One clear result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that getting good data out of your payroll, timetracking and HR system is going to become even more important than ever. It is also clear that those systems are going to have to be tightly linked together, if exist as one system. In reading the provisions of the ACA one begins to wonder if this new set of regulations could even have been contemplated in the years before robust workforce management systems existed. This much is clear now though: in order to comply with the new regulations flowing out of the ACA, every employer is going to need to have a way to capture, track, report on and analyze their data relating to their employees.
Some key data items that employers are going to have to know and report on within the next year or two: hours worked, full-time equivalent hours worked, average hours worked per week by employee, hours worked over a various "look-back periods", average hourly rate of pay over a period of time, prior year w-2 wages by employee for affordability provisions, break of service periods, and the list goes on. You will also have to manage various calculations and statuses such in areas such as affordability, part-time vs. full-time, and ACA status changes. For access to Health Care tax credits small businesses will need to be able to know how many FTEs (Full Time Equivalents) they employ as well as the average wage paid at their company.
While many of the key provisions and regulations are still being "clarified", here is what is obvious:
1. Employers will need to have easy access to their employee-related data and will need a flexible reporting tool to pull out that data in a variety of ways
2. Timetracking (now essential), payroll and HR can no longer live separately. Benefit eligibility, enrollment, affordability tests and employment status will all rely on a combination of time data, HR data and payroll data
3. While employers can go it alone, a new daunting compliance challenge has been laid done by the ACA, forcing businesses everywhere to think about how and who can help them cope in this brave new era.
PayNorthwest with its WorkforceLumina system and its team of professional service personnel are poised to help employers of any size comply and thrive in today's challenging business environment.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Monday, November 5, 2012
Ending the Year End blues
As we approach the holidays, our mind inevitably turns to the rapidly approaching year end. In the payroll world, of course, "year end" means much more than parties, streamers and singing Auld Lang Syne with complete strangers. It also means extra work, shortened weeks, and the double whammy of prepping for Quarter End and Year End tax filings. The intent here is not to depress you but to say that an ounce of preparation just might save you a pound of payroll pain. To that end, we offer you this little reminder of things you can do now to help ease that New Year payroll hangover:
- Confirm your payroll and federal/state deposit dates. The rash of holidays between now and year end wreaks havoc on banking and tax deposit dates. Plan, shift check dates accordingly and be sure to let your employees know what to expect.
- Schedule bonuses and verify that you have included all bonuses in your employees’ wages before year end. Remember that all cash bonuses and gifts over $25.00 need to be included in taxable income. If your bonuses run large (and why wouldn’t they!) and generate a federal tax deposit of greater than $100,000, be prepared to make a tax deposit on the day after your pay date.
- Review and correct, as needed, employee names, addresses and social security numbers.
- Start to gather information on these often forgotten items that need to be reported on W-2s:
- If you are a corporation, personal usage of corporate-owned vehicles by any employee
- If you are an S corporation, amounts paid during the year for your officer’s health insurance coverage.
- Third Party Sick pay
- If you are a Multi-state employer, keep an eye on whether any of the states that you pay state unemployment to fail to pay back their federal loans (http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/budget.asp#tfloans). If so, you will need to be prepared to possibly pay an increased FUTA rate on their 4th Quarter return retroactive to the beginning of 2012.
- Check your employees’ paid time off balances and plans to use or get paid for unused balances
- Make sure you are armed with information for 2013 as it becomes available including Social Security wage bases, 401(k) pretax limits and state unemployment/disability wage bases (depending on the state).
- Prepare your list of 1099 recipients. Independent contractors who don’t do business as corporations and who are paid at least $600 in cash must receive a form 1099-MISC by Jan. 31, 2013. Don’t forget these potential recipients: outside lawyers and accountants, auto mechanics/service stations that repair company cars, equipment lessors and repair persons, tradesmen like plumbers, electricians, tech consultants or office cleaners.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
HR Systems in high gear
It was a busy year in the HR software world. Everyone seems to be acquiring everyone else, and in the end, they all are getting acquired by the very big fish. In the last twelve months alone, Oracle purchased Taleo, SAP purchased SuccessFactors and Infor purchased Lawson. All rising stars, sucked in to the gravitational pull of some very large players.
So what's going on and why all the interest?
Well, some of the themes discussed in previous posts here are creating opportunity and chaos in the "space with many faces". Human Resource Information Systems, aka Human Capital Management, aka Workforce Management, aka Talent Management-Recruitment Management-Learning Management-Compensation Management etc, has been exploding of late. Driving this explosion is a variety of factors:
1. The Knowledge Economy. Everyone knows that their people are their greatest asset. But what is becoming increasingly common is that they are their ONLY asset. Managing and maximizing return on your people has become an essential element of business success
2. The Cloud. As enterprise systems move increasingly to the cloud, the cost of getting access to quality HR systems is going down dramatically. Forrester Research estimates that in the Talent Management space, cloud is out selling on premise 9 to 1. This brings capability to the masses heretofore impossible to anyone other than the Fortune 500.
3. Economics. Finance and HR departments are being forced to do more with less (sometimes referred to as Productivity). The only way to do this is to better leverage systems (preferrably for a low cost subscription fee) to tee up and do a lot of the work.
4. The Need for Integration. The market seems to be preferring a single vendor solution over separate so-called functional best-in-class solutions (hence, all the acquisitions). The obvious drawback of managing data across disconnected systems is overwhelming whatever benefit a brilliant, but siloed solution might provide.
In short, integrated, cloud-based HR systems are in high demand and increasingly being adopted by employers with tens and hundreds of employees, not just tens of thousands.
Here are some of the key functions and process that organizations are looking to better leverage with technology:
1. Comprehensive employee reporting and analytics: everything from employee demographics, pay history, skill sets, work and experience history. Management needs information on their employees across all domains in the organization for compliance, decision-making and resource allocation
2. Recruitment to hire: Efficiently managing the entire process from recruitment to hiring has big impacts on compliance, HR department resources, and of course on who you hire. Capable systems in this space allow you reach outside your internal system to capture applicant data and seemlessly manage that data all the way into your payroll and other systems.
3. Talent Management: allows organizations to define the skill sets and hire the talent they need, develop their people the way they need to be developed and assign them to the right tasks and projects.
4. Performance and Compensation Management: allows organizations to better link performance and pay and manage the processes around both performance measurement and reviews and compensation reviews.
5. Benefits Management: includes employee self-enrollment in benefits plan as well as connections out to external benefits providers. Using technology to help employees better connect with benefits offered by their employers is an approach many employers use to increase employee satisfaction while driving down the cost of administering those benefit options.
These are just a few of the broad topics included in the HR space. Many more exist and within each one, additional levels of detail, process and objectives exist. As HR technology becomes more widely available and as organizations better comprehend the importance of managing their human capital, deeper and broader adoption by companies will continue to explode.
So what's going on and why all the interest?
Well, some of the themes discussed in previous posts here are creating opportunity and chaos in the "space with many faces". Human Resource Information Systems, aka Human Capital Management, aka Workforce Management, aka Talent Management-Recruitment Management-Learning Management-Compensation Management etc, has been exploding of late. Driving this explosion is a variety of factors:
1. The Knowledge Economy. Everyone knows that their people are their greatest asset. But what is becoming increasingly common is that they are their ONLY asset. Managing and maximizing return on your people has become an essential element of business success
2. The Cloud. As enterprise systems move increasingly to the cloud, the cost of getting access to quality HR systems is going down dramatically. Forrester Research estimates that in the Talent Management space, cloud is out selling on premise 9 to 1. This brings capability to the masses heretofore impossible to anyone other than the Fortune 500.
3. Economics. Finance and HR departments are being forced to do more with less (sometimes referred to as Productivity). The only way to do this is to better leverage systems (preferrably for a low cost subscription fee) to tee up and do a lot of the work.
4. The Need for Integration. The market seems to be preferring a single vendor solution over separate so-called functional best-in-class solutions (hence, all the acquisitions). The obvious drawback of managing data across disconnected systems is overwhelming whatever benefit a brilliant, but siloed solution might provide.
In short, integrated, cloud-based HR systems are in high demand and increasingly being adopted by employers with tens and hundreds of employees, not just tens of thousands.
Here are some of the key functions and process that organizations are looking to better leverage with technology:
1. Comprehensive employee reporting and analytics: everything from employee demographics, pay history, skill sets, work and experience history. Management needs information on their employees across all domains in the organization for compliance, decision-making and resource allocation
2. Recruitment to hire: Efficiently managing the entire process from recruitment to hiring has big impacts on compliance, HR department resources, and of course on who you hire. Capable systems in this space allow you reach outside your internal system to capture applicant data and seemlessly manage that data all the way into your payroll and other systems.
3. Talent Management: allows organizations to define the skill sets and hire the talent they need, develop their people the way they need to be developed and assign them to the right tasks and projects.
4. Performance and Compensation Management: allows organizations to better link performance and pay and manage the processes around both performance measurement and reviews and compensation reviews.
5. Benefits Management: includes employee self-enrollment in benefits plan as well as connections out to external benefits providers. Using technology to help employees better connect with benefits offered by their employers is an approach many employers use to increase employee satisfaction while driving down the cost of administering those benefit options.
These are just a few of the broad topics included in the HR space. Many more exist and within each one, additional levels of detail, process and objectives exist. As HR technology becomes more widely available and as organizations better comprehend the importance of managing their human capital, deeper and broader adoption by companies will continue to explode.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Driving errors out of the system
Eliminating errors in the payroll and personnel administration process is consistently rated as a top goal among employers that we talk to. Unfortunately errors are often categorized as "so-and-so's mistake" and efforts are made to double check the results next time or to just be more careful.
In an interesting and illuminating study by The Hackett Group called "Workforce Management and Payroll Performance Studies" and published in the APA magazine PayTech, February, 2010, points out that Top Performers (the top statistical group with respect to efficiency and effectiveness in the payroll process) focus on root cause of errors rather than temporary fixes. And the top three root causes for payroll adjustments that occur due to time collection errors are 1. Validation at the source 2. Greater accountability of frontline managers and 3. a streamlined process of employee data maintenance between HR and Payroll administration.
In short, automating time collection the right way can lead to a dramatic improvement in your payroll performance and drive a significant number of errors out of the process. Put another way: Using a time and attendance system can help HR and finance managers get what they most want - fewer mistakes.
The article goes on to add an interesting perspective on what makes this strategy so effective: automating the time-to-gross process "streamlines the end-to-end process, resulting in more touch in operations and less touch in corporate payroll. The higher touch model in operations ensures accountability and leaves the decision making in the hands of those who are closer to the details, thus more qualified to make decisions." By pushing responsibility back out to operations, where this stuff happens, payroll administrators can actually improve their results and focus on higher level tasks. Wow.
So how does a small to mid-sized organization do this? By deploying a modern day time and attendance system. It's funny, even to this day, at the end of 2011 we find companies that when we talk to them about Time and Attendance, they respond with something like "You mean punch clocks?" Well, yes.... and no. The hardware has come a long way since this blogger punched in and out of his job as a grocery bagger using a paper punch card. Time clocks today come in a variety of forms, all electronic, including hand and finger print readers, proximity readers, web entry with IP address restrictions, telephony, and on and on. Finding the time entry device that works for you is just the start.
The truth is it's the software that the hardware connects to that makes the difference. The right hours are captured for the right employee, reviewed and approved by the right manager, and flows in to the right payroll and HR record. In addition, decisions about time off requests and schedule changes are made by the right person with the correct and up-to-date information. Better accuracy and better decisions - sounds pretty good.
Let's be clear. There is a lot that can be accomplished beyond reducing errors when deploying time and attendance in your organization. Doing it right can help you enforce your workplace policies evenly and fairly, stay compliant with state and federal labor rules, manage and reduce overtime, manage attendance and schedules, and of course make your payroll process more efficient and reduce costs.
But lets pull this back around to the idea of reducing errors. Automated time and attendance can reduce errors - one of employers' highest stated goals - by eliminating data entry errors, of course, but also by pushing the ability and responsibility back out to operations where the action it is happening, and out of the administrative department that usually has to deal with the information after the fact and from a position where they can not see what is happening (Did John really work 10 hours that day? When Linda clocked in late was that because she forgot or because she was late?) And finally by making sure that the data in the time and attendance system is in sync with (hopefully real time) or the same as data in the HR and payroll system, corrections, misunderstandings and re-work can be avoided.
The good news is that being a Top Performer actually isn't that difficult. It just takes a little automation and a clear understanding of where errors come from. Getting rid of them turns out to be a snap.
In an interesting and illuminating study by The Hackett Group called "Workforce Management and Payroll Performance Studies" and published in the APA magazine PayTech, February, 2010, points out that Top Performers (the top statistical group with respect to efficiency and effectiveness in the payroll process) focus on root cause of errors rather than temporary fixes. And the top three root causes for payroll adjustments that occur due to time collection errors are 1. Validation at the source 2. Greater accountability of frontline managers and 3. a streamlined process of employee data maintenance between HR and Payroll administration.
In short, automating time collection the right way can lead to a dramatic improvement in your payroll performance and drive a significant number of errors out of the process. Put another way: Using a time and attendance system can help HR and finance managers get what they most want - fewer mistakes.
The article goes on to add an interesting perspective on what makes this strategy so effective: automating the time-to-gross process "streamlines the end-to-end process, resulting in more touch in operations and less touch in corporate payroll. The higher touch model in operations ensures accountability and leaves the decision making in the hands of those who are closer to the details, thus more qualified to make decisions." By pushing responsibility back out to operations, where this stuff happens, payroll administrators can actually improve their results and focus on higher level tasks. Wow.
So how does a small to mid-sized organization do this? By deploying a modern day time and attendance system. It's funny, even to this day, at the end of 2011 we find companies that when we talk to them about Time and Attendance, they respond with something like "You mean punch clocks?" Well, yes.... and no. The hardware has come a long way since this blogger punched in and out of his job as a grocery bagger using a paper punch card. Time clocks today come in a variety of forms, all electronic, including hand and finger print readers, proximity readers, web entry with IP address restrictions, telephony, and on and on. Finding the time entry device that works for you is just the start.
The truth is it's the software that the hardware connects to that makes the difference. The right hours are captured for the right employee, reviewed and approved by the right manager, and flows in to the right payroll and HR record. In addition, decisions about time off requests and schedule changes are made by the right person with the correct and up-to-date information. Better accuracy and better decisions - sounds pretty good.
Let's be clear. There is a lot that can be accomplished beyond reducing errors when deploying time and attendance in your organization. Doing it right can help you enforce your workplace policies evenly and fairly, stay compliant with state and federal labor rules, manage and reduce overtime, manage attendance and schedules, and of course make your payroll process more efficient and reduce costs.
But lets pull this back around to the idea of reducing errors. Automated time and attendance can reduce errors - one of employers' highest stated goals - by eliminating data entry errors, of course, but also by pushing the ability and responsibility back out to operations where the action it is happening, and out of the administrative department that usually has to deal with the information after the fact and from a position where they can not see what is happening (Did John really work 10 hours that day? When Linda clocked in late was that because she forgot or because she was late?) And finally by making sure that the data in the time and attendance system is in sync with (hopefully real time) or the same as data in the HR and payroll system, corrections, misunderstandings and re-work can be avoided.
The good news is that being a Top Performer actually isn't that difficult. It just takes a little automation and a clear understanding of where errors come from. Getting rid of them turns out to be a snap.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Workflow automation - Your new best friend
An interesting thing happened on the way to the cloud... Enterprise systems, big iron that was used to crunch numbers, store and retrieve data and render reports, developed a new trick. And it's a big one. Sometimes the biggest shifts are the most subtle, and I have to say, I think this one sort of sneaked up on everyone. But now that it is here, Workflow Automation is a big deal and about to change your life.
What is Workflow Automation? More than the buzzword from a caffeine-addled 20-something's term paper, Workflow Automation (let's call it WA) is the next step in making Systems actually useful to the people who use them. Let's review.
As I mentioned earlier, computer systems were first developed to handle routine but laborious computational tasks. Hence the name Computers. Then, in the late 70s storage devices began to be developed that allowed computers to get better at storing lots of data. A little later, relational databases were developed to manage, query and report on that stored data. And since then, almost all enterprise systems have been built off of finding new types of data to store and report on, sometimes combining that with computational power to do things to that data.
I contend that Workflow Automation is a whole new type of use of computing technology that can dramatically transform the lives of people who use systems to run organizations. What workflow automation is, quite simply, is ability to set up rules, events, conditions, roles, and tasks that allow the system to guide users through multi-step processes. A workflow is, of course, a series of steps required to accomplish something, for example, hiring a new employee. Workflow Automation allows you to define those steps ahead of time, indicate the order of the steps and who is responsible, and remind and prompt those people when they need to perform those steps. It automates many of the processes that an organization needs to do, so that people in the organization are freed up to think.
For organizations interested in creating processes and making sure those processes are followed consistently and that a record of that is maintained, WA is crucial and extremely helpful. For individuals who would like reminders and want to be thorough in how they carry out their work, without the crushing burden of post-it notes and calendar reminders on every available surface of their office, WA is the ticket. For organizations with that are highly dispersed, or even virtual, that also need to manage risk, workflow automation can be a savior.
Most importantly, for personnel departments that are constantly bombarded with date-driven, business-critical tasks with low tolerance for error, Workforce Automation can be essential. Whether it is the benefits review process, the hire/fire process, time off request process, performance review process, payroll process, or any of the many other duties dumped on the backs of payroll, accounting and HR administrators, workflow automation can be the ticket to greater peace of mind and higher departmental performance.
See? Technology really can be your friend. It just took a little while....
What is Workflow Automation? More than the buzzword from a caffeine-addled 20-something's term paper, Workflow Automation (let's call it WA) is the next step in making Systems actually useful to the people who use them. Let's review.
As I mentioned earlier, computer systems were first developed to handle routine but laborious computational tasks. Hence the name Computers. Then, in the late 70s storage devices began to be developed that allowed computers to get better at storing lots of data. A little later, relational databases were developed to manage, query and report on that stored data. And since then, almost all enterprise systems have been built off of finding new types of data to store and report on, sometimes combining that with computational power to do things to that data.
I contend that Workflow Automation is a whole new type of use of computing technology that can dramatically transform the lives of people who use systems to run organizations. What workflow automation is, quite simply, is ability to set up rules, events, conditions, roles, and tasks that allow the system to guide users through multi-step processes. A workflow is, of course, a series of steps required to accomplish something, for example, hiring a new employee. Workflow Automation allows you to define those steps ahead of time, indicate the order of the steps and who is responsible, and remind and prompt those people when they need to perform those steps. It automates many of the processes that an organization needs to do, so that people in the organization are freed up to think.
For organizations interested in creating processes and making sure those processes are followed consistently and that a record of that is maintained, WA is crucial and extremely helpful. For individuals who would like reminders and want to be thorough in how they carry out their work, without the crushing burden of post-it notes and calendar reminders on every available surface of their office, WA is the ticket. For organizations with that are highly dispersed, or even virtual, that also need to manage risk, workflow automation can be a savior.
Most importantly, for personnel departments that are constantly bombarded with date-driven, business-critical tasks with low tolerance for error, Workforce Automation can be essential. Whether it is the benefits review process, the hire/fire process, time off request process, performance review process, payroll process, or any of the many other duties dumped on the backs of payroll, accounting and HR administrators, workflow automation can be the ticket to greater peace of mind and higher departmental performance.
See? Technology really can be your friend. It just took a little while....
Friday, September 9, 2011
Software-as-a-Service. Really?
One new-ish term of art that has always bothered me is the curious label of Software-as-a-Service. To that, I say, Really? Software as a service? I don't think so. Software as a Subscription, maybe. But Service? Whoever invented that term obviously wasn't from the service industry. Hmmm, maybe they were from the software industry....
No doubt that delivering software over the internet has made our business lives easier. Fewer upgrades, less worry about backups, no more hardware upgrades or software incompatibilities. But let's be honest, getting the software delivered to your desktop (or smart phone! - see previous post) is a subscription, and only a start.
Any enterprise level software worth its salt needs to have human expertise supporting it to make sure customers get the most out of the software. Otherwise, systems languish, are underutilized and end up not delivering on their promise. They become a disappointment.
Service, real service, around software delivered via the cloud helps customers configure the software to their unique needs, answers subject matter questions relating to the use of the software, and finds ways to extend the usefulness of the software throughout the user's organization. In the end, real service attached to software-as-a-service helps a business get better, more efficient and more productive by intelligently using the software. Simply sending a user id and password and considering the job done doesn't get you there.
Enterprise software companies have created huge new business value and opportunity by delivering their product over the internet. Those companies that think that their job ends there will find that value greatly diminished over time as their customers struggle to implement these powerful tools. Those companies that figure out that the job has just begun when the customer hits the On button will find significant opportunity to develop loyal customers whose businesses are transformed by their new, true Software-AND-Service partnership.
No doubt that delivering software over the internet has made our business lives easier. Fewer upgrades, less worry about backups, no more hardware upgrades or software incompatibilities. But let's be honest, getting the software delivered to your desktop (or smart phone! - see previous post) is a subscription, and only a start.
Any enterprise level software worth its salt needs to have human expertise supporting it to make sure customers get the most out of the software. Otherwise, systems languish, are underutilized and end up not delivering on their promise. They become a disappointment.
Service, real service, around software delivered via the cloud helps customers configure the software to their unique needs, answers subject matter questions relating to the use of the software, and finds ways to extend the usefulness of the software throughout the user's organization. In the end, real service attached to software-as-a-service helps a business get better, more efficient and more productive by intelligently using the software. Simply sending a user id and password and considering the job done doesn't get you there.
Enterprise software companies have created huge new business value and opportunity by delivering their product over the internet. Those companies that think that their job ends there will find that value greatly diminished over time as their customers struggle to implement these powerful tools. Those companies that figure out that the job has just begun when the customer hits the On button will find significant opportunity to develop loyal customers whose businesses are transformed by their new, true Software-AND-Service partnership.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Less is More
Everything wants to be efficient. It is a law of nature and a law of business. The path to efficiency is to eliminate waste. And waste comes in two main forms - Steps and Stuff. This post is about Stuff and the virtuousness of getting rid of as much stuff as possible. We will talk about getting rid of Steps in another post.
We all are comforted, in some part, by our stuff. It has a way of making us feel safe, or well off, or not alone, or something. Americans in particular have a love affair with stuff. Witness the $20+ billion self-storage industry. But Stuff is not free. Stuff needs space, it deteriorates, it gets stolen, it rusts, molds, gets eaten, needs to be insured, hides other stuff, occupies our mind and requires our attention. Stuff sits and a lot of it is waste. Stuff needs to go.
One of the untold stories of the last century of enterprise and technology is the dramatic reduction in use of stuff. You heard that right - dramatic reduction. Before I explain that, remember that efficiency is a law of nature - "Over the long haul, the most efficient wins". Let me rephrase that by saying "Over the long haul, she who uses the least amount of stuff to accomplish the same end, wins".
So how can I say that less stuff is used today? Think about the most obvious example of media. Digital media has almost completely replaced the hard material, space consuming CDs and DVDs (which by the way replaced previously even more Stuff). Kindles and eReaders are dramatically reducing the number of bookshelf hogging, dust collecting paper books. In fact, all of my music, movies and books can now fit in my (Relax Fit) front pocket. Smaller house anyone?
And what about those smaller houses? Houses, and skyscrapers for that matter, now require considerably less building materials than they did 100 years ago (on a square foot basis). Material engineering and innovative design have allow us to building much trimmer, graceful structures that would have been impossible previously. All with less stuff. The list of industries goes on and on: the computer industry, agriculture, transportation, energy - all do more, create better products, deliver more value - using less stuff.
So how does this relate to the administration of your personnel function? I thought you'd never ask. The inevitable march toward Less Stuff includes your department as well. Your department - payroll, HR, benefits admin - wants to use less stuff. It needs to use less stuff. (It wants to do less Steps as well, but as I said, we'll get to that at another time).
Here is a list of stuff that you can, and should reduce:
1. Computer (IT) Stuff. Managing payroll and HR requires big, beefy computer systems, right? Not anymore. Systems to manage your personnel function are moving to the cloud meaning less stuff in your business and office. Less computers, less cabling, less backup devices, etc. By moving your systems to the cloud, you reduce your IT footprint in your business significantly. Your business just got more efficient.
2. Paper Stuff. Yes, you need a document retention policy, so don't take this to mean you don't. But by intelligently digitizing documents and records (converting paper to electrons) and sharing them, you dramatically reduce the cost of storing files, protecting files, shipping files, copying files, and looking for files. All of these actions cost you real money. By reducing paper waste, you dramatically reduce your costs, gain office space and clarity of mind.
3. People . Yeah, I had to say it. But you already knew it because the people you had were probably already reduced anyways, leaving you to do everything. But the reality is, you need to do your job and you're probably are not going to be given a ton of people resources to get it done. That is were technology is your friend. Today's workforce management systems allow considerably leaner personnel departments to get more done than before by automating tasks, pushing responsibilities back out to employees and their managers, and delivering more consolidated information back to you. All with less people. You know what? I bet you never liked having to manage all those clerks anyways! Less people is more efficient.
Less is More. Make a vow to do something nice for yourself and good for your business - get rid of stuff. You may find you never want it back.
We all are comforted, in some part, by our stuff. It has a way of making us feel safe, or well off, or not alone, or something. Americans in particular have a love affair with stuff. Witness the $20+ billion self-storage industry. But Stuff is not free. Stuff needs space, it deteriorates, it gets stolen, it rusts, molds, gets eaten, needs to be insured, hides other stuff, occupies our mind and requires our attention. Stuff sits and a lot of it is waste. Stuff needs to go.
One of the untold stories of the last century of enterprise and technology is the dramatic reduction in use of stuff. You heard that right - dramatic reduction. Before I explain that, remember that efficiency is a law of nature - "Over the long haul, the most efficient wins". Let me rephrase that by saying "Over the long haul, she who uses the least amount of stuff to accomplish the same end, wins".
So how can I say that less stuff is used today? Think about the most obvious example of media. Digital media has almost completely replaced the hard material, space consuming CDs and DVDs (which by the way replaced previously even more Stuff). Kindles and eReaders are dramatically reducing the number of bookshelf hogging, dust collecting paper books. In fact, all of my music, movies and books can now fit in my (Relax Fit) front pocket. Smaller house anyone?
And what about those smaller houses? Houses, and skyscrapers for that matter, now require considerably less building materials than they did 100 years ago (on a square foot basis). Material engineering and innovative design have allow us to building much trimmer, graceful structures that would have been impossible previously. All with less stuff. The list of industries goes on and on: the computer industry, agriculture, transportation, energy - all do more, create better products, deliver more value - using less stuff.
So how does this relate to the administration of your personnel function? I thought you'd never ask. The inevitable march toward Less Stuff includes your department as well. Your department - payroll, HR, benefits admin - wants to use less stuff. It needs to use less stuff. (It wants to do less Steps as well, but as I said, we'll get to that at another time).
Here is a list of stuff that you can, and should reduce:
1. Computer (IT) Stuff. Managing payroll and HR requires big, beefy computer systems, right? Not anymore. Systems to manage your personnel function are moving to the cloud meaning less stuff in your business and office. Less computers, less cabling, less backup devices, etc. By moving your systems to the cloud, you reduce your IT footprint in your business significantly. Your business just got more efficient.
2. Paper Stuff. Yes, you need a document retention policy, so don't take this to mean you don't. But by intelligently digitizing documents and records (converting paper to electrons) and sharing them, you dramatically reduce the cost of storing files, protecting files, shipping files, copying files, and looking for files. All of these actions cost you real money. By reducing paper waste, you dramatically reduce your costs, gain office space and clarity of mind.
3. People . Yeah, I had to say it. But you already knew it because the people you had were probably already reduced anyways, leaving you to do everything. But the reality is, you need to do your job and you're probably are not going to be given a ton of people resources to get it done. That is were technology is your friend. Today's workforce management systems allow considerably leaner personnel departments to get more done than before by automating tasks, pushing responsibilities back out to employees and their managers, and delivering more consolidated information back to you. All with less people. You know what? I bet you never liked having to manage all those clerks anyways! Less people is more efficient.
Less is More. Make a vow to do something nice for yourself and good for your business - get rid of stuff. You may find you never want it back.
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