For many employees globally, 2020 may be the year they finally got to work from home. Due to COVID-19, many businesses are testing out their business continuity plans which largely includes placing their partial or full workforce on work from home arrangements. The good news for these businesses is that cloud-based software is now widely available, allowing business-critical systems to be assessed even out of office. There wasn’t such luxury back in 2003 during the SARS period.
For HR, it is a time for change, as you help your workforce adapt into their new working arrangements while ensuring that productivity is maintained. Here are 3 reasons why cloud-based HR software is essential to tide you over:
1. Payroll is a critical business function
Other than the incentives and compensations that attract an employee to an organization, the reliability of receiving salary on time is also key. It is fair to say that for most businesses, payroll is a critical business function.
If the whole office is required to work from home, the payroll cycle may be disrupted if payroll is being run on on-premise software that has to be accessed in the office. Running manual is not much better, as it usually entails much paperwork.
With cloud-based payroll software like JustPayroll, all information required for payroll, including pay details, leave deductions, overtime hours and even bank information are all stored on the cloud. Payroll can be run anywhere, and payment via GIRO can be made easily by downloading a bank file and uploading it to your bank portal.
2. Leave tracking needs to be agile
Due to the fear of virus transmission, many businesses have relaxed their leave policies to encourage employees with any flu symptoms to just apply for sick leave, or work from home. With the increase in volume of leave applications, tracking leave can become a pain. Keeping proper records of all supporting documents like medical certificates is also a tedious affair.
On the other spectrum, there are still employees who are proceeding with their travel plans. It is important that they declare their travel plans when they apply for leave. While currently travel advisories are only for travel to China, it is good practice for them to declare which country they are travelling too, in case new travel advisories arise. A manual leave tracking system would make it difficult for HR to collect and record this information.
With cloud-based leave software like, employees can easily apply for leave, attach supporting documents and append remarks, no matter if they are at home or in the office, through leave mobile applications. Managers can also approve leave swiftly on the go – all leave entitlements will be automatically updated upon leave approval.
3. Attendance tracking for a remote workforce
With your employees working from home, you need an alternative way to track their attendance other than the usual punch card and biometric machines installed in the office. Other than ensuring discipline, there are further benefits to clocking in and out daily from home. Some employees may find it hard to pull themselves away from work, and they may end up putting even more hours that they do in the office. Keeping a routine similar to work, like clocking in and out at your normal working hours can help employees stay focused and keep a healthy separation between work and home.
With cloud-based attendance application like JustClock, employees can clock their time anywhere through a mobile application. Their GPS locations can be captured and their photos can be verified through facial recognition, so HR can conduct real-time checks on employees and prevent blunders like the group of Hong Kong bank employees who went hiking when they were supposed to be working from home. Of course, in addition to tracking attendance, HR should set clear guidelines, and managers should list out task deliverables along with regular reviews to ensure that productivity is maintained.
For attendance apps that allow remarks to be added during clock in and out, this will also be a good tool for them to log their temperatures twice a day, which is a common practice for work from home staff during this corona virus period.
Get started on cloud-based HR with JustLogin
JustLogin is a suite of cloud-based HR applications that helps small to mid-sized businesses automate their payroll, leave, attendance, expense and benefit management. We’ve helped thousands of businesses achieve increased productivity and better employee experience – no matter if they are working from an office, at a restaurant, in a retail shop, at a warehouse facility, or of course, even working from home. Give JustLogin a try today at justlogin.com/free-trial.
About JustLogin
For happy HR, bosses and employees, you want a platform that can help your team remain productive and focused, while providing excellent employee experiences that impresses and retains talent. JustLogin is the HR employee experience platform that delivers both through a comprehensive suite of HR applications.