I’m back in Blogging!

It has been almost 5 years that I last wrote an entry on this blog of mine and a lot has happened over the years in my career! I decided to start blogging again so that I can continue to share my experiences , my learnings and my life to you all!

So what has happened since 2016? well here are some important milestones in my career:

2016 – I completed my Certified Professional Manager (CPM) Certification from IFPM (UK)

2017 – I completed my Certification as a Certified Life Coach (CLC) Certification from the Life Coach Training Institute (Texas, USA)

2018 – I completed my Certified Emotional Intelligence Practitioner (CEIP) Certification under Genos Inc. (Australia)

2018 – I was awarded as one of the National Pillars of Youth Awardee by the National Youth Commission / NYPAA

2019 – I was awarded as one of the Top HR Leaders in the Philippines in 2019 by the Employer Brands Award

2019 – I was named Top No. 11 of Linkedin Top 100 Filipinos to Follow in 2019

2020 – I was honoured to be included in the Top 501 Global HR Leaders in 2020 in an awarding ceremony held in India

2020 – I was named Top Nos. 8 in Linkedin Top 100 Filipinos to Follow in 2020

From 2016 to 2020 I followed my mission and passion to lead the Philippines HR Group in organising and facilitating different public seminars and workshops for the advancement of the Filipino HR Professional. I was also involved in propagating the Certified Human Resource Professional Certification across the Philippines by holding CHRP Classes not only in Manila but also in the provinces of Cebu, Iloilo and Davao.

In 2020 at the start of the pandemic I have launch a FB Live Virtual Learning Program called the HR CAFE: Trabaho, Buhay at Iba Pa! which has gained viewers and followers in the Philippines with our value adding discussions and learning sessions.

Today, I continue to head and lead the Philippines HR Group which now has more than 245,000 members (as of Feb 2021) and still growing exponentially.

Throughout 2016 to 2020 I have been invited to speak in many International and Local conferences, as well as different Universities and Colleges and even held Public Seminars all to advance the HR Profession in the Philippines.

Now that I am back again in blogging, I hope that I would continue to add value to the community and help in our nation building by training and promoting a truly world-class Filipino Professional!

Please continue to support me by joining in my journey!

Coach Darwin B. Rivers

My Social Media:

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/HRGuruLifeCoach

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darwinrivers

Understanding the Importance of Workers Health Post-Pandemic Era

Let us address the white elephant in the room:  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has changed the condition of workers’ health and safety in many ways. From the rise of remote work and manufacturing automation to the effects of burnout and unsafe working environments, we experience work differently.

For workers who can do their jobs via telecommuting or at the comfort of their homes, they’ve still been able to maintain a certain sense of security during the pandemic. For others—those who must work on site, those undertaking arduous physical labor, those who don’t have a safe workplace—it has increased the precarity of their work life.

According to a recent article published by The Lancet titled “Work and Worker Health in the Post-Pandemic World: A Public Health Perspective,” authored by Dr. Dennerlein and other experts in the field, they all agree that some of the support systems that we had were blown up during the pandemic. Dr.  Dennerlein stated that “When you think about 40 percent of the workforce working remotely in the future, it’s going to have deep impacts on communities, cities, real estate prices, urban planning, and transportation.”

Like it or not, the future of worker health and safety will mean a broader, more strategic approach.

Rapidly changing working conditions, accelerated by the pandemic, will have significant—and not yet fully known—impacts on workers. Below are the Top Issues that employers must understand that are currently affecting their employee’s overall health & wellbeing.

1.     Work Stress and Burnout – The exodus of millions of workers who have left their jobs (a.k.a. The Great Resignation or The Great Reshuffle) which is happening all over the globe is reflective of the long-term exhaustion and the challenges that workers face post pandemic

2.     Isolation and Sedentariness – the prevalence of working from home or telecommuting, which some organizations have already embraced—or at least accepted a hybrid work model leads to different mental and physical problems brought about by the feeling of “being alone” or because of limited physical activities causing mental health issues and being overweight or obesity which increases risk for many serious diseases and health conditions.

How Wearable Technology are helping Employees get back in-shape!

Advancements in wearable devices are allowing people to make more informed health decisions. To understand their effectiveness, Software Advice  surveyed nearly 500 patients who currently use medically-prescribed wearable devices. A resounding 86% of surveyed patients agreed that their devices improved their health and quality of life, and enabled their doctors to provide a higher quality of care.

In another study conducted in the USA, wearable devices has seen an 89% reduction in the number of patients suffering from heart and respiratory diseases and numerous other illnesses.

These data show that wearable technologies improve patient outcomes and reduce the potential workload of healthcare workers.

Given these information’s , Companies are starting to notice how wearable devices can be used to improve the health & wellness of its employees.

Last March 2022, SHRM shared an article about wearable devices being used in the workplace. In the said article , it mentioned that outfitting workers with devices that alert them to efficiencies and dangerous situations isn’t new. It also mentioned that wearable technology has proved useful to support health and wellness by helping keep track of employees movements as well as their total health & wellness.

This kind of corporate health tracking is part of a wider trend of companies exploring new ways of monitoring their employees, typically with the goal of optimizing performance.

In the Philippines , a Company called eshield is in the forefront of revolutionizing the usage of wearable devices by providing wearable solutions for employees health management.

eshield wearable devices scans and collect vital signs like temperature, oxygen level, heart rate, stress level , sleep patterns etc. and report thru a central management dashboard to achieve a safer, healthier workplace.

It also alerts users on social distancing by scanning nearby devices and prompts users to ensure a 2 meter distance from other users.

It has a built-in GPS that helps in contact tracing or monitoring employees location

eShield provide your full access employee health information, enabling quick and informed decisions through its Health Management Dash Board that analyze the health risks with geofence capabilities and utilize rapid, privacy-first communication to stakeholders who show signs of illness.

It also has capabilities to enable your Company’s HR and Employees to instantly communicate on health related concerns.

These and a whole lot more offerings coming from eshield that maximize the potential of wearable devices to ensure your employees are always at the pink of health!

If your interested in partnering with eshield:

1. “Watch the demo at the eshield website (www.eshield.me)
2. “Get your free trial and sign up now at Eshield.me”
3. “Exclusive discount for Philippines HR Group (PHRG) members. Sign up now!

Company Wellness Program: Employee Care Kit recommendations

The greatest wealth is health. – Virgil

As HR Professionals, we are fully aware that promoting and protecting the wellness of our employees ensures a more productive business and reduces absenteeism rates. A fun, interactive and healthy work environment promotes enduring positive attitudes as well as behaviors that enhance employees’ commitment to better work ethics and improved work output. 

Thus, we create relevant programs and activities in the Company that drive our employees to maintain a balanced diet, do physical activities and encourage taking vitamins and supplements daily which can help improve and stabilize one’s overall health and wellbeing. But we also understand that given the oftentimes challenging requirements at work, there are external factors such as stress that could adversely affect their health status.

Workplace-related stress has been known to hit anyone. A person is stressed when the demands of work are greater than his/her ability to cope, which in turn creates anxiety and affects one’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and could manifest into different kinds of illness. 

Scientific studies have proven that a person who has a healthy lifestyle will have a better capability to cope with work-related stress and that proper nutrition, exercise and sufficient sleep can counter such stressful situations. Taking vitamins and mineral supplements has also been proven to help the body adequately cope with stress.

Here are some OTC (over the counter) branded health care products that can be stocked-up in office clinics or provide as components of regular Employee Care Kits:

1.         Conzace Softgel Capsules are formulated with Zinc as well as Vitamins A, C and E to help boost immunity and improve the condition of hair and skin. Low levels of zinc in the body can increase the risk of infections.  

2.         Berocca is a brand of effervescent vitamin tablet with Magnesium, Zinc, Calcium, Vitamin C and all eight B vitamins to help release energy from food, reduce tiredness and fatigue and support physical and mental stamina. Magnesium supports the immune system and helps regulate blood pressure levels.

3.         Watson Vitamin C + Zinc + Vitamin D effervescent tablet also supports immune health and protects the body from infections. 

4.         Watsons B Complex 2500mg Effervescent Tablet supports nerve health,  helps relieve muscle pain and loss of nerve reflexes. B vitamins are important for our general well-being.

5.         Myra E 400 IU capsules help protect cells from oxidative damage and increase resistance against sickness. 

6.         Belo Gluta, a Glutathione with Collagen Dietary Supplement, has compacted glutathione that whitens as it detoxifies and collagen that lifts skin from within as it provides strength, elasticity and resilience.

7.         Essentiale Forte provides nutritional support for older individuals in the management of damaged liver due to chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis, fatty liver and other causes. 

8.         Salonpas Medicated Patches relieve body aches and pains 

9.         Propan TLC for kids has vitamins that help in overall growth and wellbeing. It boosts the child’s appetite and energy and has Chlorella Growth Factor to enhance growth.

10.       Fern-C Kidz Vitamin C + Zinc Syrup is formulated with zinc, which builds kids’ resistance to illnesses and common diseases. Zinc is also essential to their growth as well as their sensory and cognitive development.

11.       Oral B Cross Action Indicator toothbrush and Listerine Total Care All-In-One Mouthwash are oral care products that help keep teeth and gums healthy and strong. 

12.       Senka Perfect White Clay Cleanser gets rid of dirt and oil on your skin.

13.       Gyne Pro Ultra Protection Feminine Wash helps get rid of odor, itch and irritation.

14.       Herbal Essences Shampoos like Herbal Essences Blue Ginger, Micellar Shampoo and Blue Ginger Conditioner help maintain a healthy, strong and glowing hair 

These trusted products are available at your leading health and wellness retailer, Watsons. Watsons is the Filipino family’s partner in health and wellness. 

Even through quarantines and lockdowns for the past year, Watsons always makes these health supplements and personal care products accessible to Filipinos in their 800+ stores nationwide and through their online platforms.

You can order all of these and more at any of Watsons 800+ stores nationwide. You may opt to order online via (https://www.watsons.com.ph) or mobile app (http://bit.ly/WatsonsMobileApp)or via call & delivery service (http://www.watsons.com.ph for call-and-delivery-list-of-stores.

At Watsons, your employee and your family’s wellness is just a tap or a click away! Make sure to get your health supplements and personal care products from Watsons and be assured that you, your family and your employees remain healthy and well protected.

Just don’t forget to use your Watsons Card to earn points! For more updates, you can also follow Watsons’ social media pages on Facebook and Instagram at @watsonsph

Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. – World Health Organization

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High-Value yet Low Cost HRM System now available in the Market!

More and more companies have started to realize the value on investing on a HRM System. With most of their workforce on a work-from-home arrangements brought about by the global pandemic , the ability to monitor productivity, engage , reward and provide timely feedback using a virtual platform is now becoming a necessity for most organizations.

We have seen many HR platforms available in the market today but rarely would there be a HRM System that would have a complete array of tools that are critical in supporting a highly active yet highly volatile workforce. Most available HR systems would focus more on Time Keeping and Payroll – the two critical functions that are easily outsourced to a 3rd party vendor. There is only a handful of HRM Systems that would be able to provide a complete suite of tools that would be able to support a company’s need for Recruitment, Managing Employee Files, Engagement , Time Keeping, Project Management as well as Performance Management.

This is where PeopleForce comes in. PeopleForce is a Tech Company that created a SMART Cloud-Base HR Management System to help organizations build a high-performance culture by providing a wide menu of critical tools to support the growth of the business .

PeopleForce has the ff.:

1. PeopleHR – It helps organizations ensure proper on-boarding of new employees and has an integrated highly advance HRIS system that would not only manage your employees data but also provides different functionalities like an available HR calendar , employee directory, a system to announce internal communications as well as track employees leaves and filed time-offs.
2. PeopleRecruit – It helps companies post vacancies on different multiple job boards with ease, browse candidates in a single database and engage with HR-managers and employees in the hiring process. It has a well-thought-out Applicant Tracking System that allows company’s to focus on the selection of talents, and not on finding the right information from hundreds of folders in your computer. Resumes, contacts, files, reviews and candidate ratings are available in one click. It also publish and edit vacancies, add job seekers and communicate with candidates from job portals directly in PeopleRecruit in which all analytics on responses from different sources is stored. With PeopleRecruit it simplify the hiring process with digital signature, it shorten the lengthy process of accepting a job offer – now the candidate just needs to put an electronic signature “eSign” in your job offer, which companies will immediately receive a notification.
3. PeoplePulse – It helps companies to collect a feedback from your employees through different online HR surveys. It measure engagement by helping organizations know the level of satisfaction and motivation of its employees and also help management to learn and improve business by analyzing insights. PeoplePusle will help management get closer to employees, increase their engagement, measure job satisfaction, evaluate efficiency and productivity, and receive feedback about the company’s corporate culture using the eNPS.
4. PeopleTime – There is no need to track the same task on multiple systems. Go beyond the usual ways of project management and move to a new teamwork level. PeopleForce organizes all tasks, files and reminders, allowing you to spend less time to work coordination, information search and monitoring a progress. It also monitor all costs and easily add invoices for each project or employee. PeopleForce helps you predict future project costs and evaluate resource efficiency and analyze how much time were spent on work per day/week/month. PeopleTime HR reporting will help to improve the effectiveness of your team.
5. PeoplePerform – Set and evaluate goals for each employee, team or company, monitor goal achievement progress and efficiency of the company. Set objectives and key results to boost performance. Keep your team focused on the highest priorities every week. Track key results and get an overview of team progress in minutes. PeopleForce gives the opportunity to connect an individual´s objectives with the team and the company. It also automate task assignment when a new employee joins your company. No more missed one-on-ones since it automatically send outs reminders on the employees calendar on scheduled touch bases. It also helps automate a 360-degree survey in your company by setting its frequency. Avoid losing key professionals, increase employees loyalty, help “grow” the dream team and give feedback to help perform better.

With all these and more PeopleForce and its A-Suites of modules can be tailor-fit to any company’s need or requirements! What is surprising about PeopleForce is that its one of the lowest price HRM Systems in the market today but it never sacrifice functionality and usefulness for cost.

To know more about PeopleForce and on how to request a FREE 14-Day Trial please click the link below:

Are Probationary Employees entitled to Separation Pay ?

Any Human Resource Leaders in the Philippines who is worth their salt knows that all employees who would be terminated via Authorized Causes is entitled to Separation Pay as enshrined in the PH Labor Code. But what most HR Professionals are in the dark is the proverbial elephant in the room – Are Probationary Employees entitled to Separation Pay ?

Its basic HR knowledge that both Probationary and Regular employees have equal rights when it comes to termination due to authorize causes particularly redundancy and retrenchment. Both are entitled to a 30-Day Notice Period and both should be part of the procedural reporting requirement to DOLE .

The grey-area comes in deciding whether a probationary employee is eligible for separation pay or not. To understand this, you simply need to apply a logical understanding of Article 283 of the Labor Code of the Philippines.

If you look at their length of service, when it comes to computing Separation Pay, their tenure is counted right up to the last day of employment. Example would be if someone who has only 3 years 5 months at the time of the 30-day notice, when it comes to the tenure for the computation of Separation Pay, they have already reached 3 years 6 months by the date of their termination.

This situation is clear for regular employees, since they will always have reached at least six months service by the time they are regularized. But how would it work with probationary employees?

Unfortunately , many employers and HR Professionals thinks that a probationary employee is not eligible for Separation Pay given their employment status , but that would be the wrong way to think. And this is where it gets confusing for a lot of people.

Let us again revisit what the PH Labor Code says as reflected in Article 283 of Book VI. It  is very clear that when it comes to terminating employment due to closure and reduction of personnel. It states that:

“The employer may also terminate the employment of any employee due to the installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, retrenchment to prevent losses or the closing or cessation of operation of the establishment or undertaking unless the closing is for the purpose of circumventing the provisions of this Title, by serving a written notice on the workers and the Ministry of Labor and Employment at least one (1) month before the intended date thereof.”

You should note that, in all cases of jurisprudence , the terms “one month” is read to mean 30 days, unless the actual month is stated by name.

However, nowhere in the Article does it specifically mention regular or non-regular employees. Therefore, following the logical conclusion, it must be read to mean ALL employees. It highlights the fact that both Probationary and Regular employees enjoy the same rights and benefits.

Its good to note that the same article also covers Separation Pay, for both redundancy and retrenchment. And it is also very specific on the amounts that are due to employees.

For Redundancy, it should be:

“In case of termination due to the installation of labor-saving devices or redundancy, the worker affected thereby shall be entitled to a separation pay equivalent to at least his one (1) month pay or to at least one (1) month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher.”

For Retrenchment, it should be:

“In case of retrenchment to prevent losses and in cases of closures or cessation of operations of establishment or undertaking not due to serious business losses or financial reverses, the separation pay shall be equivalent to one (1) month pay or at least one-half (1/2) month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher.”

Basically, even if an employee has only six months to one year of service, he would still be entitled to at least one month of Separation Pay in both Retrenchment and Redundancy. In fact, this would apply up to the end of the second year of the employee’s tenure for retrenchment. Since the employee MUST get at least one month of pay, even if they have done 1 year 10 months, they would still be entitled to a full month at the minimum.

Article 283 goes on to end with the statement that:

“A fraction of at least six (6) months shall be considered one (1) whole year.”

This is usually read to mean that any part of a year that exceeds six months will equal a whole year in the computation for Separation Pay. Actually this kind of interpretation on this part of the law is where most people is incorrect. It really means that any period that is equal to or more than 180 days equals a complete year for the purposes of Separation Pay calculations. Where the law uses 30 days for one month, it is already understood that “six months” is equal to 180 days (30 x 6)

Separation Pay as we know is computed using the last day of employment for the tenure of the employee and NOT the date of the 30-day Notice of Retrenchment or Redundancy. Any probationary employee that has already reached his 150^th day of employment at the time of the 30-day notice, would have reached their 180^th day of employment at the time of the last day of the 30-day notice, and therefore be a regular employee. As 180 days is equal to one year in the computations used for Separation Pay, the probationary employee who has reached 180 days on their last day of employment is therefore legally entitled to one (1) month of Separation Pay.

And now this is where most people get confused. Even if the probationary employee has only done less than six (6) months of work, if they are retrenched or redundant, they are duly entitled by law to a one (1) month Separation Pay.

You might be asking Why? Well we need to go back and understand PH Labor Code Article 283. Under Article 283, it says, as we mentioned earlier, “In case of termination due to the installation of labor-saving devices or redundancy, the worker affected thereby shall be entitled to a separation pay equivalent to at least his one (1) month pay or to at least one (1) month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher.” and “In case of retrenchment to prevent losses and in cases of closures or cessation of operations of establishment or undertaking not due to serious business losses or financial reverses, the separation pay shall be equivalent to one (1) month pay or at least one-half (1/2) month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher.”

Basis this , we would know that the probationary employee does not have to reach one year of service, because they are eligible for the “equivalent to at least his one (1) month pay” and “equivalent to one (1) month pay” part of the Article. The tenure of the employee is irrelevant, until such time as they have already served two full years with the company, if it is for retrenchment.

Now given the current COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines, wherein the Government thru DOLE already announced via a Memorandum that the period of quarantine where probationary employees were on a No Work No Pay (NWNP) basis is not included in the calculation of a probationary employee’s probationary period for regularization, under Labor Advisory No. 14, Series of 2020, and updated in Labor Advisory No. 14-A, series of 2020 will it affect the fact that Probationary employees would be entitled to Separation Pay?

No because the PH Labor Code already allows for separation pay for probationary employees, their probationary period being on hold during the quarantine makes no difference to their rights.

So, if you are considering whether your probationary employees are eligible for Separation Pay it is important to understand the reason why you Separating your employees and how will it relate to the full context of Article 283 of the PH Labor Code.

The Value of Technology in Performance Management

A performance management system is a mechanism for tracking the performance of employees consistently and measurably. It allows the company to ensure that employees and departments across the organization are working effectively towards achieving the business’ strategic goals.

One of the best def­i­n­i­tions of per­for­mance man­age­ment though is pro­vid­ed by Michael Arm­strong in his book “Handbook in Performance Management” , which care­ful­ly and plain­ly lays out the Arm­strong per­for­mance man­age­ment cycle:

​“Per­for­mance man­age­ment is the con­tin­u­ous process of improv­ing per­for­mance by set­ting indi­vid­ual and team goals which are aligned to the strate­gic goals of the organ­i­za­tion, plan­ning per­for­mance to achieve the goals, review­ing and assess­ing progress, and devel­op­ing the knowl­edge, skills and abil­i­ties of peo­ple.”

Basically – A performance management system helps managers establish clear performance expectations through which employees can easily understand what is expected of their job. It allows managers to reinforce on their employees, the individual accountability to meet their goals and evaluate their own performance.

With the advent of new technology , Companies use performance management software and tools to facilitate meaningful and ongoing discussions between managers and their direct reports. The digitization of performance management not only provides more precise data but also positively influences management processes and strategic development. Technology-enabled performance management tools simplify the manager’s evaluation process and turn employees into active participants in their review sessions.

Technology can improve the accuracy of planning in management by providing your managers with the data they need to make effective decisions. Technology solutions gather data from internal and external sources, store them in a data warehouse and provide managers with access via a network.  Collaboration tools enable your managers to work together to plan operations and make joint decisions.

Five (5) Ways Technology Helps in Performance Management :

1. Data

The most important effect of technology on management planning is the availability of vast amounts of data on sales, stock, and production. You can use information technology to gather external data from sales teams, branch offices, retail outlets, suppliers and logistics partners. You can also include market data from independent analysts and market research companies, plus internal data on customer orders, inquiries and production adds.

2. Integration

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software improves planning by integrating individual computer systems around your organization. Tracking and planning the fulfillment of customer orders is easier because an ERP system replaces a series of standalone computer systems in different departments, such as sales administration, finance, warehousing and dispatch. Managers can now view the progress of an order through the various company systems and identify any bottlenecks or other problems as a basis for planning improvements.

3. Storage

Storing the vast amount of data available can be a problem. However, you can use cloud storage to supplement your own facilities. Cloud storage is a pay-as-you-go solution that enables you to store data on massive servers at an independent service provider. Your IT team can access the data over a secure Internet connection and increase or decrease the amount of storage you use. This flexible approach to storage means that you can increase the amount of planning data you provide to managers, without having to invest in additional storage capacity.

4. Access

Communication networks enable managers throughout your organization to access and share the same data. Technology’s contribution is to remove what was known as silos of information, previously only available to people within individual departments. Managers can also use such collaboration tools as videoconferencing and Internet forums to share data and carry out joint planning exercises.

5. People

Social networking tools can help your managers to plan their human resources. Consultancy firm Deloitte has developed a system that enables employees to post their profiles and work history. Managers and other employees can access the profiles over an intranet to identify people with the skills needed to provide expert advice or join a project team.

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If your company is looking for a Technology Partner to enhance your Performance Management System its good to know that companies like PeopleForce has your best interest in mind.

PeopleForce is a tech company that specializes in Cloud-Based SMART HR Management System that would help you in your need to upgrade your HR Systems and ultimately build an environment that allows you to drive your business forward.

Contact PeopleForce now and ask for a FREE 14-Day Trial! Click the link below:

The Importance of Technology in Human Resource Management

From the start of the 21st century , people around the world has been living in a fast paced society, wherein we have witnessed how technology has been ever changing and how it continuously affects our life. With developments , technology has always been evolving to make people’s lives better and easier.

In the field of human resources , HR technology is used to attract, hire, retain and maintain talent, support workforce administration, and optimize workforce management. The primary goal is simplifying, streamlining and automating these functions is to help companies work faster and more efficiently. HR technology is used by everyone across all departments to improve the way they do and run the business.

It has been proven in different studies and has been an accepted norm that technological advancement can have a huge impact on the HR department of an organization. It allows the company to improve its internal processes, core competencies, relevant markets and organizational structure as a whole.

As a general rule Human Resource is focused on the strategic objectives of the organization. These strategies must be led to incorporate an IT strategic plan for the organization. These are activities related to any development in the technological systems of the entity, such as product design (research and development) and IT systems.

Human Resource Management innovation brought about by utilizing technology can manifest itself in a number of ways:

1. To identify solutions quickly and flexibly during a negotiation
2. To identify new ideas for products and services
3. To identify new markets

Furthermore , achieving a strong relationship between HR and technology can help companies achieve the following key objectives.

1. Strategic alignment with the business objectives
2. Business intelligence – providing users with up to date, relevant data and reports
3. Effectiveness and efficiency – changing how HR work is performed by reducing lead times, costs, and service levels.

Overall, HR technology provides managers with decision making tools to help manage costs and enables them to reduce the time spent on administrative and legal compliance work, while maintaining an efficient and effective workforce to deliver quality service.

PeopleForce is a HR Technology Company that provides Smart HR Solutions that helps Small to Large Companies to drive their businesses forward!

PeopleForce offers Cloud-based HR platforms and HR Softwares that helps companies grow and build high performance culture.

Get your FREE 14-DAY TRIAL now by clicking the link below:

The Value of Tracking Work Time

Across industries the process of timekeeping is an essential part of the work process for most companies. There’s a multitude of different ways you can adapt it to serve different purposes – depending on your professional field, company culture, and your team’s overall goals.

How to be able to calculate the costs of work is not the only purpose of timekeeping. Timekeeping information is also used to analyze and improve performance, work on productivity, and obtain vital business data. Time records allow managers and business owners to figure out important trends and help regular employees see where their time goes and make their work process more efficient.

The ability to track work is key to understanding how employees spend time in business. It is key to productivity, insight, and a healthy workflow in the organization.

A few companies nowadays have seen the benefit of flex-time and offer flexible work schedules to its employees – with some people working remotely on a regular basis. Under different circumstances keeping track of attendance and making sure that everyone is doing the work expected from them would have been a administrative nightmare. Now, due to advancements of time keeping systems , as long as employees keep their timesheets in order, our management, HR and Finance people have nothing to worry about.

As the technology evolved and electronic devices turned into work tools in many areas, detailed activity monitoring became possible. Special software is used to record users’ activities on their computers and prepare detailed reports on where their time goes.

Today, various methods of timekeeping are used, depending on what data and level of detail are necessary. They are considered a source of vital information for businesses and individuals – let’s see how they benefit the work process for everyone involved.

Benefits for businesses:

1. Accurate data for billing and accounting.For those companies that bill their customers by hourly rates, having exact timekeeping data is fundamental. It solves the problem of under-billing and helps maintain friendly relationships with customers.
2. Transparency and traceability.Timekeeping data, being available in raw form and summarized in reports, helps get insights into how specific work assignments were performed and what parts of them took the most time.
3. Easier planning.Plans for future workloads, based on previous data, turn out to be more accurate. What’s more, timekeeping data helps identify time-wasting activities and eliminate them or optimize the work process for future assignments.
4. Better work management.Setting up work processes requires defining time estimates and deadlines. They require knowing how much time is normally required for specific tasks, so it’s easier to set them up based on the previously collected data.
5. Better discipline.Better discipline and morale: knowing that time spent on specific work assignments is traceable, employees tend to use it more mindfully.

Benefits for employees:

1. Optimizing work process.Knowing what tasks are more difficult and time-consuming, it’s easier to distribute time more wisely and get them done first.
2. Defeating procrastination.Being aware of your time expenses motivates to spend time more mindfully, eliminate distractions, and tackle harder tasks.
3. Identifying overwork.A summary of time expenses helps find out what activities require more time than your workday includes and detect possible overloads.
4. Defining your scope of responsibilities (and defending it).Seeing how much work you’re able to perform within any specific period of time allows you to limit your workload to the reasonable values and provides a valid reason to say no to excessive assignments.

Considering the limited scope of the human capability of handling multiple operations simultaneously, this not only requires a full-fledged team to ensure the timely and accurate recording of time checks and attendance logs, but there exists a high chance of erroneous and misleading data and information entries that might turn out to be a setback with regards to the organizational interest.

Hence, it is essential for organizations to automate their system of time and attendance recording to ensure the accuracy and efficacy of recordings. This not only eases down a variety of tasks at the management’s end, but also brings about the following essential benefits for the organization.

PeopleForce offers a Cloud-base SMART HRIS platform that has time tracking system called PeopleTime.

PeopleTime organizes all tasks, files and reminders, allowing you to spend less time to work coordination, information search and monitoring a progress.

Track the time needed for projects and analyze statistics on aggregated reports. No need to track the same task on multiple systems. Go beyond the usual ways of project management and move to a new teamwork level

Track your workforce productivity :The larger the team the more difficult to get a clear understanding of each employee working hours. PeopleForce fixes this problem and helps you keep track of tasks on time. Track the efficiency of working hours and find out how much time they spent on the tasks.

Expence management with ease: Monitor all costs and easily add invoices for each project or employee. PeopleForce helps you predict future project costs and evaluate resource efficiency.

Convenient analytics and exporting reports: Find out who did all task on time or breaks the deadlines, analyze how much time were spent on work per day/week/month. PeopleTime HR reporting will help to improve the effectiveness of your team

Are you ready to automate HR processes? Request 14 days free trial

The Value of Employee Feedback and Use of Employee Engagement Softwares

Employee feedback is defined as a process of giving constructive suggestions to the employees by their reporting managers, supervisors and peers. Note though that it is a two-way process wherein employee feedback also comprises of the feedback that the employee would want to give to his/her manager, peers or the organization as a whole.

Studies show that companies that promotes an open and transparent feedback culture, where people are comfortable asking for and receiving feedback from their colleagues and managers, can really change how a workplace operates.

But too often feedback is something that happens only once a year, during annual reviews or appraisals. Some companies conduct semi-annual or quarterly performance reviews. What is important is to have a regular and timely employee feedback and performance review mechanism in place to ensure that engage your employees and create motivated and high-performing teams.

According to an article published in Forbes, 73% of employees consider feedback important but only one third receive it. Most managers don’t provide enough feedback and when they do they tend to make it negative or too vague and the importance of feedback is lost.

IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK

It provoked change and drives growth

Feedback gives people an opportunity to look at themselves in a different light. It helps them see how others perceive them, and the impact that their behavioural style and ways of working has on others in the team. This can be particularly insightful for leaders, as it helps them to see how they may be better able to engender trust and inspire a better performance from their team. What’s more, most people naturally want to succeed in their work, and as a result are often very receptive to constructive feedback. According to Harvard Business Review, 72% of people feel their performance would improve if their managers provided corrective feedback. In fact, the same survey found that 57% of employees prefer corrective feedback to purely praise and recognition.

It gives people a sense of purpose

As humans, we all want to feel like we belong and are appreciated. In a work context, this means feeling like there is value to what we do and what we bring to the business, and knowing that we are part of a wider team all working towards the same goals.

This knowledge that we are useful and valued gives us a sense of purpose. It shows us that there is meaning to what we do. This is what gets people to show up every day and deliver their best. Giving regular feedback is one way we can show employees that they are valued and useful. Even negative feedback can spur people on to want to do better. Any feedback, good or bad, will reinforce to your employees that there is a point to what they are doing.

It improves employee engagement

A study of Officevibe shows that 4 in 10 workers are actively disengaged when they receive little or no feedback. The research also highlighted how important it is for employees to receive regular feedback. 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week compared to only 18% of employees with low engagement.

Even if they don’t vocalise it, employees crave feedback. And with the ambitious and growth-driven younger generations of Millennials and Gen Y now making up a significant proportion of the workforce, feedback is only going to become more focal for companies.

It helps improve working relationships

Peer-to-peer feedback opens up the communication channels between employees. This can be particularly useful if there is conflict or tension between colleagues. Giving feedback is an opportunity to get things out in the open so that issues can be resolved and they can find ways to work together better. Moreover, regular feedback can prevent conflict from happening in the first place. Small issues can be resolved before they have a chance to escalate into something bigger.

It helps in the Employees Professional development

The more an employee becomes comfortable asking/giving feedback the more they will take this up as their own initiative. This will lead to a more organized professional development.  

TYPES OF EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK

There are many types of employee feedback like 360-degree employee review, continuous feedback mechanism, employee performance evaluation to name a few.

1. 360-degree feedback – It is a process in which an employee receives feedback from his/her superiors, manager, peers to identify the strengths and weaknesses of an employee so that immediate corrective measures can be taken to improve employee performance.

The purpose of a 360-degree feedback is to understand an employee’s performance and collect feedback and reviews, this mechanism of employee feedback allows a multi-pointer rating and serves as a benchmark for an employee’s development plan. 

However, in a 360-degree feedback is it essential that feedback remains anonymous. The purpose of this anonymity is to keep it strictly professional, so it doesn’t lead to any differences between the employee receiving the feedback and the manager or peer giving the feedback. 

2. Continuous feedback mechanism – This is a process where an employee receives feedback on a timely basis. Imagine an organization where employees are willing to get a feedback but managers are not willing to spend any time to give the needed feedback. No points for guessing, the lowered levels of employee motivation that it would bring. 

There are a number of benefits of continuous feedback- it promotes a healthy workplace culture, helps employees and organization set better goals, boosts employee morale and this, in turn, leads to happy employees. However, continuous feedback is a complex process and should be done carefully. 

The process should not be scary for employees, a feedback doesn’t have to negative, it needs to be constructive. No organization would want to promote a culture where employees don’t trust the leadership and vice versa. This is not a process where you will blame the employees for why they have not achieved their targets, this is a process to help employees improve themselves through constructive feedback. 

3. Employee performance evaluation – It is a formal method of providing feedback to the employee’s performance based on their work and result based on their job responsibilities. It is used to measure the amount of value added by an employee in terms of organization growth, revenue generated and overall return on investment (ROI) 

Any organization that has learned the art of winning from within, understand the importance of feedback. They rely on a systematic performance evaluation process and grade employees annually based on the feedback received from their managers. 

Ideally, employees are graded, with a promotion or increase in the increment received and similar methods. Performance evaluation also plays a vital role in providing periodic feedback to employees to make them more self-aware in regards to their own performance metrics.

Source: QuestionPro Article

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT SOFTWARE

With the right clarity and use , Companies can now utilise AI and Digital tools to take the pulse on employee feedback as well as employee sentiment. Further, it can help in identification of factors that have the biggest positive and negative impact on your organization.

Company’s can collect the data with such tools. This can possibly empower organizations with insights to adjust and update their policies for creating a more engaged workforce. Hence, a single tool that can help unify workforces is essential for organisations to easily uplift their employees and work culture. In fact, it is best this way to inculcate the importance of employee engagement in the easiest possible manner.

Employee engagement software helps employees and managers to gauge, in real time, how everyone really feels. Most platforms have the ability to conduct surveys, provide feedback, offer support and encouragement to co-workers, and coach new hires as they develop.

IMPORTANCE OF AN EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT PLATFORM

1. Ensure emotional well-being of the entire organisation

When your employees are mentally and emotionally healthy they are able to deliver better, faster results.

An employee engagement software lets you check the pulse of your organisation on a regular basis. You can do it efficiently with pulse survey.

2. Give your employees a casual, democratic atmosphere

An employee engagement software allows you to collect relevant data about what lightens the mood of your employees.

This helps in avoiding the “monkey effect” and providing opportunities for thoughtful discussions about decisions for the company.

3. Recognize employee efforts just at the right time

Sherly Sandberg, as the vice president of Google made a mistake, that cost Google several million dollars.

When she confessed the mistake to the co-founder, Larry Page, his response to it was — “I’m so glad you made this mistake,” he said. “Because I want to run a company where we are moving too quickly and doing too much. Not being too cautious and doing too little. If we don’t have any of these mistakes, we’re just not taking enough risk.”

Employee appreciation leads to a culture which is fearless and which encourages people to take more risks, as it better to take risks and fail than to stay stagnant and not take risks.

To foster meaningful and tranquil environment words of appreciation take an employee and the work environment long way.

You can discuss employee achievements and share recognitions efficiently through the employee recognition tool.

4. Save time, resources, and data

An employee engagement software saves more time and resources than you can imagine.

It lets employees chat with HR bots and clarify their questions.

It allows HR leaders to collect feedback and informative data through surveys.

All company-wide information is stored at one single place so that leaders can access it and make necessary amendments.

5. Track the personal and professional growth of every employee

Engaged employees grow professionally as well as personally. This means the workgroup is a good fit. Also, that it is providing enough for you to feel good.

This makes the employee feel that they are a good fit. So, companies must give more opportunities to the employee for growth.

However, leaders must understand one thing. Giving promotions is not the same as giving the employee an opportunity. Whether it is to learn or grow personally.

How do we go about focusing on the importance of employee engagement?

The sense of opportunity and engagement lies in contribution. Contributing to the organisation’s goals and learning along the way.

6. Improve on-boarding experience as well as retention

It’s intimidating to be the new person anywhere you go. It’s equally intimidating for a new employee to join a new organisation. Moreover, see all these fresh faces around.

An employee engagement software will ensure that leaders streamline the on-boarding process. They can design it in a way such that the new employee feels comfortable.

Moreover, it is important to make use of employee data. It helps enhance employee experience to improve retention.

Receiving feedback, giving recognition, maintaining employee relationships, these are all crucial in an employee’s lifecycle.

Therefore, their own data will help leaders create personalised plans and strategies around retention.

7. Lastly, give a boost to employee productivity and business performance

A software will suggest how engaged or disengaged an employee is. Their engagement/disengagement seriously affects their performance. This in turn has a big impact on business performance as well. In fact, it is crucial for businesses to integrate with an employee engagement software to gather data and execute accordingly.

Source: PeopleHum Article

PeopleForce a Cloud-base SMART HRM System has a built-in Employee Engagement Platform called PeoplePulse which collect feedbacks from your employees through online HR surveys. Measure engagement, know the level of satisfaction and motivation, learn and improve businees by analyzing insights.

PeoplePulse will help you get closer to employees, increase their engagement, measure job satisfaction, evaluate efficiency and productivity, and receive feedback about your corporate culture.

HR Cafe Ep 37 “CompBen 101: Foundations of Total Rewards”

Proper compensation is one factor why employees remain with employers. Loyalty means that business owners don’t need to continue to spend time, money and energy on recruiting new candidates.

Offering benefits to your employees is important because it shows them you are invested in not only their overall health, but their future. A solid employee benefits package can help to attract and retain talent. Benefits can help you differentiate your business from competitors.

Our next episode in HR Cafe : Usapang Trabaho, Buhay at Iba Pa! Ep. 37 would be about Compensation & Benefits 101: Foundations of Total Rewards!And because YOU – are viewers asked for it we will have our HR Cafe Mentor Rhona Florentino do a Part 2 of her discussion last week (Payroll 101: Foundations of Payroll) but now Mentor Rhona would be discussing about Compensation & Benefits Administration and how it ties up to the Companies Rewards Philosophy. She would be discussing about Statutory Benefits and Company Benefits and how these benefits are being administered and facilitated by HR.

We would also discuss about Total Rewards and how Companies are now looking into a change of their employee benefits.So make sure to blocked off your calendar this coming SUNDAY – March 21, 2021 at 3PM as you again join us in another value-adding and free learning session of the HR Cafe!

HR Cafe is streamed via FB Live at the Philippines HR Group FB Group Page.

#PhilippinesHRGroup

#thehrcafeusapangtrabahobuhayatibapa

The Value of Performance Management in an Organisation

There are many Companies right now who are adopting a more proactive approach to ensure that human capital ROI is achieved and they do this by making sure they create a well defined and well structured policy and processes of evaluating performance of their employees on a regular basis. Most Companies who put place stringent Performance Management Program knows that the key to success is by having a robust Performance Management System.

But how will you be able to identify a good Performance Management System for your Organization?

Lets start with defining first what is Performance Management. Performance Management is is an ongoing process of communication between a supervisor and an employee that occurs throughout the year, in support of accomplishing the strategic objectives of the organization. It is the continuous process of improving performance by setting individual and team goals which are aligned to the strategic goals of the Company. A key point here is that per­for­mance man­age­ment is a con­tin­u­ous and regular process — not a once-a-year activ­i­ty. Qual­i­ty per­for­mance man­age­ment should, there­fore, bring togeth­er a num­ber of dif­fer­ent, inte­grat­ed activ­i­ties to form an ongo­ing​”per­for­mance man­age­ment cycle”, as shown below using the “Armstrong Performance Cycle” model:

As you can see from the above representation of the Arm­strong’s per­for­mance man­age­ment cycle , Everything starts during the “Plan­ning” phase .

Plan­ning should involve the ff.:

1. Act on SMART Objectives
2. A personal development plan
3. Actions to be taken in coming months
4. A review of the employee’s job requirements, updating the role and profile when necessary

The organisation’s goals and val­ues should feed into per­for­mance plan­ning to ensure that indi­vid­ual per­for­mance aligns with the overall strategy of the company. Specif­i­cal­ly, each SMART objec­tive should con­tribute to achiev­ing one or more of the organisation’s goals. 

Whats also important is that there is an on-going professional devel­op­ment plan­ning for each employee that focuses on what behav­iours, skills or knowl­edge the employee needs to devel­op to suc­cess­ful­ly achieve their objec­tives and uphold the organisation’s values.

By creating a stringent “Plan” in the onset of the Performance Management Cycle , Companies can effectively put in place action items that would drive performance of the employee throughout the evaluation period. This would also lead to having regular audits to track if the said action items are performed and met by the individual.

Most organisations would placed a lot of empha­sis on the​ “Review” part of the performance management cycle — often because a per­for­mance assess­ment is required for reward­ pur­pos­es. How­ev­er, as HR we have always advised that it is the​ “Act” and​ “Track” stages that are the most impor­tant. These stages are where per­for­mance is actu­al­ly deliv­ered and results achieved. Indi­vid­u­als need to be encour­aged to sched­ule in reg­u­lar time to work on achiev­ing their objec­tives and per­son­al devel­op­ment plans. Sim­i­lar­ly, man­agers need to be check­ing in with their staff reg­u­lar­ly. People Managers/Front Line Supervisors must give fre­quent, effec­tive and honest feed­back and use coaching and mentoring techniques to help their team mem­bers over­come chal­lenges and iden­ti­fy areas of oppor­tu­ni­ties for learn­ing and per­for­mance improve­ment.

These reg­u­lar per­for­mance dis­cus­sions are typ­i­cal­ly devel­op­men­tal and future-focused. They pro­vide team mem­bers with an oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore what has gone well and how suc­cess can be repli­cat­ed again, any chal­lenges faced and how they may be over­come — and agree on actions both the indi­vid­ual and man­ag­er need to take to devel­op the indi­vid­ual and fur­ther improve their per­for­mance. Such check-ins are also a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to address employ­ee devel­op­ment while offer­ing train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and reg­u­lar­ly rein­forc­ing per­for­mance expectations.

What are the Benefits of a Performance Management System?

Although there is no law under the existing PH Labor Code that requires employers to conduct performance reviews, there are very solid business reasons for conducting them which would include the ff.:

• Performance reviews help document salary actions.
• They provide feedback to employees on their performance.
• Performance reviews help identify “good” and “bad” performers.
• They help document personnel decisions, such as promotions and discipline.
• They assist management in making a decision to retain or terminate.
• Performance reviews help identify training needs.
• They assist with personnel planning including staffing.

In most cases, the benefits of a performance management system will include:

1. Consistency.
The selection of employees for promotion, transfer, or other action should be more consistent. The right person with the right skills, knowledge and experience should be matched with the right job and role.
2. Motivation.
An objective performance appraisal will identify those who are outstanding, and management — applying promotion, transfer, and other policies — will reward them. Every employee will realize that the organization rewards achievement, and many will be encouraged to improve their performance.
3. Morale and Retention.
Studies have confirmed that highly motivated employees are more likely to be more loyal as well as more productive and engaged. With these management will have better success retaining valuable employees even as the workforce becomes more mobile. In addition, morale should improve, making the workplace more pleasant, and output per hour worked should increase, cutting labor costs.
4. Organizational impacts.
Those who do research on human behaviour stress that individual employees will grow in maturity and responsibility if their efforts are accurately judged and rewarded. The company should see concrete benefits — including financial — from having more responsible people throughout the organization. The employer with an accurate evaluation system may truly have a basis for saying that he has better employees than others in his field.
5. Training needs.
While accurate evaluation is most often recommended for its role in making “good employees better,” it has a valuable remedial use as well. Evaluation can spot employees who need training — and not all of them will be recent hires. It is usually assumed that when an employee has completed the normal training sequence, he or she is trained. But that is not always the case.
6. Firing risks.
Finally, employees who are sufficiently weak that they should be dismissed can be spotted with more certainty under an evaluation system. Perhaps more important, management may be more willing to dismiss an inadequate and low performing employee if an objective evaluation system can be pointed to as identifying the inadequacy and competence at work. The employee and the organization should benefit from an early end to a bad situation.

How to Choose the BEST Performance Management System ?

1. Business Requirements

Identify the problems that you are facing with the current system for employee appraisals. Then make a list of the things that will help you solve these problems. Check if having a performance management system in place in your organization can help the managers in carrying out appraisals smoothly. After taking note of all your requirements into consideration, look out for the software that is the best fit for your company. 

There are a lot of resources working under each manager and it is a difficult task to keep a tab on each of them individually. Checking the work of the employees, finding out whether they are on the same page for the organisations growth, encouraging them to outperform their own work is quite tasking for a manager. A good performance management system comes at the rescue of the managers by easing out these tasks. 

The software enables managers to monitor each employee individually and helps them in setting clear goals and also check the performance of employees which comes at handy during appraisal cycles. 

2. Goal Setting

A good performance management system should help you set the right goals and competencies for your employees. It should also have a rewarding system in place and should store the past data of employees to keep their progress in check.

3. Desirable Features

Make a list of the features that you want in the software to fulfill your requirements. Check if the software that you are shortlisting is compatible across all types of devices and platforms. You must have detailed knowledge of all the tools, features and the tasks that you want the software to perform. The system must be easily scalable to accommodate the new employees and must be reliable. 

An ideal employee appraisal system has the following features: 

• It must allow you to set clear goals and objectives.
• A timely reminder of the goals should be given to the employees. 
• You should be able to provide quick feedback to employees so that they can improve and implement the goals to align with the organization’s goals.
• Employees must be able to review their own performance first and then it goes to the managers for their suggestions.

4. Check the User-friendliness

You are looking out for a performance review system to ease the work of managers in your organization. While doing so, the one thing that matters is that the software that you choose must ease their task. Thus, you should check if the software has easy-to-use features. You must select such software in which training your employees is as easy as a walk in a park! Also, ensure that it does not take a lot of time to get used to the system.

5. Compatibility with the existing system

While you go for a new system in place in your organization, it should not disrupt the working of the current one. Make sure before you select software that it integrates seamlessly with your existing modules and works well in coordination with them. The transfer of data of employees to and from should go smoothly without losing huge data chunks. 

6. Quick Feedback

A good performance management system is the one that enables easy communication between employee and manager. Managers should be able to keep an eye on the progress of the employees, appreciate their work, provide training or train the new employees. Even the employees should be able to report their problems and suggestions if any. The members of a team must be able to share their views as well. 

7. Software Support

Having solid vendor support is a must. Check if the vendor is providing support after deploying the software at your organization’s end. You must be able to scale the performance management system without much hassle when the number of employee increases or if you want to add newer features into it.

8. Learning Modules

The software in place must contain various learning modules for skill development of your employees. It should be able to induce a newly joined employee into your organizational system apart from helping the existing employees in updating their skills. The system solution must also contain the latest technological training to keep your workforce upgraded as per the market dynamics. 

9. Real-time Reports

The employee appraisal system that you want in practice must be able to generate timely reports for monitoring the performance of employees. Reports aid manager in gauging the employees, knowing their potential and using this employee can be rewarded or sanctioned as per their work. 

10. Live Software Demo

There is certain software in the market which allows you to take a trial. Make sure you test the software for compatibility in your ongoing system. This helps you in taking the right decision in selecting a performance management system and investing in the right one for your organization.

If your looking for a Performance Management System that is already integrated in a Cloud-Case Human Resource Management System (HRMS) feel free to reach out to PeopleForce HRM.