Running a multi-location business comes with unique complications. Numerous employees, a lack of eyes on each location, and operational issues are common. If your employee attendance system is stuck in the past (meaning it’s all done by hand), then you’ve made your job even harder.
Digitising your attendance system is the time and attendance solution your business needs. Don’t miss out on these seven benefits of making the switch.
1. Real-time data to make informed decisions
Running multiple locations requires a lot of data to ensure efficiency and consistency. However, manually tracking attendance makes getting accurate data difficult. Not only does human error come into play, but it’s almost impossible to fill in all the information quickly.
A digital attendance system solves this problem through automation. The right software tracks the information and displays it in an easy-to-understand format, allowing you to make more informed decisions by identifying patterns.
These data patterns can also show employees’ attendance records more precisely, which can then inform their performance evaluations. This can enhance employee accountability without anyone feeling as though managers are hovering around staff.
2. Better labour forecasting data
Separate from accurate live data is the availability of more labour forecasting data. A digital attendance system allows you to look at data for each of your locations and understand the staffing needs at each one.
For example, have you noticed that one location has seen slower foot traffic lately? You can reduce the number of staff there to save money and prevent wasting resources. The same can be said if a certain location is busier than the others and you need to increase staff.
The ability to better utilise available resources will ensure the business is running smoothly at each location without unnecessary waste.
Recommended:How to Forecast Labour Demand in 7 Shift-Based Industries
3. Faster and better-organised responses to call-outs
Life happens, and call-outs are a natural part of running a business. However, the way you deal with call-outs is what you really need to be examining. A digital attendance system, especially one that allows easy communication between staff, makes responding to call-outs easy.
Staff can communicate with their coworkers to let them know they can’t make their shift and ask for coverage. Employees looking to make extra money can then grab the open shift, and everything is settled before a manager is needed. Managers can focus on managing their site instead of scrambling to find coverage.
When you potentially have hundreds of employees in different locations, quick responses to call-outs prevent you or your team from spending all day scrambling to coordinate shift coverage from here and there.
4. Trust and transparency
Because shift workers make money by the hour, they care a lot about shift-tracking accuracy. It breeds distrust and frustration when they can’t easily access their attendance record, especially if they think they may have been underpaid.
A digital time and attendance solution provides easy access to digital employee time clock records for staff, managers, and you. Data transparency builds trust within your organisation. If a staff member has any concerns regarding their pay, they can easily pull up their record and talk to their manager.
Establishing a workplace culture of trust makes managing multiple business locations easier. When the trust between an organisation and its employees is strong, so is employee engagement. Engaged employees are harder-working employees, and you can focus less on individual location operations and more on growing your business.
Recommended:9 Ways to Build Transparent Communication in Your Workplace
5. Streamlined data sharing
Using a manual attendance system creates data silos. When you have one folder for attendance records and a separate one for payroll, information gaps naturally occur. One person would have to dedicate all their time to connecting the two; even then, human error can create problems.
You should also be wary if clock punch-ins and punch-outs, performance evaluations, leave requests, and scheduling each function in separate data silos.
A digital attendance system erases these silos. If the program doesn’t already have additional built-in payroll and scheduling capabilities, it should easily integrate with other digital systems. Deputy, for example, offers many HR functions and integrates with hundreds of other systems.
Streamlining data is the only way you’ll be able to run a multi-location business efficiently. Data silos will make more work, not only for each location, but for yourself as you review each location’s data.
You also won’t be able to see the big picture and identify patterns of improvement, which may leave your business at a plateau.
Case Study:Deputy saves Tribeca Pediatrics managers two days per week
6. Accurate clock-ins
Manual clock-ins are unnatural and often cause problems. If the machinery isn’t working or someone forgets to manually clock in, all your attendance and payroll data is now inaccurate. It can also be difficult to correct forgotten clock-in or clock-out information because you must rely on an employee’s memory (and honesty).
Using a digital time clock for employees, perhaps through a downloadable mobile app for clocking in and out, makes the entire process easier on everyone. Most people already have their phones on hand, and with a few clicks, they’re clocked in or out.
Additionally, having an e-punch attendance management system makes it easier to correct inaccurate data for HR personnel.
7. Data security
Employee files often have sensitive information that must not be leaked. However, manual systems are vulnerable to prying eyes, and that information could fall into the wrong hands. Going digital provides an extra layer of security through passwords and account authorisations. Additionally, businesses can use cybersecurity technology to further lock away sensitive data.
While not perfect, a digital system is more secure than loose papers and files in an office. This is especially true when you can’t have eyes on the information from each of your business’s locations. While trusting your employees is great, it’s foolish not to provide a protection system for sensitive information.
Simplify your attendance system now
Manual attendance tracking just isn’t effective when you have numerous employees at multiple locations. It wastes time and causes stress, and mistakes are inevitable. Upgrade your system today with Deputy.
Our time and attendance solution offers attendance tracking, clock-in and clock-out capabilities, and even scheduling tools. You can handle HR tasks in one place, even with multiple locations.
