know why HR management is seen as a boring and thankless job. The book also talks about the revival of HR management to make it more fun and employee-friendly.

    4.     Don’t Hire the Best

    The book is written by Abhijit Bhaduri, the chief learning officer of Wipro. The book talks about hiring fresh human resources and how HR managers can approach it judiciously. The nook talks about why the right fit for a job may not be the best of the lot always. Sometimes, HR managers have to choose the right person for the job unconventionally. The decision to hire someone depends on how the HR managers look at the process and the result. The book talks about small startup scenarios and global organizations from the hiring perspective. Thus, the reader gets a complete view of the corporate world and how to handle different work environments. The book helps in understanding the process of hiring from the perspective of the company culture, the people, and the role you want to hire for. As hiring is a major responsibility for HR managers, you might want to tap into this one.

    5.     Quote me if you can

    The book is written by NS Ranjan, the Group CHRO of Tata Sons. This specific book is one that holds a compilation of quotes from the author. It emphasizes the need for a happy working place for employees. It helps HR managers in creating a balanced and productive workplace at their companies. As the author is a leader in HR management, you get to read his words and be mentored by them.

    6.     Friend and Foe

    The bestselling book is written by Columbia and Wharton business school professors. The book presents an academic perspective with some research-backed facts. That book talks about healthy competition in the workplace and how competition and cooperation can be balanced in the workplace. The book talks discuss the mechanism of creating a friend out of a foe and how the workplace environment affects this process. You can learn a lot about trust and cooperation building from the book. Since the book is research-backed, you can be assured of what you learn from it.

    7.     Good to Great

    The book widely talks about what makes a company successful and includes human resource management in it. Whether you are in an HR management position or a leadership role, this is a book you must read. The book is authored by James C.Collin. The book goes in-depth into hiring the right people, leadership, and work culture. Moreover, this book will help you understand the culture of freedom and culture of discipline in the workplace. The book discusses how HR managers can balance each aspect of the work culture to create a highly productive workplace.

    8.     People Skills

    This book is an old one, originally published in 1979. This book focuses on the importance of communication and interaction skills and how to use them. As communication and people management skills are of foremost importance for HR managers, this is a very useful book to read. Therefore, this book will help an HR manager in slipping into leadership and management roles. It helps you build speaking and listening skills in the workplace. It also helps you in the peaceful resolution of conflicts at work. The book discusses verbal as well as nonverbal communication skills in the workplace. This book is like the all-in-one guide to effective communication and HR management in your workspace.

    These eight books are the bestselling, useful books that every HR manager should read at least once. Moreover, these books will help you in upskilling and upgrading your skillset in the role. 

  • Top 5 Free Apps to Manage Your Employees

    Top 5 Free Apps to Manage Your Employees

    When it comes to increasing the productivity of the employees, it is important to have an eye on the employees’ attendance. Well, utilizing the traditional methods for this can be very time-consuming, and those processes can develop errors. So, how to make the leave management process effective? For this, you can use a professionally designed and developed time off app. As per the experts, Employees apps such as leave tracker app can be very useful in monitoring the employees’ shifts, planning the workflow, and allocating resources.

    However, to witness the maximum benefits of a Leave tracker, you should choose the best one, and this can be a daunting task. So, to help you out in this, we have listed down some best free time off tracking apps for you. Have a look.

    Day off

    When it comes to managing your employees’ leave or vacation in the most comfortable and accurate way, you can always use the Day off app, the best leave tracker tool that is designed and developed for all types of businesses. Using this app, companies can save their efforts and time and can easily track the absence within a few seconds. What’s more? Using this free vacation tracker, you can also set up your unique vacation as well as leave policies. Let’s discuss the top features of this app.

    Easy way to create a company

    With Day off, you can create your company account within a few seconds. To create your company, all you need is to use your company name, mail id and set a password. Once done, you can add teams and set different configurations for each team. After that, you can send an invitation to the employees to join the account to their mobile number or email.

    Customize the settings the way you want

    To customize the settings, first, you need to choose the weekends, and working days, then you need to add the leave balances, and then you can add some new leave types; your company policy has some extra leave types. Just a few clicks and you are ready to go.

    Can easily manage all the leave requests

    This Free time off tracker app offers you a full calendar view where you can find all the leaves of your employees. Besides, this will display a list of received leave requests with details, such as leave type, start and end time, leave duration, and more. With a few clicks, you can decline or accept the leave requests.

    One-click to send the important announcements

    When there is any crucial news, it is the responsibility of the HR managers to inform that the employees. And to do it effectively, you can use the Day off app. Just write the announcement, and using the app, you can send that to all. Your team will be notified within a few seconds.

    Easy way to submit a leave request

    With this app, your employees will enjoy an easy way to apply for a leave.  Within a few seconds, they can send their leave requests, and they can view the current status of the requests.

    This PTO tracker has all the features that will enable you to manage the leaves or vacations of the employees without facing any issues. The best part is that it is available for both Android and iOS platforms. So, go on and give it a try now.

    Time Camp

    This free-to-use Vacation tracker can be used for unlimited users, and you can add unlimited projects to it. This versatile program is perfect for all businesses. The software program is available in the form of a web timer, desktop app, mobile app and is also a Chrome plugin. The users can track time to the specific project automatically and can also change the time entries manually to customize the timesheets.

    The best part is that it comes equipped with a GPS tracking feature. As a result, you can track the time and attendance of the employees based on the location. It also lets you store different records of the employees, such as email, date of joining, name, phone number, department, and more.

    Hubstaff

    Hubstaff is an Employee time off tracker and has a GPS feature. It helps the HR management to understand how the employees are spending their time. As a result, their overall productivity can be maximized.  Since its first launch, it has become very popular among different industries as an advanced leave management tool. Some of the amazing features of this app are; online timesheets, productive measurement, detailed reporting, GPS tracking, and more. Use it now and see perfect growth in the employees’ productivity.

    BambooHR

    It is not just a PTO tracking software; you can use it as a professional HR management solution. The program comes with its own Android and iOS app. Using the app, all the members of your team can take advantage of the app’s simple-to-use interface to apply for leave with a few simple clicks. Besides, using this, HR managers can easily track their employees’ records and can also track PTO. What’s more? This powerful app can also effectively track applicant data. Well, its free version has limited features. If you want to explore all the features, then you may find it a little costly.

    FactoTime

    This app is designed for mobile devices running on both iOS and Android platforms. The app has all the features you will to properly track your employees’ working hours, shifts as well as attendance. Speaking more about it, the program functions as a punch clock and collects all the information on employees’ location, attendance, total time spent on the project, and more. It utilizes the three-factor authentication process, i.e., location, selfie, and punch, to accurately record time. The best thing is that you can calculate the salary of the employees and manage the payroll based on the attendance recorded in the app.

    All these mobile apps can help you a lot in managing your employees’ leave or shifts. However, to enjoy the easiest way to do that, you can trust Day off. Download its free version now and see how this can simplify the process.

  • Self Service Software: Top 10 for Employees

    Self Service Software: Top 10 for Employees

    Having the right employee self-service software is essential to growing a business successfully. This software allows employees to update their own details and keep all information centralized and updated. All those facilities can make the HR manager’s job less hectic. From hiring to onboarding to scheduling meeting and dozen more responsibilities, the HR management team have to navigate through all that.

    In today’s business management scenario, without incorporating the right amount of technology, all people involved in a business would experience many hassles. Therefore, employee self-service software is becoming popular for all sizes of businesses.

    Software like Day Off is integrated with various programs that improve business efficiency as well as employee experience. Choosing the right employee self-service software can be challenging with a wide array of tools present in the market. Therefore, below is a list of the top ten employee management software to make your business management effortless. 

    KissFlow

    Kissflow is one of the most sought-after employee management software by businesses who want to empower their company’s human resources management aspects. This software comes with many innovative features such as applicant tracking, employee leave tracker, attendance management, employee onboarding, and offboarding functionalities. Additionally, Kissflow offers customizable HR solutions like hiring skilled talents at the right time, a PTO tracker, boosting employee engagement, various employee self-service tools, and an easy facility for feedback and evaluations. 

    Namely

    Namely can be your all-in-one solution for employee management. It is a popular HR, payroll, benefits, vacation tracker, and talent management platform among employees. Businesses find it easier to handle their HR  processes by implementing this software in their system. Moreover, the platform attributes features like employee management, recruiting, employee time off tracker, producing visually rich reports, analytics, and many more.

    Dayforce

    Another most reliable employee self-service software is Dayforce, which provides cloud-based software. It helps the HR managers to manage employee payroll, onboarding, offboarding, talent, benefits, and many more. It is such a comprehensive software that it would take the operates a while to utilize all its features. Although your team would find it complicated at first, this PTO tracking software would benefit your HR team and employees alike in the long run.

    Peoplebook

    Peoplebook is another comprehensive employee self-service software that features employee information management, payroll tasks, proactive employee leave tracker app tool, performance management, biometrics, and employee training management, etc. The software avails many designs for producing reports; however, you can’t customize the reports. In order to know about their product pricing, contact directly with them and get a quotation for the software.

    APS payroll

    APS employee self-service software is an acronym that stands for “Automatic Payroll Systems.” As the name suggests, the technology offers advanced human resources and payroll services to HR teams regardless of any business size. It is a cloud-based workforce management software with integrated features like payroll, free vacation tracker, reporting, time tracking, benefits enrollment, etc.

    Workday

    Workday is another branded name as the employee management software with unique characteristics. All of its element focuses on finance. The software uses various tools to conduct enterprise management. Its service covers human resources, talent management, recruiting, payroll and free time off tracker, and benefits management. Furthermore, this cloud-based platform includes financial management such as business revenues, financials, business expenses, and procurement.

    BerniePortal

    BerniePortal might be not so familiar employee self-service platform, which enables employees to be onboard, enroll in benefits, employee attendance clock in and out software tool, read and post reviews and sign notices, request for PTO, and access to update employee data while operating work remotely. Users can also access the BerniePortal platform from their smartphone app. This software is not only for employees; it can also function as workforce management software, talent management software, human capital management software, etc. 

    Zoho People

    Zoho People is one of the most popular online human resource management systems that can manage and access all your employee and client data from a centralized location. This comprehensive employee management platform allows HR managers and business operators to streamline the functionality that is associated with managing employees.

    The platform is integrated with an extensive number of modules to help the HR team with employee onboarding, preparing timesheets, time off app, managing employee leaves, the work performance of each employee, manage their personal details, and benefits management.

    Moreover, the software provides a wide variety of templates that can be easily customized according to your business requirements. Since Zoho charges prices per user or employee, companies who hire new employees frequently would have to pay a different amount each coming month that can make the whole payment cycle confusing. Therefore, Zoho People is more suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.

    HRLocker

    HRLocker, the employee management software, is more intended for startups and micro-businesses since it can support up to four employees, including core HR. It is a free-offering software with features like onboarding/offboarding, and absence management, etc.

    However, you can upgrade the software to with the starting price of $3.50 per employee every month to manage up to fifteen employees. The platform can generate standard reports, automate the process of employee onboarding and offboarding, as well as highlight personal employee data via the HR dashboard. As cloud-based software, HRLocker offers mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.

    Freshteam

    Just like  HRLocker, Freshteam is also a free plan employee management software. The software can support up to fifty employees and simultaneous job postings. The software functions similarly as Day off app to track basic time and attendance of employees, support applicant tracking, core HR management, etc.

    Its service also includes email and phone supports. The upgrading plan would cost $50 per month to give access to 50 more users and 250 employees. The basic plan would allow users for more job postings, more customization, live chat support, and more advanced features for employee time tracking.

    End thought

    An ideal employee management software must be user-friendly, cloud-based, and easy to incorporate. They should come with an employee self-service portal, which can also connect seamlessly with other third-party tools. All the above software in the listed sport those dynamic features to make the HR manager’s job simpler.