VCS Blog

It’s no surprise that payroll automation for small, medium, and large organizations is an absolute necessity. Manual calculations of time, wages, taxes, withholdings, overtime, vacation, commissions, and many other factors are fraught with error. A 2009 study commissioned for the APA (American Payroll Association) by the Hackett Group found that 90 percent of organizations had paperless payroll distribution at that time. And now with such a large selection of payroll service providers with competitive price points, that percentage is considerably higher.

At one point or another, all managers encounter issues with employee absence. Though absences are often due to legitimate reasons (i.e. illness, health appointments, funerals), they can get out of control if they are not managed carefully. Persistent unexcused absence not only lowers productivity but it increases workload for other employees. It can also contribute to a poor atmosphere in the workplace. According to a Forbes article citing Absenteeism: The Bottom-Line Killer, unscheduled absenteeism costs approximately "3,600 per year for each hourly worker and $2,650 each year for salaried employees" (Source).

What is procrastination, really? A bad habit? A lazy tendency? An inherited trait? Statistics show that 20% of people characterize themselves as chronic procrastinators. Interestingly, 85%-95% of college students surveyed state that procrastination plays a major role in their lives. Having always struggled with procrastination myself, I can honestly say that these are my people. Seriously. In just the short time since I started writing this article, I’ve done a load of laundry, organized my desk again, checked my email, and looked through the pictures I took at last night’s Shinedown concert. It was a great concert, by the way, and you wouldn’t believe how loud … Stop! Wait a minute. It’s a story for another time. I need to regroup. FOCUS.

Scheduling software is the solution for businesses seeking to completely automate, streamline, simplify and improve the manner in which they assign/track jobs, manage overtime/part-time jobs, and oversee productivity. Regardless of the scope of services a business engages in, chances are that scheduling software can benefit their business processes.

Productivity can have an effect on both small businesses and large businesses, especially those that do not utilize job-scheduling software. Scheduling systems help business owners stay on top of daily tasks by providing the tools necessary to organize staff. Scheduling automation also encourages better time management in employees since workers know when they are working. An added benefit is an increase in job satisfaction because all employees appreciate advance notice.

Here at VCS Software, we are constantly seeing business owners grappling with the management of their projects. So how can you avoid falling behind in a modern world where speed and connectivity are paramount? In this post we will discuss five time traps that sabotage business productivity. We will cover time traps for both employees and employers.

Part time employees can lose motivation in retail businesses fairly quickly. Keeping spirits high and motivation going is important to the productivity of your business. So here are a few ways to keep your part time employees motivated and happy while working for you.

Incentives

One way to keep employees motivated is to provide incentives for them to keep working hard. This could be a card or a token that is given to them when they go above and beyond expectations.

Fluid schedules are the norm for the retail industry, so you need to make sure you are getting the most out of your current scheduling strategy. If you aren't, there's no need to worry, as retail scheduling software can help.

So, you are a retail manager who is spending far too much time working on schedules, approving schedules, attempting to juggle shift trades, and keeping up with the staff turnover, VCS Software has the solution.

Continue reading to learn how retail scheduling software can help your business

Working a 9-5, 40 hour workweek can sometimes be a daunting task. Doing similar tasks every day, or even a variety of tasks, can be cumbersome and downright boring. Attention spans are at an all time low thanks to smartphones, TVs, and (arguably) the number one distraction, the internet. So how do we combat this reality? There are three things you can do right now to be an active participant in this raging productivity battle:

Workforce management - even in small businesses - can be a major hassle, without the proper tools and scheduling processes in place. Keeping track of time and attendance is vital to a company’s bottom line, but smaller businesses are the hardest hit when staff shows up at the wrong time, or not at all. By not having the flexibility of an extended staff, they must get the schedule right the first time … or suffer the consequences of inadequate coverage.